36. Disaster Averted

This isn't about online, but it's a good story anyway.

I had set up face-to-face sessions in Toronto & Montreal. They were at odd times: 5:30 and 8:00 pm in Toronto, and 2:00 pm and 5:30 pm in Montreal two days later. In each case, the client was summoned one hour before the start of the first group to help in preparations.

All this information was dutifully conveyed to the recruiter by telephone and email.

Toronto sessions came and went without a hitch.

On the morning before the Montreal sessions, I telephoned the Montreal facility. I told them I was the moderator working the next day, at 2 pm and 5:30 pm. I wanted to confirm that someone would be available to accept delivery of materials for the study.

Later that afternoon, the recruiter emailed me to wonder what the real time of the sessions in Montreal were. Worried, I contacted her & discovered that she had always believed that the sessions were at 1 pm, not 2 pm. The participants, facilities, and translators were all primed for a 1 pm start while moderator & observers were working on a 2 pm start!

Oops.

While we could have re-contacted the participants and re-scheduled them to the 2 pm slot, it made more sense for the moderator and the observers to get there earlier. Which we did, and had some very successful groups.

Morals of the story:

1. Deal with professionals: the recruiter was quick to offer re-rescheduling of the participants; the facility contact was a) quick to spot the discrepancy in times and b) professional enough to chase the cause down. Bravo!

2. Ensure that everyone involved (recruiters & facilities) provide you with an independant feedback loop that confims their understanding of the requirements.



The perspicacious facility, by the way, was MBA Recherche (http://www.mbarecherche.com/)