The backlash

It dawned on me last night that I am right in the middle of one of the many phases of running an event for a living. Now that the insanity of the post-event stuff has nearly wrapped up, it is time for The Backlash. As in, despite the event having been a huge success, despite all the kinks being worked out and it getting smoother and smoother every year, invariably the complaints and general negativity come swooping in anyway. Sigh.

So, in the last two weeks, I have been told: it sucks that there were no food buffets (at last Friday's gig), the parking was all screwed up and everyone was overcharged (at a baby shower last weekend), at an event last weekend in Denver everyone was talking smack about my event and complaining about it (at a wedding yesterday), the runner up to my beauty contest wrote a weird blog about it (online), and one of my musicians has decided my event is "beneath" him and he feels like a "whore" playing it (ummm...if playing for 1000 adoring fans makes you feel like a whore, then I don't know what to tell you). So, this is what I get to deal with every year in the weeks following my event. I think I've gotten pretty good about not taking it personally, and understanding that we all criticize events after we attend them; it's just par for the course. And god knows I've said downright cruel things about friends' events that I would be mortified to find out got back to them. So I understand, too, that many of these things were not meant for me to hear. And they weren't said about me, they were said about the event. There is a difference between the two (although I do forget that sometimes).

In the end I'm laughing all the way to the bank, so do I really care? Nope!