CSOM – When World Events Hit Close to Home
As a member of the Public Relations Global Network, I have an opportunity to travel to new and interesting places to attend our twice-yearly professional development conferences. I’ve attended several in the United States, been once to Canada and last year went to Mexico City and Nairobi. Each experience has expanded my horizons not only in what I’m learning about our industry and issues facing business owners but these conferences have also provided a tremendous opportunity to learn about different cultures as our local hosts share their country with us.
Next month, our members were going to travel to Istanbul for our spring meeting. The local planning committee has spent the past several months securing a hotel, speakers and putting together an agenda that would include time to visit the city and surrounding communities. Several of us had made plans to arrive early and stay late, tacking on additional tour stops along the way.
That is until the current situation in the Middle East made traveling to that part of the world a bit more complicated. When the unknowns and uncertainties were dominating the WhatsApp chats as we started navigating what to do next.
Should we go as planned? Should we cancel? Should we postpone? What are the penalties?
Lots of things to consider with safety of our members guiding our decision. As of this writing, the decision to postpone Istanbul to next year has been finalized. What to do now (new location, virtual, etc.) is still being decided.
There is much to consider when making these kinds of decisions. When we counsel clients facing difficult decisions, we outline the pros and cons, determine risks and rewards and guide them to the best possible decision.
In the case of this meeting, we had in essence become our client. We not only had to share wise counsel with each other, we had to make difficult decisions as well.
On the podcast this week, Adrian and I talk about world events and the impact they can have on a business, even one that’s thousands of miles away. The discussion is equal parts business and personal. Give it a listen, I hope you find it valuable.
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