How do you assess and mitigate the risks of different types of event contingencies?

1 Step 1: Define your objectives and success criteria

Before you start planning for contingencies, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your event and how you will measure its success. For example, you might have objectives such as generating leads, increasing brand awareness, or educating customers. Your success criteria could be based on metrics such as attendance, engagement, feedback, or sales. Having these defined will help you prioritize your actions and resources in case of a contingency.

2 Step 2: Identify the possible contingencies and their impact

The next step is to brainstorm all the possible scenarios that could disrupt or cancel your event. These could include technical issues, weather conditions, health and safety concerns, speaker cancellations, or low attendance. For each scenario, you should assess its likelihood and impact on your objectives and success criteria. You can use a risk matrix to rank the contingencies from high to low priority.

3 Step 3: Develop mitigation and response strategies

Once you have identified the contingencies, you need to come up with ways to prevent or minimize their occurrence and how to respond if they happen. For example, you could have backup equipment, alternative venues, or speakers ready in case of technical failures, bad weather, or no-shows. You should also have a communication plan to inform your attendees, sponsors, and partners about any changes or cancellations. Your strategies should be aligned with your objectives and success criteria and fit within your budget and timeline.

6 Step 6: Monitor and adjust during the event

Finally, during your event, you should monitor the situation and be ready to activate your contingency plan if needed. You should also communicate with your team and attendees regularly and keep them informed of any updates or issues. You should also be flexible and adaptable to deal with any unexpected challenges or opportunities that may arise. After your event, you should review your plan and performance and document any lessons learned or best practices for future events.