When Is It Okay to Be Paranoid about Your Events?

Building contingency plans to eliminate the effects of Murphy's Law

Event Organizers eJournal speaks with
Project Management Professional, Jim Copenhaver

In the carpentry trade, old-timers and newcomers alike live by a well-known saying — Measure twice, cut once. The wisdom of this adage is unmistakable. If a carpenter measures only once before cutting, a valuable piece of timber intended for a specific purpose may be cut to the wrong length. If it’s too long, he’ll have to re-measure and cut again. Even worse, if it’s too short, the timber may go to waste.

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But if the carpenter’s a wise man, he’ll have a contingency plan in place for pieces that are too short. His mistake can be “fixed” by using the timber elsewhere or on another job. What does all this have to do with events and being an event planner?

Smart event planners and organizers should also “measure twice,” that is, formulate steps and strategies wisely and double-check them long before their events take place. They should also have ways to deal with things if they go wrong.

What sorts of things should you worry about and how can you plan to handle them —before they happen? To find out, Event Organizers eJournal spoke with Jim Copenhaver, a certified project management professional and expert consultant in business continuity/disaster recovery. Here’s what he had to say.

EOJ: Mr. Copenhaver, how would you define contingency planning?

Jim Copenhaver: It’s dealing with problems that can be easily seen before they can occur. You need to have as many of the potential problems covered as possible, so you’re not handling them on the spot.

EOJ: But how can you anticipate what might go wrong?

Copenhaver: If you’ve held events before, you should look back at what went right or wrong. What have you done? What’s worked? What has worked but not as well as you wanted? Lessons learned are the key.

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EOJ: So this is a one-person job?

Copenhaver: No. You should get together with the other people involved in the event and brainstorm. Ask them what else could go wrong but hasn’t in the past. More people — especially in a group — can point out things you haven’t thought of. People’s experience at running — and attending — events comes in handy.

EOJ: What types of risks can people plan for?

Copenhaver: Basically, there are two kinds of risks: known and unknown. Known risks might include bad weather or utility problems. For example, last winter, Atlanta had ice storms. I don’t care what anyone says, nobody can drive on ice, so everything shut down. An event was being held at a hotel, and it put up the attendees, with the children staying for free. Either someone talked quickly or had a contingency plan in place. Essentially, if you can dream it up, it’s a known risk.

Unknown risks are those you can’t foresee, but you can still plan for them. These are things that are improbable, such as airline strikes, communication outages or terrorist attacks. For example, what would happen if cell phone calls were impossible on site? In that case, every member of the event staff might need a walkie-talkie. But then, the question is, will the walkie-talkies work on site? There may be a problem with too much metal in the floors.

The point is you can’t foresee unknown risks, but you need procedures and policies in place and an infrastructure to handle the unforeseen.

EOJ: If this is how you segment risks, then how do you categorize contingencies?

Copenhaver: The most serious contingency plans needed are for catastrophic events — situations that are potential disasters from either a liability or customer relations perspective. These types of situations could put your event or your company out of business, and you need plans to handle them.

Don't assume that the venue is in control of everything. Here are some things you can do to mitigate your risk in case of a major emergency:

Make sure all fire exits are unlocked and exit signs are visible as soon as you arrive at the site.

Ensure your staff knows where to direct people in case of an emergency.

Be certain everyone at your event has a name tag. You may need to identify who’s present and who’s not if something happens.

Determine who talks to the press and who directs emergency vehicles if something goes wrong.

Another major category of contingency plans to consider is event flow. For instance, let’s say your speaker gets stuck in traffic or the caterer gets in an accident.

In the first situation, you have lots of unforgiving people. The questions you need to answer before a situation happens are: How do we reshuffle our agenda? Can we rearrange it, so he can speak later? If he doesn’t arrive, what’s the alternative?

In the second scenario, you not only have unforgiving people, but they’re hungry too! If food or drink is involved, do you know someone else in the city who can handle catering for that number of attendees? What about some alternative choices like box lunches or take-out restaurants, such as Boston Market, that specialize in food for large groups?

A third type of contingency to be prepared for is called ‘ad hoc.’ These are things that seem to happen ‘at will.’ Examples are: microphones that don’t work or projector bulbs that burn out during an event. The key to handling these types of issues can be as simple as knowing where local suppliers are and how to get the right part before a problem occurs.

EOJ: As a project management professional, what types of things do you automatically do when you attend an event?

Copenhaver: I make sure the exit signs aren’t covered by drapes. I’ve seen this happen multiple times, and it’s really dangerous. I also ensure there’s good wheelchair access and that electrical cords are out of the way or taped down, so people won’t fall.

EOJ: Have you attended any events that went very wrong?

Copenhaver: I was at an outdoor event when the wind started to blow. Soon, we were in the middle of a storm with golf ball-sized hailstones with a tornado reported. The organizers shuffled us into a small, cabin-like building, by walking us through four inches of ice-cold water with electrical cords running through it.

EOJ: What are the lessons to be learned from this experience?

Copenhaver: In this case, it was well known rain was expected, so someone should’ve considered what danger electrical cords would pose. Since the event was held on a flat plain, they should have thought about what to do if it rained hard and where the people would go.

When you’re holding an event outside, you must consider what could happen since things can change quickly due to the weather. For instance, if it rains hard, will the parking area get muddy? If so, do you have a tow truck? Also consider the path attendees will take to get to the parking lot or shelter. And determine any potential hazards they may encounter along the way, such as the electrical cords I mentioned.

Think about everything that could go wrong and what you can do to prevent serious impact from these factors. You need a plan for bad weather or you’re not planning well. You must take a more proactive approach to mitigate — or better yet, avoid — these types of situations.

EOJ: Any final thoughts on risk factors and contingency planning?

Copenhaver: If you’re putting on an event, be paranoid. Be certain the companies and individuals you deal with are on the up and up. Ensure the participating companies and speakers show up, and know what they’re selling or doing at the event. If not, they can damage your company’s reputation.

Since your company is ultimately liable for whatever happens at your event, make sure everyone at the event is safe, and take reasonable precautions. Prioritize what to worry about and what not to worry about. Then, go over this checklist before the event, more than once if necessary. Avoid risks if you can, and mitigate them to lessen the impact. Above all, believe in Murphy’s Law — everything that can go wrong will go wrong — and you have to believe Murphy was an optimist.

James Copenhaver, Key Results Management’s project manager/business continuity, is a certified project management professional (PMP^©). He has assisted several Fortune 100 companies in developing and testing business continuity plans and has worked with smaller companies needing direction on where to begin. He is the current vice president of programs for the Atlanta Chapter of the Project Management Institute, and he is writing a book on business continuity he hopes to have published later this year.  .