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Lesson Learned


• When Murphy’s Law strikes • Learn from other planners • Keep it all in perspective


by Shawna Suckow, CMP W


hat’s the worst thing that’s ever gone wrong at one of your events? It’s just a matter of time before Murphy’s Law strikes us all, so if you haven’t experi-


enced anything terrible yet, your time will come. I’m not trying to be a Negative Nellie, but over a long career it’s almost inevi- table that you’ll face all kinds of challenges.


When I was a younger planner I learned several things the


hard way, like don’t ever ship your meeting binder or your name badges. There were other lessons I never could have imagined, like what to do when power goes out for a full day of your meet- ing… in New Orleans… in June. Here’s a tip: be sure to blow out all the kerosene flames keeping your luncheon warm; with- out ventilation, it creates an awful smell and a lot of smoke! I never could have anticipated the time a rigger climbed up into the ceiling of my general session room and accidentally tripped the water sprinklers. I had 1,700 people arriving within 20 hours. To make matters worse, the water smelled like things too terrible to mention here. Would you believe that was the second time I’ve dealt with “rain” in a ballroom?


My point is, no matter how well versed you are in risk man- agement procedures or how long you’ve been in the industry, there’s always something you can’t anticipate. I always tell my onsite staff that one major challenge will inevitably happen with our plans, which I call “sacrificing one thing to the meeting gods.” After that, everything generally will go smoothly. That’s been my theory for a long time, anyway! It doesn’t mean we wait for something to go wrong, but when it


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does we roll with it, overcome it as best we can and move on. We also add that challenge to the ongoing list of things we’ll be better prepared for, if it ever happens again (like rain in your ballroom, for example!).


I’ll let you in on a secret: the best way to prepare for all the crazy things that can happen at your meetings is to get to know what other planners have gone through. It’s better to learn the easy way from another planner’s bad experience than to learn the hard way on your own. I’ve been asking many fellow planners lately, ‘What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you at one of your events?’ The responses have been pretty shocking. Murphy’s Law cer- tainly can waylay the best-laid plans of just about any meeting or event. ◆ There’s the seasoned planner who last year dealt with Le- gionnaires’ disease at his convention - a disease I didn’t even realize was still a threat.


◆ Power outages galore are a common occurrence, along with internet outages.


◆ Speakers no-showing are more common than you might think.


◆ Having to relocate an entire meeting on short notice (even on arrival day!) due to natural disasters, hotel closures, book- ing errors and more are incredible challenges to many plan- ners.


◆ Shipment snafus abound: from important items held-up in customs, to name badges and give-aways that never arrive, to onsite theft. I’ve experienced all three.


◆ Deaths and other sad occurrences at events can impact us all. MIDWEST MEETINGS WINTER 2014


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