Cost: $505 Member/ $705 Non-Member

Domain B: Project Management | 6 Clock Hours

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. With knowledge comes power, especially when it comes to legal matters.

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 be added to balance the risk and liability between parties. And what of force majeure, indemnification, and the host of clauses that deal with issues that range from nuisances to calamities, such as construction and remodeling and incompatible groups?

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 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 the venue.

Cost: $505 member/ $705 non-member

Domain A: Strategic Planning | 6 clock hours

If you have been involved with the design and creation of meetings and events for 10 months or 10 years, there are certain definable and demonstrable steps to ensuring successful execution, delivery and measurement. MPI’s Basics Boot Camp offers a lightning-fast deep dive into the fundamentals of successful event planning—from defining meeting goals and objectives and identifying stakeholders through meeting design, development, RPFs, and contracting to food and beverage, staging, audiovisual, and more.

This certificate class touches on every element of the meeting planning process, offering you the opportunity to employ best practices for your business, make changes to your processes and procedures and ensure that your operations conform with industry-leading standards. Basics Boot Camp offers a strong foundation in the core skills and practices necessary to plan meetings and events.

If you are new to event planning—or you’ve been doing this for a while—this A-Z certificate class offers a series of best practices and must-perform tactics to ensure successful event execution for any level.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Identify meeting stakeholders and employ your role as intermediary and mediator to evaluate their needs toward designing right-fit experiences
• Define event goals and SMART objectives and employ strategies for measuring the value of your meetings
• Develop budgets and blueprints and assess potential risks associated with your meeting or event
• Manage the RFP process, conduct well-thought-out and precise site inspections, select vendors, and develop contracts
• Design your meeting using key elements that enable your organization to achieve its meeting goals and objectives
• Manage speakers and conference content design, design room sets, work with audiovisual teams, and design technical plans
• Plan menus and arrange transportation and attendee movement plans
• Oversee pre-and post-conference meetings and onsite logistics and conduct program evaluations
• Communicate success metrics to meeting stakeholders

Cost: $505 member/ $705 non-member

Domain A: Strategic Planning | 6 clock hours

If you have been involved with the design and creation of meetings and events for 10 months or 10 years, there are certain definable and demonstrable steps to ensuring successful execution, delivery and measurement. MPI’s Basics Boot Camp offers a lightning-fast deep dive into the fundamentals of successful event planning—from defining meeting goals and objectives and identifying stakeholders through meeting design, development, RPFs, and contracting to food and beverage, staging, audiovisual, and more.

This certificate class touches on every element of the meeting planning process, offering you the opportunity to employ best practices for your business, make changes to your processes and procedures and ensure that your operations conform with industry-leading standards. Basics Boot Camp offers a strong foundation in the core skills and practices necessary to plan meetings and events.

If you are new to event planning—or you’ve been doing this for a while—this A-Z certificate class offers a series of best practices and must-perform tactics to ensure successful event execution for any level.

You’ll Be Able To:

• Identify meeting stakeholders and employ your role as intermediary and mediator to evaluate their needs toward designing right-fit experiences
• Define event goals and SMART objectives and employ strategies for measuring the value of your meetings
• Develop budgets and blueprints and assess potential risks associated with your meeting or event
• Manage the RFP process, conduct well-thought-out and precise site inspections, select vendors, and develop contracts
• Design your meeting using key elements that enable your organization to achieve its meeting goals and objectives
• Manage speakers and conference content design, design room sets, work with audiovisual teams, and design technical plans
• Plan menus and arrange transportation and attendee movement plans
• Oversee pre-and post-conference meetings and onsite logistics and conduct program evaluations
• Communicate success metrics to meeting stakeholders

Cost: $505 Member/ $705 Non-Member

Domain B: Project Management | 6 Clock Hours

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. With knowledge comes power, especially when it comes to legal matters.

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 be added to balance the risk and liability between parties. And what of force majeure, indemnification, and the host of clauses that deal with issues that range from nuisances to calamities, such as construction and remodeling and incompatible groups?

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 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 the venue.