Is Seth Godin going to show up?

Would you guys be okay if I told you a quick story about Seth Godin?

Well, since you kept reading this second sentence, I'm going to assume that you do. We were lucky enough to have Seth be our keynote speaker at SocialAtHome last week. And in the weeks leading up to, I had this one fear that I didn't tell anyone.

I was afraid that I hadn't actually booked Seth Godin. I was terrified that I had been duped and sent his speaker fee to someone pretending to be him. Why? Because he was so easy and nice to talk to, and because he was so responsive to emails about our event. I tried to limit how many times I emailed him, just asking the important questions and locking down details, but every time he would right back right away, always with the answers I needed and a word or two of encouragement.

"There's no way Seth is this nice."

I began to tell myself. Doubt began to creep in. I never said anything to anyone. The fear just sat in my head while I was planning this giant conference.

"Be prepared for if he doesn't show up."

And that's the trick with virtual events, you don't really know if the speaker is going to show up until they click the link, usually seconds before they go on. There's no plane or hotel to check in to. There's no real way to know if they are coming until they click that link. All you have is the link.

So last Thursday, as we were getting ready to bring Seth on to the mainstage of SocialAtHome, I kept telling myself to prepare for the worst. We asked him to meet us 15 minutes before he was to go live. He wasn't there. Ten minutes before he was to go live. He wasn't there. I started telling the team to think about a Plan B. Five minutes, and I quickly saw him in the chat. I sent him a note quickly telling him to use the link and meet us backstage.

And just like that, he was there. Seth Godin. The Seth Godin I wasn't duped.

He was real. He was at SocialAtHome.

I chuckled at all of those hours of sleep I had lost wondering if it was really him. Would I be more rested right now if I had just trusted the world more? Lord knows I could have used a few extra hours of sleep.

So as we were getting ready to go live to 500 people across the country, I noticed people in the chat were talking about interacting with Seth in the virtual networking room. Which wasn't part of our contract or anything. So I asked him "Were you in the networking talking to people." And he said that he was. He said he got there early and was interacting with our attendees. I was in shock. That was above and beyond. The system we use sorta does blind date networking. You click a button to network and it connects you with another attendee who is looking to network. You don't get to pick.

So could you imagine clicking the networking button and seeing Seth Godin on your screen, and not only that, he's talking to you.

As someone who was just about to talk to Seth Godin, I was so excited for our attendees. He did something I could have never planned for. (And I had planned for everything. Our attendees rated us 9.8/10 for how organized the conference was.)

Now, of course, Seth is just a human being and I shouldn't be surprised that he would take a few extra steps to make the experience special for our attendees. But he didn't have to. The attendees and I would have been pleased as punch with just the keynote presentation. But he did more. Why? Cause he's nice.

After the dust settled on SocialAtHome, I kept going back to this moment because it's an important reminder that as we all achieve different levels of success (which is all relative anyway), that it doesn't matter how much we make, how many people buy our books, or how many people might be inspired or motivated by our actions, all that matters is that you stay nice. No matter what. Kindness rises. You don't read much about being nice in business books or on entrepreneurial podcasts. I think we're taught the world is more ruthless than it is. In my career, the ones that have thrived, the ones that have come through seemingly unsurmountable obstacles are always kind. They are patient. They are understanding. They are nice.