Ed Brill

Needed in Europe next Wednesday?

Next week, I'm in Zürich on Thursday for a customer briefing.  It's a quick trip, and my plan all along has been to leave Chicago on Tuesday night and return on Friday.  Originally, though, I had another customer meeting scheduled on Wednesday....which has just fallen through.

So I am now left with a couple of options:  
1) Fly to Zürich Wednesday night, do the Thursday meeting, and return home Friday, or
2) Fly somewhere else in Europe on Tuesday night, do a Wednesday meeting, fly to Zürich on Thursday morning, and return home Friday.

Now, the customer meeting on Thursday is really important, otherwise I'd have asked a regional counterpart to cover it.  So given that I am definitely going to Europe, the question is, how can I maximize the time investment?  I've asked my regional leaders if they have a customer situation that would be useful for me to get involved in on short notice....nothing has turned up so far.  

So now I'm asking you -- on a lark, admittedly -- is there a European blog reader with a good story on why I could stop by and visit their organisation on Wednesday, 29 March?  

Parameters -- I'm not just looking for something to fill time with...I've got a couple of purely social opportunities like that already.  A good, productive meeting about a current or potential use of Notes/Domino, directions, a competitive situation...something like that would be worthwhile.  Also, it needs to be somewhere easy for me to get to on Wednesday morning... Chicago has a ton of non-stop flights to Europe, plus most major cities are a connection away.  However, if I get in someplace at 2 PM, that doesn't make for a particularly productive day.  Oh, there also has to be an onward flight to Zürich on Thursday morning.

Comments and/or e-mails to ed_brill at us.ibm.com ... no commitments or promises, as my IBM colleagues are also still working this...but maybe we'll come up with something fun and fascinating all at once.