By Yolonda Cameron, Georgia Tech Office of Legal Affairs 

Legal Contracts

• Review a contract with an eye toward any terms that might be problematic.
• Departments are not legal entities - contracts should be between Georgia Institute of Technology and the vendor.
• Unless specifically granted signature authority by the president of Georgia Tech, individuals cannot sign contracts. Doing so might leave you personally liable for the terms of that contract if there is a breach.

Event Planning Contracts

• Negotiate all contracts, not just hotel contracts.
• When negotiating, leverage dates and flexibility of dates and think from the vendor's perspective of how you can give to get and make everyone happy. 
• Be prepared to negotiate, realizing that you may not get 100 percent of what you want but you may end up with a perk that was not in your original plan.
• Come to the table with research done in advance – research on your budget, the venue, the venue’s bottom line, and even the venue’s competition.
• Negotiating does not always mean price. You may request perks or services, such as free wi-fi, to be included instead of receiving a cost reduction.