I have an affinity for technology and gadgets. When I was hired at Range in 2005, there was a technology shift occurring. The entire office was transitioning from desktops to laptops. Everyone was placing their old CRT monitors on the floor next to their desks. I was given a desktop PC. When I saw all those beautiful 17-inch CRT monitors on the floor, my mission became clear: grab 3 of them and hook them up to my PC! (Note: My desk was not big enough for 4 CRT’s. So that’s why I stopped at 3.)

At the time, my job centered on time-consuming reporting, tagging and copywriting. Switching back and forth between Excel and IE6 was not the most efficient method of updating a product feed. A triple monitor setup would make my life so much easier, so I did what no one else had done. I went eBay and bought 2 video cards that would allow me to have 3 monitors. (Note: Due to the basic quality of my fantastic eMachines computer, I had to get 2 graphics cards to make this work.)

3 CRT Monitors attached to a desktop PC (not my actual setup)

The video cards arrived a few days later, and I was all set for multiple monitor nirvana. It was an exciting time indeed. People in the office would walk by my room and say, “Hey, who is the new guy with the monitors?” or “Hey NASA, got enough monitors?” But I knew deep down that I was onto something, and a couple of months later I read a newspaper article that detailed the rise in productivity that occurs from adding another monitor. I felt vindicated because there were business managers who had outfitted their entire offices with dual monitor setups, and they sang the praises of productivity increases.

About a year later, one of my coworkers asked me if it was possible to hook up another monitor to his laptop. “Why, of course it is,” I replied. Over the next 2 years or so, all of my colleagues switched to a dual monitor setup. And our company practically doubled in size. Clients were amazed by our work and productivity. And in 2008, Range Online Media was acquired by iProspect. I’m not going to take credit for all of that, but it is clear that my affinity for multiple monitors played a role in our company’s growth and success. Right? :)

3 Monitors Hooked Up to My Laptop via the Matrox TripleHead2Go

Today, I have a laptop computer with 3 external monitors. In order to accomplish this feat of technological wonder, I had to purchase a piece of hardware called the Matrox TripleHead2Go (link). Using this device, I can output my laptop’s display to 3 external monitors. Effectively, I have 4 displays for one laptop. I use the laptop screen for email. One monitor is for Microsoft Excel. One monitor is for the interwebs. And one monitor is for IM, twitter clients, etc… It really is a fantastic setup!

Even though this is an awesome setup, there is another frontier of multiple monitor greatness. I think it is the next frontier for us. Allow me to introduce you to the idea of rotating your widescreen monitors:

This is amazing. 4 monitors: vertical, side-by-side.

These 4 widescreen monitors have been rotated 90 degrees. Isn’t that awesome?!?! I love it. I am jealous of this setup. Why? Well, I’m glad I asked.

Most website widths are not set to utilize the full width of our widescreen monitors. Most websites have a width of 960px or less, but the widescreen monitors display a width of 1400px. Coders, graphics designers and other people who stare at monitors all day long have found that rotating your monitors allows them to see more of the code, graphics or website page. By doing this, you can see more of the page below the fold. If you are reading code or reading a website, you should think about rotating your monitors. It’s amazing. You don’t have to scroll as often. Will scrolling become obsolete? I don’t think so.

Now, even if you think this is really cool, you must consider that most monitors are not set up to rotate. There are monitors that are built to rotate. They are expensive. And you also have to take into account the capabilities of your graphics card. It’s likely that your laptop does not allow you to rotate the image on your secondary monitor.

However, if you find this idea really cool and your laptop enables you to rotate the image of your external monitors, you have reason to rejoice. But then you are brought back down to earth when you realize that purchasing a stand for this type of setup can cost a few hundred dollars. My advice: save up, pay cash and get those monitors and the stand. It’ll be worth it. Good luck!

I’d like to say becoming unintentionally disheveled is limited to a couple of mishaps during my travels last week, but that would be lying. My history of client-related oopses is long and storied.

The spills began with my first Range meeting. Imagine, if you can, me as a fledgling account specialist. I’m young, new, unsure, wobbly and totally not cool. I’m nervous, I have no idea what to wear, the client is huge, and also, did I mention I’m nervous? So I try not to muck it up. I keep my FIRST EVER MEETING outfit simple, hoping that my black skirt and heels will keep the white-hot glares of imagined criticism to a minimum. And once I’m dressed, I think I look Professional, and people who look Professional don’t do things like busting ass down a flight of stairs, tumbling forward in a skirt or crashing spectacularly into the entryway of an office-park deli. Which, of course, is exactly what happened.

This would be the first of many such blunders, always trying to put my best foot forward, inevitably walking in with mustard on my shirt.

Flash forward a few years later. It’s a meeting with the same client, but by now, I’m leading this one. I’ve met with the big wigs numerous times, presented information, knocked ‘em dead, etc. The very last time I was there our meeting was held in the official corporate “conference room”. The table, I kid you not, was and is the biggest I’ve seen to date. Easily 200 yards in length, solid marble. There was so much technology in that room it was absurd. Remotes to raise blinds, switches to turn on switches—I felt like I was in the Batcave. So there I am, presenting away to a bunch of people who are new to our side of the business, and needless to say, I need to make a strong impression. Slide 16 speaks to this, slide 17 speaks to that, slide 18 has “sharts”. That’s what I said, out loud to 20 people, 15 of whom did not know me. Meeting black out ensued.

Cursed is probably a little dramatic, so I’ll just say that I’m a little accident-prone. Which brings us to my recent meetings with two new clients.

I Traveled last week and met with some clients. One gentleman who I was introduced to informs me that he is from Denmark, to which I quip back, “Oh, you’re Dutch.”

Him: “No, I’m from Denmark, I’m Danish”

Me: “Oh – Right. I knew that”

Meal continues, conversations span the galaxy, approximately two hours pass. The check is brought to the table when said gentleman offers to help pay, saying – “Let’s go Dutch?”

Me: “Wow, you guys say that too, even though you are Dutch?”

Him: I’M NOT DUTCH – I’M DANISH

Me: Thinking….I’m never going to win Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit or even be able to help my child in geography.

Finally, on the same trip, I had a few more meetings, all of which required a certain dress decorum. I wore new shoes for approximately 30 minutes before they had given me giant, painful, hellish blisters on my feet. We still had quite a bit of walking to do. Fortunately my friend/co-worker had some emergency band aids stashed in his backpack. Between meetings we escaped to a McDonalds for coffee and first aid. I get the band aids fashioned on – which, I might add, is an attractive thing to do in a restaurant full of casually clothed people when you’re dressed up and slapping adhesives on your feet. Band aids on and we go into the next meeting. Of course, the band aids have done nothing to alleviate the pain from walking on giant blisters. Walking into the meeting, I casually look down at my poor feet and realize that the band aids are now hanging out my shoes. And I’m walking through an office where the people are dressed better than I could even imagine dressing like on my best day and I have band aids flapping around like a pair of old, bloody pricetags. Pretending that I’m a still a class act (or maybe just invisible) I yank the band aids out and shove them in my purse.

And then I walk the rest of the way gritting my teeth, realizing that I really shouldn’t be surprised. In an effort to make me feel less alone, I ask you this: what meeting malfunctions have you had?