hour. Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read the following material:
› “Crisis Essentials,” a crisis- management handbook from Tourism Victoria, available at convn.org/crisis-essentials. › “Incident Management Checklist,” from SunGard Availability Services, available at convn.org/crisis-checklist.
To earn one hour of CEU credit, visit pcma.org/convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained in this CMP Series article and the additional material.
The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is a registered trademark of the Convention Industry Council.
Rock Out Musical group At The Drive In (at left) enjoyed ideal weather the final day of Lollapalooza.
The Beat Goes On Swedish DJ Avicii (above) played for a rambunctious audience hours after the storm.
shared general thoughts on event-based crisis management with Convene. And, in fact, the incident that Fisher’s team
investigated loomed large as C3 Presents, the production company that puts on Lollapalooza, and the OEMC prepared this year’s crisis-man- agement plan. Any kind of tragedy similar to what happened at the Indiana State Fair, Robinson said, is something that “emergency planners and cities and states that have large events will take into thought.” Fisher agreed: “Nowadays, there is much more of a focus on situational awareness regarding weather.”
WARMING UP THE CROWD C3 and the OEMC had anticipated severe weather at Lollapalooza this year, and made it a point to send out early warnings. “OEMC is always moni- toring the weather throughout the year,” Robin- son said. “And we also monitor the event activities and work closely with the National Weather Ser- vice from our operation center before and during the event.”
sent out press releases regarding safety precau- tions and shared emergency-plan details on its website, including how during Lollapalooza there would be “visible public blue and white signage installed to direct people to designated extreme weather shelters during severe weather condi- tions.” The OEMC also warned, via its website, that all attendees should be “safe and prepared while attending Lollapalooza,” and alerted Chicago drivers and residents to expect “traffic disruptions and increased crowds in the area.” Attendees also were able to sign up for free real-time traffic and weather alerts at notifychicago.org. Lollapalooza organizers also equipped Grant
Park with five on-site weather monitors to track the anticipated storms. And the OEMC and C3 had plans in place for heat-related emergencies such as heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and dehydration, equipping the venue with cooling buses and water stations — which became unnecessary once the torrential rains began on Saturday. Taking those kinds of precautions is part of what Fisher called