Today I am at The Glasshouse (formally The Sage) in Gateshead for the annual Atomicon conference. A great conference with world class speakers (this year we had Davina McCall, Lisa Bilyeu, Jen Gottleib & Geoff Ramm to name just a few) in a world class venue. I have pages and pages of notes and ideas that I will have to sift through over the next few days.
But in amongst all the razzmatazz and great learning of a huge conference, one tiny thing caught my attention. This little message on a set of steps up to the top floor of The Glasshouse. I was so amused by it, I had to stop and block the flow into the next session just to get a photo. (Sorry if you were one of the people behind me trying to get into Geoff Ramm’s session on Celebrity Service.)
I love this message!
So often we see similar messages in buildings and venues – signs that say “NO ENTRY” or “STAFF ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT”.
They always seemed a little harsh to me. And sometimes downright rude! Just a copy of what other people do, with no real thought how to do it well.
Not this message! It was polite and friendly and made me smile.
it would have been all too easy, just to put the standard sign up – No Entry! But someone has thought through who The Glasshouse wanted be and what sort of venue they are and made it much more consistent with the emotion that a music and conference venue want us to experience.
I’m sure there are a few processes, behaviours, messaging in all our businesses that we could really improve and make a little kinder, a little happier to make people smile. Sometimes it’s just the simple things that make a big difference.
Bravo, The Glasshouse for going the extra mile to make the experience better.