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Cloud of Confusion?

EJay — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:58 +0000

Confused about “the cloud”? You’re not alone. Still, believe it or not, we may be nearing that point where we’re finished defining it and are moving into some clearly understood efforts and approaches. Perhaps IT managers can finally stop going to every workshop or conference on “virtual teams” or “whatever-as-a-Service” (the first was probably SaaS, Software as a Service).

We’ll call that the good news. And the bad? The cloud computing options are seemingly limitless. That a list of just the “top firms” in cloud computing runs to 100 is a sign of just how big this latest top-down paradigm shift might be. For now, though, the whole thing still seems big and a bit unwieldy – and hard to explain in the desktop computing vocabulary most people have learned via basic home and office use.

The real problem with “the cloud”

There is a dizzying array of activities surrounding “the cloud,” but that’s not really the problem – having choices is a good thing. But it gets complicated when you have to decide on vendors, choose commercial vs. open-source solutions, ensure the “portability” of applications among various clouds and so on. For individuals and firms exclusively using the Mac Pro or other Macs, Apple has a top-down solution in iCloud. But for PC users and mixed environments (like most companies), it can be messy.

Running a business has never been more complicated than it is now. Everyone is talking about “cloud projects” but your IT manager (or outsourced service) spends 70-80% of the time (and budget) just keeping things running. Now, if you’re a small post-production firm handling your own IT you may be comfortable with high-tech gear like a Xserve RAID rental but confused by all these cloud offerings. And it’s expensive to acquire the right skills whether you promote internally, retrain, cross-train, get a consultant or hire a full-time expert.

Public or private?

For larger firms a Private Cloud may be worth a look, so study the best practices of current Public Cloud operators like Netflix to see what you can implement. And it’s not just about what happens in the office. If you outfit your conference team with iPad rentals you’ll want access to your cloud for PDF brochures and other data. Universal access is one of the main reasons to have a cloud.

From chaos and confusion comes opportunity, as long as you’re open to change, new ideas and an incremental (read “cautious”) approach. We’re experiencing an historic change in computing and communications that will affect businesses on many levels. How inventors, vendors, businesses and individuals handle the challenges will chart the course of IT for the next decade or two. It should be interesting!

For event production rentals or post-production gear, CRE is your one-stop shop. We can support your cloud project with a room full of iMac rentals or mass storage. One call or e-mail does it – and if you know what you need already, use the Quick Rental Quote form.

Tablet Tech Is Changing Your Desktop, Too

EJay — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:30:00 +0000

“The times they are a-changing,” Bob Dylan sang over 40 years ago. He was right then, and he’s still right. In the tech world, change moves at supersonic speed, and there is so much to keep up on that doing so can be a full-time job. Lets take a look at what’s happening to Windows and Mac OS X as a direct result of advances in “tablet tech.”

Tablet tech…small is (now) beautiful

When the first practical tablet devices debuted in the early 1990s – Apple’s Newton, the Palm Pilot and other Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) – they weren’t ready for prime time. The CPUs were slow, handwriting recognition was spotty and wireless didn’t exist. Just making room for batteries required a larger form factor, the predecessors of tablet PC rentals. It wasn’t until the first decade of the 21st century that WiFi, faster processors and new battery technology got small and inexpensive enough to usher in the “mobile computing era.”

In the mobile universe, screen space is limited (compared to your desktop’s monitor) so icon-based operation, whether via touchscreens like on an iPad rental or smart phone buttons, is a sensible approach. Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Windows Phone (7.5 was just released) were all developed with ease of use in mind.

Icons, apps, constant connection

As devices began to proliferate and improve, special software programs (“apps”) were developed to do specific, focused tasks. While WiFi didn’t become a standard feature until just a couple of years ago, every device of every kind (and size) is now built to be “always on.” Expect your desktop OS – Mac, Windows and, to a lesser degree, Linux – to continue making communications and connectivity as easy, simple and fast as a phone. You will get a familiar “look and feel” whether you’re on a phone, a tablet/ipad or an iMac. At long last … convergence!

Many more small-device developments will find their way into both Windows and Mac OS X, but some are already visible in current releases. The latest Mac OS X release is Lion, 10.7, but it’s not the first to use elements of Apple’s iOS (now at version 5). The App Store is now, well, an app, permanently situated in the Dock, and like others in Lion it opens into “full screen” mode. With the newly inaugurated iCloud, which we wrote about recently, you can synchronize everything from work documents to iCal entries among all your devices, from the Mac Pro at your office to the iPhone in your pocket.

Mobile advances really are changing your desktop, and fast. Whether you need high-tech advice, high-tech gear – render farms, mass storage, A/V equipment – or the best trade show convention rentals, one call or e-mail (or a few clicks on our Quick Rental Quote form) will put you on the fast track to a solution!

Windows 8 – Tablet-Style Interface

EJay — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:30:03 +0000

Reports from last week’s WWDC 2011 conference confirm that Apple’s Mac OS X Lion (10.7) is going through a process of “iPadification,” borrowing visual cues and multi-touch gestures from the iOS that runs CRE’s iPad rentals. But the two operating systems will not merge. OS X will remain a computer-only creature while iOS will run Apple’s tablets and phones.

Microsoft has decided to think different, to coin a phrase. Following the botched Vista and the well-received Windows 7, Microsoft settled on a new tablet-style interface for Windows 8 and will deploy it for desktops, laptops and tablets. In the MS lineup, it will be phones not PCs, that have their own OS (now called Windows 7 Phone). Microsoft has to begin seriously competing in an insane tablet market of the iPad’s making.

Share and share alike

Windows has an installed base of some 93% of the world’s PCs. Sounds great, but it’s a big challenge: MS must keep existing Windows users happy on their desktops and laptops, while capturing (and satisfying) tablet users with the same user interface. Remember, too, that Windows 8 will be designed for touch functionality.

Blogger Mike Halsey runs the Web site Windows8News, where he recently likened the upcoming OS to a “mashup.” Programmers drafted bits and pieces of Zune, Windows Phone and Media Center Metro to fashion a tablet-type user interface, but “big chunks” of classic Windows are there to maintain the “MS look and feel.” Its designers must make it as efficient with laptops and computer rentals as with the various styles and sizes of wireless devices.

Shared OS…it just might work

Some pundits are dubbing Microsoft’s strategy a “have your cake and eat it, too” approach that will only work if MS can merge the two interfaces seamlessly. From recent peeks, official and otherwise, they may be getting close. In the Apple universe, it would be as if the iPad had a secret “stealth mode” for using OS X when needed. But that’s not how the story was written, and Apple’s astonishing success suggests Steve Jobs made the right call.

A shared-OS approach doesn’t make sense for Apple. Does it for Microsoft? Perhaps. If the company retains ties to Windows’ original, “old school” heritage as it moves into the mobile market – pads, phones, tablet PC rentals, etc. – it will have a potent OS offering real options. If users don’t like the Windows 8 “tile” user interface, for instance, they can easily switch to the “classic” Windows look. Windows 8 will be released in 2012, according to a Senior Marketing Executive.

Windows has always given users the freedom to choose software, hardware components and drivers, so providing a choice of interfaces builds on a core strength. CRE’s core strength is helping you break through challenges and workflow bottlenecks. Call or e-mail an expert Account Executive, or use the Quick Rental Quote form, and get hold of the solutions you need right now!

Windows 7: The Future Is Now

EJay — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:30:48 +0000

Microsoft’s Windows 7 really was an historic milestone for consumer PCs, and signifies a break from any MS operating system (OS) of the past. We have blogged about its various features and benefits, but besides the technological discussion there is an important business decision to consider. Corporate users need to understand that time is running out on Windows XP, even as the latest reports show that over 60 percent of all users are still running the older OS instead of Windows 7 (and a few still use Vista). CRE’s computer rentals can be configured multiple ways, but the fact is that Windows 7 is the future and the future is on its way fast!

Windows 7 is built to dominate

Industry observers are nearly unanimous in agreeing that Windows 7 is significantly better than Vista and XP, and figure it to will be the dominant OS for both the corporate and consumer users within three or four years. While CRE is a recognized leader in Mac Pro rentals (along with the rest of the Apple line), we also have high-powered desktops, laptops and tablet PC rentals that run various flavors of Windows. However, Windows 7′s impressive improvements in security, manageability and features make it the OS of choice going forward.

Many Mac users are keeping their eyes on Windows 7, too, since all new Macs have Intel chips and can run Windows both natively and in virtualization – meaning you can boot up directly into Windows, or run it simultaneously with Mac OS X with a program like Parallels or VMware Fusion. Many of the creative professionals who count on CRE’s high-end AJA Io HD rentals, and work with audio and video files, use both Windows and Mac systems and software to get the results they need. CRE is here to support any kind of digital work flow, and we work hard to stay on top of things for you.

The XP world is ending

It is vital that all Windows users know that Microsoft will not support XP after April, 2014. This means that we will likely see third-party support for XP start to dwindle as early as mid-2011, and it will really accelerate from there. Since preparing for migration might take from 12 to 18 months, there is time to schedule training on CRE computer rentals running Windows 7. If you begin migration planning sooner rather than later, training employees on the new OS should prove to be a wise investment. This way you can maximize worker productivity, control the process and make a cost-effective migration to Windows 7 before your XP computers become obsolete.

Call or e-mail our Account Executives with any questions about Windows 7 or setting up a training room for your firm – and, as always, if you know what you want already use our handy Quick Rental Quote form. Naturally, we can take care of all your convention rentals, meeting rental needs, or any other high-tech equipment you might need to get the job done. That’s what we do!

Thankful for Progress in Technology

EJay — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:45:51 +0000

Any number of new technologies could be called “life changing,” and we’ve written about a number of them – from “green monitors” in July 2009 to “wireless everything” a week or two ago.

For this holiday of thanks, we’d like to remind you how far we’ve come since the modern home computer era began in earnest in the early 1980s. If this doesn’t make you grateful for progress, nothing will!

First IBM desktop computers

IBM joined the home computer race in 1981, when it was dominated by small players like Commodore and Atari, by introducing the IBM 5150 PC. It used a 4.77MHz Intel 8088 processor, had 16KB of base memory and ran PC-DOS. It cost $1,600 for the base model, which sounded good compared to some competitors. But as Apple ads would soon point out, all the “good stuff” cost extra – floppy drives, more RAM, the OS, the software, etc.

The “grand-daddy” of all laptops

GRiD Systems Corporation pioneered many new technologies, including portable computing with its 1982 Compass 1101. This has been called the “grand-daddy of all present-day laptop computers,” although Adam Osborne may not agree. It had 256K of RAM, an 8086 Intel processor, a small 320 x 240 pixel screen and 384K of internal bubble memory that could store data after the power was turned off. It cost over $8,000. Today, you can get a new netbook with 2,000 times more RAM for about $200.

The first computer “for the rest of us”

The original Macintosh, released in 1984, had 128K of RAM, a single 400K floppy drive, no hard drive or way to connect one, two programs (MacWrite and MacPaint) and cost over $2,000. For about $1100, you can buy today’s entry-level iMac with features unimaginable to the mid-1980′s technology consumer.

The first successful laser printer

The first LaserWriter from Apple, released in 1985, was priced at $6995. Toner cartridges could cost as much as $150. You can buy a good black & white laser printer today for about $100, and a color one for under $200.

The first consumer-level inkjet printer

By 1976, the inkjet printer had been invented, but the few manufacturers making them sold the devices at very high prices to Fortune 500 firms. It wasn’t until 1988 that the inkjet printer matured into a consumer item, with Hewlett-Packard debuting its DeskJet model for a whopping $1,000.

At CRE, we’re thankful for progress, and we thank our customers and clients for allowing us to be a part of their progress, too. From high-end Mac Pro rentals to whatever you may need in the way of convention rentals, we are ready to help. Just make a quick call, send an e-mail or fill out our Quick Rental Quote form, and we’ll get right back to you – right now, with the right answers!

CRE Rentals – Tech Product Update, Part 2 of 2

EJay — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:45:31 +0000

Part 1 of this two-part update appeared Tuesday, November 3rd.

As we discussed in Part 1, the pace of technological advancement is positively dizzying. How can anyone possibly keep up on all of this? Well, the folks that do—like the folks at Web sites from AnandTech to ZDNet (yes, A to Z)—pore over every announcement from thousands of manufacturers, then summarize their findings by category. That way, another “layer” of editors and helpers, like CRE, can get the info we need to keep the users of our desktop rentals and our interactive kiosks updated on just the “tech they need to know.” Without further ado, here’s more news from the leading edge of technology.

HD video in the pocket

JVC’s latest pocket camcorder, the GC-FM1 Picsio, has four video and camera modes. You can record 1440 x 1080p video at 30fps (that’s HD, folks) and take 3264 x 2448 still images. Video is saved in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format to SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32 GB in size. Image stabilization minimizes camera shake even when using the 4X digital zoom, and high-end features include CMOS sensor and HDMI connectivity (currently the top digital transfer standard). In the hands of the kinds of pros that CRE knows, the video is good enough to import to Final Cut Pro for editing with a CRE G5 with Kona Card rental. Smaller can be better, too.

New LCD monitor

Acer Corporation has a new LCD monitor, the S243HL. The company claims this latest model is the first to have a contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1, with full HD resolution of 1920×1080. The slimmest 24-inch widescreen display on the market, it is under 15 millimeters thick, has an integrated speaker and offers energy-saving, white LED backlight. CRE has great LCD monitor rentals already, and is committed to the technology for its environmentally friendly ways. Compared to traditional monitors, says Acer, the S243HL can reduce power consumption up to 63%.

Wearable display

In the “wearable monitor” market, Vizix is set to release its latest video eyewear, the Wrap 310. The new unit features a widescreen display with 428×240 screen resolution, equivalent to viewing a 55-inch screen from about 10 feet away, and runs six hours on two AA batteries. Some of the professionals currently using CRE plasma rentals and other big-screen displays for exacting, detailed work in video, post-production and design work may want to keep an eye (or both eyes) on this developing monitor technology. Even today, this unit supports every 3D video format and connects to portable DVD players, desktop computers, laptops, Blu-ray players, iPhones and iPods. Companies like Vizix claim that, within several years, most highly magnified, detailed visual editing will be done on these kinds of wearable displays.

Need answers for your own technological challenges? Contact one of our experienced Account Executives—by phone or e-mail from our Contact Page—or fill out our Quick Rental Quote for a swift reply. We’re here to answer questions, offer solutions and reduce your crunch-time stress, and we’re good at it. Let us know how we can help you today.

That Was Then, This Is Now: Amazing PC Progress

EJay — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:45:58 +0000

With all the talk about how prices on this, that and the other thing are always going up, let’s stop a moment and bow, or at least give a polite nod, toward Silicon Valley, Poughkeepsie and Boston’s Route 128. Over the past 40 years, the tech titans of the FPCE (Founding PC Era) have given us the greatest ongoing upgrade at the biggest continuing discount ever. The saga of the personal computer is as fantastic a tale as any sci-fi story ever. Truth isn’t just stranger than fiction—it’s often got more magic and miracles in it, too.

The longer you’ve been using computers—and some of us had the original Apple, Tandy (Radio Shack) and Timex Sinclair models in the 1970s—the more you can appreciate the astonishing speed of progress. This is a tale that everyone working with computers really should know, and uses terms that everyone really should understand. If you don’t understand a kilo-this from a mega-that, you will never get the full impact of this amazing tale. So read on—you’ll be glad you did.

You can consult the accompanying Glossary whenever you see a new term (in red for its first appearance), but we’ve written the blog in such a way that you should understand much of it in context. Some of you, of course, are true experts, so if we’ve erred in any way, by commission or omission, drop us a line. We’re going to demonstrate just how much technological progress has been made in “personal computing.” It really is an awe-inspiring tale.

Basic computers in 1981

IBM introduced its first consumer-level personal computer in August of 1981, running on an Intel 8088 CPU with a clock speed of 4.77MHz, or 4.77 million cycles per second. It came with either 16 or 64kB of RAM, expandable to a whopping 256kB. It connected to a TV or a monitor, and gave you storage options that included one or two 5¼ -inch floppy drives, an optional 10MB external hard drive or your own cassette recorder. The software bundle? It came with an operating system. Nothing else.

With a monitor and a single floppy drive (giving you 180kB storage per single sided disk) it cost $3005 in 1981 dollars. Depending on how you figure it—Consumer Price Index (CPI) is one common method—today it would take about $2.50 to buy what a dollar bought in 1981. Translation: that IBM-PC computer would cost $7,512.50 (in today’s dollars). Now let’s see what type of desktop computer you can get today.

High-end computers of today

Entry-level computers today are thousands of times faster and more productive than the IBM-PC. The H-P xw8400 workstation that CRE rents is a high-end model – it comes with dual 2.66GHz quad-core Xeon processors, meaning eight separate CPUs. A single one runs almost 600 times faster than the IBM CPU, so we’re talking almost 5,000 times as fast with a rough clock speed comparison. Its 160GB hard drive holds close to million (932,000) times as much data as that single floppy. There are now hard drives 2TB in size selling for $200, a cost per MB of 1/100th of a cent, versus the floppy’s $30 per MB. That’s 300,000 times less expensive.

For the monitor, the comparison is between today’s 16 million crisp clear colors, precisely displayed by about 2.3 million pixels, with about 9,700 pixels per square inch—and a black-and-white TV with 480 wiggly lines for the entire screen.

Bottom line on PC’s Today

Today, you can store a million times as much, crunch numbers thousands of times faster and watch videos in beautiful, high-definition color. For a few hundred bucks you can buy a pocket-sized netbook incalculably more powerful than the room-sized, air-conditioned behemoth that helped send Apollo 11 to the moon—and you don’t have to be a programmer to use it, either.

If your needs are a little more down-to-earth, like a kiosk for a trade show or some extra video-editing workstations, CRE is here with solutions. Fill out the CRE quick one-click quote, call us toll-free at (877) 266-7725 or send an e-mail for a swift, thorough reply.

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Glossary

bit: abbreviated lower case “b”; the smallest unit measure for area occupied by data, measuring both where it is processed (RAM) and where it is stored (memory “media” such as tape, floppies, hard drives, SecureDigital and other flash memory, etc.); 8 bits = 1 Byte

Byte: abbreviated upper case “B”; 8 bits = 1 Byte; 1024 Bytes, in metric terms, is a kilobyte (kB, see below)

clock speed: CPU speed as measured in hertz (Hz), or cycles per second

CPU: Central Processing Unit, a computer’s “brains,” the fancy calculator

FPCE: Founding PC Era, a name and acronym for the years circa 1970-1985; we just made this one up, how do you like it?

GB: Gigabyte, 1024MB, or 1024 x 1024kB (1,073,741,824 Bytes); often considered “a billion” Bytes

k: lower case “k” means “kilo”; often considered a thousand (more precisely, 1024) of a unit

kB: kilobyte, or 1024 Bytes; often considered “a thousand” Bytes

MB: Megabyte, 1024kB, or 1024 x 1024 Bytes (1,048,576 Bytes); often considered “a million” Bytes

medium/media: a substance used for electronic storage of audio, video or data, from wire in early wire audio recorders to such magnetic media as recording tape; computer media progressed from soft-sided to hard-sided floppy disks, then to hard drives with multiple platters, Compact Disc (CD), DVD and, now, Blu-ray

memory: a term for both RAM and storage media, measured in Bytes

pixel(s): term created from “picture element” to describe the basic unit of programmable color in a computer image or display

RAM: Random Access Memory, the “head” or space where the CPU “brain” does its calculations

TB: Terabytes, 1024GB, or 1024 x 1024MB (1,099,511,623,680 Bytes); often considered “a trillion” Bytes

Hollywood and Linux: Riches in the Niches?

EJay — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:45:14 +0000

Every couple of years since the early 1990s, sometimes more often than that, you’d see an article in the Sunday paper or some magazine about Hollywood jumping on the personal computer bandwagon. Often the pieces were Macintosh-centric, as the creative community—from graphic designers and audio engineers to fashionistas and filmmakers—really did take to the Mac. When you see the kind of power in the Mac Pro line, which CRE proudly provides to professional power users, it’s fun to recall that PC partisans accused early Macs of being underpowered.

Although they proliferate widely in the entertainment business, Macs are not the only computers helping push pixels for Pixar or dub background vocals at the Record Plant. In addition to Macs, there are plenty of potent PCs, like the H-P XW8400 available from CRE, doing mission-critical work from Hollywood and Burbank to the San Fernando Valley. Interestingly, the evangelical fervor at the moment appears to belong to the “open source” boosters, industry watchers (as well as workers) touting Linux as the platform of the future. Rather than be cordoned off in a developer’s cubicle, Linux folks want to get “back to the feature” and get into the rolling credits.

Movie studio tech

Although it’s difficult to confirm, it still appears that just one major movie studio, Dreamworks, has deployed Linux throughout its whole operation, from the editing bays to the receptionist’s desk. It’s not the only OS the company uses, however, and every studio has its own mix of operating systems, hardware and commercial applications. They also create their own high-tech tools. In the render farm niche, particularly, many production companies run proprietary software that is written in-house, while relying on Avid and/or Final Cut Studio for their primary video editing application.

Founded in 1997, SpectSoft developed a Linux-based DDR (Disk Drive Recorder) called RaveHD for storing raw, uncompressed video. In a conversation with Linux.com’s Robin Miller, Founder Ramona Howard says RaveHD contains “some editing functions” but is by no means “a full-blown video editor.” She sees a “Swiss Army knife” model for the creative and technical sides of movie production, with a modular approach bringing the right tools to the right place (and time). “We could take everything we’ve done and apply it to an editor,” she says, “but it’s pointless to compete with Avid or Final Cut,” and seems to have concluded that any riches will be found in the niches.

Niches for all

Those niches are adding up now. Neither the resurgent Windows platform nor the new interest in Linux is detracting from the Mac’s solid spot in the creative arsenal, so there appears to be room for “all kinds.” Any entertainment industry pro doing modeling, video game development or special effects with CRE’s “render farm toolbox”—an 8-core Mac Pro with an additional 16GB of RAM and a 23-inch Apple Cinema Display—can attest to the Herculean strength of Apple’s desktop towers. Truth be told, plenty of audio, video and high-end graphics jobs are also being done on CRE’s powerful, flexible iMacs. A particularly potent and productive workstation can be fashioned by adding a 23- or 30-inch Apple Cinema Display to the iMac rental, creating two huge windows into the virtual world where you can work on animation, film and video editing, multitrack recordings or print production. And this same sort of power and flexibility is coming to computers running “the other” OS’s, too. This is good news for all creative folks.

Another metaphor used by entertainment industry creatives is the jigsaw puzzle. Depending on the task at hand, producers will bring the requisite equipment online to get the job done. Deadlines and job requirements can change at a moment’s notice—truth be told, often without any notice at all—which is why companies large and small call on CRE for AJA Io HD rentals and Pro Tools HD 3 systems to get the video processed, the drum tracks recorded and the finished job delivered. When you need the last few pieces to put your production puzzle together, call one of our CRE Account Executives at 877-266-7725 (toll-free), send a quick e-mail or fill out a rental quote web form. We’ll get right back to you, so you can get right back to work with the high-powered tools you need to get the job done.

Event Producer Potpourri

crerentals — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:45:06 +0000

Here is a roundup of some helpful tips, practical insights and valuable resources for the event planning professional. CRE is your headquarters for projectors, displays, computers and all your event production rentals and service needs, as well as your trusted source for good advice. Consider today’s blog a buffet and take just what you want. Let us know if you like “the food,” and we can make the buffet a regular feature.

Two computers are better than one

If you are making a presentation at a meeting, conference or tradeshow, take a lesson from the military and use the “redundant system” approach. All that really means is, whether you are using a laptop or a computer rental, make sure to bring a second unit with the same videos, PowerPoint presentations or other materials on it.

Any computer can malfunction at just about any time, for any (or seemingly no) reason. A backup is cheap insurance. You should have someone working with you so that as the main computer makes its way through the programmed material, your helper is keeping pace with you. (The backup, ideally, should be a laptop, regardless of what the main computer is, as the laptop will be easier to move and set up if needed.)

If the main computer crashes, you will be able to switch to a backup that is right in sync. You are then faced with a manageable 10- or 20-second fix – disconnect the main computer, connect the backup – rather than a show-stopping tragedy.

Make the speaker comfortable

There are plenty of professional speakers who make presentations over 200 times annually, and are poised and relaxed at all times. Others like to rehearse, sometimes for hours, and tend to fret. You should do your best to make them all comfortable, and here’s how you can do that:

Even if you’ve sent it six times already, give the speaker a copy of the agenda when they arrive.
Send a small, thoughtful gift to the speaker’s room the night before the event, and include a handwritten note with your sincere thanks.
Show your speaker the stage after it is set up. Most speakers like being able to visualize the room where they will speak when they are practicing their presentations beforehand.
Inform the speaker about the specs of the room (i.e., podium position, lighting, camera location, seating arrangements).
Provide bottles of the speaker’s preferred beverage within easy reach of the podium – and napkins or tissue, too.

New networking resource

An internationally known event professional, Italian veteran Julius Solaris, has a blog especially for event planners where he shares his many experiences and insights. The Event Manager Blog is written with an international readership in mind, and Solaris offers suggestions for reading and study, interviews a number of industry experts and asks tough questions of the virtual “event pro” community.

Solaris, a strong supporter of “open source” software, is presently working on an open source software solution for event planners. While that is being finished, Solaris debuted another terrific resource, a LinkedIn group called, appropriately, the Event Planning & Management Group. With more than 1,000 members worldwide, it is definitely worth a look!