Creative Solutions for Associations' 2021 Meeting and Conference Legal Challenges
Wednesday, January 13, 2021, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
Category: General Education
The COVID-19 pandemic certainly threw a monkey wrench into associations’ planned in-person meetings and conferences for 2020 – cancelling most of them – but the challenges for 2021 are going to be even greater from a legal and contracting perspective. This is because as we (hopefully) start to turn the corner on the pandemic – thanks to the arrival of vaccines – it will become harder and harder for associations to successfully execute penalty free, force majeure contract terminations (as so many were able to do in 2020). Yet many associations remain under great pressure from their members to not hold in-person meetings during much of 2021. In short, the later in 2021 that your association’s conference is, the more difficult it will be to pull off cancellations and postponements with little or no cancellation penalties. As such, hybrid meetings – part virtual, part in-person – are likely going to become the norm in 2021 for most associations, particularly during the second half of the year. But being able to pull off a hybrid meeting without your association getting hit with very significant attrition penalties for the originally budgeted-for sleeping room and food and beverage revenue minimums will be no easy task. And getting hotels and convention centers to permit significant reductions in such minimums – and the corresponding attrition penalties – has already proven challenging. |