What NOT to do when inviting bloggers to an event
A group of bloggers were discussing last year’s events, what’s good what’s funny what’s bad, and then the conversation turned to what’s the most annoying thing we’ve each encountered in these events. There were so many but some of them kept repeating so I’ve decided post about those point in hopes that the next time someone decides to throw an event and invite bloggers, they’d take these points into consideration:
1- Sending out an invitation for one only is frowned upon unless seating is limited. Sending out an invitation specifically for one person to try your restaurant menu up to a maximum of 10 KD only and if you eat more than that you’ll have to pay the excess? Downright cheap and vulgar. Social media are apparently not for everyone and until you can fix your uncle Scrooge’s attitude, you better not send invites to anyone.
2- Given that Instagram usage have boomed this past year, we would appreciate it if you don’t take our pictures and post them without referring to us even if it was your event. Its unethical and very rude. Always add a “By @blogger” if you decide to use our pictures.
3- If you are handling the invites, please do let the event owner know that you’ve invited this and blog and this blog. How do you think it feels, we make the effort to go to the event and introduce ourselves to the person of the event and they greet you back with this big question mark inside a bubble over their head screaming who the hell are you and why are you here, who invited you? We’d look for the nearest crack in the floor to disappear into. It happened before, we desperately wish it won’t keep happening.
4- We know that there can be a lot of people trying to gate crash a private event, we do appreciate it however if you let the person at the door know that this blog/person is coming especially if you’ve sent out email invites only. Taking time of our lives and driving all the way to your event only to be denied access at the door by someone who doesn’t know the difference between an email and a blog is the single most insulting and time-wasting thing you can do.
5- We also know that sometimes you are stranded for space, but it is unacceptable to give us a chair on the side of the event when every other guest has their own table and ask us to sit there just because we are blogs and we are supposed to ”cover” the event not be in it. If you want to invite us, treat us with repsect like every other guest you have in the event or we will leave. Period.
6- We, and by we I mean me and the bloggers who discussed this, do our event coverage and posts absolutely free, there for the event giveaways stand for the thank you reward for the upcoming post. Therefore, it’s really unfair when at the end of the event some bloggers get a big lavish giveaway and others get a teeny tiny one just because that blogger is deemed “more successful and more important” than the other attending bloggers. If they are, then why waste time inviting the unimportant ones? The gesture is degrading.
7- If you want to send out physical invites to your event, either send it out to all the bloggers you want to attend or if you can’t afford to, only send email invites to all. It’s not cool to send an actual fancy invite to “important” bloggers and send other “less” important bloggers last-minute email invites only. What ettiquete less statement are you trying to make exactly?
8- If you invite us to a restaurant, please don’t hover over our heads expecting us to take photographs + make small talk + eat + tell you your food is excellent when we are trying to answer you while chewing sonic fast and gulping food so we can talk with an empty mouth. Make an appearance at the start and end of the meal and ask whatever you wanter after. Also, don’t be offended if we say something is not good. We don’t mean it because we are vengeful. If you cannot handle constructive criticism maybe you should not invite people then.
9- Sending out press releases every week demanding they are posted in our blog and then when you have an actual event you don’t invite our blog? Seriously? Don’t send press releases in the first place, they won’t be published.
10- Blogging about events/restaurants/reviews is not done with a click of a mouse. We have to empty the camera’s memory card, choose pictures, edit them, watermark them, upload them into the blog, write a post, re-write it sometimes and check all the boxes in the screen. It’s not easy and certainly not fast. We’d appreciate it if you stop nagging about “when will you post about the event you came to” on all social media platforms in front of the entire world. Its bothersome and childish.
11- Every reader creates a certain look for the blogger behind the screen in their head and almost always the moment they meet them in real life they’d find out the real image of the blogger is different from the image in their head. If you are so superficial as to want bloggers with certain looks to attend your event and you are disappointed at the turnout, at least be polite enough to contain your disappointment until the event is over and next time, ask around for what you want. Better yet, how about you introduce a dress code, a weight limit, and a no-no’s list with your invitation? Save us all the trouble.
12- So you invite a blogger, you like the way they look and you charm them. The invites to other events you throw are always sent to them and the blogger keeps attending. Then one day the blogger can’t make it to one of your events and BAM the blog is black listed and you don’t invite them anymore. What’s up with that? Sending someone an invite is not the same as signing a binding contract to attend each and everyone of your events or else.
13- Another point to take into consideration is that when a blogger is approached by a rivalling business of yours, it doesn’t mean they are a- owned by that business and b-automatically an enemy of your brand and therefore should be x-listed. This business politics and rivalry is between you and your competitors and unless that blogger is actually sponsored by that rival business of yours, you shouldn’t punish by x-listing them. You’ll end up looking juvenile and unprofessional.
14- We also don’t understand it when you invite a group of bloggers for an event or tasting, then you have another event and invite half of the first group and ignore the other half, and then a few events later you decide to invite the bloggers you ignored the first time. We understand you might want a variety of bloggers to attend your event but usually when a blogger is not invited back to an event while other bloggers are translates to “your blog post about us sucked big time, you are not good”. Yeah, the drones behind the screen got feelings too!
15- Last, and most importantly, always make sure that most self-respecting blogs will NOT call you up asking for an invitation. At least I will never, ever do it. Nor will any self-respecting blog crash your event/outlet and demand free services or threaten you with a bad review. Period. We are blogs, not the mafia.
Now that’s a load off our chests. We can start 2013 with less baggage on our minds. Dear fellow bloggers, if you have anything you’d like to add to the list, please do share.
