What Meeting Professionals Can Learn From Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines

What event professionals(#eventprofs) can learn from Twitterer Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines (blog).  Full story here(news)

All Customers have a voice these days,  just like your attendees do. Kevin Smith felt like he was wronged by Southwest Airlines and he told his twitter audience. He sent out more than 200 posts to his twitter followers.  His twitter audience (1,669,340 people) also has an audience which makes his message grow exponentially.  If I retweet his comment it goes out to my 3000 or so followers and so on and so on.  Of course he is a celebrity and has some rabid fans which makes his twitter stream the equivalent of a bullhorn on the internet.  The problem for Southwest Airlines much like if someone dislikes your event that person can voice their opinion.  So it is mucho importante to listen to your audience.

This might be the dawning of the return of good table manners, and maybe the importance of treating all people with respect and dignity.

How you can avoid this type of situation and what can you do for damage control?

I think Southwest was listening and tried to appease Kevin Smith during his twitter stream story as it was unfolding. They said they were sorry which is the main thing to do in situations like this. Damage is done. Move forward. Then recitify the problem or explain why it happened,  how they will try and fix the problem in the future.  It’s really not about who is right and who is wrong at this point. Basically treat it like living a zen or is it a buddhist lifestyle – you can’t control the past or the future but you can control right now. So do it.

Make sure if you are holding an event, you listen to your staff, sponsors, speakers and most of all your audience, whoever they might be. It is not a one way world anymore. There is a constant dialouge going on and you must be in these conversations.

Another interesting aspect I found as a podcaster is that Kevin Smith refused to do interviews about the subject.  He told the media to listen to his podcast which is called Smodcast.  Which is also an interesting twist to the story and application for you to think about to reach your audience. (podcasts,videocasts, streaming)

So make sure to watch the conversations. Use radian6(paid), tweetchat, search.twitter.com, google alerts etc…

Love to hear any stories you might have about listening or not listening to your audience.  Any experiences to share?

How do you listen to your audience?