Hurricane Irma has finally dissipated leaving mass destruction in its path. My heart goes out to Florida as they work on recovering. As an event professional you hope you never have to deal with rescheduling an event because of weather or some other act of God especially ones that leave so many without power, injured, or otherwise unsafe. Yet, sometimes you brace yourself for the worst. Two weeks ago we were watching Irma closely trying to figure out which way she was going to turn. So what do you consider and how to you plan in the face of a natural disaster?
Considerations
Safety
At the top of our list was the safety of our participants and speakers. This particular event involved people traveling from both ends of the state and everywhere in between to attend this conference. Trying to understand how the hurricane was going to affect travel was by far the biggest consideration for us.
Hotel Contract
When working with a hotel and within the contract terms you have agreed to there is a VERY narrow Act of God clause to be able to reschedule or cancel a program without penalty. In general, hotels are willing to work with you on rescheduling programs within reason. However, the closer you get to a program the less wiggle room there becomes. Thus, trying to enact the Act of God clause appropriately. Be sure to understand your hotel contract and reach out to the hotel to try and make the best decision possible for your event keeping in mind both the safety of the participants and the financial burden.
The State of the State
What I mean here is paying close attention to what the government is doing. More specifically, has the Governor issued a state of emergency for any or all portions of the state? If so, this makes the Act of God clause very easy to use. In this case, the Governor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday evening before the storm was scheduled to hit North Carolina the following Monday and Tuesday. In speaking with our hotel they indicated that they would be sensitive to both their situation and the situation of our participants, which was a good place to be in.
Plan of Action
Communication
This is the number one thing to stress when it comes to emergency management. Consistent messaging
- Is your hotel on board with rescheduling?
- How will you communicate with your participants, speakers, or clients?
- What will your message be?
- Are there people your clients need to communicate with?
- When should your message go out and how often?
In our case, we sent emails to our participants and included a read receipt to verify that they actually received it. We posted it on our website, put it in our out of office messages, and on our Blackboard page. We communicated our message to our clients and they posted it through their communication channels. At the end of the day, no one showed up for the training, so this was a success.
Rescheduling
Of course, once a program is cancelled everyone wants to know when it will be rescheduled. Lucky for me, everyone involved understood the urgency in getting things rescheduled. That is everyone from the hotel, to the clients, to the participants, to the contract reviewers, to the contract signors, and I had a new date for the end of the month within 48 hours after cancelling, which took everyone to help make that happen. I've never seen anything quite that impressive.
Accommodating and Refunding
Given that you are moving the date of a program there is a strong possibility that at least 5% of the people or more are not going to be able to make it. Be sure that you have a plan for issuing refunds for the program if that's possible or accommodating them with an alternative in some other way to complete the program.
Conclusion
It's never ideal when weather gets in the way of your plans. You also can't look back and wish you made a different call. When I made the call to reschedule less than 5 days before the program I had no idea that Hurricane Irma planned to almost completely miss North Carolina altogether. Weather is unpredictable, but I'm happy to say that I kept everyone safe in the process, and that is a win.