How to find the answer when it’s not on Google

I am planning a trip to NYC to meet the OnFrontiers team there.

Problem is, I don’t know my schedule. I’ve been preparing for more than a year to compete in the Philippine National Games. It’s an annual event. If I miss it this year, I have to wait another.

I don’t want to miss it. But I don’t know when it will be.

For weeks, I checked their website everyday for updates.

It says,

Guidelines and other information for the 2017 PNG will be posted soon. Kindly visit this page regularly for updates. Thank you.

Before that, it was, “The 2017 PNG will be scheduled in late May.”

What does it mean? Is it going to be in May? June? July? Will it be in 2018?

Not knowing is maddening.

So I stopped what I’ve been doing for weeks — waiting, feeling anxious and uncertain. I decided to do the thing our clients at OnFrontiers do. The smart thing.

I looked for an expert.

I found an organizing official, called him, and asked when the PNG will be.

PNG tentative schedule is late November or early December.

Now I know. Finally, I can move on with my life and plan my trip.

And all it took is one phone call with the right person.

It’s 2017. But the answer — whether the question is the date of an event, a job, or where the scholarships are — is still with people, not Google. Because information (on google) is a commodity. Knowledge (in people) is not.