July 26, 2006This Isn’t Y2K
When I told my convention roommate that I was going to a session on “immunizing your speaking business from the avian flu,” she replied, “Yeah, I remember Y2K. ” She figured since Y2K was a non-event, the Avian Flu was likely to have a mild impact as well. That’s why I was impressed when the speaker said
This isn’t Y2K
and explained why this threat is different from that non-event of 2000. When you know what the common objections to an idea are, address them first from your own side.
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Y2K was actually a big problem. Because of people like my friend who worked for some 50 hours straight fixing the myriad problems that came up, the vast majority of us were unaware of any significant problems.
If we all do our parts, the bird flu pandemic to come will not be unnoticable, but we can keep it from becoming a major disaster.
Comment by Sharon Campbell — July 26, 2006 @ 4:30 pm
I just want to pipe in because it really irritates me, an IT Professional, when people call Y2K a non-event. Y2K was only a non-event because of dedicated programmers and support professionals who worked endless months or years of overtime to ensure that it was a non-event. In my company, we worked overnight to do testing causing us to miss the biggest New Year’s party we will ever live to see… because we had to ensure that all systems were running correctly.
We can only hope that as many people are dedicated to making the bird flu a ‘non-event’ as were dedicated to Y2K.
Comment by Cheryl — July 27, 2006 @ 8:21 am
Y2K was actually a big problem that could have widespread negative implications and disruptions to our modern wired lives.
Many folks in the information technology and many other impacted business areas worked long and hard for over 5 years before Y2K to make it a non-event.
As we were celebrating the success of our hard work demonstarted by the non-event, it was quite amusing to be told by surprised families and friends (who were sort-of-disappointed) that nothing happened!
Comment by Siew Yong Wee — July 27, 2006 @ 1:32 pm
Okay, my many apologies to those who worked long and hard to keep Y2K from creating havoc. My intent was to point out that many believed Y2K was going to be a disaster and when the actual event happened it was nothing compared to what the reports suggested. As a result, there is a tendency for people to discount other potential threats. That’s why I found the phrase to be effective.
As Sharon suggests, the two events are certainly alike in that they need(ed) to be treated with respect and prepared for, not feared.
And, of course, it is difficult to get credit for the crisis we avoided. So thanks for what you did and thanks for letting us know.
Comment by merylrunion — July 27, 2006 @ 2:05 pm
Hmmmmm. Meryl, what does the phrase, “…address them first from your own side.” mean?
Comment by Cindy Mueller — August 2, 2006 @ 3:43 pm
Ooops…I used a pronoun that isn’t clear. Them refered to objections…if you anticipate a specific objection, it’s good to bring it up rather than waiting for them to, or worse, never addressing it.
Comment by merylrunion — August 8, 2006 @ 9:36 pm