This is a story about the icon who was Steve Jobs, but it really isn’t. Rather, it’s an observation about two very different reactions by people I don’t know which prompted two very different reactions in me.
I am enrolled in Facebook school via Social Media Examiner Facebook Success Summit 2011 which launched October 5 via live webinar broadcast world-wide to some 1800 attendees. Ten minutes before the kickoff presentation to be given by Guy Kawasaki, Apple announced Steve Jobs had died. Guy is the former chief evangelist at Apple, the founder of Alltop, and an esteemed author and respected business and social media pro.
Michael Stelzner, president of Social Media Examiner, announced via email that Guy would alter his presentation and instead share a personal tribute about a very personal friend who had graced the world with such amazing talent and influence.
I listened to Guy at the top of his presentation not knowing what to expect. The email confused me as I’m not privy about peoples’ professional backgrounds, relationships, or true measure of influence unless I tune in consistently to them.
Guy was breathless and absolutely distraught. His mobile device was ringing off the hook (on vibrate); people wanted to reach out and express sympathy. Finally, he had to turn it off to concentrate on his live delivery and his in-the-moment-significant-real-time story about his close friend, Steve Jobs.
The significance of this moment wasn’t lost on me, but it didn’t carry that much weight until two days later when I read a question posed by a woman in the Facebook Summit LinkedIn group who asked, “Was anyone else upset that the first session was changed without notice?”
REALLY?!
The passing of Steve Jobs is akin to the passing of Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, or JFK Junior. This woman had the audacity to ignore the impact of this historical moment by sharing it with someone experiencing true and real-time feelings ad lib. Because of this woman’s shortsightedness and posting of a selfish question, the significance of what I witnessed in Guy’s on-the-spot tribute became more critical to me.
I have not gone to follow the thread on LinkedIn; nor do I want to. Perhaps this woman is not an Apple consumer; perhaps she lives in a country other than the U.S. No matter; if Michael Stelzner thought the passing of Steve Jobs that important to segue his kick-off presentation then the students attending should’ve relished that experience, too.
This is kind of a strange post to share, but I just had to get this off my chest; it still dumbfounds me.
Oh Jayme, there’s always going to be that ONE person that’s just a Negative Nancy about everything. Yes, it wasn’t the kickoff presentation everyone thought, but you got to experience something very personal with someone. For most people (like you), it was totally worth it. Then there are the people like that woman that just don’t get it. That want “their money’s worth” and just focus on the course. Those are the people that usually fail because they don’t know how to relate to people. They refuse to go “off-brand” and be human when the need arises.
“Negative Nancy!” i LOVE that!!! You always bring that down-to-earth perspective I appreciate, B. You’re such an old soul, you know that? That’s why we get along so well (I had put swell, and I think I’ll keep it there…that’s why we get along so swell) in spite of our difference in dog years!
Thanks for acknowledging this post…a bit of an aside, but I thought it important enough and had to share. Thank you.
Negative Nancy ! Perfect. I had to get that into my vocab. Brilliant.
I think you’re right to be upset though Jayme, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Some people are energy drainers. She sounds like one.
I try and stay away from folks like that.
Not “upset” per se, Jon, just a tad surprised at someone’s selfishness, you know? Sometimes the obvious needs to be slapped beside someone’s face to get them to understand the significance of circumstance.
I’m with you, Jayme. Yes, you might have missed Guy’s plan introduction. He can email his notes to everyone. But you did get to participate in a very personal and heartfelt outpouring from one of the social media icons (which Guy certainly is). And you got to hear a personal story about Jobs. There has been lots written about his societal and technical impact, but hearing a personal story is really special. And you got to provide support for Guy during an emotional and difficult time. I think you were very lucky to be able to participate. Too bad negative Nancy didn’t understand that.
Now, thanks to Beatriz, we’re all going to be using “negative Nancy!” Fits, doesn’t it?
I don’t typically write alongside others who echo the chamber, but when an angle presents itself, it bears sharing. Thanks for stopping in today, Neicole.
P.S. I’m thinking you need to be in academia…just sayin’. (This was a follow on to our recent thread last week about your in-depth articles.)
Reminds me of the people in my high school who complained about the malls being closed right after 9/11. All one can really do in response is elicit a massive eye roll.
Heh. Spot on, Emma! Great chatting today! Your company leader may not have liked my comment on her post about “free” publicity. I take offense to that term…but, I was nice about it!
Jayme, I hope she was just having a really, really bad day. Can you imagine what an awful boss she’d make?
Emma’s comment about teens complaining about the malls being closed right after 9/11 shocks me. I’ve been discouraged lately about the state of humanity, so when I hear about or witness these moments of utter self-absorption and self-centeredness, I’m going to try to focus on how wonderful and kind people like you and all my other social media friends are. I don’t think there’s a self-centered one among my favorites, actually! Shout-out to @JennWhinnem:twitter @twitter-29827578:disqus @Brad_Lovett:twitter @jonbuscall:disqus and @carloverkat:twitter , among many others, for being the difference we want to see in the world.
Knowing what a tough week and weekend you just endured, you’re the bomb for stopping in here so late to be so sweet. Thank you for all the acknowledgments and you are so on this list, Michelle. You RockHot, and in spite of all the arrogance on the ‘sphere, we’re all hunkering down to stay the course of being genuine, real and authentic. Call me…I listen very well. Cheers!
First of all, thanks to Michelle for an extraordinarily kind shout-out. I’ll have to tell you privately Michelle what this means to me.
But second – no, I disagree. I don’t think that the death of Steve Jobs is in anyway comparable to the attacks of 9/11. I’ll leave it at that.
What Social Media Examiner SHOULD have done was reschedule the webinar. Based on what Jayme described, that sounds like a massive bungle on their part. A man just lost a mentor and friend, so make him talk to a paying group of people? Who paid to hear about something else? No. Not appropriate. I might not have posted that on Linked In, but I would have felt annoyed. I admit it! Anyone who knows me knows I’m not an Apple fangirl by any means, so please factor that in before you write me off as selfish.
But THIRD I’d like to thank Jayme for allowing me to be as contrary as I am. I am not trying to guilt Jayme as I write this; God knows I’ve been contrary before and she’s put up with it. So thanks for those other times, and feel free to take me on if I’m full of it this time my friend. I can take it.
I do see some people saying that it was a very personal tribute – perhaps it was special on its own. I’m open to that. I wasn’t there. It sounds like this complainer’s expectations were disappointed. She didn’t want the personal tribute, she wanted…knowledge from Guy I guess. I can’t say what the course promised because the link is behind a “members only” area. I imagine though that it involved the exchange of money – and if it did, I can’t really blame Ms Complainer, whoever she was.
Oh, man…where do I begin? Heh.
Let’s start with the facts — the session by Guy IS going to be rescheduled for we who paid. That was shared from the get go. It was so spontaneous, and Guy was given the chance to cancel, but he decided to go ahead and speak about the situation.
As for me, I didn’t stay on to listen to the entire show. I bought back my time because it didn’t interest me. I was happy to have that time back b/c hours and hours of listening to these sessions scares me.
So, in actuality, the only inconvenience was not hearing Guy speak that night on the expected topic. Icons affect people in life; whether you’re an Apple lover or not, you can’t ignore the effect Jobs had on many people. Consider that this session was all set and 10 minutes prior, Jobs is announced dead. In the position Guy held at Apple, it would’ve been a disservice to Apple, Jobs and those listening if it was ignored. Frankly, it was a memorable event; that woman was shortsighted not having the patience to wait for the session to be rescheduled.
Fascinating opinion, Jenn! Bring it…always! Thanks for feeling comfortable doing that right here where you’re loved and welcome.
Thank you for the facts! In light of that information – that it was rescheduled, that Guy decided to continue and didn’t feel like he had to – I’m not really sure what that lady was complaining about. I get it now. Thanks friend.
I wasn’t privy to the segment, but if someone can’t understand the idea of having a personal loss that profoundly affects a person, I don’t know what to say. Speaking of malls being closed on 9/111, I’ll never forget a clip on the radio of a woman who was all indignant that the planes were grounded and she couldn’t get home (a real arrogant sounding woman with a harsh accent). We”ll, everyone was inconvenienced and 3000 people died, so I wanted to say “get over yourseelf”. Thanks Michelle at @NEMultimedia for the shout-out, and I appreciate your friendship as well as @soulati:disqus and ..and of course those of you here that I haven’t met
Have you met @michellequillin:disqus in person yet, Brad? Pretty cool we got to meet at Social Slam, eh? Thanks for popping in here to share; I guess this is for sure not a one-off incident. There are going to be selfish people in every “inconvenient” situation.