The big day has arrived. You wake up earlier than usual and before heading over to the event venue, you check your email for possible planning updates. Everything seems fine.
No last-minute changes, delays, or cancelations. The speakers arrived yesterday, the number of attendees who confirmed their attendance is more than satisfactory, and all the logistic details are 100% confirmed and settled. You drink your coffee and walk out the door, confident about the imminent success of your event. Yet, when the guests start to arrive, the first problems appear. You realize that the system failed to register all the attendees and there are no badges for most of them, some of the audiovisual equipment is missing, and the Wi-Fi connection doesn’t work.
What should you do? Stop for a second, take a few deep breaths, and try to survive the event as graciously as possible. Why? Put yourself in your attendees’ shoes. You pay to attend an event; you come to enjoy a great environment, meet new people, and learn cool stuff. Instead, you arrive for registration and see the event manager cursing or running all over the place with a panicked look and the event staff throwing clueless looks at each other.
How do you think this would influence your overall experience? Panicked and stressed event managers and staff may leave your attendees with a ...
