Crisis Response, Community Management and YOU.
October 8, 2010 6 Comments
I have to commend Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer for all their hard work on Social Media Club. In the day and age where everything we say and do can be broadcast instantly I have never met two such people with such honor and integrity both offline and on.
They have recently been dealing with a few trolls who chose to hijack the work that they have been doing for 4 years. Kristie addressed what happened here.
I wanted to share my experiences with a similar circumstance.
In my case I had a situation where a community event was hijacked from me.
It’s a little known fact that I hopped on board to organize The “Toronto Twitter Brunch” back in 2009. I chose dates and restaurants and reached out to the membership that the “stewards” had neglected. I was eventually made an admin on the page. I planned an event at a restaurant that could cater to the demands of the earliest forms of a tweet up. Imagine my surprise when an event that had been posted for days suddenly got changed, the time was changed, and someone else’s contact and reservation information was put into the information box. I immediately changed it and found that it was changed back. After this game of cat and mouse I received a Facebook message from the other admin person on the group, there was a series of messages back and forth and not once did the person who instigated the event changes choose to hop into the conversation. The end result was that I was booted as an admin and all the hard work I had done in the past was overshadowed by the need to grandstand and take credit for my hard work.
Please understand that I’m not asking for credit for spearheading the event. I did not start it, but I did make sure it had momentum. The second I exhibited any signs of leadership that’s when my services were no longer deemed necessary. I have never really addressed what happened until today, I’m sure you can understand why.
The reason why I emphasize SO closely with Chris and Kristie is directly related to my story. Have you ever put your heart and soul into something only to find someone else taking credit for your work. Have you ever been in the position where you feel powerless against the wrongs you have experienced?
I am an experienced community builder, both offline and on. I have been active within online communities since the early 2000’s and have been planning community events since my early teens. I live and breathe community and it’s because of experiences like this that I continue to work harder on making sure my community events are inclusive and to give credit where credit is due.
I would love to hear your stories about how you addressed adversity with regards to community building. Feel free to comment or respond on twitter @rochlatinsky
About rochellelatinsky
Rochelle, thank you for sharing this story. I am sorry you had to go through that and unfortunately, know there are others who have experienced the same. My hope is that more people speak up against bad behavior to hopefully curb it from happening again…and again.
Too many people sit by the sidelines and do or say nothing. I want to live in a world where people take action. Where they are not afraid to stand up for their beliefs. We will all receive punches here and there, but if you come at it with an open heart and good intentions, I truly believe we can effect a positive change.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
I wish more people would share their stories. I have sat on this for a very long time choosing to take the high road. I wish such a negative situation wasn’t the cause for me sharing my experiences but I started this blog to talk about my experiences, so I’m glad I could share nonetheless.
You sound very, very high on yourself. Booking a venue is the essence of your heart and soul before you were booted from an event page? I think you should be booted from life.
I think you failed to see the true sentiment of the post, it has nothing to do with the venue booking or getting removed as an admin. The point I was trying to make about the heart and soul is the community and event planning.
Thank you for your feedback nonetheless. Next time I write about something close to my heart I’ll be sure to be more succinct.
There are a lot of egos in the world, I think there are more tactful ways to share your comments than what Jeff said above. I like to call them Delta Bravos. DB’s for short
I see your situation as a shining example of what’s wrong with the social media/marketing/online community in Toronto. Too many people are trying to make a name for themselves promoting events that the events themselves become a secondary goal.
It’s blatant resume and status building. As soon as another person associated with the event – such as yourself – steps over an imaginary boundary, then all hell breaks loose.
I venture to say that at least 50% of all event planners are snake oil salesmen with ulterior motives.