What Does It Feel Like When No One Shows Up For Your Event?

I capture it happening in real time...

This is the uncorrected transcript from the above video:

Hey everyone, it's Jennie Nash. I'm the founder and CEO of Author Accelerator and I am here in a Zoom room by myself because I was holding an event and nobody came. I wanted to capture this moment to tell you what it feels like and what I'm going to do and why maybe it happened, because it's going to happen to everyone at some point or another if you're putting things out in the world and trying to help people.

My hair is wet because, uh, what I was, what I was hosting were a series of open houses for people who are interested in Author Accelerator's Book Coach Certification Program. And we had three dates on the calendar. People didn't have to sign up- it's the same link for every date- and so we didn't know who was going to come to which date.

I held one of the Open Houses this morning and it was fantastic. We had, uh, 15 people at one point and they were asking great questions. We had this real robust conversation. And in fact, I was supposed to be there for an hour and I stayed for two and it was just fantastic. So here I come this afternoon, uh, several hours later to do the next one, and they're just casual events. They're not recorded. We're not, there was no formal presentation, which is why my hair can look like this. Um, and I, I just came from pickle ball and skidded in here to do it. And nobody showed nobody's here. So I was like, Huh, did something go wrong with the technology?

So I checked my email, I checked the company email to see if anybody was saying, Hey, we're all in this room and you're not in the right place because that sometimes happens. We have multiple zoom accounts and maybe I'm in the wrong place or clicked the wrong thing. And I. Uh, in fact, went out of the room and came back in to make sure that I was in the right place.

I checked with my team on Slack. I'm just looking at it again and was like, Did I miss something? Did I get the time wrong? Is the calendar wrong? Like, did I mess up? Um, the answer seems to be no. So, you know, I checked the tech things, I checked the calendar things. I, I checked all the things that potentially could be wrong.

And it seems like everything's in order. Nobody just came, nobody showed. And, um, It reminds me of, I mean, this has happened many, many times in my career where I've done a thing and nobody went for it. Or I remember book signings when nobody came. I've put out retreat offers when nobody signed up and I had to cancel a big thing that had logistics and locations and all that attached to it.

And, you know you just never know. You just never know. You have to just try. And when something like this happens, not take it personally because it's, it's not personal that this time clearly didn't work for people. We put a bunch of different times out and this one didn't fly. So you know, so what, um, had one person come, I would have stayed here and talk to that one person for an hour, which would have been amazing for them and probably for me too. I would have learned. A lot about my potential customers and what they need and the questions that they have. You know, had there been two people, same thing. I would have served whoever was here. So, you know, you show up and you keep showing up and you continue to show up. And that's what you do when you believe in what you're offering and you know that it can change people's lives.

You, you just keep doing the thing. So I've been here now. 15 minutes. And I think I'm going to call it a day and realize that nobody's showing and we have another one tomorrow. I'm, I'm hopeful that some more people come to that and it'll be a great, robust, energetic conversation like this morning's was, and maybe next time we won't do this time in the middle of an afternoon for some folks and sort of early evening for other.

But. We tried. That's what we do. And onward we go. So I wanted to record this as a way of letting you inside an actual moment when this happened to me and that I'm fine. And if it happens to you, you're going to be fine too. You just keep serving your potential client and showing up. That's what we do.

It's all we can do. And onward we go. Okay. Bye now.

Epilogue

Turns out we posted a different time in our invitation than I had on my calendar. So no one came to the zoom room when I was in it… and people came later when I was not in it.

These things happen. But it also happens that everything goes right and no one shows up, which is the reality I thought I was in.

Either way, all we can do is hold up our head, apologize, laugh at it, and keep moving forward!

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