Everything is ready for a major conference, convention or confex and the main speaker phones the organiser hours before the commencement of the event to advise that because of bad weather, ill health or some other excuse he can longer make it. This is a nightmare which most long time business events organisers have experienced at some point in their careers.
This is a cause for worry for organisers because business events are experiential brands. A last minute pull-out by a speaker damages the organisers’ reputation and event brand because many delegates and attendees decide to attend events on the basis of the subject of the meeting and the speaker. The reputation, expertise and experience of a speaker have a lot of influence on delegates’ decisions to attend business events. This is the reason why a speaker no show is no small issue to event organisers.
Many seasoned event organisers are now so experienced that they now take such eventualities into their stride but many admit that it is an unsettling experience. Despite meticulous planning, incidences of speakers pulling out on the last minute are sometimes unavoidable given that some of the reasons for such actions are beyond their control. The best defence against speakers failing to show up is, therefore, preparation. The following paragraphs provide tips on how to handle a speaker no show.
- Include contingency a section in your event plan
When planning for business events in which speakers and presenters play a central role it is not enough to ensure that their services are secured to ensure the smooth flow of events. Organisers need to go a step further and prepare for the event of an unplanned cancellation by a presenter or speaker. This means that they need to have a plan B in place to fall back on when a scheduled presenter or speaker pulls the rug from under their feet throwing the event into jeopardy.
One way of doing this is through putting in place a stand-by presenter or speaker who stand in for the first choice one. Another way is to include a “no show” clause in the agreement between the organiser and presenter or speaker to discourage the latter from inordinately pulling out of the agreement at the flimsiest of excuses. The contract should oblige the offending presenter or speaker to pay back any deposit paid to them as part of their terms.
To make it easy for organisers to handle incidents of presenter or speaker last minute pull out, the contract could also include a clause enjoining the presenter or speaker to check at the event venue at least three hours before his slot or session starts. This enables the organisers to set their plan B in motion in the event of a speaker cancelling to avoid the embarrassment which is associated with presenters and speakers failing to show up at the crucial moments.
- Enlist the assistance of the presenter or speaker
A well-meaning presenter or speaker normally advises the organiser of his unplanned inability to deliver as per agreement as while there is still as much time as possible. This means that the moment he realises that his or her circumstance will not permit him to be at the event.
The presenter or presenter can be relied upon to provide solutions to the sudden crisis. Such professionals know of their colleagues in the same industry who can bail out the organiser. So in the absence of a plan B, the presenter or speaker, who is unable to be part of the event, can be asked to suggest a suitable replacement and rescue the organisers and save the event.
Sometimes a presenter or speaker may be delayed due to a delayed flight owing to bad weather. In the circumstances, the organiser needs to establish the presenter or organiser’s new arrival time so that, where possible his session can be re-scheduled by swapping with another. Where the presenter is unable to attend, the organiser can ask him to e-mail his presentation notes or slides so that they can be used by the replacement presenter or speaker if necessary.
- Seek help from speakers bureau, professional body or business membership body
The original source of the speaker can also come in handy dealing with a speaker last minute cancellation. In some countries there are some speaker bureaux which organisers approach for presenters and speakers on specific business events topics. If this is how the organiser came into contact with the cancelling presenter, the former can approach the bureau from which they got the speaker’s contact details and ask for the details of another resource to replace the one who is unable to present or speak. Normally such bodies gladly assist.
Professional bodies such as associations in the mould of the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (MAZ) and business membership bodies like the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) are other sources of sought-after speakers and presenters. They would assist to maintain good relations with the organiser and save the association that may be in existence between their bodies and the event brand.
- The organiser’s team
Faced with a cancelling speaker or presenter, the event organiser’s manager needs to brief his or her event team of the crisis. Together they can brainstorm possible solutions. These include possible replacements or other non-replacement options such as changing the nature of the affected session so that another replacement activity can introduced. For example, where a speaker was supposed to present the session can be changed to networking event or a break out session to discuss the topic which the speaker was supposed to tackle.
- Turn to the social media
While the social media is regarded by some people as just that – social- organisers should not underestimate its power in the propagation of messages both business and social. For this reason it is another tool which they can use to seek replacements for cancelling presenters or speakers at their events.
They can send a word on their LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook accounts and those of their event brands indicating that they are urgently looking for expert presenters or speakers on a given topic. Most business event professionals are on Whatsapp and are members of various Whatsapp groups. These groups can also come in handy in propagating information when looking for a replacement presenter or speaker when faced with a crisis.
- Staff volunteers
When the worse comes to the worst one of the event team members can be asked to volunteer to speak on the subject that the cancelling speaker was supposed to address. Alternatively, the volunteer can preside over a discussion on the speaker’s topic.
Where such changes are effected the event manager needs to explain the developments to the attendees and sincerely apologise. This is because, as indicated at the beginning of this article, the choice of a speaker is one of the very strong determinants of delegates’ decision-making process when it comes to attending business events.
- Attendees
Faced with a crisis sometimes help can come from unexpected quarters and this includes the people who were expecting to benefit from the cancelling presenter or speaker – the attendees. In meetings such as the annual gatherings of professional bodies or business membership organisations many people know each other.
Organisers know most of the attendees and vice versa because of the frequent interaction in the course of business. Because of this organisers end up knowing who among the attendees can ably replace the presenter or speaker because their known background and past presentations. Once this has been agreed on, the chosen attendee can be given time to come up with a presentation. This can be facilitated by shifting the affected session to a later programme slot to afford him sufficient time to properly prepare for his session.
The organiser can pay the replacement presenter or speaker the agreed fees and replace the funds so paid by collecting the unused deposit paid to the defaulting speaker or presenter.
- Postponing or cancelling the event
Where the speaker has given his apologies for failing to turn up on the greed event date when there is still ample time the organiser can postpone the event to a later date when the speaker or presenter would be available. This means that the organiser has to notify paid up delegates and attendees of the new date.
Sometimes all the foregoing efforts may not properly address the situation to the satisfaction of the attendees and the organiser is left with no options except to cancel event if it was based largely on the speaker or presenter who would have failed to make it. Where the cancelling presenter or speaker was only part of a number of speakers on the various slots and sessions of the event, the rest of the event can go on.
In most small and local events presenters and speakers can easily be replaced but not so with international events or national events where a global speaker or presenter has been invited. This is because of the logistics involved in replacing the speaker. It is in this type of event that delegates and attendees feel prejudiced the most by a cancellation of an event or session because international speakers are expensive and the events registration fees tend to be on the high side. Notwithstanding all this, sometimes an event just has to be cancelled and this should be done professionally.
Cancellations involve notifying would be attendees and all involved stakeholders as well as stating the reasons for the decision. It also means refunding the paid up attendees.
Given that speaker cancellations are reality of the business events industry, organisers have to come to terms with them and handle them well. With time they will be able to take them in their stride without experiencing undue stress. Expecting such disruptions and planning for them makes it less stressful to handle them.
