Planners should have a venue’s emergency contact information, including hospitals and fire and police departments. DepositPhotos.com

Tropical Storm Hilary made waves in Southern California last summer just hours after making a destructive path over Baja California peninsula in Mexico. This was an unexpected situation as tropical storms or hurricanes don’t typically maintain their strength in this region due to currents and cool ocean waters. Rarity aside, the storm brought Southern California to its proverbial knees and wreaked havoc on the multitude of corporate meetings and events planned for that weekend.

Unfortunately, many corporate meeting planners may not have even considered this pop-up situation: a tropical storm as part of their contingency planning. And attendees may not have envisioned having to deal with historical flooding when traveling to their corporate meeting destination. But planning for contingencies, no matter how rare, is vital for the safety and security of attendees and for the bottom line of the corporations hosting these events.

“Every event is different and some need just the basics and some more advanced contingency plans,” said Deborah Hinson, partner at The Hinson Group, LLC, a full-service marketing, design, new media and consulting agency in New Orleans, LA.

Weather Contingencies

Weather contingencies are focused on the destination’s location. Will attendees have a hard time getting to the destination and back? Are you planning an event in a location that could be impacted by weather events (snow, hurricanes, etc,)? Do you need a backup plan for outdoor events? Regardless of the situation, you must  anticipate the need for and provide shelter, food and water for your attendees.

“Weather, as a natural disaster, brings about other questions such as: How do you evacuate your attendees? What are the hotel capabilities?” Hinson said. “I live in New Orleans. We have frequent power outages. Do I want to identify a hotel that has back-up generator capabilities?”

When booking an event or program that is being hosted at an outdoor venue, consider blocking an indoor ballroom or expo space that could be used in the event of a weather emergency — especially if the event is being held during hurricane season. Also, event insurance should be considered in those instances where an alternative location is not an option.

Transportation Contingencies

Do you need a destination with an alternate airport? What is the bandwidth of your attendees to travel? How long is your event? Will the attendees spend more time getting to you than participating in the event? Do your guests expect non-stop flights? When people are traveling to the event from all points across the globe, it is essential to create a travel contingency plan. One of the biggest problems that planners don’t always anticipate is “travel curtailment” —  namely, when the transportation system goes down due to weather, technology, equipment disaster or other reasons. In the past year alone, a few airlines have had to shut down their entire systems, stranding passengers for days at a time, because of technical issues or staffing shortages. It is important to have a contingency plan in place for these types of unforeseen issues.

Planners should study the destination’s designated evacuation routes and learn how to use them. DepositPhotos.com

Medical Emergency Contingencies

Medical emergencies happen unexpectedly and planners must plan accordingly. This plan should be in place with the venue or property where the event is being held. The plan should list the closest hospital, on-call medics and ambulance providers, and be understood by all members of the event planning team. Corporate meeting planners may also want to consider hiring onsite event medics — personnel who are hired for the duration of the event and are readily accessible in case of a medical emergency.

Technology Failures

Event technology failures can ruin an otherwise successful event. Whether it’s a power outage, a broken microphone, software crash or network glitch, planners need to be ready to handle any technical situation to minimize the impact on their event objectives.

Another way to prepare for event technology failures is to monitor feedback from attendees, speakers, sponsors and partners. Gathering feedback from previous events through surveys, polls, chats, social media and analytics can help you identify any issues and improve your next event technology performance. Also, responding promptly and professionally to complaints or issues is crucial.

Vendor Contingencies

It’s not unheard of for issues to arise with the vendors themselves, as equipment fails or staff don’t show up. That’s why it’s important that corporate planners establish a “back up” list of vendors in case there is a problem with one of the vendors hired. Planners should also ensure that all parties involved, including vendors and subcontractors, have the proper and equitable insurance in place to mitigate any unforeseen risks.

Security Plans

It is important to establish procedures for moving high asset individuals and security for all. Planners should determine if their chosen venue has an onsite, 24-hour security team, with all security officers certified by the American Red Cross in CPR, basic first aid and the use of the HeartStream automated external defibrillator (AED). All hotel or resort staff should be trained in proper evacuation procedures, as well as versed on the nearest exits and safest routes in the event of fire, etc.

Planners should also consider hiring a team that is trained in crisis response, and has plans in place in case a crisis should occur. Additionally, for large-scale corporate events, they should consider having on-call doctors and dentists for any type of medical emergencies.

Budget

Unplanned contingencies can disrupt a corporate meeting planning budget. That’s why it is important to keep a percentage of your total budget in contingency for pop-up expenses, approximately 5 to 10%.

“Work to identify all issues that could arise,” Hinson said. “Talk to your stakeholders and get their input. Then, prioritize the contingencies that are identified and make a plan for the ones that you deem most important. Ensure there is a budget allocated to deal with these contingencies should they come to life.”

Lessons Learned

When you think of the worst-case scenario that happened at one of the meetings or events you handled, what comes to mind? If you’re lucky, nothing. But if you are like most planners, you probably have a story or two to tell about what went wrong and how you solve the crisis at hand.

Hinson planned an event in the Caribbean and her company agreed they would only consider resorts with a generator back-up power as they were meeting during peak hurricane season.

“Sure enough, a storm came — not a hurricane, but enough to knock out power,” Hinson said. “Because we thought ahead and were in a location with back-up power, our meeting was largely undisrupted.”

Bibi Goldstein, founder and CEO at Buying Time, a virtual assistance company located in Hermosa Beach, CA, said there are a lot of contingencies surrounding the health, safety and well-being of meeting attendees.

She said there are many things to consider, such as “a pandemic, a fire in the building the event is being held in, a hurricane, an earthquake or even airport closures.”

She added, “It’s often easy to look at budget and location when planning an event during hurricane season because venues will be more budget-friendly.”

And because it is hard to plan for every contingency that may arise a corporate meeting or event, Goldstein suggests corporate planners focus on the venue, including transportation to and from, and the food and beverage program, as well as elements such as the possibility of the speakers being unable to get to the event. She also said to check with the force majeure clause is in the contract.

She added, “I would also make sure that the venue has provided all emergency contact information for them and for all the local fire, police and hospitals. This is also going to be dependent on the size of the event. If it’s a 100-person event versus a 1,000-person event, the extent of the planning will be different.”

Planners should always have a back-up plan in place. Goldstein remembers how she once planned a small event where the food provided by the venue had been contaminated, so they couldn’t serve it. “We didn’t learn this until the night before day one,” Goldstein said. “Whenever we do an event, we try to have a list of local caterers, restaurants and coffee shops and so our team started making phone calls and were able to put together the breakfasts, lunches and breaks throughout the event that the attendees were expecting.”

Without having this type of contingency plan in place, the event would have been a disaster. “That’s actually the most common mistake I see: corporate planners not having a plan at all,” Goldstein said. “The outcome could be disastrous and dangerous in some cases without proper planning. In the event business, we all know that things will go wrong. Are you prepared to address it and will it be visible to the attendees?”

In light of the havoc that the pandemic unleashed on the meetings and events industry, Hinson believes that contract negotiations will continue to evolve to address contingency plans — especially as it relates to attendee’s ability to attend, impact from force majeure type issues and weather-related issues.

More and more corporate planners are relying on a SWOT analysis — a research tool that they use to determine what the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats might be for a particular event. The SWOT analysis can be a thorough tool to use to decipher all of the potential issues that could arise for that specific gathering. This can be helpful to a corporate planner who may be planning two consecutive events at their company, as an event being held in downtown Chicago, IL will have different potential issues that one being held in downtown Dubuque, IA.

The most well-planned events are going to have “pop-up” situations. Whatever situation arises, experts agree that not recognizing a crisis in its early stage is the most common mistake corporate meeting planners make. The most important approach for corporate meeting planners to take is first to stay calm, and carefully evaluate whatever the situation is in a clear, determined, quick and decisive manner. If done so, most attendees will never know there was a situation.

Steps To Take

It should come as no surprise that assessing a situation is the first step in effective contingency planning. Here are five steps planners should take to prepare for the unexpected:

Step 1: Have a plan for medical emergencies (first), shelter (second) and food and water (third). This will give you time to handle the other aspects of the crisis more efficiently.

Step 2: In most instances, facilities, hotels and other venues have emergency plans in place for evacuation, medical emergencies and weather. Be sure to familiarize yourself with these plans and share this information with members of the corporate planning team. While most hotels or resorts have people on staff who are trained in CPR, corporate planners may want to consider enrolling in a CPR class in order to respond immediately if faced with a life-threatening medical emergency at a corporate event.

Step 3: Embrace the unknown and remain flexible. As issues arise during a corporate meeting, inexperienced corporate planners may find themselves overwhelmed and lose focus on the task at hand. That’s why it is vital that corporate planners remain flexible and focused on resolving the issue, without being caught up in the problem. Be ready for anything. And keep attendees as calm as possible while remaining calm yourself.

Step 4: Remember, safety first. At the chosen venue, conduct multiple walk-throughs with trained personnel to spot any potential obstacles that could cause injuries to attendees. Look for tripping hazards, as well as fire hazards, such as candles having burned down to a point of becoming a hazard.

Step 5: Study evacuation plans. Ask for the facility manager or owner to send you their evacuation plans. Be sure both you and your corporate planning team study these plans thoroughly so that if you need to escort attendees out of a building, you know how to use the designated evacuation route, quickly and safely.

There’s no way to anticipate or prevent all mishaps and natural disasters from occurring, but meeting and event planners can minimize the impact with a little strategic planning. Rather than waiting for the unexpected, planners can put together a contingency plan to ensure that their business meetings and events go as planned, or as smoothly as possible.   C&IT