A while back, my company, which is based in State College, PA, was headed for a show in Orlando, FL, in December, a time of year when the Florida sunshine was a blessed relief from the blustery winds of Pennsylvania. As the event manager, I arrived in Orlando on a Friday to oversee setup of our 10-by-20-foot display. One of the staffers scheduled to work the show with me was planning to arrive Saturday night, and the other was coming Sunday morning, leaving plenty of cushion before the opening reception Sunday evening.

All week, I had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast, which had been wishy-washy about whether the East Coast was going to get hit with a winter storm over the weekend. But by Saturday morning, forecasters were promising major headaches for travelers. Nevertheless, my colleagues said they were sticking to the schedule because no airport delays had been announced. The plan gave me a kind of sick feeling in my gut, but I crossed my fingers and went back to supervising the installation.

Sure enough, by the time I was heading back to my hotel that evening, all heck had broken loose in the weather world, and nobody in Pennsylvania was going anywhere, including my colleagues. I pictured myself standing alone in our 20-foot space with two blank monitors, as our data-analytics presentations were on my co-workers' computers, and that sick sense in my stomach was starting to feel like a gut punch instead.

With less than 24 hours before the show, I needed a couple more bodies in that booth, and they would have to be able to talk intelligently about my company's software-analytics products. We had staffers in locations around the country that we could potentially call in, but the trick was going to be tracking them down on a Saturday night.

My firm had two product-training instructors in Florida. A call to the first one was a dead end, as he was stuck in Chicago because of the storm. The second trainer, however, was at home in Tampa, FL, and he cheerfully agreed to drop everything and drive to Orlando the following day.

Another trainer in Texas had just left the airport. His flight to State College had been cancelled. He wasn't sure if he could get on a flight to Orlando, but he promised to try. Then I let the staffers in State College know that I had a bandage of a solution in place.

What none of those colleagues knew was that I problem solving from the whirlpool spa in my hotel room with a glass of wine in my hand. I figured there was no better way to stay calm during a crisis than that.

The next morning, I learned that the Texas rep would arrive early that evening, and the Tampa trainer would be in by 2 p.m. Also, the folks in State College were still trying to book flights, and there was a chance I'd end up with four co-workers. The experience was a good reminder that I need to trust my instincts, especially when it comes to weather, and that I should always book a room with a tub.