Corporate Event Thoughts: Recent Comments

Comment on How holding a meeting can change a life

2009-12-16T22:36:31Z

wow, what a great idea! I've often felt guilty about leaving almost full bottles of these items in a hotel thinking they will be wasted, glad to see someone putting them to good use!

Comment on How holding a meeting can change a life

2009-12-01T19:20:19Z

Thanks for you kind words.

Comment on Twas the Night Before.......

2009-11-17T15:01:15Z

I love this. We've all had that "OMG" feeling at 10 pm the night before an event. Every meeting and event I plan I get that same pit-of-the-stomach fear and dread. Thinking "What if no one comes to the party?" Thankfully, theys till show up onsite!

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-10T15:48:02Z

Anne, I appreciate your sharing your perspective on this incident. I feel this entire discussion is indicative of the value of social media in terms of airing issues and opening debate. I am sorry to see that some comments have made you feel slighted, and I sincerely hope this discussion can result in the use of constructive feedback and serve to engage those who harbor negative feelings in a positive conversation about the changes the moderators have in store for your group.

I need to weigh in here, though, to correct a serious misconception:

PlannerWire is not, has never been, and will never be a press release writing service. PlannerWire is what its tagline suggests: a News, Information, and Community resource for meeting and event professionals.

PlannerWire is an industry news provider that posts and distributes articles, columns, and press releases on topics and announcements of interest to the industry. We also produce original articles and other original content on topics that are relevant to the industry. We are not owned by our advertisers, and our advertisers do not decide our content. I am more than happy to praise an advertiser as well as call them out on wrongs that they have done.

All content submitted to PlannerWire is judged on a case-by-case basis in terms of interest and relevance to the meetings and events industry. PlannerWire is a division unto itself that operates independently of its parent company, OnSite Events, Inc. We distribute the news; we do not make the news. In short: PlannerWire is not for hire.

I handle PlannerWire's day-to-day operations and I do not make editorial decisions. I leave that to Serenity Knutson, who does the job brilliantly.

I am available to anyone who has any questions or concerns about PlannerWire's role in the industry and always welcome feedback, even the critical kind.

Comment on Hotels and Twitter - Why Some Succeed and Others Fail

2009-11-10T12:23:46Z

Keith,
Thanks for sharing this article. I am working to market this luxury cabin rental business for small corporate meetings. Your insight and info is excellent. I'll be on Twitter very soon, following you and hoping you'll reciprocate. Take care.

Mick

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-09T10:04:13Z

Don't worry Keith, she cut one of my posts claiming it was "self-gratification"!!!!! I have never been accused of that in my life and totally opposite to everything I am.
I think it is a great shame really and I am sure she does not mean to be so paranoid.

Good people with good information get tarred with the same brush as the one in a million that abuses the system.

Great article and your insights are of concern to the industry especially since IMEX is not the only one entering the US market next year!

Keep up the good work

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-08T12:55:13Z

Anne -

Of course you can have your say, I will post your comments as they came in with little comment:

One thing though:

You ask me to be fair and open minded and that there are two sides to every story. Funny, I was never given the chance to tell my side of the story. You banned me.

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-08T06:45:24Z

We have some members, like Keith, who earn their living through writing and distributing PR releases. This is where we seem to be running into repeated problems. How is a Group Manager to know whether or not IMEX or any other organization for that matter has hired PlannerWire to help with PR? How is any Group Manager to determine when ANY member has a financial interest in a company on whose behalf they post a PR release? It's just too tough to call. That's why, we've said no press releases, no promotion PERIOD. This applies to me, Keith, Julius, everyone.

Where I am at fault is that the only reason I didn't suspend Keith immediately was due to my fear of exactly what has happened. I was concerned that as a member of a media related service he would use his position to bash the group and me. For that I apologize. Clearly, I was wrong to let fear have an impact on my decision-making. I should have applied the same guidelines that were developed for all members and let the chips fall where they may.

Time was needed to get the perspective of the other group managers. Suspecting that things were going to get ugly, based on Keith's reaction, I revoked his posting privileges temporarily to give the team a chance to confer. I let him know what I was doing and why. How is that condescending or rude? Keith couldn't wait for that process to take place. Instead he used his blog to intimidate and bully the group into submission and tarnish my reputation.

So on a going forward basis, what are managers and owners of Linkedin Groups to do? Are we to throw up our hands and say no moderation just let members post anything? If any member of Linkedin wanted an unmoderated group for event planners, our group was never the only game in town. PlannerWire has it's own LinkedIn group with 156 members at the time of writing. Keith Johnston is free to post what he wants there and run that group any way he and Serenity see fit. I wish them well. Our community is large enough to have many groups with different objectives. There is always Event Peeps which is largely unmoderated. Event Planning and Management members had said they wanted something different.

Up until now, we have received feedback that the group's spam free, moderated approach was a breath of fresh air. Have members changed their minds? If so, we've tried one approach and the time has come to try something different.

The constructive feedback many have provide has been extremely helpful. For the record, some who posted in this blog have lied to make me look bad. They know who they are. I have shared their e-mails and mine with the other managers to prove it.

Any LinkedIn member who is unhappy with how a group is managed is welcome to volunteer a few hours every day to shape that group's direction and manage it. Some don't volunteer because they are busy. Others don't because, it's always much easier to sit on the sidelines and sling mud at those who do.

Thank you for listening.

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-08T06:05:34Z

The reason we have asked for no names, event names, URLs, etc. in titles is due to a LinkedIn glitch that can turn any group into a spammer's paradise. In June, we had a spam binge from a network of fake profiles, we went to an approval process for new members to stop the deluge. Prior to that, it was open membership.

Let me now turn to the issue at hand. Was I out of line? Did I really make the wrong call? If I did, I am open to be corrected, however, I don't believe that I made the wrong call. I feel that there has been a SERIOUS disconnect here.

In the past, I have personally provided Keith with gentle reminders and asked him not to post PR releases, promotional material and names in titles. Any other member WOULD have been suspended for 3 weeks the first time they did it (i.e. post a promotional PR releases in News with event names in the title. He apologized and I left it at that. He has now done the same thing more than once. I will not stoop to his level and post the contents of his private message to me

Let's look at Keith's recent post. No one has thrown into the mix the fact that IMEX is a huge tradeshow that charges mega-bucks for people to exhibit and for those people to attend who are not hosted buyers. They provide a valuable service. I have heard that their shows are excellent.

Keith Johnston posted a PR release about IMEX and put in a link to the IMEX site. When you click on that link, there is promotion to exhibit, attend and apply to be a hosted participant. Maybe I am missing something but how can this not be considered promotion?

My question is what is promotion and what is news? Who makes that call? In an ideal situation, LinkedIn would have the same functionality in groups that it has in Q & A. Members could flag posts that they feel are inappropriate. After a certain number of flags, the Group Managers would receive notification and decide whether to approve or delete the post. Unfortunately, this functionality is not available in Groups at this time.

In the absence of such technology in Groups, are we to have a 2 tiered system in which big organizations with big budgets are allowed to have PR releases and links to their promotional material posted on their behalf but small firms without the bucks get suspended and banned from the group? Other members have been suspended or banned for links to sites that promote events, registration pages, ticket sale pages, etc. How was Keith's post any different?

Is it news when it’s about the big guys like IMEX but promotion when small companies do it? If the guideline is no promotion and no PR releases, then that should apply to everyone. It's fine for the big guys but not for the smaller companies does not seem to me to be a fair and equitable way of running things. If promo. and PR releases are fine for the big companies and associations, then the no promotion rule should be scrapped for everyone. PERIOD and people should stop complaining about spam.

Comment on When Social Networks Go Bad

2009-11-08T05:50:38Z

Enough already. I have respected Julius' wishes for me to be silent and let him handle this. Julius has solicited feedback from the group members about what they want on a going forward basis. There will be changes. However, I will not sit silently by and continue to watch my character continue to be assassinated in this manner. Others have had their say. Keith I respectfully hope that you will approve this post to your blog. After that, I have nothing further to say about this matter and I will not be drawn into a back and forth debate.

Keith Johnston has vilified me in a manner that I feel is inappropriate Very serious charges have been levied against me. He has posted in public the contents of private messages. This is inexcusable. I do hope that you will hear me out with an open-mind as there are at least 2 sides to every story. I have nothing to hide.

I will share the line of thinking that went into the call that was made about Keith's post. Before I do that, I first want to provide some background.

The Event Planning and Management group has always been very strong, however, about a year ago, members started expressing a lot of frustration about the spam. There were lengthy discussions about member concerns. The group had grown to a size that one person could no longer handle it. For this reason, when LinkedIn made provision for Group Managers, Julius invited me to help address these concerns.

Based on feedback and input from members, a set of guidelines was developed for our group. Julius sent an announcement of the full set of guidelines to every member and fastened them prominently in Discussions. Every member who responded said, "fabulous, it's about time". No one raised any concerns or indicated that they felt the guidelines were unfair.

A summary was provided in our Group Profile for potential members to see. As soon as the functionality was available (June) every new member received a welcome letter with a summary.

Here are the highlights as they now stand in our group profile:.

"Our group is designed to help event planners keep abreast of industry trends. We encourage discussion, sharing of ideas & networking.

Don't post URLs, company or personal names, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses in the Topic or Question field in "Discussions" or Title field in "News" postings. This is considered to be a serious infraction and may result in immediate banning.

"News" is for articles from newspapers, magazines, TV & radio website. Content rich articles & news from blogs are welcome.

"News" is not for PR releases, links to sites promoting events, news stories about you, your company, or any other promotional content."

I know of NO other LinkedIn group that goes to such lengths to create a spam free environment and ensure that every member is clear about expectations. If some members are too busy to read this information or choose not to read it, should this let them off the hook?

To be continued.