Last weekend, I was saddened to see that my favorite local park had been trashed for some idiotic wine tasting event. Even worse, the event organizers left all the tents, chairs, and detritus in place a full day after it ended. For anyone who saw this scene after the fact, it certainly didn’t create any goodwill towards the event and the groups that sponsored it.

Obviously, the best way to handle this situation is not to create a huge mess in the first place. But if the nature of the event and venue makes this impractical, it helps to take some responsibility for what you’ve done. In particular, I recommend leaving a few signs up after the event to indicate what’s going on and how you’re going to resolve it. For example: “Sorry about the mess — we promise to have everything back to normal by Tuesday morning”.

Some might say this approach makes you look guilty. But not saying anything looks even worse.