Meeting Planners Are Experimenting With New Tactics to Avoid Last-Minute Registrations

Meeting and event planners are increasingly having to deal with last-minute attendees: those individuals who, regardless of the amount of lead time given, wait until the 11th hour to confirm their attendance. The result is a domino effect. Planners end up confirming numbers with venues later and later, often forcing the managers at those venues to scramble to accommodate the latecomers without sacrificing service. "It's a problem that we all face," said Dana Ellis, president of Ellis International. "It's been going on for a long time, and it may be getting a little bit worse. The main problem is we're all in so much competition for people's time, and there are a lot of events every single day. People are really busy and have to pick and choose what they can attend, and may not know their schedule, so they wait to register at the last minute." Another factor in late registrations might be changing traveler behavior in that consumers are getting used to doing many things last-mi