With many types of natural disasters you have a fair amount of warning. Some examples include a snow storm and hurricane, where your local meteorologist can predict that at least something will happen even if they don't always get it right. Knowing what the weather might be like can help you change your event plans last minute. Threat of a tornado however is not one of those things. 

A few weeks ago we were under tornado watch. We knew the day before that conditions might be good for a tornado. However, these things don't often come to fruition. We might sit in tornado warning all day and never get to a tornado watch. It's important to note the difference. Tornado watch is when there are favorable conditions for a tornado. Tornado warning means that severe weather is imminent and you should take shelter immediately. 

We did go from a tornado watch to a warning and the sirens on campus alerted us, as did our phones. So what do you do with your event participants?  

• Have a plan
  • Talk with your venue about what to do and where to go
• Train your employees or volunteers
• Stop all activity
• Seek shelter
  • On the ground floor or basement of your location
  • A place that is not near any windows
• Follow the direction of your venue or security officers
• Wait for updates

During our tornado warning I was in a building and our safety officers from each floor instructed us to go to the basement immediately. They were matter-of-fact and that made it easy to know what to do. 

I have to say that weather can be frustrating when you're in the middle of an event. For example, I was trying to catch a bus home, but decided that my safety was more important than risking my life to walk to the bus. I made the right choice even though I wanted so badly to be on my way home. The rain coming in sideways also helped me make my decision.

The message here, is be prepared, have a plan, and communicate it properly. All-in-all safety of our employees and participants in our classes was ensured, so kudos to those that helped take the extra precautions.