EP 19: From Crisis to Success: How to Handle Fundraising Event Mishaps Like a Pro

Jeff: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast, where we talk about all the different ways that you can make your fundraising event better. And we've got a packed studio today. We've got packed.

Diana: Packed. I'm Diana DuPlanche. I work for Handbid, in case you didn't already know.

Jeff: And we brought -- oh, I think they know. Diana, you're the most popular person on this podcast.

Diana: Oh my gosh, I love that.

Jeff: There's a fan club. She's signing photos now, you guys. So if you're interested, reach out to us, hit the "Talk to Us" thing on the Handbid app and just put in that you want a signed photo of Diana DuPlanche from the Elevate Your Event podcast team. All right. And then we brought a fireball.

Diana: Oh yes, y'all, get ready for Inga.

Jeff: That's right.

Inga: And I'm Inga Weiss. I'm a new addition to the Handbid podcast and I love it. I have a lot to say.

Jeff: That's right, she does. Inga works on our client services team and has been to a ton of events. I'm Jeff Porter, CEO of Handbid. We've also got a support team around here. We were just commenting on how we would pull these podcasts off if Kristen wasn't in the studio here pointing at us and telling us to fix our hair and do all that other stuff. But clearly, I did not get the memo today on wearing the yellow shirt.

Diana: We look great.

Inga: They do.

Jeff: You two look fabulous, which is good because we are going to talk about a touchy subject today. Get ready. Put your seatbelts on.

Diana: Touchy subject.

Jeff: And we're going to be very blunt with you guys about this one because we have a lot to say. I ran my first fundraiser -- well, I've been to a ton of them, but we officially ran our first fundraiser in 2005. And we still run it today. And I will tell you, I've seen a lot, not only through that particular event -- and we're going to talk about a number of things that have gone wrong with my own event throughout the years -- but also just in general, going to different Handbid events and seeing things that just don't work the way the event manager intended. And there's a way to manage that well, and a way that tends to make it worse. So we're going to dive into that. And it can be anything. We've seen it all. Power going out, internet going out, mobile bidding companies not working the way you want, trash not getting picked up.

Diana: Oh, the trash, y'all.

Inga: Here we are talking about the trash again.

Jeff: The sound not working. I'm going to talk about that. So there's just a lot of things. Catering faux pas, you name it.

Inga: A giant bear walked in and ate all the desserts.

Jeff: Oh, I didn't see that one.

Inga: I made that up.

Jeff: Okay, I'm like, this happened.

Diana: It could happen. It could happen.

Jeff: This is life with Inga. You just don't know. I've seen a hole fall in the roof and rain come pouring into the venue. So I've seen that. So anyway, before we get into some of our stories, what I'd like to do is set the tone. When we talk about these types of things that happen, whether they're at a Handbid-related event or not, or things that we hear from clients from a past event -- look, we're not here to revel in anybody's past "tragedies." For us, we want everybody to go out there and have an amazing event. We want your guests to have a blast. We want you to raise tons of money. And in a lot of cases, all of that can still happen even when there's problems. I think sometimes we have to put on our counseling badge and really talk people through these things, because there are so many moving parts, so many different parties involved that all have to come together for one night, in most cases, for a period of four or five hours to make it all magical. And sometimes they don't come together that way, but it does not mean that it has to be a total disaster.

Inga: We're fundraising here.

Jeff: And so we talk a lot at Handbid about the owner-victim mentality. It's part of our culture to be owners. When we run into internal issues that are tough, we talk about: are you the victim, or do you want to take ownership of it? And there's not much difference when you're the event planner, the event manager, the auction manager, whatever it is, and something comes up that you didn't expect. The key is figuring out how to take ownership of that. A couple of things that we talk about a lot, and I've seen this in my own event -- we're talking about what happened even this year. Your donors are there to support you. Your donors are not there solely to bid. They're going to do all these things, but they're not there solely to bid in your auction. They're not there solely to buy some raffle ticket. They're not there solely to see some concert. Those things are all elements that are going to attract them there. But I have never been involved in any organization whose donors walked out and said, "I didn't like the food" or "I didn't get to see the concert" or "I missed the meet and greet" or "I wasn't able to bid in the auction, so I'm giving this organization no money." Have you guys? I've never seen that.

Diana: Right.

Jeff: So you have to keep that in the back of your head. Yes, you're not trying to lower your standards and allow for a situation where things don't go well or where you're frustrating your guests. Nobody wants a check-in that takes two hours.

Diana: Nobody.

Inga: Nobody.

Jeff: Right. But when those things occur, for whatever reason -- or it rains, or in the case of my event, which one year used to be Kentucky Derby-themed so it was in May, it snowed -- those things happen. And people are miserable and the seats are wet and everybody's freaking out. And it's like, it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine.

Diana: Well, I think you were saying earlier in our prep conversation, it's this concept of: why are we selling our donors short? Why do we see some of our clients have a belief that their donors will never come back? Why would they come to that conclusion?

Jeff: Right. I think there's a strong desire to create an experience that you think is going to emotionally charge and energize somebody to give. And when those pieces don't fall into place and you create a different mood in the room and people are a little bit frustrated, does it impact that? Maybe, it might. But you can probably turn that around. And a lot of times it's just getting up on stage and being vulnerable. So let's just talk about my event.

Diana: I still have PTSD about my event. And it happened -- now, which year was this?

Jeff: This year.

Diana: This past year. Would you say this was the biggest -- of all the events you've run, was this the most frustrating problem that you had ever had to face?

Jeff: Yes. And I've had the internet go down at my event. And I run a mobile bidding company. And we were at Comcast's facility. So you just don't see -- you're not thinking those are the parts that aren't going to work, right? I'm at the Cable Center in Denver. It should work. How is it possible? How could the internet go down at the Comcast Center?

Diana: It does. There's too much irony with that.

Jeff: That's right. But no offense, Comcast, you're awesome people.

Inga: Yes.

Jeff: But I get it. I've been in the IT space a long time. These types of things happen. I couldn't order my Starbucks one morning.

Diana: But yeah, I still go back to Starbucks.

Jeff: Yes, you crazy fool. "I'm finding a new company because I couldn't order my coffee from you one day." So anyway, but this was probably the most frustrating. Just to give you a little bit of background: we had shifted from a Derby event to a country music concert. I think everybody in the organization felt 15 years of a Kentucky Derby event was great, but there are challenges with that. There's a time of day that you have to do it because there's a horse race and there's a time of year that you have to do it. And I think everybody was like, let's just try something new. So we had a hybrid event the year before in 2021, and then in 2022 we moved to the fall and we moved it to a country concert. We brought in a national act. They were not cheap. We were spending considerably more money in certain parts of this event than we ever had. Our sound and stage and lighting package nearly tripled over what we were paying before. And that was with an LED screen to watch a horse race. And then on top of that, you're bringing in a band. We were spending considerably more money. Our ticket prices had to go way up. The tables that we sold in the front -- we sold four- and five-thousand-dollar tables. And because we have amazing people that support us, those sold out in the first week.

Inga: Amazing. I love that.

Jeff: We were selling fire pit tables as well. Those were $1,500 last year, and this year at this new concert they were $2,400. So we significantly raised the price. And we were selling those. We had people spending a lot of money to come to this event. Things were kind of coming together. We had a little bit of a weather issue Friday. But really what happened, in a nutshell, was the company that we had hired to do the sound failed. And this is a concert. It's the one thing -- not the one thing. It's a big thing that has to work. So the band shows up at noon on Saturday. Sound check is at 1 o'clock. And the sound guy had shown up late. He was supposed to be there at 8 in the morning. He wasn't. So he showed up three hours late. He was missing equipment off his truck. He had to go back to his facility to get it. So he was missing again. We did not do sound check at 1, obviously. And by the time we finally started getting things together, it was the tour manager of the band who was like, "I've been a sound guy my entire career. I'm just going to make this work." And I looked at him and I was like, "Thank you." He's like, "Hey man, we're going to put on a show. It's going to be great." You need those types of people around you too, right?

Diana: Yeah.

Jeff: There's a lot of stress going on. Are we going to be able to pull this off? We have an opening band that's going to come on. They're supposed to be on from like six to eight roughly. They're not on for two hours, but there's a presentation we're going to do as the charity in there, all that kind of stuff. And then the lead band is coming on about 8:30. Well, from 6:30-ish on, they're doing a meet and greet with our VIPs who spent a lot of money to be there, right? That's the whole plan. I'll just be honest -- none of that happened. So at 6 o'clock, we had endured a rainstorm that came in around 4:30 and was done about 5:30. We're wiping everything off. All the tables are wet. Everything's wet. The sun came back out. It was beautiful out, but everything is wet. The band's equipment is wet. Now, that should have all been covered because they were supposed to do a sound check at one, and then by the time the rain came, we should have tarped all that, endured the rainstorm, and been ready to go. Six o'clock, guests are arriving, VIPs are looking for their meet and greet, we still have not done a sound check with anything. And it's just one of those things where you're sitting there and I could cry. I could scream at this sound guy.

Inga: Sure.

Jeff: That is always an option. In my mind, I'm doing that. Just so you know.

Diana: Yeah.

Jeff: But is that going to help him get his job done?

Inga: Nope.

Diana: No.

Jeff: So we're in just a mode of support. And ultimately, just to let you know how it played out: no meet and greet ever happened. We used the opening band to be the sound check for the real band.

Diana: Wow.

Jeff: Which means that we were not able to change instruments, which means that the national country act that came in -- the Frontmen of Country, they were awesome -- they had to allow the opening band to use all their stuff. That is unheard of.

Inga: Wow.

Jeff: But that's what generous people do when you're trying to solve a problem and get something done. But I will tell you this. Did I feel bad that we didn't create the experience that our guests were expecting? Yes. We didn't do the meet and greet. The band limped on stage at 8:30. The opening band did half their act. That's it. We didn't get through a huge portion of our program because we had no sound. There were no microphones that worked. So I can't get up in front of five or six hundred people and talk. But we made more money than we'd ever made before.

Diana: Wow.

Jeff: And not a single table purchaser came back to me and said, "I want my money back because I didn't get what I wanted" or "I didn't get my meet and greet" or "I didn't get my photos with the band." We sent out messages and had personal conversations with donors. And we're like, "Look, I'm really, really sorry." And they're like, "Hey, I get it. It's not your fault. The sound didn't work. We get it. We're just there to support you guys. We would do that anyway." So -- long story, but a very important point -- your donors are there to support you. At least that's worth expecting. And if you have people that walk away from you because you didn't create the experience that they were looking for, so be it. I know that's hard to say, but I'm telling you, find other donors. Honestly, these events are hard. So much work. And you put a lot of effort into them. There's a lot of moving parts. And I can also safely assure you, I don't know of a single vendor in this industry who's intentionally trying to mess it up for you.

Diana: Right. None of that happens on purpose.

Inga: No.

Jeff: You've got to have a little grace in that area. And we sit on both sides of this. It's a very frank conversation with people to say, when these things happen, the goal is to get into problem-solving mode, not victim mode.

Diana: Nope.

Jeff: We did -- it's funny -- after the event was over, the band was so nice. We just started having them meet with some of our bigger donors. Just walk over to the table and say hi. So you can solve these problems.

Diana: Yeah.

Jeff: So let's talk about some other stories. Not just my events, because yes, I've had the caterer run out of bourbon. I've had the caterer run out of mint. I've had the internet go down. I've had the bartenders refuse to serve the drink correctly. I've had everything you can name happen. But we've been to some events, though.

Diana: Yeah, we have. I've been thinking about what story I'd want to share that would probably impact the listener audience. And the one I can come up with is a story of miscommunication more than anything. I was at an event in Florida as the on-site staff, and we put together a plan for the volunteers to help with the fund-a-need. And for the listeners out there, the fund-a-need is the paddle raise, the paddle call, the direct donation -- it's got a lot of synonyms. But the idea was that these volunteers were going to be the bid spotters and they were going to write down the amounts the live auctioneer called out, then they were going to bring those values over to me and I was going to enter them into the system. The first thing that usually happens in the program is a live auction first, so I was easily able to record that without their help. I wrote down the values and cross-checked it in the system and entered it. And when it was time for the paddle raise, one of the family members of one of the volunteers -- and I'll just be direct, it was a grandmother who was basically the event chair, and some of her grandchildren were the volunteers. I have thought about this because five minutes before we went out to the program, we had put a plan together. But what happened was the grandmother signaled for her grandchildren to come help her. And they did what they've done their whole life -- they listened. So they're listening to the grandmother say, "Come help me do this thing." If you were going to donate at a $500 level or higher, you got this special thing brought to your table. So suddenly all my bid spotters were gone. And I was like, "What do I do?" So anyway, they happened to put me in the center table of the dining room. So there I am, listening to the live auctioneer, watching these gifts being given to all these donors around me. No one's writing down any values. I'm thinking, "I hope I get this right because I'm the only one listening." So I'm writing down the values as fast as I can. In the moment, somebody sees me with a laptop and -- everybody knows who works events -- if a donor sees you with a laptop, they see you as a problem solver. He comes over to me: "Hey, is this a good time for me to pay for my trip to Tuscany?" And at the same time that he's asking me this question, I'm trying to be very polite. And I'm writing down "paddle 222, paddle 159." And I'm just -- for all you listeners who are just listening in your car right now, I'm shaking my head no, but I'm smiling. And I said, "Sir, not at this moment. I will get back to you as soon as I can." So I'm writing these values down and I get through it and I enter in the final bids. I let the event proceed as it would and I'm just hoping that I got all these values. And I think I did. We closed the auction, everything is fine. And afterwards I wrote a long letter to the auction manager and I said, "Look, we're going to have to figure out a different process for the future." None of the donors felt it, but for me it was a good example of -- if you're an auction manager, I was an auction manager to some degree because I was on-site staff. So they looked to me to be a leader. So in the moment, I had to not freak out, not go grab the grandchildren, the volunteers, and say, "Your job was to write down the bids." No, I just did it myself. And then I ended up writing him a long letter and he was like, "We're going to create a different process for the future." Well, I went back the next year and we were very clear on the process. They put me in the sound booth upstairs. Nobody was asking me any questions. It was a great way to solve a problem.

Jeff: But it is this idea of -- it goes a long way to have grace in these moments where you're in front of people and they're bringing you their troubles. You have to use all the nice language that your mama taught you. You have to really find all that.

Diana: Not all the language my mama taught me.

Jeff: Right. All the nice words, Diana.

Diana: Oh, I love this so much. I'm bringing a wooden spoon to the next auction.

Inga: And a metal ruler.

Jeff: That's right.

Diana: And a switch.

Jeff: My mama used switches. Okay. Oh my gosh, we're going deep, y'all. So that's -- I wouldn't say that's exactly on the same line of what you're talking about, but I think it's one example of something that could happen.

Diana: No, for sure.

Jeff: Yeah. And you went -- you were at an event recently where things didn't go well.

Inga: Oh, tell us. It's been a few. Yes.

Inga: Before I go to my few experiences of when things go wrong, I just wanted to add to Diana's point: not everyone is a naturally born leader. And as an event manager, as an auction professional, you are so invested in these fundraisers. This is your heart and soul. As an auction manager, this is your biggest event of the year for most organizations. So you plan this for months sometimes. You overthink everything. You plan for everything. And then something goes wrong and you can't pivot. And I know "pivot" has become a dirty word in the last few years, but pivot is a great word. Being able to pivot makes all the difference.

Jeff: It really is. So go back two years, right? In March of 2020, we were having this same conversation for a very different reason with our clients. Because back then, it's like, "Oh my God, what am I going to do?" And it's like, you're going to run your auction online. "Well, I just don't feel like I can ask my donors for money during this troubling time." Okay, well, it was a troubling time. And for some people, it was very impactful. And for others, it wasn't. And so our answer always was: respectfully, let your donor say no.

Inga: Absolutely.

Jeff: You don't need to say no for your donor, right? I think, to your point earlier, to kind of circle back on this -- I think we do sell our donors short. We feel like they're not going to donate during COVID because they're hurting. Well, look, if your donor worked at Zoom, he was not hurting, okay? So there were definitely people that were doing just fine during COVID, and it's worth giving them that opportunity to say no to you, or to say it's not a good year, or whatever. We raised plenty of money at our event, and it was virtual. And all those organizations that pivoted and did virtual events during COVID raised great money.

Diana: They did.

Jeff: It's this idea of: why are we making decisions for our donors? We hear the same argument when some of our prospective clients say, "Well, our donors are too old to use technology." Really?

Diana: Yeah. Is that really true?

Jeff: And then a 70-year-old shows up with five pages of apps and has got the Handbid app installed on his phone. True story.

Diana: I met him the other night down in Denver. Diana is telling you a true story.

Jeff: Oh, I know Handbid. Five pages.

Diana: Yeah, he has more apps on his phone than I do.

Jeff: He's swiping away. So I think what you're trying to say is we have to pivot. We have to give our donors the benefit of the doubt.

Inga: And do it.

Jeff: And we as people, as auction managers, we have to decide: what if we don't have it in us? What if we don't have the -- what's that word -- chutzpah? Isn't that a word they use sometimes? So you have to be that person. And if you're not, then what? Don't sit in the exit row.

Inga: Please, save those for me.

Jeff: Find someone else to run your event for you. Not everybody -- some people crumble under pressure. We all know those people. Some people thrive under pressure. You know you have at least one of those people in your organization that cannot handle pressure. That person probably isn't the best fit for auction manager. It can help to find someone else to run the event, or put somebody next to them. Lower your standards and expectations a little bit. Give your donors some credit. Give yourself and your vendors some grace.

Diana: Right. Right.

Jeff: And then from there, like to your point -- okay, we have no sound. What are we going to do? This guy Jack from the Frontmen of Country, he was our saving grace. I can't fix sound problems. Now, I can sit up there and say, "What can I do?" I've grabbed towels. I'm wiping off stuff off the stage and drying instruments and doing whatever they asked me to do. He can fix the sound and he was like, "We're going to make it work. We're just going to make it work. Here's what we're going to do." And we're running new cables.

Diana: What an inspiring guy.

Jeff: Yeah, he is. And he was freezing. He showed up in a t-shirt and shorts. It's October in Colorado and it was nice, but it got cold that night.

Diana: Did it?

Jeff: Yeah, it cost me a North Face jacket. I was totally fine to give it to him. Seriously, I'm like, "You're freezing. Here's my jacket. You take it. I got plenty of clothes here. You're in town." So look, you want those types of people around you. And we did a masterclass years ago about all the things that can go wrong at your event -- not if but when. And one of the big recommendations in there was: put some problem solvers around you. Because you can't do all those things. And so when these types of things happen, it's like, "All right, we have no internet. People can't bid in the auction. What are we going to do? Let's run a paddle raise." Don't call us up on Monday and say the internet didn't work, the Wi-Fi went down, something was not working, and so we just didn't ask anybody for money and went home.

Diana: That's right.

Jeff: "I was so upset. I was so embarrassed that I could not ask my donors for money just because the sound didn't work." The Wi-Fi didn't work. People couldn't bid. This guy couldn't log into his phone. Whatever it is, right? The thing is, where there's a will, there's a way. And so, remember -- and this is a side topic but still related, same thing, right, Diana -- we'd go to these events, and this is 10 years ago, and they'd be like, "Oh, these people aren't going to download an app. They're not going to bid on the web. They're not going to use their phones." And people, when they want to bid in your auction or donate, they will find a way, right? And I remember this guy shows up and he had an ancient phone and he didn't know his iTunes password. I'm like, "Sir, don't worry about any of that. We're just going to put you on an iPad." Nope. "I'm calling my kids. I'm going to get this working." And he sat over in the corner and called his kids and got it all working. And he was not frustrated. He's like, "This actually is pretty good. Now I can download apps on my phone. I didn't realize that I couldn't even log into iTunes." And he was super happy. And we had a solution and a workaround for him, but it didn't bother him, right? And so we tell clients that a lot of times: your donors -- just give them a way.

Diana: Yeah.

Jeff: Right? So if the Wi-Fi is slow, let them raise their hand and donate money.

Inga: Absolutely.

Jeff: If something's delayed, so many of the things we hear about come Monday or Tuesday about events are something that just massively delays things. People showed up late, or check-in didn't go the way we wanted and so it took longer for this reason. Or parking -- the venue's parking was taken over by another sporting event that shares the parking lot and no one could park. Nobody planned for that. And they all show up frustrated.

Diana: Right. Right. I would be if I show up at an event and you're like, "Oh, go park in this lot," and you can't park in that lot.

Jeff: And then they show up -- do they all donate?

Diana: They did.

Jeff: I couldn't imagine ever saying, "Oh, my donors are so frustrated because the parking was a fiasco so we just didn't ask them for money." So you've got to work through those things. And your message around all of that has to have lightness in it, right? Like, if there's a problem: "Oh my gosh, I know parking was a mess tonight. I'm so glad you're here. Come on in. We've got something for you. We've got a drink here. We're going to get you all set up. Come on in." But if it's like, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Everyone's been complaining about the parking" -- what kind of message is that?

Inga: You're talking about the very important vibe.

Diana: The vibe.

Jeff: Oh, good vibes only, Jeff.

Inga: Yes, good vibes only.

Inga: I was at this event one time with a thousand people. A thousand people, all set to arrive at the same time. It wasn't staggered times. They all came at the same time.

Jeff: And how did that go, Inga?

Inga: And we had the best plan. It was a great plan. We had so many volunteers. And we trained everyone. We prepared everyone. We're going to check everyone in. We're going to have separate people to help them download the app. We had another volunteer give everyone wristbands. And all of a sudden, the line is around the corner. Because no matter what your plan is, a thousand people is still a lot of people to check in at the same time. Guess what? We just moved the little bar cart right next to the check-in area and everybody was grabbing a cocktail as they were standing in line to check in.

Jeff: That's smart.

Inga: It's such a magical antidote. And everybody was so happy. People were partying. Some of them couldn't remember their name by the time they checked in, but that's a different topic.

Jeff: This is an Inga event. People are grateful for her. Oh my God, it works. We've had doors lock -- like, the check-in doors are locked and no one can get in the venue. It's one of those things where, to your point, I love what you just said. You get up on stage and you own it. And you own it with some vulnerability.

Inga: Yes.

Jeff: All right. The sound guy -- I couldn't have said this at my event because the sound didn't work. That would have been so awesome. "Sound company totally sucks. We're not using them next year. We're going to go acoustic and it's going to be great." We were almost at that point.

Diana: Yeah.

Jeff: And you can be like, "Internet's not working. You can't bid in the auction. We're going to leave it open tomorrow until 5 o'clock. Really sorry about that. Grab a drink. We're doing a live auction." Right? You guys are here to support our cause. We're here to tell you about all the amazing things that we're doing. Moving on with the program.

Inga: For sure.

Jeff: And you cannot be stuck. You cannot, as an event manager -- I understand that it probably took you six months and sleepless nights and 24/7 days right before the event to set up and plan and organize and put the silent auction together. But you cannot be stuck on your Plan A that the silent auction will close at 8 o'clock, and if it doesn't, the world ends. Because a lot of times the silent auction shouldn't close at 8 o'clock.

Inga: It is okay to close at 5 o'clock the next day. Maybe that's the good Lord just telling you to leave it open.

Jeff: That is right.

Diana: Are you listening to those signals or not?

Jeff: I hear what you're saying. I'm catching your vibe. And you're right. We talked about a run-of-show at one of our podcast episodes, and that's a great podcast to check out. It really helps to have slack in that run of show. It's one of those things where it may not even be a major catastrophe. It could just be a delay of some sort. Like, maybe your emcee or whoever it is -- maybe they're late.

Inga: I've been there, too, right?

Jeff: Where the heck is So-and-So? He's the headliner. He's not here. Plan B. Pivot. Get up there and talk, or anybody know any jokes? Put someone on stage. So anyway, yes, those things definitely happen. And I do want to make one point as we wrap up here. We've been talking for over 30 minutes about all the things that go wrong at events. I will tell you, these are the exceptions and not the norm.

Diana: Oh, totally.

Jeff: We do thousands of events. We've been to hundreds of them. There's always something that doesn't go perfectly the way you want. But in most cases, they run extremely smoothly. So don't get freaked out, but we do want you to, one, prepare, but at the same time, just take a deep breath, take ownership of it. Don't be saying, "Woe is me, why does everybody hate me, my boss is going to fire me. The head of my board is going to chew me out." Those things -- we have no control over whether those things happen, right? Take your punches and move on. But reach deep inside yourself and own whatever's in front of you and try to think creatively in the moment and make a good judgment call based on your knowledge of this event. Find your leadership moment. And it's okay to change your plan.

Inga: It's okay.

Jeff: And if you're a board member -- we did another episode on board members: friend or foe. If you're a board member, that's a great episode to check out. Great topic. I love that tagline. Because I'm a board member of several charities. Look, the flip side of this is: give your staff some grace.

Diana: Yeah, that's true, Jeff.

Jeff: And I was involved in an event as a board member last fall, and it wasn't perfect. It wasn't terrible, but it was far from perfect. And we had a board member just completely belittle the staff. And I stepped in and was like, yeah, unfair, right? This is not what these people do full time.

Diana: Right, right.

Jeff: Right. These people are there to execute on the program services and the mission and the organization. They're not event planners. Give them some grace. You want to see a different budget profile? Let's hire a professional event planner.

Diana: Right, sure.

Jeff: And then you could scream at that person. And that's always a choice. It is. So anyway, just a good point for board members or even for people that are donors or whatever. If you're at these events, give the staff some grace. In most cases, it's not their fault that the chicken was wrong. Your name was misspelled -- maybe that is their fault. Who knows? Who cares? Okay. You didn't like the food. The chicken was overcooked. Go down the list, right? It was raining outside. The drinks were weak. You couldn't bid in the silent auction. You lost some item. It wasn't fair. Whatever it is -- just give the staff some grace. But anyway, this has been a good conversation. Do you have any final parting thoughts, ladies, that you want to share with the team before we close?

Diana: I just -- guys, thanks for listening. And I hope that you take our advice and think about it for your event, but for other parts of your life. Because it's exhausting being a victim. Don't do that.

Inga: No, no, no. Let's stop all that.

Jeff: So it is part of our culture here at Handbid. We are constantly asking ourselves: are we having an appropriate response to this very frustrating situation where we can emerge as a leader instead of a victim? How about you, Inga? What do you think?

Inga: I would say, as an event planner or event manager, it helps to care deeply and do everything you can. Have the best plan. And then have a drink after the auction is over. It's going to be okay. Because most of the time, most people will be leaving and hugging you and saying what an amazing night they had.

Jeff: That's right.

Diana: Yes.

Jeff: Have a cocktail afterwards. Bring your Inga energy. You will get a hug. That's for sure.

Inga: 100% agree with all of those sentiments.

Jeff: So anyway, this has been, I think, a sobering but hopefully very helpful conversation for those folks that are listening in. Inga, thank you for joining us. We've enjoyed you.

Inga: It's my pleasure.

Diana: Oh my gosh. May I be invited back?

Jeff: Oh my gosh. Please come back. If we're doing this again, I want some notice from Kristen on what we're supposed to be wearing.

Diana: I'm feeling really underdressed. I do have my Foundation for Prader-Willi Research pin.

Jeff: You do? You're representing. One of the charities I used to be on the board of, so we're very proud of.

Diana: Well, thank you very much for having me too.

Jeff: Yes. Thank you guys. And good luck at your events and good luck with finding those people that can help you work through a lot of those issues. And we obviously hope that you don't run into anything major at your events. But when you do, know that you can turn it into something really amazing and successful. So until next time, thanks for joining us on the Elevate Your Event podcast, and we'll let you go. See you.