Contingency Planning: Planes, Trains and Travel Woes

I know I should have titled this posting, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” but come on, did you really expect me to be that obvious? No, this posting specifically addresses the meeting professional’s nightmare called travel.

Now, I could easily make this posting short and sweet by talking just about air travel, but what I want to focus on today is using our creative minds – isn’t that part of being a meeting professional – to explore some simple yet effective tools to deal with travel issues as they relate to a meeting, conference, convention, or even a wedding.

Issue #1 – Weather and the Ripple Effect: Today’s travel is vastly dependent on airlines being able to fly. Now while that statement should elicit a “duh,” what I mean is that if one major airport has to cancel or significantly delay its departures or arrivals, the ripple effect throughout the air travel system can be devastating to those trying to fly from anywhere to anywhere else, even thousands of miles away, on that day. While you cannot prevent bad weather, I do have a suggestion to help meeting planners work around it.

If you are using a travel company, ensure that they provide you with a 72-hour assessment of weather issues throughout the country. If your meeting involves international travel, then you want to include the surrounding nations, as well. Most weather prognosticators will be pretty secure in giving you an accurate weather forecast 72 hours in advance. With that knowledge, you and your travel company, (or your staff), can look at where your attendees are coming from and assess who may be impacted by weather delays in connecting cities. Yes, this will require some tedious administrative work. The result, however, is that you are being proactive in ensuring that you’re doing everything you can to get your attendees to the conference or to get them home. Remember, weather in Denver or the Northeastern U.S. can significantly impact travel from Dallas, Phoenix or even San Francisco. Plan for ripple effects!

Issue #2 – How come I cannot find my hotel on Google Maps or my GPS? True story time: I was asked to help create a contingency plan for Florida hotel-based conference. I had never been to this property, so I decided that I should venture forth as if I were an attendee. I used Yahoo Maps and Google to obtain driving directions and off I went. The trip should have taken 45 minutes from my home following the directions with no traffic. I was lucky, there was no traffic and I made it in two hours. WHY….Good question. It turns out that the hotel was on an island reachable by one bridge. Up until four weeks prior to my visit, the bridge had been closed for repairs and a temporary bridge had been set up. Unfortunately, to my chagrin, both Yahoo and Google had been notified of the temporary bridge, but not the fact that it was no longer in use. I followed their temporary route instructions, and was frustrated by a dead end with barricades and big signs that said the other bridge was now repaired and I could use it again. The temporary bridge was one mile away from the “in repair” bridge, and to reach it required a vastly different route. Having never been in this town/city before, I had to back track, find signs, ask directions and finally arrived at the hotel. Fortunately, because I’d allowed for extra travel time, I did not impact anyone’s plans or deadlines.

Solution: Despite the best intent of online maps or even your local navigation systems, sometimes you do not have the most current information on road closures or detours. Talk to the hotel. Ensure that you get maps and printed directions from them or the local CVB and remind them to update you with any changes or detours. If many of your attendees or speakers are driving to the event, drive the most used routes yourself and picture it as a newbie would to that area. Ask yourself, what would you need to give them to make them feel safe and secure in getting to your meeting?

Issue #3 – Departures – the other part of travel: Despite our best efforts, most of us may agree that we focus on getting our attendees/speakers or exhibitors to the event more so than focusing on getting them home. Yes, many of us verify flights or have our travel company verify flights. Yes, we always remain on site until the last attendee departs. Yes, we make sure that all attendees know how to depart. No, we never think that any of the points above will be an issue.

Solution: I know that many planners who use travel companies will insist on having them take care of these details. Yet, here are a few things to consider when thinking about departures. Ensure attendees or your staff can receive text/phone/email updates on departures. This will make you look like you are on top of things when your attendee or speaker says to you that they were told their flight was canceled. You can respond by saying you are aware of it and are in the process of fixing the situation, instead of having to say you did not know and will have to get back to them about the problem. Next, always have a procedure in place that will expedite flight changes. It never ceases to amaze me how many times as a planner I was asked by an attendee if there was any way they could leave early due to some issue at home. By thinking of this procedure before the meeting, you can save yourself some work in developing a method. Finally and most importantly, be proactive. Don’t stop looking at weather, traffic to and from the airport and other events in the area. Yes, your ground transportation company, (if you use one), should be doing so, but it will never be a problem if you talk to them each and every morning during the conference to get their perspective on travel times to the airport, train station or even the bus terminal. If you don’t use a GT provider, talk to your concierge, front desk staff, or local law enforcement to find out what is going on in the area. Read on for a true story, as told to me by a fellow meeting planner.

Picture, if you will, (with apologies to Rod Serling), a meeting planner with six attendees ready to depart on a Saturday morning from a hotel in New York City. GT company arrives early and informs the planner that they are about to shut down the street in front of the hotel. All guests will have to exit through a side door, walk down to where the GT van is sitting and, oh by the way, it’s raining and traffic is abysmal. The van barely made it in time for one of the attendees to catch his flight. Know what may happen and be prepared.

Thus, I conclude this posting by touching on barely 10 percent of the issues a planner can face when dealing with travel. Yes, I know the title said trains, but as much as I love trains, I am not a fan of Amtrak and just don’t have the space to write about all the problems they can cause. As I said, communicate, be proactive, and never stop thinking about the travel aspects of your event. While it won’t save your life, it will make you a better planner and protect your reputation as a professional able to manage the entire process.


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