A shaken up plan...

In light of the east coast shake up this week, it warrants a discussion of the importance of emergency planning. One thing learned in the Washington, DC region is that it's been 10 years since the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the communications network hasn't much improved. However, we're glad everyone is safe post quake, as we too found ourselves running for the doorways here in our Bethesda, Maryland offices (thanks to one of our staff members who is a California native earthquake veteran!). But what happens when you don't have someone from California in your meetings or events? What is your plan for an emergency as such? Some things to consider:

• When conducting site selection to host a meeting or event, discuss with your venue staff what their procedures are for emergencies. Often, they may not be able to discuss details with you for security reasons, but they can at least identify who is the point of contact and how attendees will be notified of any imminent threats. They should also note where attendees should go in case of a building evacuation (for example, across the street where you will do a head count, etc.).
• Always make note of the emergency exits/fire extinguishers and announce them to your attendees at the start of the meeting.
• During the registration process, ask attendees for an emergency contact in case they are not able to communicate for themselves.
• Learn about the types of emergencies in the area where your event is located. While earthquakes are not entirely common to the East Coast; they are standard for living out west. In those instances, consider including some literature with attendee information noting this aspect and what to do in case of an occurrence.
• Identify who's in charge. This goes back to discussions with your venue. Identify who will be the person alerting attendees to an emergency and how. For instance, is there a public announcement system, will the fire alarms go off, will there be a special channel on the walkie-talkies used by event staff to communicate? These type of procedures will be critical to lessening the confusion, concern, and in some instances, immediate chaos that often accompanies events as such.

While no one strategy will meet the needs of every meeting, there should at least be ongoing discussions with the venue, and sessions with your own team to identify everything that can possibly go wrong, and how to manage it. So next time we feel the earth, move under our feet, we'll at least be in a position to act and plan accordingly.