Keep calm and carry on

Kay Miller

Kay Miller

• BS organizes up to 30 events per year

• Many events are joint

• UK and overseas

• Conferences, workshops, training days, hot topic events, careers events…

• Generally 100-150 attendees, and historically 1000+

Crisis Management

• What exactly is a crisis?

Fire? Death? Norovirus outbreak?

• Something you can’t prevent or control?

• Dictionary definition:

“a time when a difficult or important decision must be made”

Crisis Management

• Why plan and prepare?

– Anticipate - Plan for emergency situations that are likely to happen

– May help you to avoid trouble

– Will help you react appropriately

– What will delegates expect of you?

– Protect your reputation and your budget

Crisis Management

• How vulnerable are your events? What could possibly go wrong?

– Fire

– Snow

– Volcanic ash

– Terrorism

– Epidemic illness

– Food poisoning

– Speakers do not show (really a crisis?)

Crisis Management

Be prepared

Crisis Management

• Why write a crisis plan?

– do NOT attempt to ‘wing it’

– Do not assume that your team, or the venue, will know what to do

• What should a plan include?

– Operational: what do we do, who does it, when is it done?

– Communications: what do we say, who says it, how do we get the messages out?

Crisis Management

Planning for a crisis – key stages

•Pre-Crisis Planning

– All about minimizing risk

– Put in place contingency plans

– Benchmarking – how have other organizations handled crisis?

Crisis Management

Planning for a crisis – key stages

•Managing the crisis

– Identify the crisis – is it really?

– Appoint a crisis manager to coordinate. Assign authority as appropriate

– Identify the crisis management team

– What needs to be done, by who, when - the first hour is the most important

– Identify the cause of the crisis – will there be a repeat?

– Will the effects of the initial crisis escalate?

 

Crisis Management

Planning for a crisis – key stages

•Post-Crisis

– Communicate what has happened and why, this needs to be scripted (should create a standard response for all situations)

– Evaluate the effects

– Was there a clear cause?

– Repair

Crisis Management

Communication

•Richard Branson Virgin Train Crash in Cumbria

•BP CEO