No matter how hard you work as an event planner, there is always something that will go wrong. Nothing is ever going to work out perfectly, which is unfortunate, but it’s easier to prepare yourself for the worst when you accept that it’s going to happen sometimes. You will learn more as you keep working in the industry about how to plan for and avoid last minute problems and disasters. What you really need to prepare most for, however, is event damage control. When things go wrong, how do you make sure you’re ready to take charge and take the initiative in responding?

Planning Is Key

Careful planning for your event is essential from the beginning of the set-up process to the very end of the event. Obviously, you have to be prepared for the event as well. No step of the process should be ambiguous or simply assumed. The more detail you put into your plan at the front end the better off you’ll be. Nothing ever goes exactly as you planned it, but that doesn’t mean your plan shouldn’t go as far into the nuts and bolts as possible. From planning to production, you should have a comprehensive production schedule for every last piece. That gives you the infrastructure to check and verify every last piece as well. It sets you up to be prepared for changes and missteps, too. That’s how you prepare yourself for effective event crisis management.

Be Proactive

While you’re planning your event production from the ground up, you can also avoid a lot of headaches later on by doing some creative, proactive thinking. Some event damage control can be put together ahead of time simply by anticipating the crisis and acting to minimize its potential consequences. Plan for the worst and consider your back-up. The biggest event planning failure would be to not properly plan for every possibility. You should build redundancy into every step of your event. Always have a contingency plan for inclement weather or other last minute problems. Go to the venue in the days beforehand just to check over things and see if you can catch any last-minute mess-ups. Figure out what you’ll do if the entertainment simply doesn’t show up on the day of the event. You should always personally be thinking far ahead of the schedule your event is running on. When you’re planning an international event you need to be even farther ahead.

Be Honest and Transparent

If you’ve put in all the work possible beforehand, the things that do go wrong during your event should be relatively easy to handle. But even when you’ve planned for it, event crisis management can be stressful. There are always other potential disasters you won’t be able to predict. The most important thing to remember at these times is to stay calm and be as honest and transparent as possible. Explain the problem to your client and explain what you’re doing to resolve it. Whether the food is late and cold or the sound system stops working, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Instead of assigning blame, you need to be taking responsibility and acting to move the event forward, no matter what went wrong. The show must go on. Read more from Sullivan Group to learn tips that will take your event to the next level! Learn more about Sullivan Group here!