For event planners
Before you sign that venue or vendor contract, check these three things.
Event planners sign venue contracts, vendor agreements and client agreements for the same event. The costly terms are about numbers and dates: what you owe if fewer guests come, what cancelling costs on each date, and who answers for damage.
This venue contract charges the full estimate on any cancellation and holds you responsible for all damage, however caused.
Full charges on any cancellation
There is no sliding scale: cancelling a year out costs the same as cancelling the week before, and it may not match your client agreement.
Ask for
Look at the fee on each date, and ask for a schedule that steps up closer to the event.
- All damage, however causedHigh · Liability
- A minimum of 150 guestsHigh · Payment
The numbers
In May 2025, there were 142,860 wage and salary jobs for meeting, convention and event planners in the U.S., with a median annual wage of $61,160.
These figures count jobs, not people, and do not include self-employed work — so they say little about how many meeting, convention and event planners work freelance or run their own business.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national estimates for SOC 13-1121. Public domain.
Attrition, cancellation dates and venue damage
- Attrition — Check what you owe if the room block or guest count falls below the agreed number.
- Cancellation schedule — Look at the cancellation fee on each date, and whether it matches your client agreement.
- Damage and liability — A clause making you responsible for all damage at the venue can reach things guests did. Check what it covers.
Check the contract before you sign for the venue
Event contracts are priced in dates and head counts. Free: one analysis every 30 days, no card. Each analysis gives a risk read of the key clauses, quotes the contract's own words for its findings, and turns each flagged clause into a specific ask.
Analyze my contract — free- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice