Before the event, discuss all “What if” scenarios to ensure attendee safety is at a premium. Photo by Cody O’Loughlin / Courtesy of Danielle Dickinson

A crisis management plan is the one piece of the event preparation puzzle planners hope they’ll never need, yet it’s one piece they can’t afford to be without. From global pandemics to protesters, planners face an entirely new set of challenges that require a cool head, a calming presence and a quick, collected response.

A crisis management plan is an established procedure for how a team will respond in the event of a crisis, whether it’s a medical issue, natural disaster or another unexpected emergency. Many planners keep written copies of the plan with them on-site. It ensures all stakeholders — attendees, presenters, vendors, event and venue staff — are safe, informed and respond accordingly by following a detailed action plan and chain of command for communication.

Crisis management plans provide some level of control in chaotic situations. It helps planners make tough decisions at a moment’s notice. “It’s important because you never know when you might need it,” says Danielle Dickinson, CMP, SVP of events at The Castle Group, a full-service event management and public relations firm headquartered in Boston, MA.

With a plan in place, everyone knows what they need to do in a crisis. It assures stakeholders the issue is being handled and stresses keeping calm. “You don’t want to incite chaos or fear. It does help to add an extra layer of control to ensure everyone is safe,” Dickinson points out.

New Security Measures for New Realities

Nicole Knoderer, senior director of conferences and events for SHPE: Leading Hispanics in STEM, says it’s extremely important for planners to have a solid crisis management plan in place, especially with so many concerns around health and security.

She points out it’s also useful when an event staff member faces a crisis, such as during the height of the pandemic. Following health outbreaks — whether COVID, flu or another illness — is now a regular part of her job.

Besides health outbreaks, Knoderer now plans for everything from protesters to medical emergencies and natural disasters. In recent years, her organization has hired a security consultant dedicated to monitoring potential security risks. The consultant will review all aspects of the event and planning for potential crises, monitor social media and stay in regular contact with local police so Knoderer can focus on the overall event. “We try to be proactive and anticipate what might happen” so they can respond accordingly, she says. Additionally, SHPE’s board has added magnetometers at its events as an additional security measure.

Putting a Plan in Place

Managing security and preparing for crises is what ASIS International does. As the world’s largest organization for security professionals, its staff and members are acutely aware of potential risks at events and elsewhere. The organization’s vice president of events, Amy Peters, DES, says planners need to keep a few key elements in mind when developing a crisis management plan:

• Who has the authority to speak? “It all starts with the venue. You need to identify the team and their roles — the events team and the response team,” Peters points out.
• Identify critical control points.
• Identify types of threats. Natural disaster, delayed speaker, protesters, active shooters, faulty AV or lighting — although it’s impossible to name every potential threat, addressing them in broad categories dictates the response.
• Identify levels of threats. “Low threat would be a water leak; high is a natural disaster, medium level would be protesters,” Peters says.
• Identify how you will communicate the message. Peters and her team used to rely heavily on two-way radios to communicate internally; today, they primarily use text messaging but also rent a half-dozen two-way radios to stay in constant contact for the duration of an event.

Because clear and accurate communication is so critical, Peters recommends pre-writing all messaging for emergency communications should it be needed. “You need to be able to communicate to both internal and external audiences, because you will have people calling in,” she says.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to communication,” says Rebecca Kane, CMP, founder and principal of RK Conferences and Events, who has worked with crisis management professionals on developing customized plans. “How will you communicate if something happens and you need to evacuate your attendees? What information are you collecting? What is your internal chain of command? Your crisis management plan will tell your staff what needs to happen.”

Prior to an event, sit down and put the plan together. Raven White, CEO of The EnVISION Firm, is both an event planner and a certified project manager. She applies both of her skill sets to develop step-by-step, comprehensive crisis management plans for client events. She explains her planning process:

“First, we’ll do a risk assessment and identify possible risks to events — a natural disaster, medical emergencies, what happens if a speaker doesn’t show up,” she says. “Next, I define the roles and responsibilities of the crisis team I would put together and how each would handle different types of emergencies. This team would consist of operational staff on the venue management team, the emergency response team and any decision makers who are part of the event.

“Once we do that, we develop a response strategy for each of the risks mentioned. This would include any type of evacuation procedures, emergency response situations and how we would respond with attendees and/or stakeholders. When we establish protocols for internal and external communication, we publish a communications plan for everyone involved, which we would provide to emergency staff, members of the media and event staff.”

After the communications plan is sent to all necessary parties, the final step for White’s staff is testing out the plan through training and drills. “We conduct drills to prepare responses to emergencies. The plan is sent out ahead of time so they know how they would be involved — the drills would apply to anyone who falls under me. We would work closely with anyone from the venue, as well as local authorities, emergency responders and anyone connected to the event to ensure crises are handled effectively,” she says.

The team at The Castle Group follows a similar format for the plans they develop. Additionally, they work with their partners to develop the emergency procedures. “If we’re working with a venue like a hotel or convention center, chances are they already have a plan in place,” Dickinson says. “We’ll usually start there and build off the existing infrastructure to make sure our bases are covered. For any bases not covered, we reach out to additional parties who can come and help support to ensure we have all the right resources, such as first responders, extra security, etc.”

After completing the initial risk assessment, The Castle Group team creates a plan and shares it with their team and the venue staff. “This is so they are fully prepared to be an on-site resource, as well as knowing how to communicate with the attendees as to what the security protocols are and what safety procedures are in place. We like to get those communications out so everyone is comfortable,” she says.

White says in her 11 years in business, she’s only encountered true crises a few times. “No matter how much you prepare, when something happens, you still have to ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and think on your feet for much of it,” she says. “I had an event where a third of the attendee group was held up because their bus broke down. I had to speak with the client to determine whether we would continue.”

Defining a Crisis

Clients need to be clear on their priorities — namely, defining what they would consider a crisis — so planners can respond accordingly. This can look different for everyone.

Patricia A. Cowley is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Bus Association (PBA), a trade organization representing the motor coach industry across the state. Orchestrating its two largest events — their annual conference and the Group Leader Marketplace — are among her responsibilities. This summer, PBA’s conference was held in Ithaca, NY, during a scorching heatwave. The A/C unit in the hotel they were using was having a hard time cooling the venue down. “That was a big concern,” she says. “We had to bring in big fans and blowers. We shortened the sessions.” Their closing event, scheduled to be at Ithaca’s Museum of Earth, had to be moved. “The closing session was supposed to be Wednesday night. On Monday night, I was alerted there was no A/C in the museum. Normally, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but with the heatwave, it was a major issue. We waited until Tuesday, but made a decision to pivot and find a new location.”

Cowley worked with the CVB to identify a new venue and the team mobilized. “The good news is — and our surveys reflected it — if you hadn’t known the event was supposed to be held somewhere else, you never would have known we had to move everything. It was a seamless transition that worked out wonderfully. That was one recent crisis,” Cowley says.

A planner working on-site has to make some tough decisions in a matter of minutes, and they need to know their client’s goals and expectations to do that. “Communicate with your client and figure out how they would like to proceed if you speak with them. For instance, if a speaker does not show up, is it important to the client to keep the event on time, or is it possible to delay it for a few minutes? It’s important to define what your priorities are so you know how to respond in a crisis,” White says. “Use your expertise and try to be sensitive in your response while trying to keep everyone calm.”

Clients need to be involved every step of the way, regardless of whether a company representative is physically present. “We’re talking about major crises — something that could potentially happen,” White says. “So, what happens if a speaker or presenter doesn’t show up? It’s very important to speak to the client and get permission to act on their behalf. They believe in you, so you don’t always have to ask their permission. You’re managing the event, so they should trust you to speak and make decisions on their behalf. We mandate that in our contracts.”

Working With the Venue

Fortunately, planners do not have to create crisis management plans from scratch. Many build upon plans in place by the venue itself and add the information they need specifically for each event. “The actual plan itself will come from your venue. Who handles what will come internally [from your team and the client] — who will speak with the media, who will speak to the attendees,” Kane says. “From a planner standpoint, you need to identify who does what. The venue already has everything identified, such as local hospitals. You just identify what you need for your event and client’s purposes.”

Depending on the nature of the emergency, a crisis communications professional — whether someone on the planner’s staff or a third-party vendor — may be needed to monitor the situation and determine the most appropriate response. The Castle Group has an in-house crisis communications team that can be pulled in to monitor social media or other communications channels while the situation is being handled. “We want everyone to keep their eyes and ears open so we can get ahead of anything extraordinary,” Dickinson says. “We do our best to plan and get ahead of any potential issues.”

A crisis management plan should be updated and customized based on every event’s unique needs. For instance, an association business expo would have a slightly different plan than an invitation-only gala with a VIP-heavy guest list. By working together, the venue staff and planner’s team can address and respond to an urgent situation quickly. “We’ll go off of what the event already has and amend ours to work with theirs, not start from scratch,” White says. “We’ll ask for a map of locations. If we are bringing in any VIPs or high-security personnel, we would ask if there is a back entrance or how we would get these individuals out. We have a sheet of questions we would ask the venue.”

Preventative Measures at Registration

Gathering the right information and asking attendees the right questions at registration can help avert potential crises altogether. There are some questions that cannot be asked due to HIPAA and other privacy laws.  However, if an attendee needs medical accommodation, planners need to know this as soon as possible. “As early as registration, we want to make sure we’re making accommodations for folks, whether it’s ADA or dietary, as it could become an emergency if it’s not handled well,” Dickinson says. “Once we’ve been contacted by someone who has alerted us of something that might be an issue, we handle it on a one-on-one basis. We’ll work with an attendee who might need extra support, whether it’s food, mobility or another accommodation of some kind.”

Dickinson says meeting attendees’ individual needs is part of the planning strategy right from the start. “We’ll ask, what kind of accommodations will we make if folks need them? We need to know what the client has the budget for and how much they’ll be able to do right from the start.” Again, venues are excellent strategic partners and should be consulted on how well they are equipped to meet attendees’ various needs.

Dickinson has brought in concierge or information desks depending on the type of event and level of need, saying, “For planners, I would definitely recommend having a dedicated support person on site [for attendees who need extra assistance]. There’s comfort in consistency. If you can do it, I definitely recommend you do.”

Nine times out of 10, events go off without a hitch, but it’s a planner’s job to think ahead and be ready for that one time. This is where the crisis management plan comes in. “Things happen. I’ve had a meeting during a hurricane. I know of another planner who just had an attendee experience a fatal heart attack. It’s just being overly-prepared and having that extra layer of protection,” Kane says.

“The biggest thing to remember is a crisis doesn’t always happen, but you have to drive home the importance of ‘in case it happens.’ It doesn’t have to be an exhaustive plan, but there should be something in place,” Dickinson stresses. “At minimum, the venue should have something. Review it and see if there are any areas of concern. Are there any holes? It’s an exercise really worth doing. It’s often something a client or planner hasn’t thought about, so you at least want to have a good line of communication so you know who you need to call if there is an emergency.” | AC&F |