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For the big picture and ongoing updates, you want to bookmark travel.state.gov, the website of the U.S. State Department.
Within that site, navigate to websites of U.S. Embassies for a broad range of information. Go to “Recent Embassy Notices” then click Messages to U.S. Citizens to find strike announcements and other notices about your meeting country. Register in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy based in your meeting country to obtain up-to-date information on travel and security in that country.
Research Travel Warnings and Bureau of Consular Affairs Information Sheets: These are the latest headline warnings for every country in the world. You’ll also find the location of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the country, unusual currency and entry regulations, and crime and security facts.
You also can find information on passports and visas, and lists of attorneys, doctors, and hospitals abroad.
Smart Traveler App: The official app from the U.S. State Department gives you updates and alerts, plus U.S. embassy locations and lots of other info. You also can enroll in STEP, the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free service that allows U.S. citizens traveling abroad to register with the local U.S. embassy or consulate.
Create an FAQs section on your registration website regarding international travel in general and travel to your meeting destination in particular. Cover currency exchange rates and advice (find an ATM, don’t change money at an airport counter), shipping restrictions, passport and visa requirements, personal security tips, cultural differences, time zone, and more. Offer links to additional resources, especially for information that is subject to change.
Answering any questions about value-added tax, or VAT, requires working with experts. Contact a VAT reclaim company early in your planning process—many planners, in fact, suggest contacting them before you make your final site selection, because the amount of tax collected, what it’s collected on, and how likely you are to get it back, could be significant enough that it sways your decision one way or the other.
Here are several reclaim companies to consider:
Go to Wikipedia and search for “VAT.” You’ll find a chart of every country in the world that has a value-added tax (and there are many acronyms besides VAT), along with the current rates.
Read our step-by-step VAT case study, which includes details on what gets refunded and how.
Whether you are going to a country that requires U.S. citizens to have a visa or you are inviting international citizens who will need visas to get into your meeting country, create a dedicated website for each type of attendee. Include this information:
• which attendees need to get a visa
• the destination’s visa application process
• whether attendees need a letter of invitation and, if so, how to get it
• recommendations for visa expediters who can speed up the process
• whether a certain number of blank pages in a passport is required when you arrive in the country
(Reminder: Global visa information is available at travel.state.gov, where you will be linked to the visa information page of your meeting country.)
Attendees from other countries often request from the meeting sponsor a “letter of introduction” to be directed to the host country, stating that the visitor will be attending the meeting and requesting entry to the country.
Two warnings about providing these letters in this era of terrorism threats:
• The organization issuing the letter risks liability if the recipient enters the host nation and commits a criminal act. Avoid this by issuing letters only to known persons or those who can prove their intention to attend the meeting.
• Do not openly post a letter of introduction at your website where a bad actor could download it. Create a process whereby attendees have to contact you to request a letter.
You need locals! Read our article about how to find and vet them.
Here are a few destination management company networks with globally affiliated companies they’ve vetted. (Note that you should still ask for references—and contact them.)
AlliedPRA Destination Management
Another resource for searching for international DMCs is the Association of Destination Management Executives International.
Crises overseas take on added logistical and financial implications. To protect your organization and your attendees, do you need “assistance,” “insurance,” or both? “Travel insurance is about reimbursing costs,” explains Mike Kelly of On Call International. “It covers cancellation of a meeting, protecting the cost of air tickets and hotels.”
Travel assistance, on the other hand, “technically is not insurance. It is a dynamic service. Say you’ve got 50 people traveling to an international meeting and one gets sick and another loses her luggage. You, as the meeting planner, may be distracted by the logistics of dealing with those situations to the detriment of your other 48 attendees.” If you’ve purchased the On Call International product, you would call a coordinator (available 24/7), and On Call would take over, tracking the luggage, getting the person transported to a hospital or back home, while you carry on with the group.
Talk to your accounting department or an adviser who has experience with international currency conversion, and consider these questions:
1. What country are you going to? Where does the exchange rate typically fall when dealing with U.S. dollars?
2. Does the rate fluctuate a lot in a typical year?
3. Will you be paying more by using U.S. dollars than if you use the local currency?
If the currency is stable and the exchange rate is in your favor or historically favorable, you could pay in the foreign currency, using the exchange rate available at the time of your payment.
Another option is to negotiate payment in U.S. dollars to eliminate all of your currency uncertainty. The only downside is that if rates shift in favor of the dollar, you will end up paying more than you could have.
A forward contract lets you decide on the exchange rate at which you want to purchase the foreign currency. You determine the rate, the specific amount of the foreign currency you will be buying, and the date on which the foreign currency will be delivered (typically between a month and a year in the future).
Once the exchange rate is locked in, the U.S. dollar amount is set for the duration of the agreement regardless of subsequent market movements. A secured rate allows meeting planners to proceed with price listings and budgeting plans without currency fluctuations eroding profit margins. For more details, read our currency exchange article.
A contract should include:
1. A governing language: This avoids disputes when different language versions of a contract conflict because of the translation.
2. A choice of currency: Choosing an official currency protects the parties against value fluctuations that can affect meeting pricing.
3. The governing law for dispute resolution: This is essential to avoid differences between the meeting host’s home country and the meeting location. And, depending on the country, the court system may be efficient or slow. Without an agreement on which country’s laws will apply in a dispute, both sides may try to resolve the matter in their own courts, causing confusion and delay.
An effective force majeure cancellation clause is essential, says Joshua Grimes, an attorney with Grimes Law Offices. It allows either the meeting sponsor or host venue to cancel the meeting without liability in the event of certain specified occurrences outside the parties’ control. The clause must be carefully worded to cover all unanticipated and unavoidable incidents that would necessitate cancellation, including civil unrest, terrorism, and major airline strikes. Planners should not cede control over declaring a force majeure cancellation to the meeting facility; local hosts are far less likely to cancel a meeting than the planner. For example, terrorism in the U.S. would probably not cause a meeting venue in Britain to cancel, but it might prevent the attendees from getting onto the airplane. Similarly, labor strikes are an everyday occurrence in some European cities, so they might not be a valid cause for cancellation. In situations where there are differing opinions on what constitutes a force majeure, the best option is to create a mechanism for consultation and mediation if a dispute arises.
One of the more shocking differences to U.S. planners doing their first international meeting is the requirement to pay most of the meeting costs up front. You should always negotiate to pay 10 percent to 20 percent of the cost after the meeting, just to retain some leverage should you need it.
Experts advise including a line item of about 10 percent of overall expenses to account for currency fluctuation, wire transfer fees, and bank fees.
1. TSA Precheck The Transportation Security Administration’s Precheck program allows member to use dedicated lanes to go through security screening at U.S. airports (currently 180+ airports are in the program) and don’t have to remove their shoes, belts, or jackets, or take laptops out of their bags. This program is for domestic airport security and does not help travelers get through customs. TSA says it has 380 locations nationwide where applicants can go for the in-person meeting. Cost: $85/five years
2. Global Entry The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry program includes TSA Precheck privileges, plus expedited processing through customs at U.S. airports and land borders. First, members use Global Entry kiosks to provide passport and declaration information and then, after collecting their luggage, have a dedicated exit line from the customs area. There are enrollment centers throughout the U.S., plus Guam and Qatar. Cost: $100/five years
3. NEXUS Includes Global Entry and TSA Precheck privileges, and also provides expedited processing when entering Canada. This bilateral program is open to both U.S. and Canadian citizens. Applications must be approved by both countries. Cost: $50/five years
4. SENTRI Includes Global Entry and TSA Precheck privileges. SENTRI is focused on land border crossings from Mexico, with dedicated lanes at entry points for travelers arriving in California, Texas, and Arizona. Cost: $122.25/five years
See our article with tips and warnings regarding all these programs.
First of all, avoid assumptions about business or cultural protocol and instead be a keen observer and imitator. And if you cause offense, the best thing to do is just apologize. There are lots of books and websites that can help you research behavioral norms, such as Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in 60 Countries.
Read our article about how to find and work with customs brokers and freight forwarders.
Also, think about what not to ship. What can you buy locally at your meeting destination? What can you download to Dropbox and print out at the hotel or convention center? You’ll also want to consider what you plan to ship back to the U.S. after your meeting. In some cases—for example, with anything that could be considered a “textile”—you can run into high import duties to get them back.
Our favorite: Pretend you’re leaving two days earlier than you really are, so you’re ready to go 48 hours ahead of time and then you have two restful days to prepare yourself physically for the trip. Find this tip and plenty more in our Big List of Ways to Beat Jet Lag.
1. You may have to refund the registration fees for attendees who can’t get visas. Have guidelines (and a budget) in place for handling those scenarios.
2. Learn to say hello, goodbye, and thank-you in the language of your meeting country, and distribute these words to attendees.
3. Mandatory sharing of flight information and personal cell phone numbers before an international event is typical, and not usually met with pushback. Ask for it.
4. Print attendees’ allergies on the backs of name badges.
5. When your delegates leave the hotel, make sure they have the name, address, and phone number of the hotel with them.
6. Draw a picture! If you think an instruction could be misconstrued or mistranslated (even English to English), communicate in images as well as text.
7. Double tag your bags: Put contact information both inside and outside your suitcases.
