The title of my after-lunch talk was, “How Women Throw Their Power Away.” The audience was an association of female attorneys.
Registration was to begin at 11:30 and we would sit down for lunch at noon. I arrived at The Plaza Club at 11:15 only to be told, “Oh, we couldn’t accommodate that large a group. The event was moved to the American Savings Bank tower.”
Hmmm. Why was I not informed of this? Because my name was not on any list. I was not on the invitation list nor the RSVP list. Thus, the change of venue notice was not sent to me.
Fortunately, the new location was only a couple of blocks away and I still arrived early. But, whew! What if it had been a 45-minute drive away?
I got some laughs when I began by talking about arriving at the wrong place, and how that didn’t feel very “powerful” to me. “How can I talk about being powerful when I show up at the wrong place?” Yuk, yuk!
When you make arrangements to give a presentation, you will have a contact person with whom you will share several e-mails and phone calls.
My mistake was (and, oddly, continues to be) that I didn’t make sure my name and e-mail address were on the crucial Distribution List.
Confirm, confirm, and confirm again.
