It's 2010 and we're all grateful to have made it through an exceptionally turbulent year. As for what's next, the only thing we know for sure is to expect more change. To prepare, here is one small thing you can do right now. Remove your watch or bracelet and put it on your opposite wrist. It feels awkward and uncomfortable and you'll want to immediately switch it back — but if you leave it for the rest of the day, it will remind you that you can accept and adapt to change.

I learned this exercise from author and consultant Simon Bailey, a workshop leader at the 2009 Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Annual Conference last November. Wearing my watch on the “wrong” wrist drove me crazy each time I checked the time, but at the end of the day I felt happy that I was able to handle it. As Bailey said in his workshop: “It's not who you are that holds you back in the midst of change, it is who you think you are.”

Coping with change was a theme that resonated throughout the conference. Presenter Kelly Stratton of Stratton Meeting & Event Services, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., impressed me with her frank and hands-on overview of crisis management and contingency planning, stressing that too few planners are prepared to deal with emergencies. While all the planners at Stratton's session raised their hands when she asked if they ever had to deal with an unexpected crisis, most did not have a comprehensive contingency plan in place for meetings.

Among her basic tips:

• Have a defibrillator, know how to use it, and bring it to every meeting with five people or more. Learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.

• Expect travel delays: Post people at the airport to handle late arrivals, consider not having an event the first night of the meeting, and set up late checkouts at the hotel.

• Don't assume that the hotel is handling all guest safety issues. Arrange for the hotel's risk manager to join your pre-con, and ask how the hotel handles both violent and petty crime. Add a clause in your contract specifying that all personal information about your attendees be purged from the hotel database — identity theft is the single greatest personal crime happening today.

• Know which unions are in the hotel and when their contracts end.

• Never use the company name or logo on signs or kiosks.

As Stratton said, “The future is always a surprise.” The best way to deal with whatever 2010 has in store for us is to expect the unexpected.