“Taking the Show on the Road” – Mobile Training

This is an interesting read that highlights just one of the many challenges of “taking the show on the road.”

Racing to the race: How teams outran the weather to Daytona
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/racing-to-the-race-how-teams-outran-the-weather-to-daytona-021214

We have had the distinct pleasure of meeting and training with thousands of students around the world in our mobile training courses, a tradition that dates back to the formative years of our predecessor, the Scotti School of Defensive Driving. What those students may not realize is all that goes into VDI’s Mobile Training courses, which we have conducted in more than 30 States and 20 countries in just the last 10 years.

While on a much smaller scale than those NASCAR team’s featured in the article (for stateside mobile courses we have two trucks and trailers to move up to 6 cars and, typically 4 – 6 members of the team…and, no, we do not have a corporate aircraft) the amount of work it takes Debbie Autera to coordinate all of the moving pieces is incredible. Who’s driving? Who’s flying? When do the haulers have to leave? Do we need ground transportation or can someone on the team pick up those who are flying in? Do we need rooms? If so, how many and for how many nights?

Now, try coordinating two or three trips simultaneously, which is not unusual! Like the rest of the team, Debbie knows the client comes first and VDI rarely, if ever, cancels classes (just once in ten years, due to icy conditions) and will go to extraordinary lengths to meet the clients needs, So she has had to deal with moving departures up to beat the weather, accommodating last minute schedule changes, etc.

She works closely with Larry Side on all of this, as he is responsible for staffing the projects, prepping the vehicles/equipment, prepping the haulers, getting folks to/from airports and making sure it all works on the ground, and keeping up with the changes which is no small feat.

And this doesn’t just happen once or twice a year. VDI typically conducts two or three mobile courses (and as many as five) a month. It’s not uncommon for the team and equipment to return to NJ after a week or two on the road, only to begin prepping for the next trip the following day! As an example, in July of last year, the team wrapped up a course in NJ and two days later moved ten sedans and four SUVs to two different sites in VA, conducted four courses simultaneously at those two sites for a total of 72 students while we were conducting another mobile course out on the West Coast, then loaded it all back up to get back to NJ where we kicked off an open enrollment course just two days later. It most certainly takes incredible effort on the part of the entire team to make this happen, but without Debbie and Larry no one would be going anywhere.

So our hats are off to the NASCAR teams and the effort it took to make things happen this week and to Debbie and Larry who make things happen for us every week.