How one Midwest organization reorganized an event in 24 hours due to the snow storms
The venues were booked. The sponsors were lined up. The workshop speaker was contracted, flying in from New Jersey. Lunch was all arranged, and we had a fabulous FAM lined up in the quaint town of Stillwater. After three months of organizing, that was the plan for MinnSPIN AM, which was set to take place in Stillwater, MN on April 11, 2019. But Mother Nature had other ideas.
With just three days until the event, the forecast was ominous. A massive winter storm was baring down on the Midwest, its exact path and implications a bit unclear, as the storm was still spinning up on the West Coast. Should we proceed? Cancel? Postpone? It was clear that we should not hold the event… it was just too iffy, and too dangerous to ask attendees to make their way to Stillwater. Besides, there was no way the historic trolley we had planned to use for the FAM was going to make it up and down the hills of Stillwater if snow was involved.
With just three days until the event, the forecast was ominous. A massive winter storm was baring down on the Midwest, its exact path and implications a bit unclear, as the storm was still spinning up on the West Coast. Should we proceed? Cancel? Postpone? It was clear that we should not hold the event… it was just too iffy, and too dangerous to ask attendees to make their way to Stillwater. Besides, there was no way the historic trolley we had planned to use for the FAM was going to make it up and down the hills of Stillwater if snow was involved.
The two leads who had done the planning quickly engaged the local Twin Cities Branch and National SPIN leadership to talk. The consensus was, yes, postpone. Even though we didn’t know the exact storm path, better to be safe than sorry. We quickly sent communications to the venues involved, as well as the workshop speaker to triangulate on a new date. We had only a few options in the next month which worked. Really only two days after everyone provided input. And then the flight schedules for our speaker settled it down to just one day. We were able to land on a new date by the end of the day. The stars had aligned.
Next up? Communication to the attendees and sponsors. We quickly reached out to Sponsors to let them know of the change in date, resulting in our videographer having to drop, as he had a conflict with the new date. It was disappointing, but we knew we could figure that out. Since our lead who creates the communications in MailChimp was working the NCAA tournament in downtown Minneapolis, the National team jumped in to help with the communications to the regional membership. By the end of next day, we had gotten the word out that we were postponing for three weeks.
The following days were spent updating the Registration site and all the corresponding documents. Everything we had created had to be touched again to be updated. But we got it done. It was a good illustration of how relationships and teamwork matter. Everyone involved jumped in quickly to help figure it out.
Next up? Communication to the attendees and sponsors. We quickly reached out to Sponsors to let them know of the change in date, resulting in our videographer having to drop, as he had a conflict with the new date. It was disappointing, but we knew we could figure that out. Since our lead who creates the communications in MailChimp was working the NCAA tournament in downtown Minneapolis, the National team jumped in to help with the communications to the regional membership. By the end of next day, we had gotten the word out that we were postponing for three weeks.
The following days were spent updating the Registration site and all the corresponding documents. Everything we had created had to be touched again to be updated. But we got it done. It was a good illustration of how relationships and teamwork matter. Everyone involved jumped in quickly to help figure it out.
 | Wendy Porter is the Owner of Wendy Porter Events LLC, an experiential events management agency based in Minneapolis, MN. Leveraging decades of experience working with major corporations, Wendy excels in all types of corporate events: Trade Shows, VIP Hospitality Events, National Sales Meetings, Leadership Conferences, CSR Events, Sporting Events, Award Ceremonies and Employee Celebrations. Wendy has received national recognition for event management, including her induction into the 2019 Hall of Fame: Best Special Events Planner by Minnesota Meetings & Events magazine and the 2018 40 Over 40 Award by SPIN. |
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