Crisis Event Management – Tips to reschedule or postpone event Event planning takes months and months of hard work. You plan everything to the T in order to make sure that the execution is flawless. However, even with all the preparations and contingency planning, you might have to cancel more than an event or two in your life.You must have get one of the mobile event app for proper event plan execution. The reason can be anything, from a power cut to heavy rainfall. These unforeseen circumstances adversely affect events and are beyond anybody’s control. Therefore, proper Crisis Event Management is must. In 2020, one such instance is the pandemic COVID-19. You can try a go fully digital for your events if you want but it is not feasible for all events. Because of COVID-19, there’s an 80% chance that you are planning on cancelling or postponing your event. To help you and other event management companies handle crisis management like a pro, we have compiled a list of all the key points you need to keep in mind while successful event planning. What is Crisis Management and how is it important while planning an event? Crisis management: To tackle any major event that can threaten the organisation, a process needs to be followed. Crisis management involves dealing with these issues before, during and after they have occurred. Effective crisis management is an integral part of any event and it can include but is not limited to, event cancellation due to natural and man-made disasters, speakers not showing up, attendees or venue cancellation, strikes etc. TYPES OF CRISES It is really important to identify the type of issue during the crisis management process. This list of potential crises is huge, but can be categorised as follows: Natural Disasters Technological errors Confrontation/Rumors Organizational Misdeeds/Strikes/ Workplace Violence A man-made disaster like terrorist attacks/riots As an organiser, you always need to have a plan B if you have to cancel an event. Your fallback plan should be detail-oriented and efficient to ensure business safety. How to handle event cancellation like a Pro? 1. Stop selling tickets and refund! Life safety is a priority and you need to take immediate action to cancel the event. In case there is any warning pertaining to a possible crisis situation before, during or after your event, cancel the event without wasting any time. Stop all the operations, stop selling tickets online or otherwise and halt all marketing campaigns in one go. Event cancellation is the best strategy when life is at risk. Now the next step is to refund your attendees. Address their concern and refund as soon as you can. Be specific about the terms and conditions. For online registrations and tickets via conference apps, make sure you add terms and conditions in case of any cuts while refunding. 2. Communication is the key You need to make sure that you communicate with your attendees, partners and vendors to help them understand the situation. Strategise and develop an effective communication plan to ensure everyone is aware of what is happening. Make sure your team is aware of the next plan of action in case of emergencies. In order to avoid any rumours, email to your attendees, sponsors and everyone affected. Emails are a good way to reach out, however, make sure you notify everyone on multiple channels. Be as open and transparent as possible while explaining the situation via in-app pop-ups or push notifications using your event management app. 3. Social media to the rescue Make sure you post the update on your social media channels and forums. Keep a track of any and all discussion surrounding your event on your channels or posts with any associated hashtags. Push out your cancellation message to everyone responding or anyone who thinks the event is happening. You can redirect them to your event organizer app or social media pages for more information. Do not forget the media, like Radio, Tvs or newspapers. If you can then try to make sure that you keep them updated. It will directly impact your brand reputation. 4. Event Insurance: HIGH-RISK EVENTS OR LARGE EVENTS. Brand reputations are far more precious than money and once you have that under control, make sure you take care of the monetary side. Ensuring the event can take care of the risk of money loss. If you do not have an assured plan yet, get one. Before you go ahead with it, make sure your insurance covers all your needs or get the ones that can be tailored according to your requirements. 5. Contingency Plans with cool heads Small setbacks can become more serious anytime, and stopping that from happening is what crisis management is all about. Event planners need to make a checklist to inspect the little details while finalising the venue. Grupio, the best event apps, can help you streamline these tasks. You can assign tasks to teams, keep a track of all the developments and updates real-time. If anything is not going according to the plan you can take an advance look at it to keep things in line. Event planners need to remain calm in the time of crisis. Managers have a team to lead with members that look up to them. They need to handle the situation at hand without panic or hysteria. CONCLUSION An unmanaged crisis can wipe off months of hard work for the event planners and decades of the reputation of a company. Event management app companies need to make sure that all the management staff is well trained and equipped to handle any unforeseen issues that may occur. If you are an event planner and feel like you need help, do not hesitate to reach out to experts. Seek advice from lawyers, employees, and the finance team. You can even get feedback from customers to help you ideate and manage the situation effectively with valuable insight in case a crisis strikes your event. COVID-19 has got our country in lockdown. So cancellation and postponing an event is mandatory now. As mentioned above, communication can help diminish negative reviews and at the same time maintain your brand reputation and integrity.