How Our Big Event Failed Today #rockymountainfly


When you swing for the fences, sometimes you strike out.

We’re sitting here at DIA with our tail between our legs, dejected.  Our grand plan to welcome Virgin America to Denver has been thwarted.  You can read about the plan here. (It was a BIG plan, trust me. LOL!)

We conceived this plan back in November when Virgin announced they were coming to Denver. The goal: have a fun, engaging event that would have gotten tons of social media attention.

Instead, it flopped.

  • The flight we THOUGHT we were going to send off doesn’t start till tomorrow.
  • Virgin planned a HUGE event coming IN to Denver at 11:00, which included Sir Richard Branson, which is getting massive attention.
  • The current event planners politely asked us not to do anything, not wear our t-shirts, give out books, or ANYTHING. They are vigorously protecting this event.
  • They even asked us not to take pictures.

I’d be a liar if I said we aren’t crushed.

That being said, we knew it was a long shot. We knew we were swinging for the fences.  We knew there was a chance the entire thing could come crashing down and we went for it anyway.

As I talk about in Not Taught, you have to take risks.  You have to be willing to swing big and risk failing and lose everything. We did that and this time, it didn’t pay off. We got our asses handed to us. I think the hardest thing about taking risks and swinging for the fences is getting back up and going for it again.

As I’m sitting here thinking about how much time, money, and effort we put into this, I’m doing everything I can to not let it deject me or the team. We were all VERY excited.

At A Sales Guy, we play big. We have crazy ideas, we push the envelope. We chose this event because we felt Virgin and Richard Branson had a similar culture and wanted to celebrate their arrival to Denver (and get a little love and attention for Not Taught and A Sales Guy too. I’m not stupid. ;))

We’re packing up and heading out. We’re respecting Virgin America’s request not to affect or disrupt their big event. We get it.

With that said, we’re still excited Virgin is here in Denver and will be flying them soon.

Now, I need to go brush myself off and find the next horse to get back up on.

We will be back, crazy ideas await.

Good luck Virgin America, we hope this is the first of many routes out to Denver.

See you on a flight to San Francisco.

//keenan

P.S. We have two hundred Not Taught books to give away.  If you have an idea or your organization is interested in and event, hit us up with your idea. Obviosly, nothing too crazy for us.

Keenan