Keep an Ace in Your Pocket

I was attending an industry event recently when the inevitable happened. Planners have all had some form of this phenomenon happen to us. Picture if you will… an event in January where people from all over the country traveling to your event are mostly at the mercy of airline travel and the unpredictability of mother nature. Everyone is on a schedule, likely coming from closing an event and will be leaving to execute another after this. In the 11th hour, a speaker calls and says, due to the 14-inches of snow that have descended on his town, his flight was canceled and no matter how much he wants to speak at your event, there is no way he will make it. What’s a planner to do?

Cry? Sit in the corner and sulk? Run back to your hotel room and hide under the covers? Plug your ears with your fingers and sing “la-la-la-la-la” over and over until the problem goes away? NO! I don’t know any good planner who’s first instinct is anything but problem-solving mode. We’re just not wired that way. We figure it out.

At this event, I happened to be standing next to the planner when he received the news of the speaker cancellation. He was in setup mode. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, he was wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, a radio on his hip, and his hands were dirty from moving supplies. He was talking with the convention center shipping manager about twelve boxes lost from his recent shipment which, of course, were critical to opening the trade show in less than 12-hours. This was not news he needed right now, but he’s a professional. He mentioned that he has a pre-prepared session for just such an occasion. He just needs a minute to wash his hands and he’ll be right there.

As he stood in front of the room ready to speak, nobody cared that he hadn’t shaved. I can’t remember if any of the previous speakers I’d seen that day even had hair. Nobody noticed that he was in jeans. Heck, I’d be delighted if people would get out of their pajamas to go to breakfast at the hotel, shop at Target, or dine in a fine restaurant. And, from where I was sitting, I honestly couldn’t see most of him. There were tables and people and stuff in the way. Nor was I looking; I was interested in his talk about things he’s learned over the 30+ years he’s been a planner.

No, it wasn’t the legal mumbo jumbo I had signed up to listen to for the next two hours about contracts, and he started the session by admitting the change in programming and allowing anyone to leave who didn’t want to stay. But, being in a room of event planners and suppliers, I think he had the most support any speaker could possibly have because he was with people who understood his predicament and wanted to do nothing but show their solidarity with this fellow CMP.

What I learned from this experience and share here today are two things. First, someone on your staff who is good at public speaking must be ready with an ace in their pocket; a pre-prepared session which includes timeless content that can be taught at a moment’s notice to cover a speaker who is unable to deliver their breakout. Second, when session content is timeless and provides value to the listeners, you will likely not receive negative feedback on your survey about the fact that they did not receive the content they originally intended to hear, or the appearance of or change in speaker. There are so many things this group of people could have complained about but didn’t. They stayed to listen to a seasoned Certified Meeting Professional share his learnings from his many years in the business.

By having a session ready to go, this planner didn’t need to panic or frantically run around to find someone to cover a speaker who bailed at the last minute. He had a contingency plan already in place for such an occasion. A great example and something I will definitely incorporate into my next large event with multiple sessions and multiple speakers. This is why I am such an advocate for sharing experiences with others. There is always something to learn!

Have you had an experience where your speaker canceled at the last minute? What was your solution? Share it here or send me an email. I’d love to hear how you covered it.

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Check out my book “Cultivating a Healthy Volunteer Team” if you run an event that utilizes a volunteer event staff! You can find it HERE.