Plan Means BEFORE! This is one of my favorite quotes. Risk and crisis/emergency management is all about pre-planning - including identifying potential risks to your meeting or event and coming up with a written plan on how to manage it if it occurs. You can't plan on when an emergency or crisis might occur, but you can plan and manage the reaction to it. Absolutely nothing trumps the importance of emergency management in a planner's responsibilities. Lives are at stake.

First, a few definitions:

• Risk - potential exposure to loss or adverse effect on meeting
• Emergency - unexpected actual situations that may cause injury, loss of life, destruction of property, or disruption of normal activities to the extent that it poses a threat
• Crisis - critical event that, if not handled properly, could dramatically impact an organization's profitability, reputation, or ability to operate
• Disaster - sudden, unplanned, calamitous event causing great damage or loss

If it doesn't fit one of the above definitions, it's merely an inconvenience (e.g., lost shipment, or a last-minute keynote speaker cancellation).

A big part of an emergency action plan already exists. It is the facility's emergency plan and security personnel, who are trained and experienced in handling all types of emergencies at the facility. Use them. In addition, the city/county/municipality emergency plans and personnel (including police, fire, ambulance, first response teams) are already in place. You don't need to recreate the wheel here; just incorporate what already exists from facilities and government entities into your plans. Specific items to include in the plan can be found on pages 675-677 in PCMA's Professional Meeting Management, Fifth Edition.

Meeting managers are responsible for the protection of those attending the meeting, and must take an active role in compiling written plans, communicating those plans to key team members and attendees, and managing a crisis if one occurs.

Your emergency action plan should outline specific procedures to follow for any emergency situation that might occur. The plan should be shared - and gone over - with all staff prior to arriving on site for the meeting. You should also schedule a walk-through with the facility's security staff, other key facility staff, and your staff after the pre-con and before any move-in or meeting activities begin. During the walk-through, be sure to identify any potential risks within the facility (e.g., injury from debris or damage), document them in writing, and obtain signatures from all parties.

Since identifying potential risks/emergencies and the likelihood of their occurrence is meeting- and location-specific, this exercise should be completed for each individual meeting. Risk assessment and analysis are the first steps in putting together your emergency action plan. Internal versus external risk assessment information can be reviewed on page 674 of PCMA's Professional Meeting Management, Fifth Edition.

Core CMP Take Away

Nothing is more important than emergency management in a planner's responsibilities. Keep in mind:

1. Use the facility's emergency plan and security personnel.

2. Incorporate the crisis plans that already exist from facilities and government entities into your own emergency management plans.

3. Take an active role in compiling written crisis plans and communicating them to key staff members and attendees.

4. Schedule a walk-through with the facility's security staff, other key facility staff, and your own team.

° Vicky A. Betzig, CMP, is president/owner of Meetings Industry Consulting and has been involved with all aspects of managing meetings, conferences, conventions, trade shows, and events for 20-plus years. She has been integrally involved in the CMP process over the past 13 years, and created PCMA's CMP Study Weekend, PCMA's CMP Instructor Training, and PCMA's Online CMP Prep courses. A nationally recognized trainer, presenter, and author on meeting management topics, she is the co-recipient of PCMA's 2004 Author of the Year Achievement Award. Reach her at vabetzig@mindspring.com.