If You Sign Up For A Event, Please Go

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#1

Hello everyone, recently I have seen a big thing happening all around the IFC, this being involved with events. The first big time I saw this happen was this event there was supposedly 45+ people who said they wanted to come and would come, I was there and there was not over 45 people. This is not really fair to many people, it’s not fair to the other people who signed up for the event or the event sponsors and most of all the event creator who put several hours into making the event.

If You Want To Back Out Do It Earlier

If you sign up for a event but then realize that you can’t come that’s ok, you could have made a mistake on your calendar or just genuinely messed up and thought you were free but you weren’t. If you back out the day of the event it doesn’t really leave a good impression for the event creator of the event flops or doesn’t go to plan.

At Least Say You Are Backing Out

The biggest point of all, if you realize that you can’t come at least tell the event creator that you can’t come, don’t just be silent and skip it, take a moment to honestly tell the event creator that you have to back out and you can’t make it.

The biggest example I have experienced was my Auckland event.

This event had 18 people sign up but just 4 attended, really? 14 people couldn’t come? 2 people actually told me they couldn’t come but 12 people silently decided to skip the event and not do anything, this is ridiculous.

I hope we can all be a bit more fixed on event dates and times as this is something special about the IFC, let’s make events fun for everyone!

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[NEW THREAD, 32 ATTENDING, now sponsored by SWVA] The Austin Fly-Out @KAUS - 141900ZDEC19
#2

Maybe also something came up right away as in (1-2hrs from the event and don’t have time to tell them). :)

Agree, but people sign up for so many events and they don’t keep count. There could be a more fun/important events or sign up for 2 events at the same hour. As the event director it’s your job to tell people there’s 2 events on the same day!

-Hope you understand :)

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#3

Thank you for reminding us all of this. It’s just outright disrespectful to everyone involved making the event, making something for us to do that’s fun.

However, especially in some families where things just come up out of nowhere, I could see not being able to make it all of a sudden. But, I still think you should at least tell the event creator that you can’t make it.

Thanks for the reminder! :)

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#4

This happens in real life too. Maybe creating a “waiting list” would be a good solution to this problem. If people don’t show up within a specific time the waiting list starts.

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#5

Hah, like mine today. 60+ said they were attending, and yet there’s currently 6 of us :(

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#7

I was going to attend but I had network issues :(

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#8

Same, I agree. I had a BWI flyout and 19 people said they were attending and I had only 8 :(

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#9

I agree. Despite something occurring last minute as @ThomasThePro said, it is common courtesy to leave a message notifying of absence otherwise it leads to a bad impression. I’ve also observed in those events in very popular airports e.g KSFO where people sign up early for the most prestigious gates only not to show up in the last minute while that gate could have been used by someone who attended the event. It all leaves a bad impression.

Events should be a source of unity and with it the event host trusts you to attend the event.

Remember

image

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#10

One thing that really bugs me is when you see this…

“Event starts in 10 minutes, spawn in!”

and then someone says…

“Can’t make it.”

It bothers me when people just cancel at the last minute without even apologizing, explaining why they can’t make it, etc. It seems as if they had no idea until 10 minutes before the event that the event was happening that day.

Very well written post, I think more people need to see this.

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#11

Thanks for the post, as this is a really important matter!

For instance, I had 30+ people sign up for my Kai tak flyout last month, and only had 4 show up.

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#12

There is always a last minute thing that is unexpected. We all have lives.

Also many events can be forgotten about. I always create Slack groups or PMs for the event a week prior.

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#13

Cough cough 😉. Also you had 7.

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#14

I understand most of your guys’ struggles, I’ve had them too. But there are ways to potentially prevent these issues from occurring.

Me and my VA just held an event. Had maybe 9-ish people in total attend (probably more but). To make sure everyone was made aware with times etc, we made sure to make great communications with them. Such being a PM to remind them.

You guys cant just think that everyone will turn tracking on your event post. Someone people if not most sign up and forget, because they’re not being reminded.

No one owes you an explanation though. If they cant come they cant come. Simple. Don’t get upset. There’s more then just that 1 person coming :)

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#15

I have had this happen for all of my events, and it ticks me off. You might think that 120 people is a lot, right? Not as much as you would expect when half of those 120 actually attend.

1 Like
#16

The topic about the Ikea storming thing, is probably not a very good example because there were no sign-ups, just a simple poll.

I always create extremely detailed event PMs about all of my events to inform everyone, at least 3-4 days prior. I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t, and they’ll either tag everyone just an hour before it starts or nothing and they’ll just announce you can pushback. I can say that I’ve missed an event or 2 because of this reason.

Now, people not attending is part of creating an event that you should just be aware of. I had 70+ people sign up for my event at San Francisco, and while not all 70 attended, a good 50-60 did, and I even got IFATC for that event.

The key to having a lot of people attend is just picking an airport that you know will do good. Some are overused and nothing, but if there hasn’t been an event at an airport in a long time and it’s well-known enough, a lot of people will attend.

I know it takes a lot of work to get an event made and plan it, but we can’t really control who attends it or not. I bump my events every couple of days, maybe like every 4 days and that usually gets some more people and the more people you have, the less you have to worry about no-shows. I think if someone doesn’t attend, they don’t necessarily have to explain themselves to you. Yes, it would be nice. Do they have to though? No.

8 Likes
#17

I think you may have missed what I was saying.

I am saying that if you are going to back out of an event last minute, the least you can do is apologize and not just say “Can’t make it” to me that is just rude. Also sometimes an explanation is nice too. Not saying you have to if you would rather not share, that is just fine. It also does not need to be a very detailed explanation either.

Here is an example of how I would back out of an event last minute

Hey there, I know this is last minute but I had some family stuff come up and will not be able to make it. I hope the event goes well and everyone has a great time.

#18

I do agree but as @Ecoops123 said we all have lives and events can be forgotten about, I mean what I do is a simple reminder in a PM as many have said, but I do see the point don’t get me wrong but not everyone who signs up will come I always expect that. 😊

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#19

I totaly agree with this. But I also see fly-outs being posted like 3 months before event starts. Maybe people sign up and forget after 3 monts they signed up. I think the best time to post is 1 to 1.5 month before the start of the event. After 3 months a lot of people have forgotten their signed up for it.

1 Like
#20

Totally agree. This happened a lot in the past with my events. It’s very irritating.

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#21

I definitely agree. I have an event series and it’s very frustrating when this happens. I don’t mind when people drop out but I mind when people don’t say anything. Sometimes we forgot how to act properly because we’re online, but if someone just didn’t show up to something IRL it would be rude and unacceptable. Even a short notice is great, but it’s just when people avoid communication that it becomes a problem.

2 Likes