It happens! Planes are delayed. Accidents block roads. People get sick. While taking on a speaking assignment is a serious commitment, there are unavoidable circumstances when a speaker can’t make it. The notice may be very short or not all.
This is not just a problem with live meetings. It can happen with virtual meetings as well. The culprit might be a power outage, bad Wi-Fi or computer issues.
You are the president. What do you do?
The first thing to do is turn to the Executive Director and Program Chair. There may know someone in the meeting who is a seasoned speaker with speeches “in the can.”
If the group is physicians, a case study could be substituted easily. Audiences find them very engaging.
Small group discussions are an excellent way to engage members without a speaker.
This can be done with banquet rounds in live meeting or breakout rooms in Zoom. Create as many groups as will handle 6-10 people per group. Give each group a different topic and let them discuss and report back. Let attendees self-select their table. Charge each group with naming an organizer and a scribe to take notes and report back to the group.
A variation on this theme is to give each group the same problem and ask them to solve it. Ideally, make it related to the speaker’s topic.
This requires quick thinking if you are in a virtual event. At a live event you likely can work on this during the banquet.
Some groups may prefer to adjourn the meeting instead of pinch hitting. This is likely to be better received with a virtual meeting than a live meeting. If the attendees paid for registration, the organization may wish to issue a full or partial refund or take it on a case by case basis.
If the speaker is being paid, they may want to reschedule to retain the fee. If the organization arranged their transpiration and something went wrong, the speaker may demand their fee. A virtual presentation might be a compromise.
The important thing is to be calm, professional and focused on solving each aspect of the problem.
