Story: Ceiling falling in at hotel

TYPES OF EMERGENCIES:

NATURAL DISASTERS

• Flood, fire, tornado, earthquake
• Natural disasters — Typically the venue will handle this, but you should stay involved. If guests are displaced, how do you move them somewhere else? What are reimbursement policies?

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BUILDING DISASTERS

• Power outage, water leak, structural failure

VENDOR DISASTERS

• Vendor, food failure, drink failure, service failure, rental delivery mixup, furniture failure, table, chair, stage or equipment collapses
• Tables — use locks on tables to prevent them from being moved around
• Where there is a vehicle in a room like a semi or a truck or car —
• Story of Truck in the room
• Only one gallon of gas in a car, disconnect the battery. May require an alternative way to power lights on a car, if you want them on.

GUEST DISASTERS

• Trip and fall, health issue, heart attack, sickness, drunk guests, angry guests
• Unruly guests — drunk fights
• Story: Person getting caught having an affair in the middle of an event

9 TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR AND HANDLING EMERGENCIES

1. Planning for an emergency starts with the initial site visit. How do we mitigate damage? Ask “what if” questions like: What happens in case of bad weather, a riots or COVID-19 outbreak. Who makes announcements?
2. Alert authorities. How many people are in the building when there is a large number and bad weather is on the way.
3. Keep contact information for guests somewhere off-site.
4. Keep mental notes of what to do.
5. Where is the risk? How do I mitigate it?
6. Someone doesn’t show up — have a backup
7. Someone gets sick or has a heart attack — identify medical personnel at the event
8. Someone who doesn’t belong shows up — where is security?
9. Who is in charge if something happens? Who contacts 911?
10. If you run out of food, how do you communicate that?
11. What if a stalker shows up? What do you do? You can have them escorted out, but can’t arrest them
12. Try to divert attention away from the disaster (unless it’s a natural disaster)
13. Be part of the process, part of the solution, maintain communication with the client. Become a trusted part of the team so they are include you and you can be part of the solution.
14. Story: Hotel didn’t tell us they ran out of food, so we couldn’t help solve it
15. If high profile person, always have security. We will sometimes have undercover security at events.
16. Understand client concerns and potential threats. Be sure you identify them, get pictures, be aware, do your research.
17. Do a safety walk-through, look for hazards — like trip hazards.
18. What about canceling an event?
19. What do you have in place for communication?
20. Refund when you can
21. Be generous
22. Allow transferring to the next event, because we don’t want the disaster to transfer to the next event
23. Wedding disasters:
24. What happens if someone backs out of a wedding?
25. What advice do you give to the mother or father of the bride
26. Story: Bride showing up without their wedding dress