Keith Dsouza in less than half a dozen tweets, undoubtedly, exposed how even after months of meticulous planning an event might fail to impress and even leave some people sour, when the organizers forget something as simple/important as customer delight.
To summarize the happenings quickly: 2 years back when Proto.in, a premium tech event to give startups in and around India exposure, was not as big as it is now, they needed some publicity. They borrowed the star power of quite a few bloggers by, in Keith’s words, “begging them”. They would send an email urging these star bloggers to write about them and in some cases even endorse them, which these bloggers quite happily did, for Proto.in surely was not one of those c grade events where people gather on weekends, burn some sponsors’ money and make merry. There was no written communication that these star bloggers would be invited for future Proto.in events in return for their support. Last weekend this years 2nd edition of Proto.in took place at Pune. Proto.in has grown bigger than these star bloggers and definitely more than Keith’s influential writing and hence didn’t bother inviting him. This left Keith in bad taste for he feels he deserves to be treated better for he always supported them.
Speaking technically Proto.in has not given any assurance to him that he would be invited formally for every Proto.in event in the future. Also Proto.in has grown quite big and with a cap on number of participants it does become difficult to accommodate everyone. And of course they are not charity.
Yet, there is something for all of us to learn from this episode. It is not just Proto.in, but many events organized in India, that compete with their counterpart events in US of A, do the same blunder. Proto.in is just a case in point. Of course, when you grow big in size, a few people are bound to bad mouth, but that is not the case here. One of the organizers suggested that Keith was being immature. I disagree. Proto.in could have easily kept Keith and others happy, without much effort.
A simple thank you note with a formal invitation, albeit not free, could have done the trick. It is a simple psychology of humans to feel happy and be more helpful, when the benefactor thanks them and remembers them every year.
Sometimes It is important to gather goodwill as you grow. I wish the Indian organizers would realize this someday.
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As a part of the organizing team, we did send out media invites to over 20+ bloggers and treated them on par with the mainstream media at the event.
If someone has been missed out, it is very unfortunate. But at the same time, if some blogger shows interest in covering the event and approaches us, we dont even think twice before sending him an invite.
Also, if i may clarify, the event is run by a not for profit society and there is no profits taken home by any of us nor do we get paid to do any of this.
Hope that clarifies.
Thanks,
Ravi
Hi Ravi,
It was never about how well you treat people now. I agree, that you treated the 20+ bloggers in last week’s proto on par with mainstream media at the event.
But how are you going to treat them in the next event? Invisible? Forget them? Because you have grown bigger and stronger than them?
You may gather short term goodwill by treating them good in one event, but using them and throwing them away won’t help you sustain the goodwill.
Also equating Keith to those 20+ bloggers or the bloggers who request you for an invite is simply insulting him more. In fact you folks asked him for a favor when you were not so big. If he isn’t important enough now, doesn’t mean you forget your stepping stones.
Both you and I know this has nothing to do with not for profit society or whether you are getting paid. So please don’t throw random facts, albeit interesting trivia, that doesn’t add value to the conversation. I shall assure you, no one here thinks you take the money home, so don’t get defensive.
They “begged” is it? Interesting
That almost reads like a standard social media release.