Nightshadow (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} illusionbreaker) wrote,@ 2009-07-12 02:43:00 |
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A thought on a larger example of what can go horribly wrong at a convention.
http://orange-envelopes.com/blog/2009/0
Original video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOq
If you want an example of how to destroy a brand of ANY kind, that's kinda hard to walk past.
In short...
Learn when to take responsiblity - Sometimes gunning for that short term defensive position isn't worth it, because saving your own pride there may cost you in the long term. A disgruntled or unhappy customer may only cost a few potential people, or a few hundred thousand, and the problem is you won't know which it is until after the damage is done.
The biggest mistake I've seen is to defend on the basis of personal pride, where being right matters than doing the best course of action. Even I get awfully close, although I generally remind myself before it gets to that point. I know better than most because I've watched so many other people do it, I might open a video library of them all.
There's very little, if any, malice in the story being told. It feels honest, and it feels genuine. The person did everything reasonable, and tried their best to get an amicable result, and eventually got denied even a reasonable result.
And it ended up working as a lightning rod for all the frustration pent up for everything that's happened to them as a whole.
The sad part?
Well, apart from the fact people are quite lucky I can't sing (Or otherwise Manifest, SMASH and Animania would have be in a lot of trouble about now) there's a lot of examples at major events around Australia where smaller versions of this happen.
After the recent spate of event management... unhappiness (Top Gear's deception is the latest example, although even football events had issues of the kind happen) I think it might be a good time to remind people in the industry to remember not to make themselves a catalyst for something like this. As well, since we've tipped over the growth stage of Conventions (People owe me money for that analysis calling it two YEARS in advance, now I think about it) there's a larger percentage of only marginally satisified people. It would pay well to keep them in your business.
So how do you avoid a disaster like the above?
That's not too hard. Remember you're not perfect, that you work in a SERVICE industry (yes, conventions are a PR exercise, not a factory that produces anything) and that the customer should always be your first pirority. It doesn't mean they're always right (The old addage is only accurate until the customer tries to break reality or the law), but it does mean that you should do everything reasonable to treat them that way.
Which means you should think from an attendee's point of view. A lot of planning examples I've been shown assume that the attendee will know everything that the organisers do... which is the last thing they'll know. They'll rock up to a convention with certain expectations... and knowing next to nothing about what it takes, nor will they really care. Think about your audience, and do your best. Just remember you won't get it perfect, and as long as you show you're human and actually will respond positively when people give criticism and feedback. Be genuine, not just trying to run your convention.
Vetting your volunteers is only part of it, because the sort of person YOU are will rub off on the people that report to you. It's surprising how easily you can tell what a manager is like by talking to the people who report to them.
Planning and running an event is not that much fun, I know - But passing on that frustration against some customer will backfire royally, even though it might make you feel better in the short term. It's hard to 'take back' a negative action, after all, and the person you target may just be able to sing, and just might be able to make a music video out of their experience.
Hopefully I won't learn how to compose a song anytime soon...
http://orange-envelopes.com/blog/2009/0
Original video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOq
If you want an example of how to destroy a brand of ANY kind, that's kinda hard to walk past.
In short...
Learn when to take responsiblity - Sometimes gunning for that short term defensive position isn't worth it, because saving your own pride there may cost you in the long term. A disgruntled or unhappy customer may only cost a few potential people, or a few hundred thousand, and the problem is you won't know which it is until after the damage is done.
The biggest mistake I've seen is to defend on the basis of personal pride, where being right matters than doing the best course of action. Even I get awfully close, although I generally remind myself before it gets to that point. I know better than most because I've watched so many other people do it, I might open a video library of them all.
There's very little, if any, malice in the story being told. It feels honest, and it feels genuine. The person did everything reasonable, and tried their best to get an amicable result, and eventually got denied even a reasonable result.
And it ended up working as a lightning rod for all the frustration pent up for everything that's happened to them as a whole.
The sad part?
Well, apart from the fact people are quite lucky I can't sing (Or otherwise Manifest, SMASH and Animania would have be in a lot of trouble about now) there's a lot of examples at major events around Australia where smaller versions of this happen.
After the recent spate of event management... unhappiness (Top Gear's deception is the latest example, although even football events had issues of the kind happen) I think it might be a good time to remind people in the industry to remember not to make themselves a catalyst for something like this. As well, since we've tipped over the growth stage of Conventions (People owe me money for that analysis calling it two YEARS in advance, now I think about it) there's a larger percentage of only marginally satisified people. It would pay well to keep them in your business.
So how do you avoid a disaster like the above?
That's not too hard. Remember you're not perfect, that you work in a SERVICE industry (yes, conventions are a PR exercise, not a factory that produces anything) and that the customer should always be your first pirority. It doesn't mean they're always right (The old addage is only accurate until the customer tries to break reality or the law), but it does mean that you should do everything reasonable to treat them that way.
Which means you should think from an attendee's point of view. A lot of planning examples I've been shown assume that the attendee will know everything that the organisers do... which is the last thing they'll know. They'll rock up to a convention with certain expectations... and knowing next to nothing about what it takes, nor will they really care. Think about your audience, and do your best. Just remember you won't get it perfect, and as long as you show you're human and actually will respond positively when people give criticism and feedback. Be genuine, not just trying to run your convention.
Vetting your volunteers is only part of it, because the sort of person YOU are will rub off on the people that report to you. It's surprising how easily you can tell what a manager is like by talking to the people who report to them.
Planning and running an event is not that much fun, I know - But passing on that frustration against some customer will backfire royally, even though it might make you feel better in the short term. It's hard to 'take back' a negative action, after all, and the person you target may just be able to sing, and just might be able to make a music video out of their experience.
Hopefully I won't learn how to compose a song anytime soon...
