Better invited late than never?

As I ponder on what to write about next, I get an email invitation in my inbox. It’s for a food event. Tomorrow. The invitation is sent a little more than 24 hours prior to the actual event.

Am I offended? To be honest, I am not. I don’t have any false sense of entitlement. I know the world doesn’t revolve around me and there are hundreds of other people, bloggers and otherwise, that the organizer or establishment can invite. I have to admit though that it’s not very convenient because normally, I would already have other plans for the very next day so it’s quite seldom that I can accommodate a last-minute invitation. I still take time to respond even if is to politely decline.

There are many possible reasons why last-minute invites occur. Since I have friends in most areas related to media, I have sort of a bird’s eye view on why it happens. Here are a few examples:

• The logistics are confirmed late. Venue is a very tricky portion of an event since there are serious things to consider such as location, seating capacity, reservation schedules, parking, etc.
• Extra slots become available due to last-minute cancellations. No event can accommodate an unlimited number of people. My take on this is if I wasn’t part of the first picks but I actually like the brand, company, or establishment, I’d still consider myself fortunate to have been considered at all. On the flipside, even if I’m invited to something a month ahead of time, I still would not go if whatever it is does not interest me.
• The organizer forgot. Sounds like a lame excuse? Well, they’re only human too so we’ve got to cut them some slack sometimes.

I’ve been on the organizing end of events. Sometimes a company would approach me and ask me to help them set up a small blogger event with say around 10 to 12 attendees. They would normally require a specific niche. My first course of action would be to invite 10 to 12 bloggers first then wait for their responses. I can tell you from firsthand experience that it’s impossible to get 100 percent confirmed attendance from that first batch. As soon as some of them decline, I send the invitation to the next batch of bloggers until the requirement is fulfilled. Since the company entrusted me with the responsibility of inviting bloggers, I would in turn do my research and make sure that the invitees are of the appropriate niche, have a certain degree of reach, readership, and following, and so forth. In the end, it’s really still business.

Getting invited late or not getting invited at all is not a personal issue so I suggest you don’t make it one. Don’t let it get you all bent out of shape because events are never the hallmarks of success in blogging. Content is and always will be king. Just focus on being good at what you’re doing and everything else will follow.