[tab name=’Guidelines’]

Guidelines : Canceling/Postponing

Canceling or Postponing Meetings

Guidelines and Alternate Phrases

• State the cancellation, giving a specific reason.
• We regret to say, because enrollment has been insufficient for the May 10 ETC seminar, we are being forced to cancel it.
• Dr. Harvard, our keynote speaker scheduled for the May 9 Kansas City meeting, has canceled because of unexpected surgery. Finding a replacement of his caliber at such a late date would be highly unlikely. Therefore, we have decided to postpone the meeting until Dr. Harvard can be with us.
• The March 16 meeting in Seattle for senior staffers has been canceled. Obviously, we must have inadvertently selected a date that creates traveling difficulties for many people in the field.
• Return any fees for registration and so forth.
• Your refund check will be mailed in two weeks.
• Your full $45 will be returned immediately.
• I’ve enclosed your $40 check for the dinner reservations.
• Apologize for the inconvenience of the cancellation.
• I know you spent time in planning your attendance, and I regret the inconvenience.
• I always regret having to cancel anything at the last minute because of the inconvenience we cause you, our customers.
• Please accept my apologies for the postponement. Your attendance, I’m sure, involved some now-wasted planning time.
• I apologize for having to ask you to “unmake” your plans. That’s always irritating and inconvenient. I just hope the day can be used now to even better benefit.
• End with a positive note. You may want to announce or suggest ways you can accomplish some or all of the meeting objectives under the conditions stated.
• We are enclosing a videotape of the same meeting conducted at other regions. Most of the ideas should be applicable to your own situation.
• The enclosed report should give you some insights into the issues involved.
• After schedules become less hectic, we will try to plan a similar meeting in early spring.
• On a more positive note, at least you’ll have one less plane to catch!
• Think of it this way: You have one more day in the office to catch up that week.
• We do think such a meeting would have far-reaching results, and we plan to reschedule as soon as feasible.
• Perhaps, at a later date, we will reschedule and can once again ask you to visit our facilities.

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[tab name=’Example 1′]

Example 1: Postpone meeting letter

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State Zip

Dear Ms. O’Shea:

Much to our regret, the San Marcos meeting on May 9 has been canceled. Because of a miscommunication with the assistant director at the San Marcos site, we recently discovered the center would permit only 15 attendees from any one region. That limitation, of course, made the chartered bus trip economically unfeasible.

We know this cancellation has caused some inconvenience in clearing your calendars, and we regret the misunderstanding.

In lieu of our firsthand observation, we have arranged to purchase videotapes of the presentations and the facilities. Those tapes will be mailed to each office by the end of the month. We hope the tapes will give you some of the information you need for working with the clientele there.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 2′]

Example 2: Meeting cancellation letter sample

Memorandum

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

SUBJECT: Postponement of Sales Meeting

The sales meeting originally scheduled for 8:00 a.m. July 9 has been rescheduled for 8:00 a.m. July 15 as three of the sales staff have a meeting scheduled with a client on July 9.

The July 15 meeting will still be held in Conference Room 4. Coffee and donuts will be provided. Please update your sales logs up to July 14 for this meeting.
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[tab name=’Example 3′]

Example 3: Postponement meeting example

Memorandum

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

SUBJECT: Cancellation Of Staff Meeting

Dr. Delacourt has been asked to be a guest speaker at the University’s Medical School August 5. While we are excited by this opportunity for her, it does mean our normal staff conference will have to be rescheduled.

Amy will check over the monthly employee schedule, and will let us know the new date and time of the staff meeting before the end of the week.
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[tab name=’Example 4′]

Example 4: Template for meeting

Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State, Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State, Zip

Dear Ms. Gray:

We are writing to inform you that your July 18 meeting with Mr. Reynolds’ will have to be rescheduled. Unfortunately, Mr. Reynolds had to fly out to another branch of the company which was damaged in a recent tornado, and is not expected back until July 20.

We realize that there were several questions you wanted to address with Mr. Reynolds’ immediately, therefore, we are sending you our stockholder’s report for last month. We trust that it will answer several of your preliminary queries.

Please call and we will reschedule your appointment with Mr. Reynolds. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
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[tab name=’Example 5′]

Example 5: Cancellation letters/h1>
Company Name or Letterhead
Address
City, State, Zip

Date

Addressee
Address
City, State, Zip

Dear Mr. Matula:

We are sorry to inform you that our June 6-8 meeting has been canceled. Ms. Arrow, our guest lecturer, had to decline the engagement—her staff had inadvertently scheduled her to lecture on opposite ends of the country on the same afternoon. She has asked us to convey her apologies to you, and we hope to be able to reschedule her for a fall meeting.

Due to these circumstances, a refund check of $200 for your registration fee is enclosed. You are not obligated to return the books that you paid for with part of your registration fee—consider them our a gift!

As we stated, we hope to be able to reschedule Ms. Arrow’s lecture for sometime this fall. If you would like, we would be happy to send you information on that meeting. We hope this cancellation does not cause you great inconvenience.

Cordially,
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