Is Your Conference Like a Pair of “2 Hour Shoes”?

Let me explain…..

These are some shoes that I own.

When I first saw them on the shelf of the shoe store I inhaled slightly, a little breathlessly like supermodels do – they were spectacular…. “I was in love”.  Soft leather to gently cradle my feet, platform heels to bring me to a respectable height, in a beautiful shade of milky cream to match…well to match everything. I tried them on in the shoe store, rolling up the pant-legs of my jeans to see how they looked in the weird little angled mirror they have specifically designed for that purpose.

Oh.My.Gawd. Perfection!

They screamed, “Buy me!”

So I did.

The perfect opportunity to wear the shoes came soon after. I slipped into a glittery gold dress and put my magical new shoes on. They were exactly as I remembered….

Like Cinderella in her glass slippers…..off to the party I went.

I made my entrance in my new shoes….standing so tall in my platforms, the high heels forcing my rear end to create a slight “booty-tooch” which belied its age.

Flash forward two hours. My feet are bare and those damn shoes….objects of torture are abandoned in a pile under my table. I am walking slightly hobbled now, blisters adorn my heels….my booty no longer “tooches”. I am mad that I bought the damn shoes and feeling terribly disappointed.

My closet contains one or two pair of 2 hour shoes…..shoes that I once coveted, believing that somehow they would make me look different, feel different. They didn't live up to expectations.

I have been to conferences that remind me a little of my “2 Hour Shoes”. Events that lure me in with a fabulous website, creative marketing and wild promises of superior education and networking opportunities. Don't get me wrong, those are all great things......but only if they deliver.

Day one – fabulous

Day two – face palm…..disappointment….can’t get out of there fast enough

Hobbled with disappointment….barely getting through it, hating each and every step – looking for a way out. Fly home mad thinking about wasted time and money.

  

My office drawer contains one or two lanyards…..lanyards from conferences that cost me a lot of money to attend and unfortunately…..failed to deliver. They simply didn’t live up to the hype.

Last year I wrote a post called, “Pricing Disappointment” where I said, “You cannot put a price-tag on disappointment especially if it is a disappointing experience”.

In many situations you have only one opportunity to make a good first impression: to attendees, to sponsors, to stakeholders.

For a conference planner, there is only one thing worse than attending a crappy conference...and that is planning one.

Here are some tips:

• Don’t over-promise and under-deliver
• Promote clear goals and objectives
• Be honest
• Be transparent
• Be authentic

Judy 
(Stay tuned for my next blog post: "Green Meetings - Put a Bird on it!")

Things we can learn from the Super Bowl

We can learn a lot from the recent Super Bowl. We can learn that no matter how famous a celebrity and how often she might have sung the National Anthem, she may still benefit from a teleprompter. We can learn that even when John the technical guy said he plugged in Fergie’s mic, we might still want to double check to confirm so that her voice doesn’t mysteriously cut in and out during the half time show, making her sound like a commercial for dropped calls. Yes, we can learn these things.

I think the most important lesson though is never, ever, ever (did I say ever?) over promise on something and then not be able to make it happen.

It doesn’t work in relationships, it doesn’t work in business and it certainly didn’t work at the Super Bowl.

What am I talking about? You may have already heard about this story. Apparently, leading up to the Super Bowl, additional temporary seating for spectators was to be added to the stadium and tickets were sold for these temporary seats. Unfortunately, “incomplete installation of temporary seats in a limited number of sections made the seats unusable” (USAToday.com). So, what did this mean for those unlucky fans that purchased tickets for those seats? Many fans were found seats elsewhere, but reports state that approximately 400 did not and were forced to watch the game on a television set like commoners (aka – everyone else in the world). As one displaced spectator said in an interview, “I have cried three times today”.

Word in the blogsphere is that these fans were offered their money back, but to die hard football fans, all the money in the world wouldn’t ease the disappointment that they were feeling. It certainly wouldn’t cover 100% of the travel expenses or make them feel any better about painting themselves from head to toe in green paint which now seems silly considering they were going to have to watch the game from the T.G.I. Friday in their hotel. (Actually – the fans were taken to an area within the stadium where large screens had been erected for them to watch the game).

Sports fans are passionate. They can handle a lot of things, but they can’t handle it when things aren’t fair. The fact that they were sold something that either didn’t exist or wasn’t ready, wasn’t fair. They won’t forget…..ever.

Building additional seating so that more fans can enjoy the experience was laudable. Not having them completed in time for the big event, was a risk that they shouldn’t have taken.

You have heard the saying, “If we build it, they will come”….well these event organizers should have said, “If we build it, we will make sure it’s done”.

What kind of lesson’s can we learn? Well, we can learn never to assume anything. They assumed Christina would know the words, they assumed that the audio was fool proof, someone assumed that someone else had made sure the additional seating was complete. And you know what they say about assuming……yup, that’s right.

Update: It is reported that NFL officials have so far contacted 260 of the 400 fans that had to watch the game on television screens inside the stadium. Those fans can accept $2,400 and a ticket for next year’s Super Bowl, or a ticket for any future Super Bowl plus airfare and hotel accommodations.

Believe it or not, for many, that still won’t be enough compensation.