The Virtual Meeting Coach

(c) Cyril Helnwein, "Down the Rabbit Hole"

I’ve been stuck in a rabbit hole for about two months. I’m back.

I know it’s been almost 6o days since I’ve made a post here.  I apologize for the dead air. I can almost breath again today, so I want to catch back up and get going using this space to share my enthusiasm about web conferencing and other kinds of virtual meetings.

There’s a long story about where I’ve been.  You can read here, if you enjoy soap operas.

The short version is that I had a wonderful chance to take a two-week vacation in Maui with my sweetheart right after President Obama’s inauguration. We had two truly glorious weeks watching Mama and baby whales playing 200 yards off our beach in the cleanest sea water I’ve ever seen.

Clear water, gorgeous fish!

We got to snorkel and swim with gorgeous tropical fish and big sea turtles.  The flowers were stunning. The air was as clean and sweet-smelling as everyone said it would be. It was paradise. And John and I celebrated three years of the best friendship neither of us ever imagined we would find in this lifetime. It was the best vacation I’ve ever had!

I arrived back in Ashland at the end of the first week in February full of vitality, well-rested, and eager to get started on the 5 joint ventures I was developing with virtual meeting toolmakers before we took our break.

I threw open the door to my office on February 7th… and promptly fell right down a rabbit hole!

(c) SaraPhotoGirl, "Down the Rabbit Hole"

I’ve been using Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” for a guidebook to the crazy country – and even crazier natives – I’ve been dealing with since I got home from Maui.

The long and short of the journey is that while hundreds of thousands of people across the country have been losing their jobs and their homes, I’ve been suddenly thrown into having to find a new place to live and work.  POW! Right out of the blue. Middle of the winter. Smack dab in the middle of the economic meltdown.

Now, the great thing about working for yourself is that you own your job, so nobody can take it away from you. On the other hand, the really tough thing about working for yourself is that when YOU can’t do your job, the job simply doesn’t get done.  And for the next two weeks – for the third time in less than three years – I’ll be moving my home and my office again in Ashland.

So, I apologize for the dead air. It’s been so crazy dealing with what happened to my home and my office while I was gone that I’ve been unable to focus on this blog until today. (I have been making entries on my Posterous blog just to keep from having to tell the same story over and over again.  If you’re curious, feel free to read the story here: http://meri.posterous.com.)

So, what’s up next at The Virtual Meeting Coach?

Stay tuned for a 10-day CONTEST! If you’re willing to make a quick 15-minute investment,  you can win your own FREE COPY of my best-selling virtual meeting guidebook, “The Coach’s Short List.”

Details coming right up!

And, I want to publicly thank everyone who has called and mailed me with inspiration and support! Your thoughts, your prayers, and your pure unadulterated sweetness have made an enormous contribution to my peace-of-mind in the midst of chaos. I appreciate you more than I know how to say!

Aloha one and all! And especially to Karl, Joanna and Michael, Geena and David, Deedie and Dave, Jeanette, Ira, Martha and Bob, Sharon, Susan and Roxanne, Sara, Maria, Stepan, Lynne, and most of all to John and my sweet Lady. And a big namaste to Cyril Helnwein and SarahPhotoGirl for allowing me to use their photos to show how this C-H-A-N-G-E has felt. Aren’t they terrific?! Wish I’d made ‘em myself…