The value of honesty is overlooked and under appreciated.
However, it is becoming a valued commodity in the field of event management. Clients and customers are looking for honesty.
They expect event organizers to be honest with them. If the event organizers failed to maintain the expected level of honesty they demand, a lot of bad things happen.
One example is the current hot topic about a Hollywood actress supposed appearance to an expo. The event organizer announced that the Hollywood actress cancelled because of political unrest in the country.
Apparently, this pronouncement backfired.
The Hollywood actress explained that it is not her words and reasons for failing to appear in the event.
The two contradicting pronouncements of the Hollywood actress and event organizer created a wildfire in the social media.
The netizens are up in arms against the event organizer. The incident also found it’s way to the local media. Further fanning the incident to the consciousness of the particular industry enthusiasts.
At the moment, we do not know the effects of this bad publicity to the event.
One thing is clear; the event organizer’s reputation got a hit.
It pains me to see event organizers experience this predicament.
Expo or Convention organizing is tough. But since we decided to enter this arena, the onus is on us to be competent and mind every details of an event.
Bottom line, in this situation, brutal honesty is better than a sugarcoated advisory. Being honest may not spare the event organizer from the bad feedbacks of the customers because of the undelivered expectations.
The thing is, reputation is a premium that keeps on growing when you do the right thing. And when you put this reputation as a secondary element of your identity, it may have long term repercussions.
Event management companies in the Philippines can learn a lot from this latest incident.