I attended a gathering of Event Planners recently and the subject of Event RSVP’s kept coming up during the four hour session. It seems today’s business world has lost touch with how to respond to an Invitation.
Reaction to a RSVP
One of the studies reported during the meeting showed over 85% of private invitations are not responded to due to the recipient not understanding RSVP. The number was slightly higher for email invitations than the hard copy type. Included in this number were the people who understand what RSVP means but pitched or discarded or deleted the invitation for a large number of reasons.
It was some of those reasons, other than not knowing what RSVP means, that I found very interesting and could be what I am dealing with in the events I produce that invitation is sent. Here are some of the reasons people gave for not responding to RSVP invitation that I felt where noteworthy:
- I am not interested in the event but do not want to appear negative by telling the person of my lack of interest. Hopefully they will not follow up for which I will tell them I did not get the invitation.
- I don’t want to be spammed any further so I do not click on any links or buttons for any reason.
- If the event was that important they would call me or contact me physically.
- If the event as that big a deal I would see more hype on it on Facebook or Twitter.
- Hopefully, if I do not respond the organizers will eventually get the message and quit sending me the invitation.
- Last time I responded to an invitation I was asked to attend a program that I had no interest in hearing about..so I quit responding to any invitation do business communications through my iPhone and the information needed to respond to the invitation is not available to me so I just delete it
- I never know what my schedule will be so responding one way or the other at the time I get the invitation may have to be changed the next day, so I just don’t respond until the day of the event..if they have an opening great, if not, well it was not made to be.
These are a number of interesting responses received from a very large number of people surveyed that did not respond to invitation they received. These were just some of the ridiculous responses from the people who actually received the email or card in the mail..in some cases, both.
Can You Believe How People Think?
RSVP, or flat out requests to respond, are not being reacted to properly for, as you see, a lot of reasons that people feel are justifiable. In reality these reasons reflect the growth of ‘Rudeness’ in the business world by those who rationalize their busy lives around bad time management.
In defense of some of these reasons given for not responding to an RSVP, there are the many, many, many businesses who now send out ‘Rhetorical’ RSVP which validates some of the reasons people react so casual to RSVP. These are RSVP invitations sent out by the large ‘Come Hear Me Speak’ events that tour the country keeping all the 8 Day Motels in business. These trollers of business opportunities place the RSVP on the invitation for aesthetic reasons ONLY and could care less if they get a response, but jump at the chance to hammer someone with a sales pitch if they do respond.
Business People Overwhelmed with Deception
The volume of these invitations sent daily to business people puts a burden on legitimate organizations or businesses who service their membership through inviting them to functions. What most people do not realize or, as the study mentioned above shows, do not care that their lack of responding handcuffs the organizers to knowing what to expect.
The reason for RSVP being put on an invitation that goes beyond its historical value. RSVP’s in this economy help organizers from wasting resources and funds for preparing for too many or not enough. A simple reply of Yes, No or Maybe helps the organizer to know what and who is coming. Doesn’t sound like a lot to ask..does it?
Is Not Responding Rude?
To say the business world is embracing rudeness as a way of doing business could be accurate. Lets hope it is not true, but indications are showing that the failed economy and the disasters the world is dealing with is starting to take a toll on business people’s emotions and logical thinking. A little thing like clicking on No to an invitation could stress out business people in feeling like a failure if the response for No was based on a financial situation. There are some legitimate reasons many people fail to respond to invitations..what they would be at this time are not showing up in any study, but hopefully will soon so a better understanding of how to invite a large number of people at once to an exciting function can be discovered.
More is to be learning on how human nature is changing in a failed economy. Hopefully things improve and responding to an invitation is a pleasant thing and not something stressful. Let me know how I can help.
