It’s been said that what can go wrong, will go wrong. It is Murphy’s law in practice. When event planners create a risk management plan, they anticipate anything Murphy might send their way. A good risk management plan covers disasters you cannot control (e.g. weather related disasters or a union strike). It also includes ways to manage employment issues and financial responsibilities with proper due diligence.
Due diligence is essential for event planners. While you won’t be able to stop a hurricane in its tracks, you can do your best to keep your attendees safe, consider an alternative meeting space or even change the event date. In a court of law, it must be apparent that you did your best to mitigate a crisis. This is called reasonable care. A thorough risk management plan is key to your success.
Say what? You aren’t coming?!
It was my first real crisis as an event planner. The early morning call came the day our conference was scheduled to begin. Our keynote speaker, based in England, was alerted by his government that he would not be able to fly internationally since he had just traveled to the Middle East a short time before. What was I to do? When I worked as a television producer, I might have a guest cancel at the last minute, but this was the first time it happened when planning a conference with over 300 attendees! After consulting with the president of my organization, we opted to do something liberating. We gave the attendees the night off…and they appreciated it! Many had flown in earlier in the day after a full day of work and were more than happy to head to their rooms and rest before the conference began.
Thankfully, the sudden cancellation did not cause major disruption to the rest of the conference. For the open speaker slots created by the sudden cancellation, we simply shifted around our existing speakers and lengthened a few of the speaking slots.
Risk Analysis
Speaker cancellations are just one example to include in a risk analysis of your event. Other topics should be relevant to your event. You may not encounter a hurricane in Oklahoma but you should consider a significant weather event during the area’s tornado season. Every event should anticipate medical emergencies and how to handle them. Once you outline all potential risks to your event, it is time to analyze and mitigate them.
Crisis Communication
It is essential during a crisis that your team know exactly what to do and when. Outline responsibilities for each person and explain dependencies among the responsibilities. A chain of command will clarify many questions, including who will be the single voice speaking to the media or who is the person to issue the “Go” command and under what circumstances.
Train and practice with your staff on how to handle crisis. Rehearse the communications plan often with practical training. Drill the plan with role play examples or scenarios where the team must think through what they will do and when. The crisis plan should become muscle memory since human emotions may often paralyze or distract from what must be done at moment’s notice.
Each venue is different and so might be the escape plan. Partner with venue staff to coordinate emergency plans so you work in tandem. Know how to reach the security team through the house phone or radio communication. Ensure the exits are clearly marked and that your team and attendees know how to escape the area. Explain where they should meet once outside of the building. This information can be shared in the event app and highlighted with occasional reminders.
Consider how you will alert stakeholders to the crisis and what is being done to mitigate it. Your CEO should not hear about a crisis from the news media before learning about it from you. Think through how you will alert your attendees to impending danger. Most conferences use an event app to share seminar information. Look at how you can multipurpose the app to alert the attendees to impending danger. Also think through if all communication lines are down (no phone, no internet), how will you alert your attendees and their families to their safety?
As an event planner, you are accountable for the event’s success but also for the safety and security of the attendees, vendors and others. It is vital that you evaluate the risks. Then, create a risk management plan to mitigate disasters and communicate the plan to your shareholders. Murphy’s Law might still happen but you’ll be ready.
