The most bizarre ‘communication memory’ in Upstairs’ life so far has to be the experience of sorting out the heating in Shanghai’s all glass Science and Technology Museum ‘dome’, January 2007. 45 minutes before our 250+ corporate guests were due to arrive for their gala dinner (the ladies would be in evening dresses), we were shivering in our Puffas. Asking the venue manager to address the issue had not worked (informal cascade often fails). The next hour was spent running after our on-site supplier through tunnels and up and down the stairs of the museum, finally entering Flash Gordon’s boiler chamber. 15+ years communicating for a living and here was the greatest challenge yet. Gesticulating instructions to turn up the power and prove the resulting increase in temperature (15+ years of proving an implementation’s success kicking in here too…) to 2 local, apple-green boiler-suited technicians whose supper we were interrupting. While face to face internal communication IS best, hand signals, facial distortions, comic shivers, removing outdoor clothing (only) and actually going to randomly turn levers one’s self can also, for certain defined audiences, be recommended…

No footage of the actual ‘sit-com’ scene but take a look at the (warmer) night out they had. And save those dogs…