Last Thursday, we offered our first free Collegewise webinar, this one on highly-selective college admissions. Exactly 177 people had registered. We had prepared and practiced and were ready to “wow” our attendees.
Then, after some audio trouble ten minutes in, one of our presenters was trying to reboot the connection and accidentally ended the meeting. It disconnected everyone, both us and all the attendees, and there was no way to get it back. People had given us their time and attention, and we abruptly cut them off, leaving them with no idea why.
So I immediately emailed all of the folks who’d been in attendance, apologized, and promised to record a new version to share with them. It was a real apology, by the way. Not a business-speak version like, “We apologize for any inconvenience.”
I got 40 emails back and all of them were both thankful and forgiving, with messages like:
Thanks for letting us know. We really enjoyed the part we heard!
Glad to hear it wasn’t me! Let us know when the recording is ready.
Maybe this is just a metaphor for college rejection? 🙂
Most reasonable people have a remarkable ability to be forgiving, especially if (1) the mistake is an honest one, and (2) you own up to it right away and take responsibility.
High school students, I know many of you feel like you need to be perfect to get into college today. You don’t. And even if you make a mistake or have a disciplinary strike against you, the chances of colleges being able to look past it increase dramatically if you express remorse right away and if you handle it maturely.
Our presenters gathered bright and early the following morning to record a new version of our webinar. Other than the occasional echo, we were free of technical (and most human) glitches. You can view the free webinar here.