plan b PLAN A: A horse is a horse, of course of course. But equines need not be Mister Ed to cause trouble. Less than a week before its National Sales and Brand Leadership event, my client informed me that one of its vice presidents wanted to spice up his planned keynote speech. In keeping with the company’s rugged wild west image, the VP requested that we get some horses and cowboys to canter into a ballroom at Chicago’s McCormick Place during his presentation. I felt like I’d been kicked by a mule. With just five days’ notice, I needed to find some horses and get permission to bring them into the ballroom. PLAN B: Well as it turns out, you can lead a horse to McCormick Place, but you can’t get it inside the venue without a permit. While I knew my client had its own corporate horses, it seemed unlikely I could get them from a ranch in Montana to Chicago in five short days. So as my colleague, Brook, worked to obtain information on the permits I’d need, I started calling local stables in Chicago. Before long, Brook got some bad news: Any horse coming into McCormick would need all its health records, and those records would need to be up to date. For that reason and others — mostly having to do with insurance — it would be almost impossible to get our permit in time unless my client was able to send its own horses (with the proper paperwork) to the event. Hoping for a miracle — think horses flying first class — I called my contact at the company and explained the situation. Thankfully, having an executive order helps get things done. She promised me that the horses and their paperwork would arrive in Chicago on time. The morning of the VP’s speech, the horses, paperwork, and cowboys were all ready at McCormick. A city inspector approved our permit 10 minutes before the speech was to begin, and mapped out a circuitous pathway to the ballroom to avoid stairs and slippery surfaces that might stress the poor ponies. During the speech, the horses entered on cue, moseyed along the perimeter of the room, and took a small bow for the crowd. Afterward, the VP tracked me down and offered his personal thanks. Considering my earlier panic, this praise was definitely a horse of a different color. E   Sheila Bryant, account executive, MG Design, Las Vegas