How to Ditch a "Nasty Nellie Olsen" Who's Sabotaging Your Online
Event... Gracefully!
So you decided to throw one of those "virtual bashes" to gain
you prestige and prominence in your niche... and everyone's
being helpful and cooperative, how fantastic! Oh, except that
one problem child, she's calling, she's emailing, she wants you
to explain it all over again, she wants attention, she wants you
to bend the rules for her... but what's she offering in
exchange? Nothing that you need or desire! Yes, there's always
the Nellie Olsen of the bunch, tossing those curls, stamping
those feet and cramping your style. What's a busy online event
planner to do?
1. Lay the ground rules. Your event must have milestones,
deadlines, submission processes, exemptions and disclaimers to
"SYOA," if you know what I mean. These are the laws that must be
carefully laid out and woven into your ongoing campaign to
ensure that a "Naughty Nellie" won't come along and trip you up
when your guard is down. If you feel skittish about laying the
laws, I'll give you my email address right now and you can call
on me to get your "copywriting protection" against the Event
Sabotager. Trust me, you will need it -
dina/AT/wordfeeder.com.
2. Distance yourself. If you're always accessible during
a vigorous event campaign, you'll never get anything done. Is
old Nellie problem-solving for you again, suggesting that if you
go get outside help then you would have more time to cater to
her endless needs? This is nonsense, you're the Master Planner,
and you must dodge the Nellster as nicely as you can. So, answer
her question, post information where she can clearly see it, and
then become unavailable.
3. Don't back down. If you give in to one self-absorbed
person, next thing you know, the rest of the group will be
clamoring their "whataboutmes". (Well, hopefully your group has
more class and style than this, but one never knows.) Don't cave
to the pressure of a chronic demander who's asking you to give
them special treatment, trying to bribe you with things you
don't want, or manipulating the rules and attempting to
force-feed you your own words so that they get their way in the
end. Someone who is this persistent has likely done zero to
support you. They're looking out for number one and that's no
one you want on your side. Remember - if they don't get what
they want now, they won't be back to ask you for more later.
Hold your ground!
4. Highlight the good eggs. During the course of your
event promotion, you'll be "public speaking" to the group at
certain points. Focus on the people who have pitched in with
support, time, effort, creativity, connections, word-of-mouth
marketing, assistance, and anything else that you'd consider
instrumental in making the event fly. Be sure to thank them
graciously at every turn, because in comparison to Needy Nellie
these people are a Godsend! Turn your attention on the good
eggs, and that unpleasant vision of your tormenter getting the
best of you will soon fade away.
5. Ask for cash. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to
figure out that Nellie the Needler has got a tight grip on those
purse strings. So if she continues to prod you for special
favors, give her a big smile and ask for payment. You're an
online marketer after all - there are no regulations or rules
except the ones that you lay down for the projects that you own.
As an online marketer, you've probably devoted a heap of
nonbillable hours to this extravaganza anyway. There comes a
point where if someone can't observe your deadlines or
requirements and is making demands of your time you should just
ask for payment. Either outcome of this will be desirable:
Nellie actually pays you (a small miracle in itself), or the
more likely scenario - she runs away to go pester someone
else.
Yes, there will always be that one person who makes your life a
living hell. Get away from them if you can. After all, you've
got a major event to plan.
Want to witness event planning live in action? Please join me
and my marketing friends for the First Annual Web Content
Awareness Day, scheduled to launch on February 9, 2006 at
http://WebContentAwarenessDay.com.
Sneak Peek: Visit the Countdown to Web Content Awareness Day
Blog and learn how you can ride our wave of high web
traffic!
Paste in this link:
http://wordfeeder.typepad.com/web_content_awareness_day/
Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.