Convention planning: how to deal with the unexpected; you could have a catastrophe on your hands. Or you could be prepared!

• Author: Morgan, Barbara

Carol Hart, president of InSight Services, has experienced everything in her 30 years as a professional meeting planner. A ballroom once flooded. What do you do? "You go to the top floor and carry on," says Hart.

Another time a lady drove through the ballroom. Even the simple can overwhelm. Last-minute changes come up. The room might need to be rearranged. You might need to copy lost handouts, or switch the program around.

Meeting planners in Anchorage have had to deal with a number of situations and last-minute changes. Groups may cancel at the last minute because of world events. Attendance may be more than expected.

The Hotel Captain Cook's Vice President of Sales Mike Flanigan speaks of an incident that occurred at the hotel last year when the carpet was being replaced. The old carpet had been torn out, but the new carpet was not shipped when it was supposed to be. It was a day or two late and a large function was scheduled. Hotel staff had to move this function to another hotel and pay for the advertising on the radio and in the newspaper. To redirect attendees, signs were put up at the hotel to alert people of the change, and they had to inform all the staff where the event would be located. Flanigan says the advertising cost money that the hotel did not make. Some hotels wouldn't be willing to spend that $3,000, but Flanigan said it was necessary to take care of the situation.

If the building fire code says only 770 people fit in a room, management stands by that decision. If an organization sells 850 tickets for a function, you have to be creative to think of a solution. When this happened for a function at the hotel, Flanigan said, "OK, go ahead and sell 1,000 tickets." But he had a plan in mind. In order for everyone to hear the speaker, he suggested setting up closed circuit televisions in the adjoining rooms used for the overflow situation. The guest speaker would walk around and be introduced to the other guests, who would feel they received some personal attention.

"If you are used to serving dinner to 750 guests and now you have to serve dinner to 1,000 guests, you have to accommodate them," says Flanigan. "You will need more tables. You will need more food, but there must be food in the refrigerator. All guests can be served even if the extra guests are not served the same dish the first group received. You will need more servers, too." In a situation like this example, Flanigan's wife filled in as a waitress.

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