If you have planned an event that has a guest speaker, you probably thought that you worried about every possible bad scenario that could have come up, such as problems with the catering company or some of your guests not making it to the event. One thing that you may not have thought about, however, is your guest speaker not showing up. If you find yourself in this type of situation, you might be ready to panic, but you shouldn’t give up or allow your event to be ruined simply because a guest speaker cancels at the last minute or doesn’t show up at all. Instead, you should follow a few steps to make sure that your event is a success anyway.
Have a Back Up Speaker in Mind
It is always good to have a plan B, and keeping a backup speaker in mind can help ensure that your event is still a success, even if something happens with your guest speaker. For best results, try to find someone in the local area; then, if something happens at the last minute, you will be more likely to be able to get the person there on time – or close to it.
Have a Back Up Activity in Mind
If all else fails and there is no way that you will be able to get a guest speaker to your event after your main plan falls through, you don’t want to have a lot of people standing around and wondering what to do. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep an activity in mind that you can lead your group through in the event that your guest speaker doesn’t show up for one reason or another.
Invite Attendees to Talk
Just because your guest speaker didn’t show up doesn’t mean that your attendees aren’t still interested in the topic at hand. If you allow the people who are in attendance to speak for a few minutes about the topic, you can open up a whole new discussion that could be even more interesting than the guest speaker’s presentation would have been.
Keep Your Own Presentations on Hand
Unfortunately, there are times when the only person who you can count on is yourself. Therefore, make sure that you are prepared to handle your event if necessary. By keeping a few presentations on hand, you can ensure that your guests won’t be standing around with nothing to do while you are searching for alternative arrangements for your event. Not only can these presentations help if your guest speaker doesn’t show up, but they can also help you fill the gap if the speaker does show up but only gives a short presentation or speech.
Protect Yourself With Your Contract
Not only do you have to worry about entertaining your attendees if your guest speaker doesn’t show up, but you also have to think about the financial aspect of things. Make sure that you are protected in a contract with your guest speaker for best results.
Joanna Tan is a business owner in Sydney, Australia. When Joanna requires assistance, she contacts a reputable Australian event management company to help plan and implement her event successfully. She also utilises DNA incentive groups as part of her business operations to keep her employees happy.
