Risky Business: Contracting for Meeting Contingencies©

Overview

Has there ever been a time when the content and specific language of hotel and other vendor contracts has ever been more critical? Perhaps during WWII when my grandparents signed a BEO for my parents’ wedding and a war was raging and after 9.11.01 but since? With all the issues we face – from attendance to climate to changing laws and taxes, from transportation to ownership and management changes, from terrorism to privacy– it is more important than ever to ensure that the hotel and related contracts and contingencies are spelled out. This will be presented by a meeting professional with more than 40 years of experience who, though not a lawyer, has and does testify as an expert witness in contract disputes in the meetings industry on behalf of groups and on behalf of hotels. Provided with the session will be a checklist of items to include for negotiation and contract inclusion consideration and a table of contents for issues to include in contingency planning.

Learning Objectives

  1. Advance your knowledge of contracts and critical clauses
  2. Improve your ability to fairly negotiate clauses critical to the parties to the contract
  3. Establish internal benchmarks for contingencies for your meetings and the arrangements with hotels.

Joan Eisenstodt

Joan Eisenstodt founded Eisenstodt Associates, a Washington, DC-based company that provides meetings and hospitality consulting, training and facilitation in 1981. She brings 35+ years of experience to her work with associations, corporations, hotel companies and DMOs, to facilitate and design meetings, conduct training, perform departmental audits and negotiate contracts.

Joan is retained as a hospitality industry expert witness and is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism. Her industry activities include involvement in ASAE, DMAI, MPI, and PCMA. Her passions for life-long learning, meeting preparation, risk anticipation, contingency planning, ethical and inclusivity practices, and meeting excellence have been well-recognized by MPI, HSMAI, and NSA (speakers not spies!); as an inductee into the CIC [now EIC] Hall of Leaders; by the PCMA Foundation for Lifetime Achievement as an Educator; and by IACC with the Pyramid Award and with the Mel Hosansky Award for Distinguished Service in education.

Joan has a strong desire to make all meetings more interesting, interactive and appropriate to their audiences and hopes you’ll participate in this session with an open mind to change! You can interact with Joan on twitter (@joaneisenstodt and @meetingsfocus), at her blog on www.meetingstoday.com, and on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/joaneisenstodt).