People are funny creatures, and perhaps no profession outside of front-line retail staff and call centre workers experience the quirks and vagaries of humanity in quite such a raw way as event managers do.

Unfortunately, you just can’t please some people. And you most certainly can’t please all people.

Below we’ve compiled some of those common complaints you’ll have no doubt encountered at your events in the past – those stubborn issues that will never be resolved for everyone.

  1. The temperature

Whether you’re in a conference room or in the great outdoors, there will always be complaints about the temperate.

“Too hot! We’re melting in here!” says half the room, while the other half sit shivering and Tweet with shaking fingers about the arctic conditions.

Unless you can create a micro-climate for every single attendee, you’ll never get this one right.

  1. Too much (or too little) to see, hear or do

Festival-goers famously complain that they miss their favourite bands…because they’re busy watching their other favourite bands that are playing at the same time.

Or at conferences, delegates rue the fact they can’t be in two places at once to attend two competing sessions that both interest them.

Of course, if you had less content, they’d complain about the lack of content and options too.

What’s a programme manager to do?!

  1. The volume

We’ve been able to send man to the moon for decades now, and we stand on the edge of an age where cars drive themselves and virtual reality becomes mainstream…but can we set up PA systems that work for everyone? Hah!

Whether it’s too loud and causes reverb around the room, or too quiet and the acoustics are lost on the main stage, there’s just no winning. Where’s Elon Musk when you need a big problem like this solved?!

  1. The content

Whether you’re pushing boundaries or playing it safe, someone is going to feel you’ve gone too far in one direction or the other.

How often have you been told that all the presentations are too ‘high level’ and ‘superficial’? Only to see half the room scribbling notes furiously because it’s actually golden for them.

Then flip it, and you’ve got a room half full of lost-looking attendees because the talks are too advanced and technical, while the rest are finally engaged.

The same goes for festivals, where the line-up takes an interesting new artistic direction (remember the furore when Glastonbury confirmed Jay-Z to headline in 2008?); or is berated for being too same-y and uninteresting.

Oh yeah, you just can’t win.

  1. Three’s a crowd (unless it isn’t)

Getting the right number of people at your events is a tough task.

Too few, and there’s no atmosphere, with those who have turned up disappointed at the turnout; too many and it’s a cattle-market, with big queues for everything and frustrated attendees everywhere.

Unless your name is Goldilocks, finding a happy medium is a fairy-tale for most events.

  1. Starting and finishing times

Clearly we all run on different body clocks, as event timings are a prime cause of consternation amongst attendees whatever the event.

No matter how late you start the second day of an international conference, the majority of attendees will set their alarm to miss the first session to get over their hangover.

Meanwhile it doesn’t matter how early you finish, people will book their planes and taxis before the end, ensuring the first and last sessions are routinely empty.

Or perhaps you’re organising a race starting at 8.30am? Too early! 10.30am? Too late, it interferes with the day. Sure, people will turn up at whatever time you set, but you know that a good proportion of them are holding a grudge about the start time.

  1. Communication

Communication is key to a lot of things: a happy marriage; a high performing team; well informed attendees.

Yet somehow, something will always get lost in translation between organiser and at least one attendee.

They’ll turn up a day early (or an hour late); bring the wrong kit; forget their mandatory ID; go to the wrong venue…the list is endless.

And the really frustrating thing is that no number of emails, texts, public announcements or messages written in the sky will get your message across to them.

If they’ve messed up, despite the fact they’ve ignored your last 6 communications, then who’s to blame? You, of course!

  1. The price is(n’t) right

You know that you’ll never get ticket pricing quite right for everyone when even free events get the feedback they got it wrong…and should have charged.

Yep, people will complain even if your event is free. In fact they’ll complain because it’s free. Perhaps it attracted too many tire-kickers. Or it meant there wasn’t enough free food and drink to go around (or the drop-out rate was so high it ended up too empty…see point 5!)

Then of course the second you do charge, there’ll be someone who feels it’s bad value for money; or expects £1000 treatment for a £10 ticket.

Whether you charge a lot, a little or nothing at all, you can rest assured the price will never be right for everyone.

  1. Catering

Why is it that every now and again, suddenly everyone seems to go for the option you were sure would be least popular (primarily because it was least popular at the last event, when there was loads of it left over).

Never is Murphy’s Law more evident than when choosing your catering options.

Get in plenty of strong, freshly brewed coffee and everyone will be asking after the decaf and herbal tea options; stock up on those and there’ll be anarchy at the lack of proper coffee…or get lots of everything and you’ll quickly go broke and have a lot of liquid to dispose of!

The same goes when you try to balance the number of meat, veggie, gluten free etc. food options.

One potential solution to this problem is available though – ask for everyone’s catering preferences when registering for the event using custom questions, and you should finally get a little closer to solving this one!

  1. Location, location, location

If only Kirsty and Phil were available to choose your event’s venue!

If you pick a swanky downtown hotel so that your attendees have plenty of restaurants, bars and culture on their doorstep, you can guarantee there will plenty of feedback that it was too expensive.

Head further out of town for a better room rate, and those less budget conscious culture vultures will be the first to let you know that airport hotels are not their idea of top conference accommodation.

Conclusion

If you’re feeling suitably exasperated having relived all those moments when you pleased one set of attendees, only to find the rest are now less than impressed…just remember, you’re not alone!

Event planning is the 5th most stressful job in the world for a reason, and those who make a successful career out of it really are heroes for putting in so much effort, often behind the scenes to keep as many people happy as possible.

Well done is all we can say!

Have you had first-hand experience of ridiculous complaints at one of your events in the past? Please share them with us (anonymously) below and we’ll print the best ones in a follow-up article.

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