Event Cancellations & Virtual Events/Conferences During COVID-19

The following information provides guidance on both canceling in-person events and hosting a virtual/hybrid event due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event Cancellations

If you are canceling an external event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please add a comment to the related purchase order in the PantherExpress System and tag Melissa Vrana and Anna Spagnola in the comment.

Each contract will have different termination and force majeure clauses that may enable the University to avoid or greatly minimize termination expenses. You will want to work closely with Melissa Vrana to address these issues prior to contacting the facility where the event was to be held and before agreeing to pay any cancellation or termination fees or liquidated damages.

Unplanned/Unbudgeted COVID-19 Expenses Related to Canceled Events

In preparation of the threat of COVID-19, you may incur unplanned and unbudgeted expenses as well as unrecoverable costs related to canceled events. These types of expenses should be recorded as follows in order to allow us to track these expenses appropriately. More detailed examples will follow as we continue our outreach to departmental administrators.

  • Using Travel Card, Concur – use COVID-19 Canceled Travel expense type.
  • Using the PantherExpress System – request an account code update to the Conference and Event purchase order by using Subcode 8119 through the Update My PO Form.
  • If necessary, request the new account code activation by sending the entire account string to accountrequests@cfo.pitt.edu.

University-wide Suppliers Providing Virtual Events/Conferences 

The following options are available for events that may need to be hosted virtually, in accordance with the University's operations posture.

Accelevents is now a University-wide Contracted Supplier in the PantherExpress System and we are currently finalizing agreements with Intrado and PSAV to provide high-quality, interactive learning experiences for virtual/hybrid conferences and events.

For additional information about Accelevents, including how to get started, visit this page.

For any questions about how a virtual event/conference can accommodate your event needs, please contact Melissa Vrana.

For any questions, please contact Customer Service.