Commitment Issues: Bloggers Behaving Badly
Several ago my then boyfriend (now husband) and I threw a Halloween party. Getting both email and verbal confirmations from friends, we went all out. I made a ton of food from scratch and we purchased a very generous amount of wine and craft beer. We have a huge dining room table and there wasn’t a spare inch that wasn’t covered with the food for our guests. About one half of those that committed actually showed up. No calls or cancellations. I’ve seen this time and time again, but still can’t get my head wrapped around the idea that this is acceptable behavior. Photo credit: tuningpp.com.forsearch.net
This year alone I’ve been to many blogger events where I see plenty of empty seats for which a restaurant planned to have bodies in them. Just recently I was at a dinner and judging by the number of gift bags leftover, about 75 percent of the bloggers were no shows. Dishes included items like salmon tartare, lamb shanks and other delicious items. It’s lousy to do this to friends and colleagues, but irresponsible and uprofessional when it comes to running your blog.
Besides the restaurant purchasing food to feed you, often times the event requires extra staff (who require pay for longer hours). For this particular event, at least four staff members had to stay late. At yet another event I planned, a farm tour with transportation being provided, two bloggers emailed me just days before to cancel with flimsy excuses.
Talk is cheap. It’s easy to say you are committed but do you really follow through? I know how it goes. You commit to attend an event, and the day of you just don’t feel like it. Or you get a juicer invite. Too many people blow things off when something better comes along. I even had a blogger tell me point blank, “I’m going to say yes now, but I never know what my schedule will be like closer to the event.” My jaw dropped when I read that message. Have so many people really become so self-centered?
Here’s something interesting I’ve noticed about people. The ones that follow up and do what they say they will, honor their commitments and see things through – they’re successful, and good opportunities come their way. People that bail when something better comes along, or don’t follow up and do what they say they will, even if it is something as little as making an email intro to connect people, they tend to remain stagnant, never accomplishing more for themselves.
Not only does it damage your reputation, but it hurts all bloggers as those restaurants will tend to lump us all together. Next time you are thinking about bailing when something better comes along, please reconsider. You may meet a fantastic connection that could lead to great things for you and your brand.