I’ve been speaking at conferences and training technology folks for over 20 years. During that time, I’ve probably delivered over a thousand talks and hundreds of workshops.
Early on, I cared deeply about the scores I received from attendees. Of course, I was always looking for perfect 10s from everyone. But an average score in the 9s was usually ok with me.
I would review all of the feedback forms as well. And, if I saw an outlier, such as a 3 or 4, I’d become obsessed. It would influence how I felt about the whole class. A few times I tracked down the person giving me the low score and interrogated them as to why. I even tried to negotiate a higher score with them right there on the spot.
You get the idea. I was incredibly focused on the grades as a measure of the value delivered in the class.
Fast Forward
Over time, I’ve softened on grades. I’m not going to say I don’t care anymore, but I’ve come to realize that there is more to each of my classes then a numeric valuation. I also realize that no class, and I mean no class, can make everyone happy. That is, perfect 10s are virtually not achievable AND they’re not a good goal.
So, I began to reframe my focus on each class.