When it comes to event planning and any form of project management really, being overly optimistic can be quite a risky move! Perhaps life in general is much better when viewed through a positive lens but could being too hopeful of how a project will turn out mean you miss the opportunity to foresee a potential problem and solve it in advance?
Let’s also be realistic; there are so many unpredictable situations that can crop up during events. It’s impossible to foresee all of them. Imagine the potential to even foresee ten percent of those…how much time and money might that save? How much stress would that save? And how much better would you look to your audience if the event had so few hiccups it appeared absolutely seamless to the outside world?
If you’re generally an optimistic person, then this may be a less than easy task but fear not. It is possible to switch for these purposes and put on a pessimistic hat for a different perspective.
How do you do this in practice and what benefits could you gain in doing so?
The Hat of Pessimism
The easiest way to achieve a pessimistic view of a situation, especially when you’re usually quite the optimist, is to look at each aspect and think of what could go wrong here. Let’s call it the ‘what would happen if…?’ exercise. What would happen if you ordered plastic name badges and received paper ones instead? What would happen if one your keynote speakers was unable to make it due to an emergency? What would happen if there was a storm forecast and your event is outside?
You get the idea; keep covering all of the areas related to your event. You might find it easier to visualise the event from beginning to end to help you walk through it.
Assessing Risk
Now you have a long list of potential problems; you might initially be feeling quite stressed and daunted! However, don’t worry. You’re going to solve the problems ahead of time very soon and you’ll be able to get back into your positive mindset!
But first, go through your list of problems or ‘risks’ and assess each one. With each risk, you need to determine firstly how likely it is for the risk to occur. Secondly, if it were to occur, what would the impact be of said risk?
Then, using a risk matrix, allocate the level of risk to each.
Solutions Focused
You should now have a handful of high risks, a few medium, some low and hopefully none that are serious!
With a ‘solutions’ hat on, work your way through the highest level of risk first, looking at each potential risk and considering what measures you could put in place to either avoid the risk altogether or significantly mitigate it.
For example, to mitigate the risk of your keynote speaker being unable to attend due to an emergency, it might be a good idea to have a backup you can call on. To completely avoid a risk, such as a storm affecting an outdoor event, consider an inside venue instead.
Furthermore, it might be that there are certain procedures or information you need to gather ahead of time to make it easier to manage the risk at the time.
Ideally, each solution should significantly reduce the risk so that most are now classed as low-risk. However, ensuring you have a strong and effective team will provide further strength to reduce event risk and address any situations you haven’t identified.
