One Table Please

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog titled, “Details Matter.” It was about allowing the Event Professional to guide you through the many details involved around a simple request for a “table” thus ensuring you get everything you need for your event to be successful. This last week, I was the recipient of the opposite experience.

I have said before I am not an online event platform guru. I learned through a life-lesson crash-course in 2020, alongside thousands of other event professionals, how to limp my way through a conversation with a programmer.

Recently, we needed to have our attendees register for different breakout sessions for an upcoming conference. This allows them to create their conference experience and see their agenda via the event app, and allows us as the organizers to limit room capacities and plan for crowd control. We asked our platform provider for the ability to do this. We got exactly what we asked for. No more. No less.

Yes, the attendees could sign up for one breakout session per hour. Yes, they could see the session title and description. Yes, I could limit the number of seats available per session. However, an assumption I made as a planner is that they could also see WHO was teaching each session, their bio, photo, and the attendee could print off their agenda. No, I didn’t ask for that. As platform providers and programmers, no, they didn’t think to include these features. They’re not wired to think about such things.

Nothing incorrect happened. I received my request, I got one table. He assumed I knew more about his world than I do and I assumed he knew more about mine. What didn’t happen was the knowledgeable professional (I am the customer in this scenario) didn’t dive into the details. He didn’t ask what my desired outcomes were; if I needed chairs, a tablecloth, or what my table was being used for.

Lesson learned for both sides of the equation: we can never, ever ask for, or provide, too many details.

Have you ever experienced mismatched expectations? Not just in this industry… but if you have, I’d love to hear about how you handled your encounter.
Please shoot me an email!

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