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Summary provided by summarization of the YouTube transcript, generated by ChatGPT, reviewed by Andy For the full show notes check out the blog at Video Game Tango! --- https://www.videogametango.com ---   Indiana Jones Game and High PC Requirements The guys expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming Indiana Jones game, but the discussion quickly shifted to concerns over its demanding PC specs. The game requires an Intel i7 10700K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16–32GB of RAM, and high-end GPUs like the RTX 2060 or RX 6600, even for minimum settings. For ultra settings, players would need top-tier GPUs like the RTX 4080. The high system requirements are seen as indicative of poor optimization. Comparisons were drawn to Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2, with Red Dead praised for its visuals and optimization despite being older. Frustration was voiced about the increasing trend of prioritizing hardware power over optimization.   Blizzard Updates – Warcraft and WoW Additional updates from Blizzard included news about Warcraft 1 & 2 remakes and player housing in World of Warcraft. Warcraft 1 & 2 are being remastered with higher resolutions and updated art. However, the original versions are being removed from platforms like GOG, sparking criticism. Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft would finally introduce long-requested player housing, although details are scarce. The discussion touched on GOG's legacy of successful optimization and their approach to preserving classic games for modern audiences.   Updates on AAA Gaming Bubble and Laura Frier's Commentary Laura Frier, a former executive in the gaming industry, was discussed for her YouTube videos analyzing the AAA gaming space. Her videos touch on key issues like the mismanagement of major projects, "toxic positivity", and the industry's inability to align with gamer feedback. She criticizes AAA studios for not listening to gamers and instead relying on overly positive reviews from gaming media. The conversation also delved into societal issues like backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in gaming. Toxic masculinity and resistance to changes in the gaming industry were highlighted as ongoing challenges.   Ubisoft's Decline and X Defiant Cancellation The guys discussed Ubisoft's decision to discontinue development on X Defiant, a free-to-play first-person shooter, due to poor market performance and profitability concerns. Ubisoft also shut down production studios in San Francisco, Osaka, and Sydney, with layoffs affecting 150 employees. The company's ongoing struggles were attributed to over-reliance on the games-as-a-service model, which is unpopular with many gamers. Broader criticism of Ubisoft included the underwhelming performance of Star Wars Outlaws and declining investor confidence, with their stock losing half its value in 2023.   Intel's New Graphics Cards (Battle Mage Series) Intel's upcoming line of Arc graphics cards, code-named Battle Mage, was introduced as a potential disruptor in the graphics card market. The B570 and B580 models aim to compete with Nvidia's RTX 4060 at significantly lower prices. The B580 could offer a 10–40% performance boost over the RTX 4060 while being $100–$150 cheaper. These cards are targeted at the mid-tier budget market, making PC gaming more accessible. The guys expressed hope for Intel's success to increase competition in the GPU space and lower inflated prices.   Indie Game Spotlight – Gnomes A unique indie game called Gnomes was highlighted for its creative mix of gameplay styles. Gnomes is a tower-defense game with roguelike elements and strategic resource management. Players build gnome villages while defending against waves of invading goblins. The game features a modular map system, synergies between different upgrades, and quirky aesthetics. Gameplay blends elements of Lemmings (UI), Loop Hero (strategic loop mechanics), and Luck Be a Landlord (meta-progression and upgrades). The guys praised the game's demo for its balance, fun mechanics, and whimsical vibe. They encouraged players to try the free demo available on Steam and speculated on a release within the coming months.   Broader Gaming Industry Trends and Community Plans The discussion concluded with reflections on the gaming industry's struggles with innovation, reliance on PR over quality, and the need for more competition. The guys expressed nostalgia for the golden age of gaming when the market offered more diverse and polished titles. They plan to stream the PC Gaming Show on December 5th and the Game Awards on December 12th. Social games like Jackbox may be hosted during the holidays for friends and community members alike!  

In this Episode, Andy talks with OptConnect CEO Chris Baird, and National Sales Justin Nichols. www.OptConnect.com ========== Andy: For those of you listening that this might be the first time you've heard about OptConnect, I encourage you to go listen to Episode #73 that Justin and I recorded probably a year and a half ago. Something like that year and a half ago, two years ago, and that'll be kind of like level one cellular connectivity intro, how it works, the benefits, all those sorts of things. What I want to do today is kind of hear from both Justin and Chris on where things, where their business has evolved since kind of. Entering the irrigation market. Justin: Yeah, that's awesome. Uh, you know, we entered the irrigation market about three years ago and we knew that we had a very good value prop based on, you know, other markets that were very active in, in our market leaders. And, and over the last two and a half, three years, you know, we've really started to scale in the irrigation market. I think today we have about. Four out of five of the large, you know, national distributors set up to be able to supply OpConnect hardware and services and about a dozen, uh, regional distributors as well. So if you haven't heard of us, chances are it is locally available at your, you know, landscape irrigation supply house. Uh, also just recently during smart irrigation month. We launched our brand new Ascend Dura device. And what's really cool about the Ascend Dura is it basically functions like a wifi hotspot on your phone. And so for the last couple of years, you know, we've really, uh, tried to penetrate the central control market. Uh, and now we have a new tool in our tool belt that allows us to connect to wifi only type of controllers. So you're. Your Hydra wise, your beehives, your ratios and any other type of wifi only type of gateway, uh, to be able to provide the same type of high level managed service to be able to troubleshoot. Now, not only the cellular side of that, but also the wifi side of that. So you can now bring your own wifi solution, plug and play and let us. Hit the easy button for you. Andy: Okay. Wow. So there's a whole bunch happening there and some of this I wasn't quite aware of. So why don't we step back? Because I had always thought of OpConnect as, as cellular, but you just said a bunch of wifi. So how does cellular and wifi come together? Justin: Yeah. So basically the wifi allows you to connect locally to a piece of equipment, just like you would in your house. Uh, and so we're able to make a local network connection via wifi. to that wifi only irrigation controller that allows the user to connect with a cellular device when otherwise they would have no means or way of connecting that external device. So we collect connect locally via the wifi network. But then all the communication is done on the cellular side. So when you're trying to do remote management, uh, Monitoring of a site like this, that's using a wifi only controller, whether it's light commercial, your own personal property, a vacation rental. We're able to manage that now remotely over the cellular network. And because of our managed service value prop, we can actually troubleshoot. Both types of those connections with the wifi. Andy: So can we like get a tangible example? Let's name a controller just to give this some context. Could we say like a Hunter Hydrawise controller? Would that make sense to talk about that? And just to try to, you know, have it more tangible. Justin: Yeah, absolutely. So you have a Hunter Hydrawise controller. Uh, you know, has 48 plus zones. If I remember correctly, they can go on a lot of light commercial properties. The cost is a little bit less expensive than that commercial unit, but you're relying on that property owner or that site's wifi connection. Perhaps they won't let you on their network. Perhaps the wifi signal isn't strong enough. We're able to put a cellular device that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot inside that controller or right next to it and allow any type of Hydrawise user to manage that system remotely over an OpConnect cellular network. Andy: Okay. So you bring another device, your brand new device, and let's talk about that device. Is it one device? Is it two devices? How do you get from the cellular cloud down to the Wi-Fi LAN or local Wi-Fi? Justin: Yeah, it's all it's just one device. So basically, we have the, the Wi-Fi technology and the cellular technology baked into a single device. It's fully plug and play, we can provide a NEMA 4x enclosure. So if it's You know, an outdoor install and you don't want to mount it inside that Hydrawise controller cabinet. We can just install it right next to it. There's no wiring that you would have to run between the two. And it's, it's very simple. It's, it's activated, ready to go out of the box. The Wi-Fi is turned on. We give you, you know, the SSID and password to manage that. We can change that on your behalf. Uh, you really don't have to worry about anything when it comes to setting up that local Wi-Fi network or managing it over the cellular network. Hmm. Andy: Wow. Wow. Okay. A couple of things I'm thinking, is this a single controller device or can you connect multiple controllers or even other devices to it? Justin: Yeah, absolutely. So just like you would with your iPhone, if you're traveling and you and your work colleague are trying to get on a Zoom call or check your email. We can connect multiple wifi devices to this single device. Uh, it also has four ethernet ports. So if we wanted to, we could actually hardwire four controllers into it as well. Uh, but yes, any type of wifi equipment that the landscape property manager or whoever it is. Uh, is, is utilizing at that site. We can connect everything that they have at that site, uh, within a, within a reasonable distance, obviously, uh, to the wifi, to the Ascendera device. Hmm. Andy: Does that change, you know, so thinking historically irrigation controllers don't really use a lot of bandwidth, right? There's just not a lot of bandwidth. What is the bandwidth of this device? And I ask because I'm just curious. Because somebody may want to, you know, get on their phone and watch YouTube, and from an irrigation perspective, that's a lot of data that historically hasn't been required. But how does that translate to the new device? Yeah, so the new Justin: device is called a LTE Cat 4. So that is kind of your baseline fast type of device, uh, similar speed to, you know, web browsing or, or app browsing on an iPhone. And so it's going to have the speed and bandwidth to connect multiple controllers or pieces of, you know, equipment that, that communicate via wifi. Simultaneously, so you're not going to have any lag, any delay, uh, any timeouts in your communication probably wouldn't, uh, advocate for them to use it as a hotspot to, to stream, you know, YouTube on just because there are data plans on the cellular side associated with that. Uh, and you don't want to, uh, get dinged for, for using a couple of gigs of data when your irrigation controllers are maybe set up for, you know. 250, 500 megabytes of data Andy: online. And I was kind of asking, not because I think someone's gonna get out their phone and start watching YouTube, but maybe there's an opportunity for a contractor to mention this to maybe, um, a municipality or a school district, something like that, so that they, the, you know, the client can get extra usage out of the device. Absolutely. And use it to operate other equipment that happens to be on the site. Yeah, Justin: absolutely. And so when you get into some of these commercial installs, you know, outside of just the wifi-only type controllers, you may have four or five, six controllers in a utility room, and we could connect all of those with a single device Andy: now. Wow. Cool. So I'm, I'm wondering if this would be a good time to discuss if a, if a contractor or a client, you know, is thinking of a control system, you know, XYZ, let's not name any names, controller XYZ, and that. The brand manufacturer offers on their own, both wifi and cellular, you know, how, what type of decision would they make or how would they make the decision to use OptConnect and choose, you know, this device that you're talking about the wifi hotspot or just your, you know, standard cellular device. Justin: Yeah, it would probably be a decision based on what their current infrastructure, you know, is in that area. Um, the device can support five Ethernet-based connections. No, I would probably still advocate for hardwiring it in. Um, but otherwise, yeah, uh, they would have the ability now with multiple tools in the tool belt to make an even more informed decision as to how they're going to connect their equipment or other equipment. Uh, in their room that they want to be able to remotely manage. Andy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. As well as I'm just thinking, uh, you know, my brain's just turning here. I'm thinking that there's a benefit to knowing that OptConnect is, you know, supporting the brand manufacturer with the installation so that the client doesn't have to worry about how reliable is the brand manufacturer's cellular. This takes that question away because now they can look at Your company OptConnect and see that this is what you do. So it almost like may reduce the risk of using, you know, an irrigation brand manufacturer. Cellular service. Chris: You, you bring up a really good point, Andy. And, and in our world, you know, we think of connectivity as more than just connecting it to a, uh, to a cellular tower and then allowing that to, to roam. If you were to use OptConnect over a different solution, say one of the brand manufacturers, there's an entire team at OptConnect that's dedicated to watching for certain events like overages and outages. We're watching to make sure that that device has a healthy connection. We're taking autonomous action. If it doesn't, uh, we're on the back end providing support in the event that, uh, the, the installer or the end user has additional questions or needs support. You know, anybody can pick up our phone and be talking to an agent in 30 seconds or less, get live technical support, single call resolution. There's the, uh, a layer that OpConnect brings, uh, professionalism. and satisfaction, if you will, to an operator that they might not get anywhere else so that they don't have to think about it. We know that in the world of IOT internet of things. If there is not a reliable eye, there is not a reliable tee. And we try to bring that stability so that an operator can go do what they're best. They're not best at sitting behind a computer screen watching for connectivity to drop. We are. They love to be out moving on to the next deal, making sure the grass is green, the client's happy and that everybody is, uh, is satisfied at knowing. That, that controller's connected reliably to the internet. Mm hmm, mm Andy: hmm. And I think as soon as, um, a contractor or client experiences an outage, uh, or when I say outage, I mean the controller's offline, let's, let's say it that way. The device is offline. A lot of the time, brand manufacturers can't tell the user why. It's just offline. You know, you got to roll a truck out there. It could be, uh, the power's out. It could be it lost, uh, uh, the connection and it timed out. You got to roll your truck out there. And from what I've experienced using OpConnect, one of the greatest benefits is to be able to explain, help explain why the controller is offline. Because just because the controller is offline doesn't mean it lost its cellular connection. Your device could be still connected and it's a great way to troubleshoot that remotely. Justin: Yeah, absolutely. We're able to eliminate a lot of variables without having to roll that truck roll, which is very costly. Andy: Well, Chris, since we have you joining us today, I would love for you to share, you know, I guess as much as you are willing to share in terms of how OpConnect kind of, um, got started or sort of the foundation of OpConnect, you know, before you guys entered this industry, could you share a little bit about that? Chris: Sure. It's a, it's a good story. I'll see if I condense it, can condense it here for us. Uh, there's a really interesting part of this story, which is, uh, I think there was some timing involved here and being a little bit lucky and having some, uh, some insights that were coming. We really cut our teeth. In another industry, uh, not in, uh, in agriculture, if you will, or in irrigation, we actually cut our teeth over in the retail industry, which, uh, specifically we were serving locations that were unattended, such as kiosks, ATMs, and signage. And what we learned in that space is that connectivity was becoming increasingly important, more and more difficult to procure and less and less reliable for people that were doing it themselves. So we set out to Perfect. A solution that ultimately became OptConnect. And over the course of a few years, we refined that and product ties that in a way that allowed us to take that same solution to dozens of industries, which we do today, we take each of these industries serious. We try to serve those industries in meaningful capacities. We try to be good stewards and participants of trade shows and organizations. We try to be thought leaders or partner with thought leaders to help enable them. But really what we learned through it all is that we had an opportunity to become an expert at something everybody else took for granted or thought as an afterthought. Thanks to the advent of the iPhone, everybody thinks that IOT connectivity can be as simple as an out of the box, powered on, uh, walk away solution. And we know the reality is, we've worked very, very hard to make that experience true. But otherwise, it generally doesn't happen, or it certainly doesn't scale to that, that capacity. So, when we started, uh, serving these various industries, our goal was simple. We want to make a out of the box experience, make it as easy as possible for anybody in any industry. to open a device, plug it into power, hook up the antenna, plug in the Ethernet cable and walk away. 30 second install. Uh, or we're not doing it right. And I'll tell you, it's taken a team pretty significant team. Uh, you know, a long time to perfect that to make that a reality. And that's what we've done today. Uh, the company really has evolved over, over the last couple of years, but we've really hit a stride as well. And we know where we provide value. We know where we sit in the supply chain, if you will, of our customers and how critical internet connectivity is. And, uh, you know, we just come to work every day loving what we do. Andy: That's great. I love how you mentioned, I think you use the word unmanned devices, something to that effect, and I couldn't agree more because there's a difference between something working all the time, or let me step back, there's a difference between when something fails, but there's a dude one door down that can just go, you know, restart it versus something that's unmanned. When it's unmanned, it really needs to work all the time because there's nobody around to fix it. And I think that's a, that's a great differentiator. And if you can achieve, uh, you know, close to a hundred percent success and an unmanned environment, that's, Chris: that's amazing. Yeah. You know, that's, that's just the reality of, uh, of where we're headed today. And especially if you fast forward in the history of the company through the pandemic. We learned that a lot of businesses turned to technology when the workforce sort of dried up, if you will. They turned to connectivity as a means by which they could be in multiple places at once. Uh, we learned through the pandemic as a nation and as a world, the importance of connection. And we certainly learned in the business world the importance of connectivity and OpConnect serves that and sits directly in that value proposition of being able to allow our customers to magnify their efforts and to be in multiple places at once, if you will, by essentially replacing the man on the edge with a device that allows our customers to see what's going on. And, uh, to, to trust and know that somebody's behind the scenes making sure everything's working how it needs to all the time. That's fantastic. Andy: I'd like to ask if you're willing to share how you came to the company, Chris: Chris. Yeah, I, that's a great story. I've actually been here since the beginning, since day one. And, uh, I was in a, an adjacent market, if you will, uh, working. Happily in that market, when the opportunity came about to take this, what we call our proverbial duct tape solution of a router, this is in 2006 when IOT wasn't even a word, right? Yeah. If you will, or even M to M it was all. what we would call telemetry, uh, and pull that together. And over the course of a couple of months, what we found is that there was a solution out there for the oil and gas industry that allowed for that remote telemetry to be collected. via a cellular gateway and transmitted to the cloud, if you will. Uh, and I, I think even then calling in a cloud was a big stretch. Uh, like I think about today, right? Very, very expensive solution. So I set out to, to, to find a way to get the cost down and to productize that, to standardize on what we did. And, and about two years later, after having some. Pretty phenomenal success, just word of mouth. We made the strategic decision that, that this could not only be a product, but it could actually be a business. And not only could it be a business, it could serve dozens of industries. And not only could it serve dozens of industries, but we saw the writing on the wall years and years ago that we were going to be moving towards an ever connected world that relied on the ability to connect ubiquitously anywhere, almost anywhere that you are. There's, we call them cellular deserts. There's very few of those that exist in the country these days. Uh, you know, connectivity is essentially everywhere. And, uh, we set out to. Find a way to to meaningfully connect our customers to the Internet, uh, and it's just it's been a lot of fun. We have had so many extreme use cases and different examples of things that have come to us over the years. And, uh, you know, irrigation is just one of dozens, but a perfect example of where we can add value to something that may have had a legacy solution that's either old, decaying or going away. You know, radio controllers and, and, uh, you know, traditional, uh, boring of, uh, and laying cable and, and copper underground, you know, those are days of past and, uh, with everything moved to connectivity wirelessly or cellularly, you were, we're in a perfect position to help. Andy: So over the last 15 years, has it just been smooth sailing, easy peasy, lemon squeezy, the business just grew, or were there times when. It was tough going and you questioned whether you were making the right decisions with the company. I love to hear kind of how the progression went. Chris: Yeah, you know, as we look back, it's really clear to see that we've always been under some meaningful growth tension. Whether we recognized it in the moment or not, uh, there were always things that we were learning and adjusting. And I've always been fond of a business that can, can look back in retrospect and make a statement, uh, something that's happened in the past. And for us, I, it's very clear to see that there were a few pivotal, what I call DNA altering moments that were make or break, lay it all on the line, uh, opportunities for the company to go after. Uh, I remember. Uh, particularly a number of years ago, a situation that occurred globally on on the Internet. There was a a vulnerability introduced to the Internet called Heartbleed in 2014. OpConnect was not personally, uh, you know, affected by Heartbleed directly. We didn't have any vulnerabilities in our system and there was no data exfiltrations. We never got hacked like was happening everywhere. to major companies. Uh, you know, if you had a online log in with the whether it was to an email account or social media account, almost everything was vulnerable. But what we saw as a result were a number of inbound inquiries, uh, testing our systems to see if they were vulnerable. And it was breaking the system. It was causing things to not be able to get out. And that was a make or break moment for us where we had to make a couple of decisions to move forward. 40, 000 customers to a new platform that was protected behind a firewall. We had to do that in the course of a couple of hours, which was unprecedented. That was like a six or a nine month effort that we, we got done in about a little over 24 hours. It's amazing what you can actually Andy: do when you constrain time. Isn't it? Chris: Oh yeah, Andy: absolutely. You tell your team to do something and they're going to tell you, Oh, six months. And you say, no, can you do it in 24 hours? Like, it's just amazing when you layer time onto something. Chris: Yeah. We, we learned that we're best when our backs against the wall. That's when, when the best in us comes out. Uh, you know, and then fast forward a number of years, I think every organization went through this reflective moment as. The reality of the pandemic was setting in quickly and, uh, you know, as businesses were getting shut down and people were getting sent home, you know, we, we look at that very, uh, very fortuitously. We had months earlier made the decision to enable a remote workforce. Everybody had a laptop. We had already fully adopted technology that allowed us to stay connected. Through, uh, back office systems and, and, uh, zoom and teams and, uh, and think chats, uh, chat tools. So it was a seamless transition for us that allowed us to get to a position where we could be not reactive to the situation, but actually helpful to our customers that they were trying to navigate, you know, sending remote employees home and figuring out how to keep them connected. You know, we quickly developed a solution that allowed our customers to send their. cut their employees home using our connectivity so that they could stay connected, get their job done. Every day. So there's there. It certainly has not been smooth sailing, Andy, but as we look back, we are also grateful for those experiences because they're where we stretched and learned the most. We have a saying on our wall that alludes to the fact that stretching is while it might be painful, it's where we learn the most. We believe that learning happens on the edge. And if we can keep our company on that edge of learning and catastrophe, but always stay to this side of it, we're always going to be in a helpful growth position. Andy: Fantastic words of wisdom. Love that. Thank you for, thank you for sharing that. Thank you for giving us a little bit of a history of the company. And I think maybe since we have Five minutes or so left. You could tell us, uh, what's on the horizon. Let's assume you guys got great market share and irrigation. Everybody's using your product. What's Chris: next? You know, I love this question and I love to put it into perspective too. If we kind of zoom out of the business world and just look at what's happening globally, the electrification of everything, uh, connectivity, you know, I knew that we were onto something at OpConnect in the business world. When I got a phone call from my parents saying they have a washer and dryer that needs to connect to the internet and needed help, I thought, okay, there's, there's the rest of the world kind of catching up and making it here. But if we look at fast forward, there's a couple of macro trends that we look at that I think are really important. Number one is the importance of scarce resources. Uh, as a country, for example, uh, it happens to be raining outside for us today, yesterday, we got an entire summer's worth of rain and about four hours, uh, people tend to think of water as free cause it falls from the sky. We know better if we look and step back. It's a scarce resource. We need to manage it appropriately. Where else does that happen? Well, it happens with energy. It happens, uh, in, in a number of, of different, uh, industries. It's going to happen with electricity. So if we can identify these macro trends. That are likely to either get regulated or just out of necessity be managed differently, and we can position ourselves to help facilitate the collection of data to help customers make actionable real time decisions that can be our guiding star on where we take the company next, um, as Thank you The world connects EVs. We're going to have to do that really smartly. There's just not enough electricity to supply. If you were to replace every, every internal combustion engine with electric vehicles today, we would be kind of crippled, if you will, as a nation. So we, that has to be built out as that's built out. It needs to be managed differently. It needs to be monitored. Uh, there may be times where it may need to be routed, certainly needs to be secure. So we know that's a macro trend that we can look at, uh, that will help, uh, drive, you know, not only growth, but meaningful adoption of connectivity and technology that allows us to use our resources better. We look at things like security, all types of applications of security, you know, regrettably, we live in a world where Where that is more important than it's perhaps ever been. There are more and more assets being deployed to more and more unattended locations that are vulnerable to various types of nefarious activity. Those need to be protected. They need to be monitored and, uh, and managed accordingly. So those, those are some of the ways that we try to think about. You know, macro tailwinds that could help guide us long term as an organization. Now, by no means does that mean we're willing to turn our back on some of the industries that we serve today. In fact, our plan is to continue to land and serve those industries long term, be experts, become a trusted household name, if you will. Um, the the OptConnected and the Kleenex of the of the world, if you will. And, uh, and that's our goal to just provide meaningful connectivity anywhere possible. It's great, Andy: uh, great plan and I think you guys are well on the way. I know I certainly trust your devices because I've used them and have experienced with them and the people that I've suggested to use them feel exactly the same way. It's kind of like once somebody tries one, they go, all right, I'm just using this. For all my stuff. I don't, I don't want to have to worry about brand manufacturer, ABCD ease devices. I just want one portfolio with all my devices. So I appreciate what you guys are doing and I appreciate how it is also kind of raising the bar in our industry and providing, you know, more contractors with more access to technology so that they can learn faster and maybe to use your words, you know, run their business on the edge a little bit as well. Absolutely. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much. Uh, we are running out of time and Justin, maybe on another, maybe we can do a, a sequel to the second episode and talk a little bit more about some particular, some other industries that, um, that you're involved with that are also, you know, water related, looking Justin: forward to it. Andy, thanks for having us Andy: back. Thank you very Chris: much.

After 30 years of working in the industry specialized in serving others, Andy has helped thousands of organizations build stronger relationships through shared human experiences. You're going to love Episode 40 of the 'Transformation Starts Today' podcast with the founder of AMI, Andy McNeill! Here's some background about Andy: For as long as he can remember, Andy McNeill has had a heart for hospitality. After 30 years of working in the industry specialized in serving others, he has helped thousands of organizations build stronger relationships through shared human experiences. He is a successful entrepreneur and founder of AMI, a global Hospitality and Marketing Firm that elevates the corporate meetings experience to the next level. Andy has helped thousands of businesses and Fortune 500 Companies travel to unique, once-in-a-lifetime destinations. AMI operates in 100+ countries and works on a global scale with some of the world's top brands including Salesforce, Mars Candy Bar, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and CVS Health. Andy is the host of the Destination Everywhere Podcast where he and his co-host, Todd Bludworth, give unique travel tips and destination insights from around the world. Here are some ways to connect with Andy: Websites: www.destinationeverywhere.com   https://americanmeetings.com/podcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/destinationeverywherepodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/americanmeetingsinc/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/ami-global-meetings-solutions-inc./ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-mcneill Special Free Gift: http://www.ourfavoritehotels.com/  Book: The Everywhere Book - https://americanmeetings.com/visit-destination-everywhere/ Dr. Jamil Sayegh – Life, Business, and Relationship Coach, Licensed Naturopathic Doctor, Facilitator of Energy-work Learn more about if or how I can help you: https://jamilsayegh.com/lets-connect/

HIGHLIGHTSThe prerequisites of scaling a sales organizationHow to define your ideal customer profileAre geographic territories still relevant?Challenges of the Chief Revenue Officer roleFounding CEOs aren't always the best leadersDon't rely solely on advice from venture capitalistsBe open to evolutionScaling strategies can be repeatableCommon mistakes that companies make when trying to scale upDon't try to change how customers want to buy your productTeam players are essential in scalabilityMaster the playbook and improve itAdvice for new sales leadersYour actions as a leader impact other peopleQUOTESAndy: "When you think about the CRO's role, it's so hard because you're navigating a market of sales teams scaling the company, hitting the number. But then also part of the job a lot of people don't talk about and you both know this really well, is you also have to set expectations and navigate with your constituents in the executive team, the board, the CEO."Andy: "When you have an executive team that's aligned and has patience and frankly has the ability to evolve over time and just kind of say 'alright, what's working and what's not', and it's an open line of communication, and that strategy doesn't change, that's when you see companies that win."Andy: "For the first time leader, it's not about you, and what value are you gonna impart to the team? And the third thing, how are you gonna create a winning culture? Because people are gonna want to come work for you, people are gonna want to generate pipeline. People are gonna want to really inspect the forecast. If you're gonna create a winning culture, they're gonna want to do those things. I think, as a first time leader, any leader, but definitely a first-time leader, how are you gonna inspire people to go in?"Andy: "It takes some really hard times to really reflect back and say 'well, am I really giving everything I can to not just work but to myself and to others that support me?' And when you have those three things really working for you, that brings out the best in you, which by definition brings out the best in everybody else. When one of those is lacking, everybody can see."Connect with Andy with the link below:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-byron-417a429/Learn More about Force Management here: www.forcemanagement.comTaking on a New VP of Sales Role? Key Resources: | https://forc.mx/3KTEismMore about Force Management | www.forcemanagement.comCheck out John McMahon's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Qualified-Sales-Leader-Proven-Lessons/dp/0578895064

“Inoperable brain tumor” - those words set off a journey of self-discovery that changed everything.  Bruce and Andy Ptacek share their story walking through what was essentially presented as a death sentence for this young wife and mother.  After being diagnosed, they went on a healing journey, which made their marriage and faith stronger.  They each share their unique experiences facing this fire and how shifting your perspective can change you from feeling damaged and broken to being a new and better version of yourself.  Listen in to be inspired to be new again.   Connect with Andy: For speaker bookings, coaching programs, and download her free resources to get started: https://andythenewgirl.com Instagram: @andythenewgirl Facebook:  Andy Ptacek   Connect with Us: Follow on Instagram -  @throughthefireshow @jeffshirrell  @tierneyshirrell   To personally connect with Jeff, schedule a free coaching consult, or join his men's mastermind-like community, go to the free Facebook group Your Story to Glory: www.facebook.com/groups/yourstorytoglory   To personally connect with Tierney, schedule a free coaching consult, or join her women's community, go to the free Facebook group Live BOLD Movement: www.facebook.com/groups/liveboldmovement   Thank you and God bless!

GUEST BIO: My guest on today’s show was an early pioneer of Web Standards, writing a best-selling book on the subject of CSS.  He then went on to found Clearleft, arguably the first dedicated UX consultancy in the UK.   He also set up dConstruct, the UK’s first digital design conference, and UX London, the country’s first dedicated UX conference.   EPISODE DESCRIPTION: Andy Budd is a renowned Design Leader and agency CEO. He started his IT career working as a designer. During his early career, Andy became a pioneer in the field of Web Standards. At that point, he published his first book – CSS Mastery. Over 14 years ago, he co-founded Clearleft, one of the UK’s first dedicated User Experience consultancies. In 2015, he set up the dConstruct conference, which was held for 10 years. It was the first design conference to be run, in the UK. He is also the founder and curator of Leading Design. That annual conference improves design leadership and management. Andy speaks at these and many other conferences that are held across the world. KEY TAKEAWAYS: (1.09) – The first thing I wanted to ask you really was about how you transitioned from the web standards and the CSS aspect or your IT work to founding Clearleft. Andy as a natural transition, and goes on to describe how it happened. He started his working life as a flash coder, creating games. From there, he discovered CSS. When he did he realized almost immediately that separation of presentation and content was the way to go. Baked into this were standards around accessibility and usability. Andy was an early adopter of web standards. He had the 3rd table list website in the UK. He got together with two other early standards geeks to found Clearleft. At the time he was already creating controlled vocabularies, working with information architecture, usability testing and much more besides. So, he was one of the first people, in the UK, to take care of user experience, rather than just making a site look pretty. For the first few years, it was hard to get clients. Nobody could understand why it took them twice as long to deliver a website and why the fees were higher. In time, that changed. Now, UX design is the norm. (4.48) – Phil comments that at the time Andy set up Clearleft, a lot of people would not have known much about UX. So, he asks Andy how big a part of educating people about education was to making Clearleft a success. Andy agrees educating potential clients about usability was important. But he goes on to say that the fact people had never really thought much about UX before was also a superpower. Nobody else was really doing it. As a result, as soon as firms began to wake up to the importance of UX Clearleft grew really quickly. This was especially the case when companies moved away from using websites solely for marketing. Once, they started to use their sites to sell things and transactions were involved the functionality of the website became far more important. (6.11) Phil asks if the introduction of new devices like iPads and SmartPhones has changed the approach to UX at all. Andy responds by saying that the tools have changed. But, the underpinning philosophy hasn’t really changed. The underlying problem-solving principles remain the same. However, the introduction of smartphones had an impact in another way. Mobile sites had to be slicker and better designed. At that point, a lot of companies woke up to how ugly, clunky and old-fashioned their main sites were. When they saw how good a website could look and what an effective sales tool that type of site was a lot of firms wanted to re-design their original websites. (7.44) – Can you please share a unique career tip with the I.T. career audience? Andy explained that for him no single thing led to his success. His approach has to continually review what he is doing and make little course corrections. But, he does say that working in a company where you are not the best at what you do is a good idea. It ensures that you are continually challenged and stretched. You need to be a continual learner and have a beginner’s mindset. This ensures that you learn new tools. If you do not, your knowledge becomes stale. At some point, those tools are going to become obsolete. When that happens, you are stuck. (10.32) – Can you tell us about your worst career moment? And what you learned from that experience. Andy has been very lucky career-wise. So, could not think of anything he would categorize as a bad career moment (11.47) – What was your best career moment? Andy has had a lot of great moments in his career. His first speaking gig went really well, so that was a highlight. Meeting Jesse James Garrett from Adaptive Path was also a great career moment. He was sat next to him at a book signing at SXSW South by Southwest. His work has also led to him traveling the world, which Andy has clearly enjoyed doing. Plus, over the years, he has worked with some fantastic clients. Spending time in Copenhagen working with Nordic Region Banks was a highlight for Andy.  Working with Zappos was also exciting. (13.38) – Can you tell us what excites you about the future of the IT industry and careers? Andy is fascinated by the rise of artificial intelligence. He believes that in the next decade or so, AI means that things are going to get really exciting. About two years ago, Andy realized he was a bit out of the loop when it comes to AI. Rather than read a bunch of books about it, he decided to pull a diverse group of people together to discuss where AI could take them. The result was really interesting. It is clear that the landscape is changing drastically. AI will lead to wide-scale automation. As that happens, jobs are going to disappear and be replaced by others. So, people are going to have 2 or 3, maybe 4, careers in a lifetime. That is why it is so important to be a continual learner. Some talk about there being a 4th industrial revolution. Regardless, these changes are going to create winners and losers, but it will also be exciting. Andy states that we are already moving away from hand coding using a traditional text interface. Coding is set to become more visual, with developers acting more like curators and editors than creators. (16.57) – What drew you to a career in IT? As a child, Andy enjoyed using the BBC Micro and Spectrum computers. While other kids were out playing football, he was learning to code. He thinks that his interest in sci-fi and love of reading gave him a curious mind, which is why he was drawn to all things tech. But, he did not realize that he could turn what he viewed as a hobby into a career. Nobody, in his family or circle, was involved in the IT industry. So, he was not exposed to the possibilities. After university, he did an aeronautical engineering degree. To do that he had to learn how to use CAD, which he really enjoyed and quickly became good at. Once he had finished his engineering degree, he went traveling for 6 to 7 years. During that time, he started to use internet cafes to communicate with friends at home and research his next destination. One day, while he was in one of these cafes he saw a guy building his own web page. He was creating a travel blog. Later, he met a web designer. He worked for 6 months and traveled for 6 months. Andy decided that he wanted to do the same. In 1999, he arrived back in the UK, bought a Pentium 486 and learned HTML and how to code. To do this he turned to several sources. One of which was a website called Ask Dr. Web, which was run by Jeffrey Zeldman. In time, he became a friend on Andy’s. It was him that inspired him to learn CSS, which eventually led Andy to where he is today. (21.25) – What is the best career advice you have ever received? When Andy set up his IT business he read a book called E-Myth. It contained one great piece of advice which was to make sure that you are working on your business, not in it. That means you need to hire people to do the day to day tasks for you, so you can be free to grow your business. He also explains that you need to see your career as a journey. You have to see it as a business and treat it that way. (22.24) - Conversely, what is the worst career advice you've ever received? You need a business plan is no longer good advice. It is no longer necessary. (23.52) – If you were to begin your IT career again, right now, what would you do? Andy states that when he got started in the design industry the bar was much lower. The tools and sites were so basic that it was not that hard to compete. You could easily get in at the bottom end of the market building sites for local businesses. Now big providers like Shopify and SquareSpace make it possible for people to put together fantastic sites without employing a technical person. (26.52) – What are you currently focusing on in your career? Andy’s focus is on helping others to unlock the power of the web. He is very appreciative of what IT pioneers have done to enable him to succeed. So, he wants to pay it forward and help others. (19.16) – What is the number one non-technical skill that has helped you the most in your IT career? Andy is a keen and experienced diver. In fact, he is a dive instructor. That role taught him the importance of becoming a good communicator. You are working in a dangerous environment, so you need to communicate effectively with your students. If you do not, it can be disastrous. Learning to be a good communicator has ended up helping his IT career in many different ways. (31.01) - What do you do to keep your own IT career energized? Andy works as a servant leader. He is a boss who is very focused on helping others to energize and progress their careers. Taking that approach has had a positive impact on his career too. It helps to keep him motivated and keeps his team engaged and contributing. (31.57) - What do you do in your spare time away from technology? Andy’s IT role takes him all over the world. Whenever he can, he incorporates a bit of leisure time onto his business trips. Doing this provides him with the chance to continue to explore new countries and cultures. Andy also loves good food. So much so, that he has made it his mission to eat at every one of the top 50 restaurants in the world before he is 50. He is really enjoying completing that mission. He still dives a lot and has recently tried cave diving. Andy has also got into bouldering, which is indoor climbing. He says it is a lot more fun than going to the gym. Participating in the sport has virtually cured the RSI he has picked up from his constant mouse usage. This is because climbing stretches and strengthens the muscles in the hands and arms. More importantly, it works the opposite muscle groups from the ones used while working with a keyboard and mouse. Bouldering is very popular with the IT crowd. A lot of it is about problem-solving. Planning your route and working out what techniques and hacks to use is all part of the fun.  (36.02) – Phil asks Andy to share a final piece of career advice with the audience. If you work in the design industry, you need a killer portfolio. A CV that shows career progression also helps. But, when someone is hiring a designer they want evidence of what you are able to do. If you are claiming to be a UX designer you have to demonstrate that fact. For example, when hiring, Andy wants to see photos from user research sessions, as well as interactive, paper-based and animated prototypes. If someone claims they can do information architecture, he wants to see sitemaps, content audits and controlled vocabularies. BEST MOMENTS: (4.34) ANDY – "These days, saying you’re a UX designer is like saying you breathe air or drink water. It’s just what all of us do." (5.45) ANDY – "Our clients quickly realized the benefits of not just making a pretty website, but making something that actually delivered business results." (8.27) ANDY – "It's always better to work in a company where you are not the best at the thing you do." (15.31) ANDY – "We're moving towards a kind of visual coding. I think we're moving much more towards being curators, and editors rather than creators" (22.53) ANDY – "It's important for you to be working on your business, not just in it."  (36.07) ANDY – "For the design industry, having a killer portfolio is everything." (37.34) ANDY – "A really good resume should be backed with a powerful portfolio that demonstrates that you can do these things."   CONTACT ANDY: Twitter: https://twitter.com/andybudd LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/ Website: http://www.andybudd.com/

托福雅思口语太难？快来和安迪一起学习地道的美语来征服雅思托福口语吧！ 今日话题：Should abortion be legalized? 解题方案：Problem+ Solution What are your thoughts on abortion? Andy: 500% nope Why are you against it? Andy: Because it’s selfish, immoral（无道德的） and unethical （无伦理的） to do it. Can you give me an example? Andy: For example, if a woman gets abortion, she is killing a life starting at conception（从一开始受精卵就是生命）. The gynecologist（妇科医生） will dissect （肢解）the fetus（ 胎儿）or child by using scissors（剪刀）, so it will be in great pain and then die, which is a torture（折磨）, cruelty （残忍）and murder（谋杀）. It has the rights to live, grow and mature（成熟）. What do you think about it? Andy: I think this behavior is abominable（恶劣的）, unjust（无公义的） and selfish of the women who have done it, who are doing it and who will be doing it. ...

托福雅思口语太难？快来和安迪一起学习地道的美语来征服雅思托福口语吧！ 今日话题：Do you think gay marriage should be legalized? 解题方案：Problem+ Solution Do you think gay marriage should be legalized? Andy: Yes, definitely. Why？ Andy: Coz if they are denied the right to get married, it’s a violation against human rights.（对人权的侵犯） Can you give us some examples? Andy: For example, if they are denied the rights to get married（被拒绝婚姻权）, they won’t have any chance of rearing children（抚养孩童）, sharing properties legally（合法分享财产） and even having a cozy home together（拥有温馨的家庭）. How do you think of this problem? Andy: I believe this is gonna be devastating（毁灭性的打击） for those couples. I cannot imagine how much pain and agony（痛苦） they are gonna go through（遭受）. So, should they be left there to rot and die （腐烂 死亡）without anyone to love or to be loved? What a...

So sorry guys we're not going country it was all an April Fool's joke! Anyway in this countdown you'll hear music from Muse, Fall Out Boy, Bruno Mars and much more! Hosts: Manjima, Sandra, Ruth and Andy For more information about future MTI Countdown updates, listen to past MTI Countdowns dating back to 2008, read through some of blogs, check out our website at http://www.mymti.org/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/past-mti-countdowns/donations