Every events manager knows those emails 鈥斅爐he ones that push you into a pit of dread before you open them. It might be a pestering sponsor interrupting your workflow, or a caterer pulling out at the last minute. Just think about how productive you could be if you could leave those messages unread forever.聽
Take a tour of the typical event planner鈥檚 daily inbox to see which of these also haunt you on a daily basis.
Venue canceled 馃檨
At least in this case, the bad news is right there for you to see. No sugarcoating or guesswork is needed, but, man, it鈥檚 a gut punch when something like that arrives in your inbox. (If you鈥檙e lucky, once you open it, there might be a bit more context that means the news isn鈥檛 as bad as you thought 鈥� thus making that subject line even more annoying for causing you unnecessary heart palpitations.)
Urgent!!!
Consider these the emails that cried wolf. When a message is labeled as urgent (or 鈥淚mportant鈥� or 鈥減lease read ASAP鈥�) and there are multiple exclamation points, get ready for a big eye roll.
You鈥檝e learned from experience that these messages are never really all that urgent. It鈥檚 either something that can wait until more high priority items are taken care of (an attendee with a request for gluten-free food) or it might be just a cheap ploy to get you to respond faster. Still, you have no choice but to open the message, just in case鈥�
[No subject]
Everyone loves a good mystery, but when you鈥檙e in the thick of planning an event or being an event planner, you don鈥檛 want to play guessing games. And that鈥檚 just what an email with no subject ends up being.
While the content might end up being useful鈥� like your (very busy) keynote speaker finally sharing their slides for review 鈥� the fact that you have no idea of what you鈥檙e clicking means you鈥檒l probably end up wasting time checking something that could have waited.
Out of office re: Vendor deadline today
After a couple of weeks of promises to finalize event details, you reach out to your partners only to get a few of these dreaded auto-reply messages. Once you see that subject line, you know that the waiting game will have to go on just a bit longer.
Quick q for you鈥�
On the surface, this one doesn鈥檛 seem so bad. The sender promised it would be 鈥渜uick,鈥� but that鈥檚 also code language for, 鈥渞ead this right now.鈥�
Whether or not this one fills you full of dread really depends on the sender. If it鈥檚 from a caterer following up on your selections, you know there will be nothing quick about it. 聽
We need to meet to talk about your marketing budget and plan for the upcoming event. I鈥檓 free after 3 鈥� when are you available?
Speaking of bosses, ever get one of these long-winded subject lines that could be a message in and of itself? And then you click into the message and it鈥檚 basically a repeat of the subject line?
Got a sec?
This one is like the love child of 鈥渘o subject鈥� and 鈥渜uick q.鈥� It鈥檚 vague, but the implication is that if you ignore it, it means you don鈥檛 care enough about that person to give them one second of your time. Who knew a simple email subject line could come packaged with its very own guilt trip?
If your email inbox overwhelms you, there鈥檚 a good chance that subject lines like these are partly to blame. The other issue might be that you don鈥檛 have a great process for decluttering your emails.
With some smart organization and time management, or even suggesting that your team uses a communications tool like Slack to cut down on email back-and-forth, these annoying subject lines won鈥檛 have as much impact on your day.
More than just emails have you stressed pre-event. Download this de-stress checklist.
