Rain, Rain, Go Away

I'll always remember my first trip to Nashville, TN. No, I didn't enjoy a show at the Grand Ole Opry. I didn't marvel at the city's full-scale replica of the Parthenon. Nor was a night at the Country Music Association Awards on my agenda. Instead, I spent my first trip to Music City preparing for a trade show that got canceled, and watching as heavy rains threatened to soak my company's exhibiting schedule for the next few months. But thanks to some patience and solid evidence for an insurance claim, I was able to keep my show schedule on track and my budget under control.

As a trade show and event coordinator at ViaSat Inc. in Carlsbad, CA, I am part of a team that oversees a trade show and events calendar with more than 110 shows a year. One of them, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Customer Partnership Conference, was slated to begin May 3, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville.

After arriving in Nashville on May 1, I settled into my hotel at the Gaylord and looked forward to the installation of our 10-by-20-foot booth the following morning. But on that first night in Nashville, a major thunderstorm began drenching the city. While the weather report predicted sunny days to follow, unfortunately, the weather had a mind of its own.

The next day, as I worked with my installation crew, the clouds continued to dump water, flooding parts of the city. Worse, a pipe running next to the exhibit hall broke, adding to the watery mess. In fact, the flooding triggered a localized power outage, meaning the exhibit hall was running on backup generators. Despite all these problems, my booth was nearly completed by 5 p.m., so I sent the I&D workers home for the night.

Exhausted from the hectic day, I headed back to my room to relax before meeting with some co-workers for dinner. But my rest was interrupted when I heard an alert - a ringing sound from in-room speakers - followed by instructions for all guests to go to the Presidential Ballroom for an announcement. When I arrived in the ballroom, hotel management informed the guests of a nearby levee that concerned city officials and the predicted severity of the rains. Management told us they'd react accordingly if the situation worsened. After the meeting, my colleagues and I decided to brave the storm and head out for dinner around 7 p.m. After all, there was nothing we could do to stop the rain or potential flooding.

We returned from dinner just past 8 p.m. to find hotel security telling guests that the property was closed. Apparently, they felt the risk of flooding was too great, and moving to higher ground would be the safest option for all of us. So, with nothing but my purse - the staff wouldn't let anyone back into their rooms to get their suitcases - I booked a room at a nearby hotel for the night.

I was in a panic. Not only was I without my personal belongings, but my company's custom booth was in the Gaylord's main exhibit hall with the threat of a flood on the way.

Early Monday morning, I immediately called the hectic show organizers, only to discover that my worst fears were true. The Gaylord had been flooded, and my exhibit was under several feet of water in the show hall. While DISA had been canceled, that booth - in part or in total - was due at a number of upcoming trade shows and events on my calendar. I tried to get into the show floor to survey the damage, but hotel staff was adamant that no one was allowed inside for safety reasons.

I quickly called my boss and asked for instructions. She told me to stay on site and make sure we had proper documentation for our insurance claim. After all, that exhibit and everything in it, such as furniture, product samples, electronic equipment, and product literature, were worth a significant amount of money. Without a solid claim in process, my boss was reluctant to ante up for anything that had been damaged - putting our exhibiting calendar in jeopardy, or drastically limiting our investment in upcoming shows. Thus, as the rest of my co-workers headed back to the office, I stayed in Nashville to coordinate the documentation - photographs I was to take, along with whatever information we could get from our exhibit house - for our insurance claim.

So, as I waited in Nashville for access to the show hall, my boss and I worked on gathering information about what we had lost. We contacted our exhibit house, Exhibitus Inc. of Duluth, GA, and asked for a detailed list of all the items it had shipped to the show. Once I received that list, we started the insurance-claim process.

While the list was a huge help, my boss still wanted photos to prove everything was a complete loss due to the flood. So I waited and waited. But after a couple of days, the hotel staff and show management declared that the exhibit hall was closed indefinitely, and my boss finally recalled me to California.

From my office, I kept in constant contact with the folks from DISA, checking up on the situation. Finally, on May 11, I received an e-mail from show organizers indicating that I would be allowed into the exhibit hall on May 13 and 14. So, I caught a flight back to Nashville, taking my trusty camera along with several items recommended by health officials: boots, a mask, work gloves, and a flashlight.

Back at the Gaylord, I finally got a look inside the show hall and was stunned by the mess. It seemed the water had reached as high as 16 feet inside the room. Mud and debris were everywhere. Our booth was covered in mud, the walls having been knocked over during the catastrophe, and the pallet with our products was missing. I took photos of whatever I could find, but to just about any insurance adjuster, the pictures would be pretty clear: Anything in this room was a complete loss due to flooding. And my company would certainly be due a fair payment for its losses.

When my boss saw the photos, she felt comfortable enough with the evidence to greenlight construction on the booth replacement. For me and the rest of the trade show and event staff, this meant we would not have to decrease our investment or presence at any future shows. My exhibit house is working right now on a replacement that will be ready - an act of God notwithstanding - in time for our next big show, which will now go on as planned.

So I guess the old saying is true: Into each life, a little rain must fall. But with a solid insurance claim, you can rebuild your program and look forward to sunny skies ahead.

- Leilanie Ramos, trade show and event coordinator, ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, CA