{"id":48060,"date":"2019-05-28T13:23:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=48060"},"modified":"2019-05-28T13:23:22","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T20:23:22","slug":"do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","title":{"rendered":"Do or do not. There is no try."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Are you often a\u00a0no-show<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Or one of those people who says \u201cMaybe\u201d on a Facebook event?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a veteran events organiser.\u00a0 Throughout my career, planning and running events has been an integral part of the work I do.<\/p>\n

Now, as a lecturer in a researcher development unit, convening programs is a big part of my job. It is my everyday. The joy of room bookings, mailing lists, registrations, and constant event promotion campaigns \u2013 they are all mine!<\/p>\n

But before you feel that my life is just a big ball of enviable funstering (which, it must be said, it can be because I work with funsters), I think I should tell you about what makes me sad: When people don\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n

Now, regular readers of this blog will know that I have some very well-ridden hobby-horses (e.g.\u00a0open plan offices<\/a>). I\u2019d like to introduce you to another one: people who RSVP for things, then don\u2019t bother attending, cancelling, or sending an apology. This makes me particularly headasplodey when it\u2019s a fully booked event and there\u2019s a waiting list of eager folk.<\/p>\n

We talk about this event \u2018attrition\u2019 regularly in my field. It\u2019s a common problem across all institutions and disciplines. We keep stats on it. We brainstorm constantly about ways to address it. There are many ways that others have tried to increase their attendance ratios, including increased tracking of registrations, ramped up reminders, consequences for no-shows, etc. All of these options require significant time and resources to manage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of work to put into supporting people to come along to something they have already said they\u2019d come along to.<\/span><\/p>\n

My fab colleague Rachel Loney-Howes wrote about the\u00a0power of showing up<\/a>\u00a0and I was cheering along when I read it. So, in this post, I wanted to talk about why showing up matters \u2013 for the researchers, and for me. And I\u2019m talking here of my experiences in my everyday work as well as the events I\u2019ve convened over the years with the research network and other institutions, and for the Research Whisperer.<\/p>\n

Why it should matter for people who register<\/h3>\n

It can help and it won\u2019t hurt.<\/strong>\u00a0When events and sessions are put on for researchers, it\u2019s usually because they are meant to be supportive and useful. So, it\u2019s a no-brainer why showing up and participating and\/or learning can be a good thing. The bonus is that showing up consistently builds your network, and this is something where everyone can benefit.<\/p>\n

Follow through helps build a good reputation.<\/strong>\u00a0To me, it\u2019s a question of personal integrity. Sure, it\u2019s only a workshop, but why bother registering if you aren\u2019t going to show up or cancel? Registrants have flagged an intention and if there was no follow through\u2026it leaves a bad taste. I always have a spate of cancellations when I ask for confirmations and that\u2019s kind of OK. At least I know. But if I\u2019ve sent reminders, and specifically asked for confirmation or cancellation, and there\u2019s neither, then hmmm! As I said earlier, this is especially the case if it\u2019s a really popular session and people are hanging out for a slot.<\/p>\n

Communication is a valued skill.<\/strong>\u00a0Doing well on the micro-scale of RSVP\u2019ing and notifying if you can\u2019t \/ couldn\u2019t attend is like communication cardio. To me, it\u2019s indicative of someone\u2019s care for the people with whom they work and share institutional space.<\/p>\n

Why it matters to me<\/h3>\n

Sinking resources, losing resources.<\/strong>\u00a0For many events, there\u2019s catering. For anyone who has done any events organisation, catering is the aspect that can generate the biggest headaches and the largest invoices. So, if 50 people have RSVP\u2019d and I said we\u2019d provide lunch, and only half the people turn up, that\u2019s a lot of wasted food and money. Many people argue that having catering is a big waste of resources and people should attend things just for the love of it, which is admirable\u2026but it can be a big ask for a 3+ hour workshop to have no snacks or drinks at all. It\u2019s not like people\u00a0 come for the catering, but the catering can make a longer event run more smoothly and comfortably for participants.<\/p>\n

Besides catering, there\u2019s also the special events where I have invited in a fabulous shiny guest facilitator or speaker, who may charge a fee. If the turn-out for the event is disappointing, it\u2019s less likely that I\u2019d plan that again because units can\u2019t afford to invest lots of funding in things for which only a few may have benefited. It is much harder to justify. There\u2019s a big difference between whether the registrations are disappointing (that is, not many people signed up) or whether the turn-out is disappointing (e.g. fully booked but few attended \u2013 that is, a high level of no-shows).<\/p>\n

I am a colleague.<\/strong>\u00a0People wouldn\u2019t usually organise a meeting with me and not turn up. It has happened once or twice in my whole career. So, when researchers sign up for things and don\u2019t bother turning up, cancelling their slot, or letting me know, I found it initially frustrating and felt it as somewhat disrespectful. I realise now that most people think it doesn\u2019t matter because who cares if they don\u2019t turn up? I\u2019m here to tell you that I care, and that I appreciate it when I\u2019m treated as a colleague. In fact, I know that life would be much easier if I didn\u2019t care as much and just barreled along. But that\u2019s not me, for better or for worse.<\/p>\n

I recognise that life happens and this post is not about taking pot-shots at people who have crises\/clashes\/conditions in their week or day and, therefore, they couldn\u2019t attend something. It\u2019s an appeal to the serial no-shows: be deliberate about what you are signing up to and thoughtful in action when you can\u2019t go. It does matter, and I do care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you often a\u00a0no-show? Or one of those people who says \u201cMaybe\u201d on a Facebook event? I\u2019m a veteran events organiser.\u00a0 Throughout my career, planning and running events has been an integral part of the work I do. Now, as a lecturer in a researcher development unit, convening programs is a big part of my […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":48061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86115],"tags":[295272],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-48060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-when-people-dont-show-up"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are you often a\u00a0no-show? Or one of those people who says \u201cMaybe\u201d on a Facebook event? I\u2019m a veteran events organiser.\u00a0 Throughout my career, planning and running events has been an integral part of the work I do. Now, as a lecturer in a researcher development unit, convening programs is a big part of my […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Do or do not. There is no try.\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1040,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/Empty-chair.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"When people don\u2019t show up.\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/\",\"name\":\"Do or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/Empty-chair.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/Empty-chair.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/05\\\/Empty-chair.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":394},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do or do not. There is no try.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"Are you often a\u00a0no-show? Or one of those people who says \u201cMaybe\u201d on a Facebook event? I\u2019m a veteran events organiser.\u00a0 Throughout my career, planning and running events has been an integral part of the work I do. Now, as a lecturer in a researcher development unit, convening programs is a big part of my […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":394,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Do or do not. There is no try.","datePublished":"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/"},"wordCount":1040,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg","keywords":["When people don\u2019t show up."],"articleSection":["Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/","name":"Do or do not. There is no try. - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg","datePublished":"2019-05-28T20:23:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Empty-chair.jpg","width":680,"height":394},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/do-or-do-not-there-is-no-try\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do or do not. There is no try."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48060"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=48060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}