Contracting and negotiation are crucial—yet complex—roles for meeting professionals and understanding legal terminology and common contract clauses (and the liabilities they protect against) allows meeting professionals to negotiate from a position of strength. Even if you know what to look for, contracting is dynamic, and negotiation strategies change with market conditions, competition and the economy. Solid knowledge of contract law and negotiation tactics enables meeting professionals to protect the interests of their organizations.

Negotiating contracts involves managing financial and liability risks and protecting your business, particularly when considering the performance clauses (attrition and cancellation) that are standard in most venue contracts. No contracts are the same; words and phrasing vary and need to be carefully reviewed and edited. Sometimes, additional clauses must to be added to balance the risk and liability between parties.

It’s said the only right answer in the law is “it depends.” This certificate program will illustrate legal principles with examples from the news, the instructor and your peers. Bring success and horror stories to share with other participants, enhance your legal knowledge and fulfill on your role to negotiate contracts that protect your organization from the financial and liability risks associated with your meetings and events.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Explain the purpose of the primary contract clauses found in venue contracts.
• Give examples of how contract language may result in financial or liability risk.
• Prioritize issues for negotiation, determining “hot buttons” based on your meeting specifications.
• Distinguish between contract language that is merely unfavorable and that which puts a party at significant financial or liability risk.
• Negotiate key performance and liability clauses in at least three different ways so that the result is multiple options and not just a win-lose scenario.
• Modify venue contracts based on knowledge of meetings contracts, meeting specifications, market conditions and knowledge of venue.

You will also receive:

• Contract Negotiation & Management Certificate
• 4 clock hours in CMP-IS Domain B: Project Management

Click here to register for a Pre-Conference Session without attending WEC Grapevine.

Already registered for WEC Grapevine and want to add a Pre-Conference Session? Select 'Already Registered' on the top-right of the screen and login with your confirmation number and email. Once logged in, select 'Modify' and then scroll down and select 'Next' until you get to the 'Item Selection' page and add the pre-cons you are interested in.

As automation and AI increasingly create efficiencies in the modern workforce, meeting professionals must embrace a role that is shifting increasingly into the strategic space. But what does that mean, and what future-ready skills are required to thrive in an environment where you actually do have a seat at the table? The first steps are understanding the value that your meetings drive for your business, and more importantly, being able to articulate that value to senior members of your organization.

You need to be able to create, design and execute meetings that help your organization achieve five-year business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) and that drive efficiencies in the workplace, and you must be able to demonstrate in quantifiable ways how your meetings positively impact revenues, profits and cost-savings for your business. You are no longer a meeting planner, you are a strategist that drives significant growth for your organization and you know how to articulate that value in meaningful ways to business leaders.

You can be a key player and business leader in your organization…if you position yourself as a strategist and consultant who can drive growth and value through the utilization of an important business tool—meetings and events.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Articulate how—and by how much—your meetings drive growth, efficiency and loyalty for your business and brand
• Implement event measurement programs using proven change management models and with key stakeholder support
• Speak in terms understood by your Chief Financial Officer and business leaders with additional financial literacy
• Develop and create goals and SMART objectives that allow you to gain true insight into the value your meetings drive
• Create measurements that actually matter for yourfor your business (and not just attendee satisfaction) and better understand how the
• behavior change your meetings create drives positive fiscal growth for your organization
• Analyze and report your results to key business leaders and articulate the quantifiable value of meetings and events

Participants Also Receive:

• Meetings & Events Strategist Certificate
• 6 clock hours in CMP-IS Strategic Domain A: Strategic Planning

Click here to register for a Pre-Conference Session without attending WEC Grapevine.

Already registered for WEC Grapevine and want to add a Pre-Conference Session? Select 'Already Registered' on the top-right of the screen and login with your confirmation number and email. Once logged in, select 'Modify' and then scroll down and select 'Next' until you get to the 'Item Selection' page and add the pre-cons you are interested in.

The Certified Meeting Professional designation is a must-have for event organizers, designers and strategists who want to demonstrate their professionalism to employers, peers and clients. But the test is challenging, and meeting professionals who want to pass it, must prepare in a variety of ways—including self-study, skills gap and needs analysis and prep courses.

Join industry icon and thought leader Joanne Dennison, CMP, MSEd, for this open-floor and interactive CMP Master Class that will help you feel confident going into the exam room with best practices as outlined in the CMP-International Standards (CMP-IS). Learn proven study methods, test-taking tips, relaxation techniques and stories that make the concepts “sticky.”

No matter where you are in the process (including recertification), this course will help prepare you for the exam and apply standard practices it on the job. You will learn key concepts behind the CMP-IS and how to apply them on at work, discuss best practices for preparing for and taking the exam and develop a personal study path based on where you are in the process. Laughter will be included at no additional cost.

The study materials for this session are the referenced recommended reading: 9th Edition Convention Industry Council (CIC) Manual, 6th Edition Professional Meeting Management and the Events Industry Council’s APEX Glossary.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Describe and apply standard professional practices across the CMP-International Standards domains on the test and the job
• Use test-taking tips and relaxation techniques during the exam
• Develop a personal study path for taking the CMP test
• Feel far more comfortable ahead of and in preparation for sitting for the CMP exam

Participants Also Receive:

• 8 clock hours in CMP-IS Strategic Domain I: Marketing

Click here to register for a Pre-Conference Session without attending WEC Grapevine.

Already registered for WEC Grapevine and want to add a Pre-Conference Session? Select 'Already Registered' on the top-right of the screen and login with your confirmation number and email. Once logged in, select 'Modify' and then scroll down and select 'Next' until you get to the 'Item Selection' page and add the pre-cons you are interested in.

Women play key roles in the hospitality and meeting industries, but many find it challenging to move into leadership positions. In fact, recent studies show that women are 28% less likely to get an executive-level position even if they possess the skills that make other job applicants attractive candidates for CEO, COO, CMO and CFO positions. What are the skills necessary to be considered for these types of high-level leadership roles, and how do they translate to the level of leadership you seek for your current and future career?

Learn about the key roles women play in the hospitality and meeting industries and how to overcome career obstacles to executive-level positions—or the right-fit leadership level for you. Review and learn from real-life case studies of women who have overcome adversity to excel in the meetings space, while maintaining the right balance for their personal and professional lives. Examine what skills they possess, the decisions they made and what actions they took to enable their industry leadership.

Analyze your own personal leadership skills using a Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment to discover the areas you excel, and where you can fill gaps with future training and advancement. Think about where you want your career and leadership to grow in the next three to five years and create an action and development plan that advances your career, your leadership and your influence.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Identify the skills that help women ascend to executive leadership roles in the meeting and event industry, and self-evaluate where you excel and where you can improve
• Utilize best-practice methods for overcoming common challenges women face in obtaining leadership opportunities
• Follow your personal action plan for leadership success and career development and find success in right-fit leadership roles
• Locate additional resources available to women seeking leadership roles in the meeting and event industry

Participants Also Receive:

• Women in Leadership: Executive Leadership Skills certificate
• 4 clock hours in CMP-IS Strategic Domain E: Human Resources or Domain F: Stakeholder Management
• Access code for Clifton StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment
• Individual Development Plan
• Peer-to-peer mentoring

Click here to register for a Pre-Conference Session without attending WEC Grapevine.

Already registered for WEC Grapevine and want to add a Pre-Conference Session? Select 'Already Registered' on the top-right of the screen and login with your confirmation number and email. Once logged in, select 'Modify' and then scroll down and select 'Next' until you get to the 'Item Selection' page and add the pre-cons you are interested in.