After working on dozens of special events like gala balls, weddings, music festivals, high-brow fundraisers, and kids’ field days, I’ve come to learn that special events need a community of people to come off well, with each person doing their part with positive energy, cooperation, vision, with often hundreds of people hunkering down to do their specialized tasks at the right time.
Potential guests pick up on coalesced energy, and tend to show up newly when they feel confidence and trust in what they’ll encounter.
Special events often take dozens and dozens of last-minute, day-of folks to volunteer to build a foundation of trust to build a success. Because of sprawling personnel and hundreds of discrete tasks, someone also has to trust that it will all work out – and then actually reflect that energy to the public, while simultaneously educating the public on the salient, compelling, and practical access details (like location and date, and where to buy tickets).
What I’ve learned from this work is that confidence is not a given, but it is something workers and marketing professionals can give.
For instance, in community events, participants give confidence, because perhaps they know who is in charge, who feels responsible, and what their vision and track record is. And staff and visitors also give confidence because they understand the team, their motives, their strengths, and mission.
And if someone just anticipates fun, that’s enough reason to participate too.
A contribution is sometimes the very giving of confidence itself and doing the work to make highlight the fine “vibes.” This is akin to “endorsement” but has more power because it is co-creative.
I think the personal quality of confidence comes from growing up with a natural trust of people and the qualities of good will. I grew up believing people’s words are generally close to truth and am glad to observe that the long arc of humanity is still bending toward love and justice (even if the hiccup in the US right now is surely a major downgrade).
Trust can be a default setting. And while this setting has been shaken many times by people who have been less than trustworthy, at the end of the day, confidence in the goodness of life, and the good will of people, and the arc of history being toward the just and brave is a choice.
And I continue to choose it most days.
A big thank you to coach Robyn Ivy who’s been shining a light on the nature of confidence, and helping me to notice and practice it in spiritual and practical ways.
