By Thomas A. Parmalee
I’ve often thought about writing a book on event planning, but I’m not so sure it would sell enough copies to be worth the effort.
But every once in a while, something comes up as it relates to planning an event that I feel compelled to write about, as I know there are others out there who plan events who probably grapple with some of the same issues I have to navigate, and these issues also hold implications for attendees.
So, whether or not you work at an association or organization that plans events, or if you sponsor events or if you’re usually the one buying a ticket, I invite you to share your own thoughts on some of the most common pain points that I often face as an event planner.
Attendee Lists
When I first started planning events 20 years ago, these were not really top of mind.
But over the years, as we’ve increasingly become comfortable with email and communicating with each other online, I suppose, they’ve become a big deal.
Now, it’s common for attendees to ask me for an attendee list in advance. And at the meeting itself, there is often a downright revolt if a list of attendees is not provided.
At first, I was reluctant to provide such a list to anyone other than event sponsors, who after all are sponsoring the event to build relationships and win a handful of new customers. If everyone gets an attendee list, would this take away some of the perceived value of sponsoring the event, I asked myself.
Slowly, I began to come around to the idea that I should at least share the list with attendees in advance – even if they were not sponsors – if they specifically asked. Often, they simply want to know who else is coming, so they can see if any friends or colleagues are on the list and to set up a dinner or two. No doubt, they are also checking to see if their competitors are coming, as well. Dan Isard, founder of The Foresight Companies, always said a line I thought was funny: If your competitor is not in the room, you call them “a son of a bitch.” If they are in the room, they are your “colleague.”
Anyhow, as the years went by, I started seeing associations and various other organizations provide hard copies of the attendee list to everyone, often with much more than a name and email address. Often, these lists also include a person’s telephone number, business title and address. If someone signed up for an event with their home address, well, that is the address that is printed.
All this is to say that I gradually came around – based on what I heard from the attendees themselves as well as what I witnessed from others – to making the attendee list available, both in advance and at an event itself. Heck, I’ve become proactive about providing the attendee list instead of making it difficult.
Each event is different, but in funeral service – the space I’ve most often planned events for – networking is often one of the prime reasons that someone attends an event. The attendees have by and large demanded an attendee list, and it seems like a pretty small request given that they are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to travel to your event – and also paying an opportunity cost to be there as well.
Granted, I’ve tried to tone down the information I provide in such attendee lists compared to some others … I’m not sure everyone should be seeing someone’s phone number and if they want someone’s address, perhaps they should just Google it.
But someone’s name, the name of their business and their email address seems to be fairly reasonable information to provide when there is such a focus on networking and meeting people face to face as part of an event experience.
The Point …
I’m dwelling on this because I’m really interested in hearing what others think about this, especially since I had someone recently complain to me that their email address was shared as part of an attendee list that was made available to those coming to a business meeting of like-minded professionals.
This individual was not trying to be difficult, and I genuinely appreciate that they took the time to share their thoughts on the matter … but their viewpoint on this did strike me as being … how can I say this in a nice way … out of touch?
An email address is not a Social Security number, and the reality is – whether an attendee list is shared as a hard copy to all the attendees in a very transparent way or not – people are getting the attendee list.
It may only be the event sponsors, or perhaps it’s being provided on request, but the feedback I’ve gotten over the years is also being received by others who plan events. They know just as well as I do that the attendee list has become a battleground of sorts in the sense that if you do not provide it, attendees will fight you.
It seems to me that most associations and organizations have gone the route of simply giving attendees (most of them) what they want and providing a hard copy or electronic copy of the attendee list or at least not balking at providing a list when asked.
My other thought is that since this seems to be a pretty standard practice from what I can see, if someone were really that concerned about their email getting out, they should probably come up with a “conference email” that they only use to sign up for industry events. That way, their inbox won’t become cluttered with messages from people they’ve met along the way or who are trying to sell them various products and services.
For most, however, I suspect this is not a big deal.
I suspect that most people appreciate the value of networking so much that they may actually enjoy hearing from people they’ve met at a business meeting – even if they are suppliers, as the whole reason suppliers exist is to help individuals solve problems. And if it’s someone or some company that you are not interested in hearing from, well, just like the junk mail you receive in your mailbox, you rip it up (or in this case, you hit delete).
Right?
Or has everyone who plans meetings – me included – got this all wrong?
Truly, I want to know.
Nametags
Another common complaint revolves around nametags.
As someone who plans events, I always try to get this right, but I wish people would be more forgiving on items such as:
- Your nametag is missing: Often, this could be because you signed up for an event late, and materials were printed in advance. That could be the reason why your nametag is missing or the reason your name is not on an attendee list (which is another common complaint – one I receive much more than an attendee list being provided in the first place.)
- A mistake on the nametag: It could be that someone actually made a typo themselves when signing up for an event, and it’s all automated – that list is pulled into an Excel file and name badges are printed from there. Also, mistakes simply happen. You can choose to be gracious about it and grab a blank name tag (assuming one is provided) and print your name the way you want it with a Sharpie.
Food
The larger an event, the harder it is to keep everyone happy on this front.
I’ve often been amazed at how evaluations from the same exact conference will focus on the food, with some saying they loved it and others saying it was subpar.
The bottom line is you do the best you can, and it’s virtually impossible to keep everyone happy.
The other point I’d make is that if you are vegan or vegetarian, it really is incumbent on you as an attendee to either let the host know of your dietary restriction, so they can try to provide you with something you can eat or get comfortable with the fact that you may need to duck away and eat somewhere on your own.
I always strive to pick food with a certain variety, but it’s hard to meet the needs of everyone. You tend to pick an option that most people will be satisfied with versus an option that 50 percent of attendees will be thrilled with and 50% unhappy with.
What does that look like an action?
Well, I may love chicken smothered with barbecue sauce with a side of macaroni and cheese, but for a business meeting, I’d be much more likely to go with a selection of deli sandwiches.
I don’t think many people will love deli sandwiches … but I also don’t think many people will complain or leave unhappy with the fact that they had the choice between turkey, tuna, veggies or ham.
Coffee is always another point of contention … people love their caffeine, but you may not realize that at most hotels, it costs $65 to $85 per gallon. The costs can become prohibitive – fast.
I’ve walked that line generally by taking the following approach: Provide coffee up until lunch, and after that people are on their own. Generally, people have seemed pretty understanding of that approach.
The Temperature
My one piece of advice here is this: If the room is too hot or too cold, say something.
Often, the event staff are overworked and hustling about, and they may be sweating so much as they run around that they really do not realize that the room may be on the cold side.
Or, if it’s on the warm side, they may really be too stressed and distracted to realize that is the case.
Showing Up
Bumps in the road always come when you plan a meeting or event – and a big one is getting your speakers to show up.
Unforeseen circumstances happen – close relatives die, people get sick, or some kind of urgent business matter comes up.
Most people are pretty understanding and forgiving of those issues, including me as a meeting planner. What certainly makes my job easier, however, is when a designated speaker at least plans to send someone else from their organization (preferably someone just as knowledgeable) to speak on their behalf.
Nothing as a meeting planner is worse than you have put in all the hard work to make an event successful and you receive an eleventh-hour call from a speaker who says not only can they not make it, but there is no one else coming in their place.
Once, I teamed up with a preneed insurance company on an event. The keynote speaker they had chosen for the event – someone they were paying thousands of dollars – called me hours before the event telling me they were unsure they could make it.
I was simply aghast as they had no backup plan and nothing going on that I would consider a crisis that would prevent them from attending the meeting. They said something about a wedding – and not theirs. In that case, I had to push back quite a bit, and fortunately they ended up making the meeting … but it was awkward.
Another time, I had a speaker duck out of an event because they wanted to attend some type of family function … it was something like a sporting event for one of their kids or they wanted to go on a family vacation, etc.
Family first, they said.
Fortunately, they broke this news a pretty good time before the event, so I had time to set up a backup plan, but still, it was not enough time to resubmit CEU applications and such, so attendees lost out.
It was so upsetting.
I felt like telling the person that they were wrong – that family is important, but you made a professional commitment and unless it’s simply unavoidable, you should honor that commitment and put that before your family. No one was dying. No one had died. They just wanted more family time in this case.
I kept my mouth shut … but I will never invite that person to speak at one of my events again. I hope I don’t sound too harsh, but that’s the truth.
COVID-19, of course, was a whole different issue … it was interesting planning events during those days as I often found myself trying to cajole speakers to honor a commitment to speak at an event to save the bottom line, even when I could sympathize with their worries about becoming sick or traveling on a plane with what many of us feared was a deadly virus floating in the air.
Honestly, while I did everything I could to try to encourage speakers to come to an event during those days to prevent them from being cancelled and taking a big financial hit, I understood when they backed out, and I could not hold it against them. Those were challenging times to be in the event business.
I hope some of these thoughts have been helpful for both event planners and attendees … I could certainly write more, but I’m more interested in hearing your thoughts. So, please share them!
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