Event Management Tips: Planning for and Managing an Incident or Emergency On-Site During an Event

In my last tip I outlined the importance of having a back-up plan when organising an event. In that post I reviewed the natural occurrences that can disrupt an event, such as adverse weather, and man-made concerns like bomb threats or terrorist activity.

In this blog I am going to discuss why it is important for Event Managers to plan for a major incident or emergency, especially in these days of terrorist attacks. It is the event manager’s responsibility to make sure all visitors and workers are not exposed to health and safety risks. This includes during the event and during the setup and takedown of the event for those who have access at those times.

The level of planning for an emergency will be dependent on the size and scale of the event as well as other factors including the degree of risk, the audience, the location of the event and its duration. A safety plan should be created that references all these aspects.

It is important to communicate all your plans with your employees and the events team during the planning. The plan should designate who is responsible for the various aspects of safety if an incident arises, as well as the communication paths and decision-making structure.

Good communication and liaison is important in order to share how risks will be controlled with the venue, management, emergency services and suppliers. It is also needed to communicate your prepared safety plan effectively.
This link gives an example of a guidance note for event organisers when producing an event emergency plan.

Planning for incidents and emergencies at an event

Planning for Event Staff:

• Create an event handbook
• Know your location – understand the threats
• Check venue security provisions are in place
• Instigate a direct line of reporting in an emergency
• Make sure all staff have emergency phone numbers for both event staff, venue and emergency services stored in their mobile phone contacts
• Make sure staff know the emergency exits and first aid points
• Confirm staff next of kin and passport details are up to date
• Carry some cash at all times as this may be needed in an emergency
• Download CitizenAid app on mobile phone
• Risk Assessment: Consider the key risks, both for staff and delegates, include contingency plans to deal with situations of limited impact as well as responses to more serious emergencies
• Produce and share emergency procedures with your staff, as well as incorporating the venue’s emergency procedures. Ensure that all relevant staff members understand what they should do in the event of an emergency, no matter what their normal working role is, including raising the alarm. Identify to them the location of exits and emergency equipment. They should know from whom they should receive instructions etc.
• Have a pre-event briefing with all staff, show the National Counter-terrorism office video Run Hide and Tell
• Pre-event make sure you charge phones and battery packs
• Have radios on back-up in case the network goes down
• Be mindful of local staff who may be affected as the incident is occurring in their local area or city

The Emergency Plan

 

This should cover the following depending on the size and location of the event:

• Mobilising onsite resources to attend and tackle the incident
• Removing people from immediate danger
• The management of any casualties including providing medical assistance
• Raising the alarm and informing the public and telling staff what they need to do. It is worth having a code that you only use to tell staff there is an incident
• Alerting and assisting emergency services
• Incident control
• Traffic management, including emergency vehicles
• Controlling crowds and attendees including evacuation if safe to do so. If the incident is terrorist related you may need to instigate lock-down – follow instructions from the emergency services
• Evacuation of disabled people and other vulnerable classes of people including children who may become separated from their parents. Plan for additional assistance requirements
• Handing over to the emergency services where applicable
  Dealing with displaced and non-injured attendees; if in lock-down provide refreshments
• Protecting property
• Ensure that the plan is flexible to cope with changes in events
• The plan for emergency situations should set out the overall framework for the initiation, management, co-ordination and control of personnel and assets in an emergency onsite

Emergency Procedures

• Check all escape routes are available, well lit, unlocked and unobstructed
• Appoint people to be responsible for implementing the emergency procedures in the event of an incident or emergency
• Ensure that a clear management structure is place, identifying the key decision makers
• Discuss plans with the police, fire and rescue service, the ambulance service, emergency planning and, for fixed premises such as stadiums and arenas, the venue management
• Agree with the emergency services on issues such as access routes to the site, the use of any grid-referenced maps, rendezvous points, and transfer of authority for a major incident from the event organiser to the emergency services
• Stopping the show/conference: Identify key people and initiate a show-stop procedure, communicate with presenters and attendees; have an agreed public announcement for this.
• Evacuation – Remain calm and encourage attendees to keep calm. Work as a team. If evacuation is required direct people towards emergency exits
• Lock-down: After stopping the conference or show direct people to a safe area within the building; explain to attendees why it is not safe to leave. Provide refreshments if required. Keep in contact with the police and emergency services regarding the situation
• Review after the incident. If incident impact has been limited you may be able to start the show or event again. Only restart after consultation with emergency services. Make sure staff and services are ready and in position for the restart
  After an Incident
• If evacuation proves necessary, make sure delegates are assembled in the correct holding area, check everyone is alright. Listen to emergency services for information about when to release attendees
• If in lock down make sure attendees have refreshments, if in a hotel check whether bedrooms are available, work with the venue or hotel operations management
• Only allow people to leave when instructed to do so by the emergency services
• Assist delegates if they require accommodation, transportation, flights etc…
• Have a debrief afterwards with events staff as well as venue see what went well and what can be improved upon.
• Review incident and emergency plans for future events

Find out more
B2B Event Management Logistics Tips – Risk Assessment, Health and Safety, insurance and contingency planning

Health and Safety Executive and Excellent Government website on event safety and emergency procedures

Managing an event

Incidents and Emergencies

Corporate reasons for having a conference

There can be many business reasons why a company should consider having a conference, and events are an important part of the marketing mix.  Listed below are some marketing reasons for holding a conference or seminar that a company or organisation may use to promote.

Reasons for a conference could be:

• A medium for passing on information, specifically for new products and services
• Internal communication to employees regarding internal information, such as training, boosting morale, making announcements, launch a new culture
• Used by associations to network and educate their members
• Yearly or quarterly way to communicate with their sales force, partners or distributors
• A forum for discussing world issues or topical subjects

An example of benefits for the business client to attend a software companies conference or seminar

• Excellent communication forum for the end user, ability to meet senior managers from the corporation,  to get advise, discuss business propositions, get answers straight from the software engineers, product developers
• Ability to fast track communications to the highest level
• Good for the client to feel that they are having an impact on the future direction of the company and its products in relation to their requirements
• Excellent for networking and meeting other users and hearing their business experiences, share ideas, solutions to problems
• Good for education and increasing knowledge of the products and business environment
• The event enables the attendee to build up a picture of the quality of the company products or services

Benefits from the Companies perspective

• One of the marketing vehicles for increasing regular communications with both current, new and potential customer
• A platform enabling the company to know the client better and understand their business needs for the portfolio of products and services that they are developing
• Make the customer feel that they are being listened to and giving the company first hand research into the future product direction
• Excellent PR opportunity to made customer feel important and build on loyalty and customer relationship by sponsoring a drinks reception and dinner
• Good opportunity to get the TPV/Resellers involved promoting the companies products and making them more involved with the clients, as well as strengthening the business alliance
• Opportunity to increase sales of products with users through workshops demonstrations
• Event feedback should be measured against the objectives to understand the bench mark for the next event.  All events should be reviewed and measured to see if it has been a good marketing vehicle for ROI, and how to improve on future events.

Exhibition Review and Follow up part 1

Completion of an Exhibition

Your exhibition at a trade show has now finished and there are certain steps you should complete before the whole project is wrapped up.

Logistics

Hopefully the stand or pop-up, all the equipment, literature and give-aways have been carefully packed and returned to office or place of storage.

• Check that all items have been returned.
• Unpack boxes where literature needs to go back on the rack or in the literature cupboard.
• Assess how many give-aways you have left and, if they will be required for your next exhibition, keep record of the number. Order replacement stocks as required.
• Check that the pop-up has been correctly stored in its box or container and note any breakages or things that need to be fixed before next show.

Sales Lead Follow-Up

The same process should be used for both paper lead forms and leads collected from a scanner in the form of data files.

• Review leads and grade each according to their urgency, for example as hot prospects or as courtesy follow-ups.
• Arrange a meeting with all sales personnel and sales management regarding the leads and allocate the leads to appropriate representative or product team.
• Follow up leads with the required action, for example send out an email or letter thanking attendees for visiting the stand or showing interest in your company, send out literature as requested, or follow up by phone to arrange a meeting etc.
• Track results.
• Remind all stand personnel to make sure that any business cards collected are input into the sales database or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system so that they are updated with relevant information.

Feedback Follow-Up and Analysis

• Send out a feedback form asking stand personnel for their feedback on specific aspects to do with the trade show that you are interested in and also ask them how they felt it went overall. Ask for any suggestions for improvement etc. Once you have the feedback forms returned analyse them for any learning points or actions required.
• Follow up with a debriefing meeting for all stand staff and sales and marketing personnel, so that they can share findings and discuss how to improve exhibit performance for the next show.
• Track the trade show organiser’s analysis of the show attendees by number and type to check whether this is a show you would like to attend again.
• Review lead contact details and analyse their job titles and profiles to check whether this is a show where the people with the appropriate job roles you want to reach are attending.

The next blog will include reviewing the original planned objects and follow up ROI

Use Your Events Budget for a Corporate Christmas Charity Event

It isn’t just the endless TV re-runs of Scrooged pricking the corporate conscience that makes Christmas the optimum time for charitable giving – although many companies actively seek out opportunities to demonstrate corporate responsibility throughout the year, Christmas really is the time which really brings out the best in businesses, and their employees.

So, as well as setting aside some funds for an employee event to celebrate the festive season, Christmas could also offer your company the chance to spend some of the events budget on the gift of giving for the wider community. What’s more, by incorporating a little corporate social responsibility into a Christmas team event, you’ll be promoting additional goodwill to your employees, something which is certainly relevant to the budget and the time of year!

Making sense of corporate social responsibility

But why is corporate social responsibility important? At its most basic, corporate social responsibility involves the conducting of business in an ethical way which recognises the impact of the business (activities, production, location etc) at social, economical and environmental levels, and locally, nationally or even internationally.

As such, it is something which is not only important but highly relevant to all businesses, big or small. Demonstrating sound practices in corporate social responsibility openly and transparently – including sharing it with both staff and customers – goes a long way towards building a sound business reputation and trust in the company or brand.

Of course, corporate social responsibility within the business itself can take many forms, for example: such as through Fair Trading, ethical sourcing of components or carbon-neutral manufacturing, but many businesses fall short of demonstrating recognition of their social responsibility, particularly within the local community. Supporting a local charity as part of a corporate event is another way to share the responsibility and allow both employees (and possibly clients) to be involved in the company’s local area and some of the ‘greater good’ that the company is doing.

Best benefits?

The purpose of charitable acts is of course to support a cause, whether this is through raising funds for, or raising awareness of, the cause itself. However, when supporting a charity at a business level, there are plenty of additional benefits to all of those involved:

• Team building: Nothing brings even the most disparate of teams together like a charity event and including work teams into a Christmas event offers a real chance for teams to bond as individuals, explore their own strengths and weaknesses on an ‘alternative’ task and is a great exercise in working together for a common goal which actually supports someone else.
• Publicity and PR: Being involved with the charity sector is excellent for public relations and demonstrates dedication to local community, regional, national and international issues or concerns. Any publicity and marketing for the event also particularly benefits charities by raising public awareness of their existence, the work they do and the support that they offer. This is often of most benefit to small charities which cannot afford to pay for publicity themselves.
• Employee retention: Loyalty, value and worth are all qualities which employees need to feel from the management, in order to pride themselves on their role in the company and the work they undertake. Offering employees the chance to demonstrate their worth by getting involved in something fun and giving (on work’s time) is a great way to bring staff together and help them to recognise how much the company values the work they do, in the context of valuing and supporting a charity or good cause. The goodwill generated from this kind of event can increase employee satisfaction and the potential for employees to stay with the company in the longer term.
• Communication: Working together on a group task, and in support of a charity, is a great way to break down communication barriers and enhance specific skills, such as participation, instruction giving and following. For teams which mostly work virtually, physically working together can establish an additional communication bond and allow participants the opportunity to experience new ways of working and a greater understanding of each other’s’ skills and strengths.

• Another goal, another role: One of the key things about plopping the team into a completely different activity with an alternative, neutral goal in mind (ie: the charity or the event task rather than the business) is that everyone gets the chance to take on a different role. Those who would normally lead the team can contribute to the performance from within the team, whilst another person can take a role in organisation and delegation of tasks. This is training at its most alternative and fun, which also offers plenty of scope for follow-up in appraisal.

Of course, it’s all very well seeing what can be achieved from demonstrating a bit of corporate social responsibility at Christmas, but what kind of events could your company put on to help achieve this?

Santa fun run

Paying for employees to take part in a charity Santa run (including the fees and the paid time off to participate) can be great for morale, as well as fitness. Supporting staff with a training schedule and even group sessions from a personal trainer can demonstrate your investment in their success (and health) and can also help to revive stalling production and employee motivation, as well as raise cash for charity.

Christmas Bake-Off

Hosting a Christmas bake-off is a great way to get teams working together creatively and in one of the most trending ways currently. Bakers from all levels of business are mixed together to face the same challenges as the candidates from the popular BBC show, including Masterclass and technical tasks. As well as the fun of participation and treat-based production, sessions end with the bakers choosing to sell off the baked goodies, donate them to a local charity or ensure they are well received as birthday cakes for a needy family, as organised by Free Cakes UK.

Christmas build-a-bike

Team building and charitable giving combine with the challenge of putting together high quality bikes, which can then be donated to the team or company’s chosen charity. The team don’t need to be engineers, just willing and up for the challenge of acquiring the parts and materials before all working together to build a bike for charity. For additional fun, competing teams can be pitched against each other to finish first and then pass-on the know-how to other teams before everyone passes on the bikes to the chosen recipients.

Charity Treasure Hunting

There isn’t much which is more festive than London’s Christmas lights and Team Tactics offers the opportunity to complete this challenge against the seasonal sights of London’s city scenery. Charity treasure hunts involve a style modelled on the frantic searches of The Apprentice, with plenty of chances for teams to hone skills and share a great day out, all whilst raising funds for charity.

Whatever your corporate Christmas calendar holds, extending the events budget to include something completely different like a charity event can be a great way to demonstrate your social awareness and thank your teams – and local charities – for all their hard work throughout the year.

Guest Blog from Team Tactics Ltd