Force majeure clause

Nobody read these clauses carefully until 2020, and the industry learned expensively that boilerplate varies enormously in who it protects. The clause matters in three contracts at once: organizer–venue (can you recover the deposit if the hall is unusable or gatherings are banned?), organizer–exhibitor (do exhibitors get refunds, credits, or nothing if you cancel?), and organizer–supplier (are you still liable for contractor commitments?). The drafting details decide real money: whether the triggering event must make performance impossible or merely impractical, whether government advice counts as government order, whether postponement is an allowed remedy before refund, and who keeps deposits in the meantime. The common mistake is symmetrical thinking — assuming the clause that protects you from the venue also defines your obligations to exhibitors. They're separate documents, and a mismatch means you're refunding exhibitors while the venue keeps your deposit. Align the chain deliberately. One honest nuance: force majeure and cancellation insurance interact, and insurers price around your contracts — strong postponement rights and credit-based exhibitor terms reduce the loss an insurer would face, which shows up in premium and insurability. Treat the clause, the exhibitor terms, and the policy as one system, drafted together.