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If there’s one word no one in event marketing wants to hear it’s “cancellation.” Yet with today’s struggling economy some marketers are faced with the reality of having to pull at least one already-booked event from the portfolio. If you’ve gotta do it here are some tips to help you avoid—or at least minimize—costly cancellation fees.

When the economy hit the ground like Joe Frazier didn’t like its face event marketers could have fallen right down with it and hugged the canvas. But you didn’t. You took the left hook from accounting about your budgets and most recently the uppercut from the media and the public about your sponsorships and meetings. And you’re still standing.

Managing a trade show exhibit with 70 percent less than last year’s budget is become a reality for some marketers. At a time when cfos are slashing marketing dollars like the tails off shrimp on a sizzling Hibachi grill one exhibitor—Chase—not only worked with the slashed budget; it achieved a two-to-one return on its trade show investment.

The biggest challenge Walmart faced in preparing for this year’s annual meeting wasn’t where to house the 16 000 store associates and shareholders descending on its headquarters in Bentonville AR for three days in June. And there was no shortage of headliners willing to come to town to entertain them. Indeed Walmart’s dilemma was how to celebrate its growing market share—it surpassed a hefty $400 billion in sales during the last fiscal year—at a time when most of the country is struggling through one of the worst recessions in history.

Doing the right thing is not always easy. Just ask any marketer trying to build green marketing practices. Despite the fact that environmental awareness is at an all-time high the industry is still searching for a definitive system for qualifying sustainable events.