Episode Details

Every event planner has a Plan B. But what happens when Plan B is not enough?
In this episode of Event Planner Confessions, Cara Pratt, Ashley Currin, and Sam Monroe share the behind-the-scenes contingency stories their attendees never saw.
One indoor event was disrupted when a storm contributed to a generator failure and an electrical fire at the host hotel. Another required 500 attendees to be rerouted through a hotel gift shop after protesters blocked the primary transportation area. The team also revisits an island downpour, a limousine staging challenge, an 8,000-person block party, and a Hawaii experience that had to be completely repositioned because of rain.
The conversation reveals why a contingency plan is only useful when the people, vendors, routes, layouts, and decision process behind it are ready to move.
In this episode, you will learn:

• Why an indoor event may still require a separate backup venue
• How to make event investments transferable across multiple plans
• Why alternate floor plans should be completed before the disruption
• How to identify the people authorized to change the plan
• Why decision deadlines should be placed directly on the production schedule
• How transportation and attendee flow can become contingency issues
• How to preserve the intended experience even when the original format changes

The strongest Plan C does not call attention to the disruption. It protects the experience so well that attendees never know how much changed behind the scenes.