Regional Investment Group Annual Retreat

Expert contracting saved thousands in damages when a move to boost attendance backfires
Business People at a Conference Event

Case

Client

This regional investment group has a diverse membership that spans a wide range of ages, backgrounds and interests. Their annual meetings are comprised of both business and social elements. and the location alternates between an in-state venue and a more exotic destination each year. 

Problem

Over time, it’s become difficult to find new and exciting venues for their in-state meetings, leading to an erosion in attendance.  The leadership decided to experiment by changing their dates to align with a holiday weekend to see if that would boost attendance.

Strategy & approach

Over time, most groups evolve patterns or traditions relative to their meetings. Establishing norms, like always meeting over the same  weekend, can be useful for groups. But, they can also cause meetings to become stale and repetitive. 

When introducing change, it’s even more important to protect your group from negative consequences that may result. For example, by changing to a holiday weekend, resulted in much lower attendance than usual for this group. 

Fortunately, we were able to mitigate damages for this client by negotiating and contracting for flexible terms and resale strategies in advance which virtually eliminated their liability to the hotel for underperformance. 

Tools & methods used

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