About the Computer System Problems on Sept. 27
About Computer System Problems on Sept. 27
Our apologies go out to all those who experienced difficulties on the morning of September 27 in trying to purchase tickets for the talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on October 13 at Middlebury College’s Nelson Arena.
Middlebury’s computer systems were overwhelmed by the large number of people who tried to buy tickets to this event during a short period of time. Anticipating that this would be a very popular event we significantly increased the capacity of our servers, but the demand exceeded any and all previous activity to our website, so our system struggled to keep up. The fact that everyone attempting to buy tickets continued in earnest to access the system meant that the internet flood did not resolve for some hours.
We expected the tickets to sell out rapidly and that many would end up disappointed. What we did not expect was that the pressure on our system would be such that the online experience would be so frustrating for so many, both for those who did and those who did not manage to purchase a ticket.
We know that this was a disappointing outcome for many people who hoped to be here with us in Nelson Arena for the talk. We also know that even if all our systems had worked perfectly, we would still have disappointed thousands of people because of the limited number of seats available. Nelson Arena is the largest available venue on campus, but for those of you unfamiliar with our campus, it is a medium size field house and not a university mega-stadium.
The good news is that there are other ways to watch both addresses by the Dalai Lama. The address to the Middlebury College community on October 12 and the public address on October 13 will be streamed live on the Web, for free, and can be watched by anyone with an internet connection. The link will go live shortly before each talk:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama - Educating the Heart 10/12/12
HHDL Cultivating, Hope, Wisdom and Compassion 10/13/12
For those near the Middlebury campus, there will be overflow viewing areas set up in the McCullough Social Space and Dana Auditorium, where you can watch the live stream from Nelson Arena. These are free and open to the public, and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Again, we extend our apologies to all of those who were not able to get tickets to the event. We hope you will take advantage of these other opportunities to hear the message of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on October 12 and 13.