Thursday, March 4, 2010

Turning that frown upside down!

I have to admit when the cauldron arm didn't raise up during the 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies, I said out loud, "Oh my goodness, an event planner's worst nightmare!".

When we plan events, we can have all sorts of glitches. It can rain during an outdoor wedding, lightening can strike, vehicles can break down, and participants can run late or even not show up! If you can't handle the possibility that something could happen, you shouldn't be an event planner.

The important word here is "planner". An event planner plans for these mishaps....actually, they plan for the potential for the mishap. We risk assess each and every event and believe me, we play the game, "what is the worst that could happen" and then we develop a strategy. We look at the level of risk (high, medium, low risk) and we look at the impact (high, medium, low impact). Those risks which are low risk, low impact, don't cause event planners many sleepless nights BUT those risks which are low risk, HIGH impact do cause sleepless nights. These are the ones where we say, "There isn't much chance that it could happen, BUT if it did, it would be a catastrophe". We have to think about these and plan appropriately.








Which brings me to the 2010 Olympic Closing Ceremony. That savvy, experienced event producer/planner took that opening ceremony glitch and turned it into something to smile about. He took another kick at the proverbial can and left us with something to laugh about

Now that's an event planner!

J

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