PROVIDENCE – The Disney Institute’s one-day seminar on improving customer and employee relations has been canceled.
The event, slated for May 25 at the Squantum Association hall in East Providence and May 27 at the Hoagland-Pincus Conference Center in Worcester, Mass., was canceled because the company used to plan the seminars went out of business.
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Solution Infusion was a third-party company that managed all of the logistics of the Disney Institute seminars nationwide, a spokeswoman confirmed.
“About 60 days ago, we knew that Solution Infusion was running into some financial trouble. The primary way that we knew was that they weren’t paying their bills,” said Stacey Thomspon, public relations representative for the Disney Institute, noting that Solution Infusion was supposed to pay the Disney Institute for providing the facilitators and the content at the seminars.
About 30 programs nationwide have been left in the lurch, Thompson said noting that the Disney Institute, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., is working directly with the organizers to try and make all of the events happen.
“We are providing the facilitators and content for free but if they can’t find a venue, it won’t happen,” said Thompson to Providence Business News. Event sponsors were notified by Solution Infusion on Thursday through an email citing “economic circumstances beyond our control.”
Participants who have already paid should contact Solution Infusion for a reimbursement, she said, but noted that those attempts may be futile as the company has shut its phones off.
The Disney Institute, however, is offering a credit for programs at The Walt Disney World Resort or at the Disneyland Resort for those programs that cannot be rescheduled; to find out more, contact 321-939-4600.
It is currently unclear whether the Providence seminar will be rescheduled.
The course, Disney’s Approach to Business Excellence, introduces participants to five core principles, including: communicate a compelling vision; select and hire right-fit employees; develop a service philosophy; retain customers for life; and create a collaborative culture.
Solution Infusion has been planning the logistics for the seminars, between 75-100 annually, for three years.
