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conference

What if your organization is forced to cancel its annual convention in the wake of COVID-19? How Dondrell Swanson and his team reacted.

#011 – Dondrell Swanson and his team were hosting a 400+ person annual convention in March. Then the state and local governments put restrictions on large gatherings and ordered people to Shelter at Home.  He and his team had to decide whether to reschedule to a future date or cancel.  The venue was putting pressure on them to reschedule to a later date.  This particular event is in the springtime every year.  Moving to a later date was risky.  They were unsure as to how it would perform later in the year.

Dondrell shares the team’s thought process at arriving at their decision and what they learned.  If you face this situation now or if you will face it in the future, there are takeaways you can apply to your situation.

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Groupfinity COVID-19 Q&A

3 Key Takeaways  

#1 Get key stakeholders together and do not make big decisions alone

#2 Make the easy decisions fast and keep them easy  

#3 Don’t make human decisions financial decisions

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:13] Important convention takeaways for members
[3:30] In February we knew we had to start paying attention to this
[4:00] We were in the final throws of planning
[4:47] Governor recommends events greater than 250 people be canceled
[5:10] Hotel wanted to enforce the contract
[5:32] Mayor recommends gatherings greater than 50 people be canceled
[5:49] Hotel wants them to reschedule
[6:11] The decision matrix
[7:58] Nuances with the decision to reschedule
[9:13] They did not officially release us from the contract until after we canceled
[9:34] Force Majeure
[11:40] How we handled deposits with vendors
[12:18] Decision to refund or not refund registration funds
[13:28] Our first choice was not to automatically refund
[15:35] Do the right thing by your membership
[16:37] Don't hesitate to get key stakeholders together
[17:26] Make the easy decisions fast and keep them easy
[18:05] People remained committed to the organization and wanted to contribute
[19:30] Do the right thing by your members
[19:40] Don't make human decisions financial decisions

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Posted in PodcastTagged annual event, canceled, community, conference, coronavirus, coronavirus crisis, covid-19, donation, events, FAQ, fundraiser, fundraising, gala, group, hotel, leader, mission-driven organization, nonprofit, organization, postpone, questions, refund, registration, shelter at home, social distance, social-distance, sponsors, ticket, virtual event, volunteer organization, will coronavirus stop
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