Note to Fellow Event Professionals: Keep it Classy, No Matter What!

I’ve been a professional event planner & producer in New York City for over 10 years, during which time I am proud to have helped create some truly amazing & memorable experiences for an awful lot of people. As the founder of the only company specializing exclusively in trivia entertainment & corporate team building activities in NYC, I’ve been additionally privileged to do what I love for a living, in the city I care about most.

But as we event professionals know, it’s not an easy life we’ve chosen. As the architects and implementers of what will be others’ experiences, the burden falls on us to ensure that everything is taken care of, from the overarching event concept right down to the smallest detail – not to mention dealing with the unknown, and putting out the fires which invariably pop up without warning. It’s no wonder that event planning has often been called one of the most stressful occupations in America.

For me – and perhaps for you as well – the most challenging aspect of event planning can also the reason we chose this field in the first place: people. As a “people person,” I’m not particularly good with tools & gadgets, and I loathe data; rather, I love engaging with and working with people, and know no greater satisfaction than creating memorable experiences for others to enjoy. But as we all know, you can’t please everybody – and when you’re in a people-centered business such as we are, you are bound to cross paths with those who want to make you pull your hair out.

Coming from the client service world as I do, I always do my best to bend over backwards for people whom I will be working with – or may potentially work with – occasionally to a fault. Since starting my own business 3 years ago, here are a few things which have happened which nearly drew me to insanity – tell me if any of this sounds familiar:

1. Someone called and asked about doing a large corporate entertainment event for her company – she had been recommended to work with us, was quite excited, and was ready to go – all that was needed was a venue. Asking if I could recommend any places per her specifications, I did a thorough search and provided some suggestions, which she then asked me to investigate further. Being the nice guy I am, I went so far as to arrange site visits with 3 places around the city, and provided a detailed overview of my findings via Email. After a week or so of follow-up calls without a response, I finally received a brief email: “Thanks for the venue recommendations, which are great. We’ve actually decided to do a different activity- bummer! But thanks for everything.” <forehead slap>

1. A prospective client Emailed me with “High Importance” that she needed to speak with me immediately about a potential upcoming event, and “by the way your phone number isn’t working.” After Emailing her right back and getting no reply, I checked our phone lines (worked fine) an then dug out her phone number from her company’s  Website, since she hadn’t thought to provide. “Can you call me back?” Uh, sure… An hour later, midway through answering one of her questions, she cut me off again: “Can you just Email me something?” Okay…sent it right along. Didn’t hear back for a number of days, so I sent a follow-up. “Thanks, not interested but will keep you in mind,” was the reply. Any feedback on why? “No.” <forehead slap>

1. I sent an exhaustive, carefully-written interview request to a little-known, yet nationally-respected expert for my blog – an award-winning Ivy League professor I’d actually worked with before during my tenure as director of adult education programs at the 92nd Street Y. His 1-sentence Email response to my gracious and effusive letter was, “What’s the honorarium?” Taken aback, I wrote that it was a simple blog questionnaire which my audience would appreciate, but that I would happily promote his Website, books, and in fact anything else he wanted. His 2-word reply? “I’ll pass.” <forehead slap>

Why am I sharing these 3 stories with you? In each case, I did my level best to be gracious, accommodating and go above and beyond with the best of intentions, with disastrous (and in hindsight, somewhat predictable) results. As a professional entertainment event planner, 99% of the people I come across are absolutely wonderful, pleasant and fun to work with – yet there are invariably those other types of people as well, and for the sake of professional reputation, I must be willing to tolerate and accept a certain level of injustice from the world.

Yes, I would have been well within my rights under each of the above examples to tell the other person exactly what was on my mind, and could have easily put them square in their places for being rude, unprofessional and/or wasting my time. But I didn’t, because absolutely no good would have come of it. I can picture it now: I land the knockout blows and feel vindicated – right up until I see the horrendous revenge reviews posted on Yelp. Rather, I swallowed my pride and turned the page with each of the above people the same way: I thanked them for their time, wished them well, and moved on.

And thus is my weekend advice to you, my fellow corporate event planners – be you professional, amateur, or simply running this year’s holiday party: keep it classy, no matter what. In the words of Dr. Cornel West: “Remain dignified, even when you’re justified.”

It isn’t pleasant, and it isn’t fair. But it’s the right thing to do.