Meeting professionals need to gather and collect detailed information about critical assets before their events. During an incident it is too late to both determine and protect all peoples and properties. What are the steps that a meeting or event planner should undertake to put critical assets and plans in place for their event? Here are some brief tips to get you started in the planning process.
Develop a Comprehensive Profile
The key step is to develop a comprehensive profile that includes detailed lists of all onsite assets such as staff and attendees, major equipment, cash, data and information—anything of value that needs defense should some element negatively impact your meeting or event.
You will also want to describe and note the locations of these critical assets. Use detailed maps or blueprints (on each level) that show your venue and facilities and showcase routes of ingress and egress (in and out), the precise location of communication equipment, parking areas, transportation ports and traffic flow as well as areas surrounding the venue.
Get Legal and Insurance Advice
Based on your collection of critical assets and your risk assessment, you can and should obtain legal and insurance advice, including the following.
- Liability for acts or omissions
- Liability for injuries to staff or attendees
- Liability toward financial costs associated with your response to incidents
- Liability for the effects or impacts of an incident(s)
To reduce legal liability for these, you will want to obtain necessary insurance coverage, and this is applicable to events of all sizes, and your legal counsel or insurance provider can provide you with advice concerning the appropriate amount of coverage.
Conclusion
During a crisis it is too late to gather profile information and specific blueprints and diagrams to develop a plan for something that was not previously considered or evaluated. Catalog and correlate your plans and ensure your team is notified of any changes or modifications to this information, so all documents stay current. Your team’s leaders or their designees should have a working knowledge of their areas of responsibility, as well.
