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Maybe I am over reacting to this but I feel this is really insufficient.  Wondering what others think and what, if any, actions/responses are appropriate. 

I received a mass email apology from a professional association.  The association arranged a speaker for last night, who was flying to Toronto and the speaker no-showed.  It was no secret we were having a near blizzard and all transportation would be disrupted. A number of us (myself included) made serious commutes (1.5 hours each way for me).

A number of us called to confirm and were told it was still a go and that she was inflight.  It turns out this was not true.  There was no message sent out to cancel, no email, no phone calls. 

The email, not individualized, was not even written and sent from the senior person at the association.  It was sent from an admin flunky.  The email, edited for confidentiality, follows:

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Good Afternoon,

As you know,  *Professional Org* scheduled Speaker (Chief Privacy Officer at Fortune 500 Company) to give a presentation to our students yesterday evening.  We re-confirmed her attendance yesterday afternoon and her flight had taken off from airport x.  Her flight was diverted from airport A to Pearson at the last minute and consequently, she was not able to make it downtown in time for the class. 

We apologize for any inconvenience and we will reschedule her presentation.

Thank you for your understanding,

XXXXXX, Senior Director, Professional Development

Sent from XXXXX, admin assistant

bffranklin's picture
Training Badge

You just got poked with an umbrella.  What are you going to do about it?

Venting here was probably a safe start.  I agree, bad situation.  Maybe you should reconsider your relationship with this organization.  Maybe you should just let it go.  Not enough details to suggest either way.

-Brandon

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

...overreacting.

Sure, we don't recommend email apologies, but in light of the nature of this event, and the lack of direct connection, and the weather, this apology wasn't great but it was better than none at all.  You cannot reasonably expect a phone call in light of the nature of professional orgs and the non-mandatory nature of attendance.

Let it go.

Mark

afmoffa's picture

Asteriskrntt1:

If the event was as big as you say, then a face-to-face apology wouldn't be possible. The organizer(s) can't go visit all the people who registered, or even the subset of people who showed up, and apologize.

I say vent, which you've done, and let it go.

asteriskrntt1's picture

Thanks...perspective is always helpful

Brandon - Details that would have been helpful:

Flight to Toronto is 1 hour max.  She left at 2, the seminar was to start @ 6:30.  I called at 2, my friend called at 3 and we were both told she was en route, it was a go.  The event was invite only, 25 people.  The sponsoring body was one of the professional marketing associations... you would think if anyone was up on best practices, running a good event & communicating well, it would be them.  They sure had no problem calling us when they wanted our $$$$.

This issue has now left the building.  Have a great weekend everyone.