Event Duration Limitations

The WEM is shifting to six-hour duration – big implications for BESS Developers in Western Australia!🔋 From this Reserve Capacity Cycle onward (for 2027–28), new batteries seeking Capacity Credits in the WEM must meet a six-hour duration requirement—up from four (existing four-hour batteries will get their current accreditation grandfathered for 10 years). The shift reflects the way SWIS peak demand is evolving: flatter, longer, and pushing well past 20:30. AEMO found that four-hour units were typically spent by 20:30 on recent hot days, just as demand stayed high. It’s nice to see the need for longer duration storage being explicitly signalled in the WA market. In the East-coast NEM, Developers need consultant forward price curves to correctly reflect the evolving demand curve to get longer duration projects banked.

✅ Why Limit Activity Durations to 14 Days in Project Schedules? In construction and project management, it’s a common best practice to keep individual activity durations no longer than 14 calendar days. But why is this so important? Here's the reasoning—and what you should do when activities exceed this threshold. 🔍 The Reason Behind the 14-Day Rule: 👉 Improved Monitoring: Shorter durations allow for more frequent progress checks, making it easier to spot delays or productivity issues early. 👉 Better Accountability: When tasks are small and time-bound, it's easier to assign clear responsibility and hold teams accountable. 👉 More Accurate Forecasting: Smaller tasks reduce the risk of overestimation or underestimation in effort and resources. Enhanced Control: Shorter activities allow faster course correction during schedule updates and Earned Value Management (EVM) tracking. 🛠️ What to Do If the Activity Is Longer? If a task is estimated to take more than 14 days: ➡️ Break it down into smaller, logical sub-activities that reflect real work steps or trade handovers. For example: "Install MEP works – 30 days" ➡️ split into: "Install Electrical Conduits – 10 days" "Install HVAC Ducts – 10 days" "Install Fire Fighting Pipes – 10 days" 📈 The Result? 👉 More transparency 👉 Better risk management 👉 Easier progress reporting 👉 Stronger control over deliverables 📌 Following this simple rule improves your schedule’s reliability and your team’s performance. #ConstructionManagement #ProjectPlanning #Scheduling #PrimaveraP6 #ProjectControl #EVM #ConstructionLeadership

Understanding AWS Lambda Timeouts :) AWS Lambda functions are constrained by a maximum execution time, commonly referred to as a timeout. The default timeout is 3 seconds, and the maximum allowed timeout is 15 minutes. If your Lambda function takes longer to execute than the specified timeout, it will be automatically terminated by the Lambda service. Causes of Timeout Several factors can contribute to Lambda timeouts: Large Datasets or Processing: If your Lambda function needs to process a large amount of data or perform complex computations, it may exceed the timeout limit. External Service Calls: If your Lambda function interacts with external services, such as databases, APIs, or S3 buckets, network latency or service availability issues can cause timeouts. Inefficient Code: Inefficient code, such as nested loops or recursive algorithms with high time complexity, can prolong execution time and lead to timeouts. Handling Timeouts To address timeouts in your Lambda functions, consider the following strategies: Optimize Code: Review your Lambda function code for inefficiencies and optimize it for performance. Use techniques like caching, parallelization, and algorithmic improvements to reduce execution time. Increase Timeout: If your function consistently approaches the timeout limit and cannot be optimized further, consider increasing the timeout value. You can adjust the timeout setting in the Lambda console or via the AWS CLI. Asynchronous Invocation: For long-running tasks, consider invoking your Lambda function asynchronously using services like Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) or Amazon EventBridge. This allows the Lambda function to process tasks asynchronously without blocking the caller. Batch Processing: If your Lambda function processes multiple items, batch them together to reduce the number of function invocations and overall execution time. Error Handling: Implement robust error handling in your Lambda function to gracefully handle failures and retries. Use exponential backoff strategies to retry failed operations with increasing delays. Monitoring and Logging: Monitor your Lambda function's execution metrics, including duration and error rates, using AWS CloudWatch. Analyze logs to identify performance bottlenecks and troubleshoot timeout issues.

We are in the knowledge era and it's beautiful to see wonderfully curated events being publicized every day both virtually and physically. Unfortunately, many of the organisers of these events do not understand the difference between each of these distinct functions. As an event emcee, I've had to help my clients understand the differences between each of these events. I'd like to share with you the differences between a webinar, masterclass, hackathon, conference, workshop, and seminar. 🔶A webinar is a virtual event for the purpose of an educational or informative session on a specific topic. The audience interaction is usually limited, typically through Q&A sessions or chat features. It is usually between 1-2 hours. 🔶 Masterclass can be online or in-person. It is an in-depth, advanced training session led by an expert in a specific field. It often includes demonstrations, interactive discussions, and practical exercises. The duration is usually between 6-7 hours and above or a full day spread over multiple sessions. 🔶Hackathon is a collaborative event where participants (often tech enthusiasts) work intensively on projects, usually involving coding and software development. It can also be online or in-person with teams working together to create solutions. The duration is 24-48 hours, sometimes longer. 🔶Conference is usually in-person, though virtual conferences are becoming more common. It is usually a large-scale event with multiple sessions, keynote speeches, and networking opportunities covering various topics within a broader theme. It includes Q&A sessions, panel discussions, and networking breaks. The duration of a conference is usually between 1-3 days or more. 🔶Workshop is a hands-on training session focused on practical skills and knowledge with participants actively engaging in exercises and activities. It can be online or in-person. The duration of a workshop is usually a few hours to a full day and in rare cases two days. 🔶Seminar is an educational meeting focused on a specific topic, often led by an expert or academic. It includes presentations followed by Q&A sessions or discussions. It can be online or in-person spanning a few hours to a full day. These are brief differences between these distinct functions. As an event organiser make sure you understand the differences as this will enable you to label each event appropriately without confusing supposed attendees or speakers. Every emcee should understand these differences to help their clients make better decisions. My name is Comfort Mordi. I'm a corporate event emcee who has over four years of experience moderating and emceeing events of different kinds within and outside Nigeria. If you have an upcoming event, let me help you make your event a success. Kindly send an email to flaminglampmedia@gmail.com. I always bring life and an electrifying presence to every event helping you meet your desired goal as a Convener. #theflaminglamp