42. Meeting Planner’s Survival Guide: What to Do if Your Event is Cancelled!

Attention Event Hosts, Event Owners, Meeting & Event Planners! Please join our FB Group Exclusively for you! Your Events Matter Learn how to pivot powerfully In uncertain times and get all the behind the scenes insights and learnings we share to serve your growing events!   CLICK HERE TO JOIN       Connect with us! Facebook: www.facebook.com/advanceyourreach Website: advanceyourreach.com Email: [email protected]  Welcome to part two of a very special new series of Inside the Greenroom!  Today is dedicated to all the meeting planners out there who had to cancel or postpone an event - be it large conferences, masterminds, retreats, intensives, workshops, or even dinners.  The event industry is worth about $1 trillion, and right now millions are being lost due to COVID-19 for event businesses all over the world, including our own. We had to cancel our mastermind, postpone our annual event, had to re-do how our workshops are run, and 3 masterminds I am part of as an attendee this year have been postponed. Thousands and thousands of events across the world have been canceled or postponed, and my heart goes out to each and every meeting planner.   So...now what?  In this episode, I cover both REACTIVE things you can do if you’re forced to cancel or postpone your event, and also PROACTIVE things you can do to move forward during this crisis. We cover the best practices of sharing the news with your community, how to offset some of your lost revenue, and alternative ways to pivot your business.  Enjoy!  Next week, we’ll be focusing on sponsors and exhibitors - so stay tuned!  If you like what you’ve been hearing in this episode series, you’ll LOVE our upcoming “first virtual event of its kind” - ADVANCE 360 iNTERACTIVE It’s happening April 30th to May 2nd, 2020, and will be unlike any other virtual event you’ve ever attended. It will be 3 days of jam-packed content, and will include physical workbooks mailed to your door, breakout sessions, prizes, giveaways, a virtual Speak-Off, and much more!  Whether you’re a business owner looking to grow your business with stages, or a meeting planner who runs events of any size, this opportunity is critical for you in your business right now! Register today: Advance 360 iNTERACTIVE: advanceyourreach.com/advance-360   PSS: Meeting Planners Only:  Events 360 iNTERACTIVE: Your Events Matter - How to Pivot & Plan Ahead. [4/20-4/21] Mastermind. Collaborate with other Event Organizers around Navigating Rapid Change & Deciding next steps in uncertain times.    youreventsmatter.com   Here’s what we cover:  Forced to cancel or postpone an event? Here’s why you should not limit your communication to email and social media, and what you should do instead How to gain social capital with your community when announcing the cancellation or postponement of an event An important part of your event that you should “clean up” to avoid a disastrous mistake  Have your events taken a financial hit from COVID-19? Here’s how to offset some of the finances you may have lost from having to cancel or postpone your events  Alternative offers that are working better now because of live events being closed down Why you SHOULDN’T isolate yourself from the outside world, and what to do instead to gain wisdom through your circle of influence How speakers can rise up and SERVE during this time  And much more!   OTHER LINKS: See Pete's Slide Deck     Quick Episode Summary: 0:02 What to expect today 2:20 How much the event industry is worth 5:56 How events have changed my life 8:25 Your event matters 9:24 The three things all event planners should be doing right now 9:48 How we announced Reach LIVE was canceled 14:35 Why you should take time to clean up your contract 16:55 Ways to start making revenue back 20:49 How to set up a 1:1 call 21:28 How to be proactive in this season 28:29 Creative incredible content for your audience 29:00 The new event our team creating 32:58 A behind the curtain look at our digital breakout rooms 37:11 Final thoughts