I have given myself a bit of fun by doing things like leaving my flat, three days' clothes, a hat and a phone in my backpack with the only settled point of transport being a booked bus, train or train ticket. And literally no plan for wherever that takes me.
Touring isn't like that. Touring is planned to the last minute and often there is no room for error: one slip and the dominoes fall. That happened in Qatar once: My ticket showed my flight time as 12:20. So I went to the airport shortly before midday. The flight had been at 00:20. That 12 hours cascaded into the next day and the one after that. I caused so much trouble for clients. Touring is knowing that you've got to be in the right place at the right time even if it means being a bit rude to people who really want to talk to you.
Like will happen in October: I had a carefully planned schedule: two days here, two days there with a travel / rest day in between. Two two day dates per week for four weeks. Easy.
Except that there's a bank holiday. After trying to refix all the dates, it was clear that to do that would mean extending the overall time to six weeks instead of four. I don't want to do that: keeping going is fine, slowing down is the route to exhaustion.
So I've moved the offending event back one day and now I have to finish the gig and dash to the airport, find the hotel and to be ready to perform with just 19 hours between the end of one gig and the start of the next. So anyone that wants to talk to me after the first one stands no chance unless they drive me to the airport.
The first venue will take me 30 hours to get there. Then after I finish the two days' thing there, there's a seven hour flight to the next gig. Seven hours is exactly the wrong length of time: if I fly that night, I'll end up arriving in the second city in the dead of night and will, no doubt, be confronted by a hotel desk clerk who can't get his head around the fact that I have a room booked and yes, I know I'm arriving at 6 am and he'll argue that he can't let me in because check-in doesn't open until 2pm. If I catch the first flight the next morning, I'll have no decent rest or sleep. But now, because of the bank holiday, I have an extra day off. So, there's three days for that seven hour flight then a two days gig, the dash to the airport and two days somewhere else.
Planning
I have found that the paperless office lacks a waste paper bin. But making schedules works best on paper. My best friend has been https://print-a-calendar.com/. There's a snowstorm of calendar pages in my office - where to be, when to be there, how to get there: they all have their own sheets because it's easier to cross-reference than to find information in complex, multi-layered, schedules on one piece of paper.
There are logistics for stuff other than me: delegates' material (I don't use slides) have to be in place the day before I arrive because I'm not humping it around with me. But ... can I rely on international couriers to hit 8 venues on time if I send the stuff from Kuala Lumpur? Or should I get it produced on arrival and despatched in country? Or should I find a local business services office in each town that will produce it and deliver it?
(It'll be the latter - it's what I've done in the past).
Such a tour is gruelling, physically, mentally and - perhaps most importantly, vocally. So I have two months to start walking a lot and to prepare my voice which, actually, hasn't recovered from whatever afflicted me after I returned from China a couple of months ago.
And then there's the hassle over a work permit. It might be that I'll need a sponsor to invite me. Most countries require that. But the sponsor won't be employing me and that might confuse the issue. I can't leave that until the last minute.
And then, of course, there's the marketing, sales and admin (I really try to avoid getting involved in that. I just want the fun stuff. And the challenge).
So, AUS. It's you, in all your springtime glory. Starting in the top end and finishing up in Perth, I'm doing a near full circuit of God's Own Country with a seminar/workshop series for lawyers, touching all the Capitals.
DARWIN 3/4 October, 2024 HOBART 17/18 October, 2024
BRISBANE 8/9 October, 2024 MELBOURNE 21/22 October, 2024
SYDNEY 10/11 October, 2024 ADELAIDE 24/25 October, 2024
CANBERRA 14/15 October, 2024 PERTH 28/29 October, 2024
Australian Lawyers are part of the group known as "Tranche II" under the current counter-money laundering legislation. Tranch i was banks, insurance companies, securities houses and a few others. For several years, the implementation of Tranch II has been opposed and delayed. But it's coming despite all the attempts to stop it.
I understand the arguments about professional privilege and the confidentiality owed to clients - after all, I was a solicitor when this all started 30 years ago in the UK. But even so, the pillars of the regulatory regime (not complex detail as has happened in the UK) actually bring positive benefits to lawyers regardless of the areas of business they operate in.
So, I'm looking forward to being on tour.
But i'm also very much looking forward to helping Aussie lawyers with the challenges, risks and benefits of an effective policy - and culture - to detect, deter and protect the firm, its partners and staff from the risks of being involved in financial crime.
Details: https://financialcrimeriskandcompliance.com/elan/web/training_and_educa…
