The last thing that you want to happen at your event is for it to go in the wrong direction, become a total mess, and lose potential clients, resulting in bad publicity.
This is a very costly mistake and can negatively affect your business in so many areas.
All of this can be avoided if you prepare your checklist beforehand.
What we want is to build your reputation, not wreck it.
But before we get into the ways to manage all the risks for your corporate events, let us first look at the things that might jeopardize its success.
And we might just have a little bonus at the end…
While it may seem negative to consider potential problems with your event, this is actually one of the crucial things you MUST do when organizing one, to make sure that you can rise to the occasion regardless of how difficult it may be.
Get your pen and paper ready so you can jot down all the essential information you will find here…
Here are the 9 risks that can derail your event:
Bad Weather
Whoops! You’ve been so busy making sure that every detail at your venue is furnished, polished, and looking perfect that you forget to check the weather forecast.
All that effort will be in vain if your participants and guests are not going to make it because of the weather when this problem is easily solved.
It’s always best to know what the weather’s going to be, days before you start planning when and where to hold your event – whether it’s indoor or outdoor – and have a backup venue plan for an outdoor event in case the weather changes.
Equipment or power failure
A brief loss of power can cause some degree of chaos, financial strain, and even fatalities. Even a sudden microphone problem can destroy the momentum of your speech and lose or distract your guests’ attention.
This might sound idealistic, but if you can have another set of equipment or a power generator that you can use if these problems happen, it’s one less problem to worry about.
Medical emergencies/Safety risks
We hope for things to go smoothly and perfectly, but unfortunately, accidents do happen and things rarely go as planned.
Each event is unique and depending on the type and size of the venue, there may be a variety of safety risks to consider, including those related to food safety, potential fire hazards, aggressive guests, and production equipment hazards.
It’s important that you carry out a safety risk assessment plan prior to the event, so you can get things under control if something goes wrong. For example, you could require first-aid personnel to stay in the venue and prepare medical equipment if possible.
Last-minute guest cancellations
One possible nightmare scenario is when your guests who confirmed their attendance don’t show up at your event, and you end up staring at empty seats without knowing how to fill them.
This can be really frustrating, but instead of focusing on the disappointment, just anticipate that there might be a certain proportion of your guests (depending on how big your event is) who are not going to show up.
Create a backup plan or agree on some rearrangements with your catering or vendor so you can keep the venue looking great without having to stare at empty seats.
Financial risk
If the actual number of attendees isn’t as high as anticipated, this will certainly lead to a monetary setback for your company.
Not to mention the possibility that theft or damage inflicted by guests during your event might make you lose money on an event instead of bringing in revenue.
For this problem, developing mitigation strategies is the best way to go. Mitigation will help you to reduce the probability of sustaining a huge financial loss.
For example, to ensure the safety of your guests and maintain order at your event, you might want to hire more security for the occasion.
This can save you from heavier expenses, especially if someone gets hurt. That could tarnish your reputation and get your event postponed or ended abruptly.
Overstressed workers
Stress is contagious.
If your staff or employees are overworked and eventually feel drained by the process of making the event perfect, they might eventually succumb to the temptation to not show up at the actual event or…
… they might be so tired that they can’t be at their best, and provide poor service to your guests.
To avoid fatigue and too much stress for workers, try allocating a number of workers proportionate to the workload.
Crowd Management Problems
Seeing your guests wandering around the venue while you’re speaking on stage might make you distracted and frustrated. Why on earth aren’t they listening?
This is a case of poor crowd management, which is why it is important to make sure that before your guests get past that entrance door, they have clear direction as to where they should go and sit.
To ensure your guests get seated at their designated tables, hiring usherettes could do the trick. Usherettes are great at crowd control and management and make sure the guests’ needs are attended to.
Children In The Venue
If your guests bring their children, there’s a good chance that they will stay until the very end of your event.
Corporate events are simply not interesting to a child.
A minute at your event might feel like a year to them. The chances are that they will just be fussy and play around, which might lead to destroying something and distracting other guests. This will result in parents leaving your event.
Speaker Drops Out Last Minute
The speaker is one of the most important parts of your event.
If you have mentioned them in your invitation and sent it out to your guests, and then they reach out to you at the last minute saying that they won’t be there – this can cause a huge problem.
Why?
Because that speaker might be the reason your guests are attending your event!
They are probably thrilled and looking forward to witnessing your speaker share insights and wisdom, only to be disappointed by the news that it will not happen.
They will end up weighing whether they will stay at your event and see how it goes, or leave even before it starts.
When this happens, you can ask the speaker to do a video talk that you can show to your guests and maybe have an in-house backup speaker that can take over to discuss the topic the original speaker suppose to present.
What to do then??
If the list gets you nervous and your worry level is going through the roof, calm down.
These risks can be avoided by implementing a strategy and a well-laid plan when something goes wrong.
An excellent suggestion is to consider the potential effects and likelihood of those effects once you have listed as many of the potential risks as you can.
This will enable you to better organize your time and resources and give your team a solid foundation from which to start planning the risk management aspect of your event.
You have to trust and rely on the power of Risk Management.
Risk Management will help you develop contingency plans in case there are risks that can’t be eliminated completely, to save you from losing more money.
Once you have done this, you can evaluate each category and the associated, aggregated hazards to determine who or what these risks directly affect.
You can then prioritize them based on which demands more time, attention, and money over those that may not require as much (or any) action if you believe you have thoroughly explained everything and you fully comprehend the facts of each potential risk or hazard.
But wait!
It’s not over just yet…
This is our little bonus bit of information that you can’t miss if you find yourself in dire need of making your event produce a positive result.
Boring event
Who would want to attend or stay at an event that is so mind-numbing and dull that you can’t help but yawn or let out an exasperated sigh?
Yes, your audience/guests want to have a gazillion important takeaways from you and your event, but giving them something to laugh at or something that will give them goosebumps will surely not hurt.
It will make your event stuck in their minds and they will probably talk about it for the days to come.
So why don’t we do just that?
Let’s give them something good to reminisce about and make them look forward to your next event.
Here is what’s going to happen…
Amir Lustig will get to the middle of the stage and give a mind-blowing mentalism act that will surely WOW your guests.
During his YPO India Tour Amir amazed India’s top chief executives — turning corporate events into extraordinary entertainment experiences to remember.
This is something that we want you and your guests to experience.
Make the right decision!
Turn the dozy room into a sensational event experience.
Make them say “I’m so glad I was there!” when they walk out the door.
Think about the impact you want to create in your upcoming events.
Hiring Amir to perform in your event is a good start.
If you found this valuable and you’re curious about how to reach Amir,
Visit amirlustigasia.com to know more.