by Ron Feiertag, Contributing Editor, APCUG Reports

Users helping users is central to the computer user group experience. We voluntarily help each other solve problems with technology. Tech support professionals are hired to use some of these same skills to provide help in a business environment. Just as user group leaders get together each year at APCUG’s annual conference, more than two thousand technical support professionals get together each year at HDI’s annual conference to increase their knowledge and have fun. HDI was known as Help Desk Institute before its name was shortened. This article describes some of what I experienced at HDI’s conference for five days in March 2005, especially as it relates to user groups.

One thing that HDI’s annual conference had in common with APCUG’s annual conference was its location: Las Vegas, Nevada. We also had in common an excellent keynote speaker: Leo Laporte who shared insights with APCUG in 2002. Leo is the author of books and software for both the Mac and the PC. Leo currently hosts radio and television technology shows. Referring to his call in shows where he answers his audience’s questions, he said: “I’ve been working a help desk for the past seven years, in effect.” He then entertainingly explained how our tools evolved from the sharpened stone to the computer in 2.5 million years. He spoke of harnessing the enthusiasm of users and said that it is possible to give users what they want in a way where authors and musicians can also make a living. He ended his tour of technology with the words: “Here’s to the future, I think it’s going to be very exciting.”

Wes Moore was the warm up act for Leo. Wes humorously played the part of a seasoned help desk professional explaining to someone new how his job is done. He said: “This is the Hold Button. It is your best friend. Put them on hold immediately, it shows them who’s boss. I’m a veteran, I’m a pro, I’ve been here eight MONTHS. If there weren’t millions, and I mean millions, of idiots throughout this land, we wouldn’t have jobs.” Taking the caller off hold, he said into the telephone: “Sir, please stop crying. No, don’t unplug it!” Turning to his colleague he said: “What we have here is a 12 o’clock flasher. Every appliance in his house is flashing 12 o’clock.” He continued in that vein to show us the wrong way to provide help.

On the next day, Tim Sanders, the leadership coach at Yahoo!, gave a keynote speech. His advice included: “Think friendly thoughts and tell your face.” He spoke of the importance of empathy and of understanding how people feel. He ended with the words: “Be true to yourself and be true to other people.”

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, was also a keynote speaker. He said of his youth: “My plan was to get a college education and join a huge soulless corporation that would suck the life force out of my body.” He added that when you are a cartoonist, there is no such thing as a bad day because it’s all material for more comics. He showed us some of his Dilbert cartoons and told us funny stories about each of them. He had the audience laughing and we gave him a standing ovation.

Conference goers also had to do some hard work. We had to decide which workshops to attend, and that was not always easy because there was always a choice of between 10 to 14 workshops that took place at any one time. Three things helped us: excellent descriptions were given of each scheduled workshop, we received copies of the slides of each workshop, and CD-ROMs of what was said at each workshop were available for sale later in the conference.

Kirk Weisler gave the first workshop that I attended. He said that a single insight can accelerate our performance, and then he gave us many insights over the course of the next several hours. The first day’s workshops were the longest of the conference. Kirk said that you are either depositing or withdrawing from another person’s emotional bank account. About volunteering, he said that you get a lot more than you give.

The conference’s general session began with acrobats from Cirque du Soleil entertaining us to the tune of Sting’s song “Desert Rose.” That got our attention. Then conference chair Cinda Daly and HDI founder Ron Muns welcomed us. We were urged to pick something up and drop something off. In other words: “Share some of your knowledge while you are here.”

John Custy gave a great workshop about software support. He said that over the past five years users became more tech savvy, hardware, software and networks are better, there are fewer stand alone applications, and you support a lot more things such as devices in addition to computers. Challenges could include smaller budgets, increased complexity, and demands to do more with less. Organizations that implement the best practices are the organizations that will survive. He said that just as any of us can google anything and get good answers quickly, our customers expect equally good answers when they use your online self-help area. He emphasized that you will not get high customer satisfaction unless you have high employee morale and employee satisfaction.

Ed Foreman spoke to us about maintaining a winning spirit. As a former congressman, he knew something about winning. His enthusiasm, energy and wisdom had a huge audience eager to find out what he would say and do next. He said that life is for laughing, loving and living. Keep your mind so full of hopes and dreams and love that worry can’t get in. He said that if there is a quality that you would like to have, act as if you already have it. He added: “I’d rather have someone near me who acted like he was happy than a sincere sorehead any day.” When there is a tragedy, get up, dust yourself off, and say life goes on. Your thoughts influence your actions, which become your habits, which form your character. His audience left his workshop with a positive attitude and we were positive that our time here had been very well spent.

Dean Meyer, who described himself as a mechanic for organizations, spoke to us about the business within the business. He said that organizations are machines that send signals that guide people. Design your organization so that your people can succeed. Treat vendors and contractors as your extended staff. Be a pleasure to do business with and help solve problems.

At her workshop on TOUCH-nology, Jaclyn Kostner advised us to open our meetings warmly to create the sense of a team, and always be accessible and responsive. She said be there for your people and they will be there for you.

George Spalding gave a workshop about computer security. He said that we could think of security as walls to go over and doors to go through to make it difficult and expensive for an outsider to access our data. I learned that there are notebook computers being sold where your fingertip is your password, with a second fingertip as an alternate in case one of your hands became bandaged.

Some workshops were highly technical while other workshops emphasized personal growth. To lighten things up, there was also a conference party where Jay Leno performed for us. As good as he was, I was delighted to discover his opening act, a magician named Mac King who was extremely funny.

There was more to this conference than keynote speeches, workshops and parties. People who wanted more food for thought attended daybreak discussions at seven o’clock where different subjects were explored over breakfast at each table. Later we visited the Exhibit Hall where more than 90 companies showcased their products and services. For example, I learned about Citrix Online’s solution for secure remote access to computers, HDI’s support center certification program, and Telephone Doctor’s customer service training videotapes.

Eric Rabinowitz’s workshop had a wealth of interesting ideas, such as starting a help desk newsletter, a help desk chat room, and often asking your customers for feedback. Find out who uses your services the most, who uses them the least, and what each group of users does for your organization.

This conference’s closing session began with a video of some of the highlights of the past five days. We saw many familiar scenes and many people talking, smiling and enjoying what we were doing. You could be in next year’s highlights video by attending HDI 2006 in Nashville, Tennessee starting on March 19, 2006.

The final speaker, Erik Wahl, explained how Starbucks, Federal Express, and Southwest Airlines succeeded by changing the game. Having great beverages at Starbucks was not enough. He said it was just the price of entry into that business. Their having great ambiance and creating hot spots where customers could use wireless computers were decisions that increased their success. He painted us a picture with both his words and his paintbrush. His multimedia approach effectively communicated his vision.