What does RSVP mean?

Mary-Anne Barnett

According to people that were asked, RSVP (respondez s'il vous plait) means:

• Respond please
  
• Reply a soon as possible
  
• Respond and be nice to the person who is inviting you
  
• Reserve your reservation so the people planning the event know you are coming
  
• Let me know that you are coming so I can be prepared.

Firstly, decide if you want to go to the event; secondly, check your diary to see if you are able to go; and, if all is in favour, then email or telephone your response.

This decision making process would probably take about 30 seconds - a quick process that is dealt with and passed on. However, if you procrastinate and decide you will come back to it, especially if it is on email, the process is fraught with possible errors.

Once, it is off your screen it is out of your mind and not considered again until one of the organiser's phone you three days before the event to enquire whether you are attending. You might vaguely remember it but it is easier to say "Sorry, I never received it. Can you send it again?" in which case you will probably ignore it again, or you could just answer "Sorry, no, I won't attend."

If you decide then to say "Yes", then please attend the event. The event has had a great deal of thought put into it and in most instances a great deal of money. Whether you are there or not, the host has to pay the venue, the entertainers, the gifts and, in many instances, the event is a fundraiser in aid of people less fortunate than you.

So, when next you are invited to an event, make the easy 30 second decision making process instead of giving the organisers two days of follow ups and a lot of money wasted.