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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