It’s not a topic that most event organizers want to talk about, yet it should be.
Event security isn’t just about protecting attendee data (although that’s important) – it’s also critical for the event itself. Organizers spend months preparing for and marketing their events, yet spend little (if any) time planning for what could happen. And we’re not just talking terrorism, although that remains a danger lurking in the shadows. There’s also the threat of medical emergencies or health crises.
While it’s likely your event will take place crisis-free, why run the risk of being unprepared? Sporting events have learned to prepare for the worst-possible scenario. Why haven’t trade show and event organizers followed suit?
Next month, Event Marketer and Chief Marketer magazines will team up to present a free online conference, Event Marketing Safety & Security 2018. In this one-day summit, experts will cover how to create strategies to protect your event, prepare contingency plans for a variety of incident types, manage communications with attendees and local authorities, plus more.
I challenge you to register for this free conference and make security a priority for 2018. And no, there’s no incentive for me to promote this. (The organizers didn’t even ask me to do so.) My motivation is that I don’t ever want to see news outlets covering a catastrophic incident that took place at a trade show or conference. We may not always be able to avoid the unthinkable, but by investing time up front we can all be better prepared to handle it.
Note: This isn’t the first time event safety and security has been the focus of a post on Trade Show Insights. For more perspective, check out these previous posts:
