Meetings Today blogger Joan Eisenstodt has been participating in many of the thrice-weekly COVID-19 press conferences from the World Health Organization (WHO). Here's what she found out from the experts fighting the spread of the virus, how it impacts the meetings and events industry, and what the industry needs to learn from the crisis. 

Many of us active in the meetings industry have faced the decision about whether to move forward with a meeting, proceed at a reduce size or cancel it altogether. Here are some essential legal, and practical, tips and strategies to better inform your decision. Read more.

If you are starting from meetings and events risk management program from scratch, need to revamp an outdated crisis management plan or to develop an enterprise-wide meeting and event risk management strategy, take a page from travel risk management. Read more.

The legal settlement from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Las Vegas resulting from the October 2017 mass shooting offers a number of lessons for the meetings and events industry regarding crisis management and risk mitigation. Learn more.

The addition of “destination boycott” contract clauses to limit liability for canceling a meeting or convention because of a controversial law may not be a viable legal strategy. Hospitality industry attorney Lisa Sommer Devlin explains why such contract clauses are not an effective shield against damages resulting from canceling a contracted meeting.

The image of President Donald Trump standing in front of the U.S. presidential seal altered to include the symbol of a Russian double-headed eagle clutching golf clubs at Washington, D.C.’s, Marriott Marquis may be as horrifying to meeting planners as it was intentionally, or unintentionally, funny to the world.

Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International are engaged in ongoing lawsuits about resort fees and “drip pricing.” Here’s what meeting and event planners need to know to negotiate around these charges as part of their RFP response process. Read more.