Just some of the many things thatÂ’d be involved if you chose to do this would be:
■Re-booking all of your speakers, some of whom you might have specific agreements with and might not be available on your new date. So thereÂ’s a chance they lose some of these speakers in the fall. If youÂ’ve paid speaking fees, as Tea Party events have traditionally done, you might forfeit those.
■All of your attendees are going to have to change their hotel reservations, flights, and scheduled time off. ItÂ’s not a trivial commitment for someone to go to a convention like this. People make plans to take time off work (unless they are attending professionally), deal with their kids, schedule other vacations around this, and lay out a non-trivial amount of money to travel. Most airlines donÂ’t have the friendliest policies about changing your flights, but the main problem is the hassle with rearranging your schedule. So it has to be a big deal to put all your attendees through this, and youÂ’re going to get some attrition and a big brand hit for doing it.
■Renegotiating with the hotel can put you in a bad position with respect to your costs for the event. July vs. October are two completely different periods in the convention lifecycle in Las Vegas. So who knows what concessions they sacrificed by doing that. YouÂ’re also in a time period where the hotel might assess you large damages for blowing a hole in their room revenue.
■YouÂ’ve got to renegotiate with all your vendors. Some of them may be forgiving and others you might incur a contractual penalty this close in, especially if theyÂ’ve already purchased/rented equipment and made commitments to hire staff.
■If youÂ’ve got any products that are on their way like programs, lanyards, bags, etc then thatÂ’s all out the window and will need to be changed.
