Create an Event Contingency Plan to Safeguard Your Success

Every successful event planner’s motto: hope for the best — and plan for the worst. Whether you’re hosting a crafts workshop or a pop-up food tasting, the best way to make sure your event runs smoothly is an in-depth contingency plan. 

This is a plan that helps you prepare for potential pitfalls and challenges on the day of (such as bad weather or technical issues) so that you and your team have clear and actionable solutions in place. 

Key takeaways

• Contingency planning is vital to ensuring all potential roadblocks are identified — with clear solutions to resolve them in place

• When creating your contingency plan, make sure to prioritize risks according to likelihood and severity

• The details of your contingency plan will vary depending on your event, but may include planning for adverse weather, tech issues and staffing shortages

The importance of contingency planning for events

Contingency planning is crucial for two key reasons: it helps you to map out potential roadblocks — and gives you a clear, actionable plan to fix them. 

In the first instance, contingency planning can be a useful way to highlight potential blockers — and even mitigate them before they happen. 

For example, if you’re planning an outdoor event, a potential problem you identify might be bad weather. By identifying this in advance, you have a valuable opportunity to circumnavigate it before it happens — either by rearranging to a warmer season, moving your event indoors, or sourcing weather protection like gazebos and tents. 

Secondly, a contingency plan is an effective way to jump-start the problem-solving process for common on-the-day issues. For instance, if you’re hosting a Q&A and a microphone malfunctions midway through the conversation, you’ll need a backup plan. 

If you have a clear roadmap for tech issues in your contingency plan (whether that’s an on-hand technician or backup microphones), this eliminates the pressure of on-your-feet thinking. It also saves time that would otherwise be spent executing a solution — so there’s no need for tech issues to interrupt guests’ experience. 

In other words, contingency planning functions as an effective problem-solving toolkit for your team — so everybody has a clear plan of action to take in the face of last-minute issues. Proactively mapping out and predicting potential issues ahead of time is a great way to eliminate on-the-day mishaps and, most importantly, create an enjoyable attendee experience. 

Key elements of an effective event contingency plan

To get started, you’ll need to consider three primary factors in creating your plan: conducting a risk assessment, identifying high-priority risks, and then developing strategies to reduce their impacts. 

Risk assessment

The first step in your contingency plan is conducting a robust risk assessment. This means identifying key challenges or dangers related to your event — such as technology malfunctioning, vendor/supplier issues, security concerns, adverse weather, staffing shortages, entertainment cancellations, and so on. 

Make a list of all the possible challenges or roadblocks associated with your event. Then, add details about what will happen if each risk occurs, its impact on the event and attendees, and any other related risks (for example, in adverse weather conditions, there may also be an issue with health and safety in an outdoor event). 

Prioritizing risks

Next, once you have made a list of the risks, prioritize them according to likelihood and severity. To do this, consider how likely the risk is to your event specifically (for instance, a hybrid event is more likely to be affected by tech malfunctioning than supplier issues). 

Then consider how severe each risk is by determining the impact it could have on your event and attendees’ experience. For instance, anything that poses a health and safety risk to your attendees — such as adverse weather at a festival — may have serious consequences. Prioritizing your risks can help you focus on the most important challenges, so you can allocate your budget and resources accordingly. 

Response strategies

Finally, you’ll need to create a series of strategies in response to each risk or challenge you have identified. Each response should be detailed and involve clear, actionable steps to be taken by your team to resolve and fix the issue. 

You may also want to include details on how the issue will affect attendees, how attendee communication will be handled and by whom, how to prioritize attendee safety in the event of the risk, and which risks are to be dealt with by which team. 

In your plan, you will also need to create clear guidelines for assessing the severity of a risk, so that it is clear when the event will need to be postponed or canceled. 

Addressing common event challenges

From sudden torrential downpours to unexpected device glitches, there are a number of challenges you might face on the day of your event. Here are three of the most common — plus practical solutions — to include in your contingency planning. 

Weather-related issues

Every event planner’s worst nightmare: adverse weather. If you’re hosting an outdoor event, the top of your contingency plan priority list should include how to deal with extreme weather, such as storms, heavy rain, extreme heat, or snow. There are different ways to deal with weather-related complications — and how you do this will likely vary depending on the nature of your event — but here are a few solutions: 

• Weather protection: To protect guests from any sudden downpours — or extreme heat — you might choose to weather-proof the event by carrying protective gazebos, tents, or shelters that can be built (and dismantled) at short notice. 

• Indoor venues: If possible, one way to navigate adverse weather is to move the event indoors. In your planning, you might choose to book a backup indoor venue with appropriate heating or insulation (depending on the weather). 

• Weather-appropriate clothing: In the case of unexpected wet weather, you might choose to offer a range of protective clothing or accessories from the rain, such as waterproof ponchos, hats, or umbrellas for guests. 

• Appropriate refreshments: In extreme heat, make sure to set up plenty of water stations to keep guests hydrated. 

• Alternative routes: If there are road closures or public transport issues as a result of bad weather like snow, you may want to direct guests to alternative routes or modes of transport to the event. 

• Power backups: If there are power outages due to a storm, you may want to have backup generators to hand. 

On the day of the event, make sure to monitor forecasts for last-minute changes — and keep attendee communication clear and frequent. Update guests with any changes to the schedule or event details via email and social media; you may want to draft weather-related announcements or posts ahead of time. 

Technology failures

Whether you’re hosting a hybrid event or an in-person Q&A, it’s likely that your event will rely on some technology — so it’s vital that potential tech issues form a key part of your contingency plan. There are several solutions to last-minute tech mishaps, including: 

• Tech rehearsals: Conducting tech rehearsals that mimic the conditions of the event itself is a great way to eliminate any last-minute issues. Make sure to test your tech at the venue, with those who will be using the equipment, on the day of the event. Test all equipment — such as microphones, speakers, laptops, phones, and card machines — as well as internet connectivity. 

• Hiring tech support: If you encounter technical difficulties on the day, solving the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible is key to ensuring a positive attendee experience. One way to do this is to have technical support on the day of — whether provided by the venue from their in-house technician, or a skilled freelancer familiar with the software or hardware you’re using. 

• Backup devices: Carrying extra devices with you is a good way to ensure you can replace any broken equipment quickly. This might include backup card machines, microphones, laptops, or projection bulbs (just make sure to test each backup device beforehand). 

Staffing shortages 

One of the key parts of a contingency plan is planning — as best you can — for unexpected staffing shortages. Whether your staff are dealing with last-minute family emergencies or illness, make sure to have a clear backup plan to ensure your event runs as smoothly as possible. This might include: 

• Assessing workloads: This should be done well in advance of the event so you can ascertain whether you have the appropriate staffing levels to run the event. Make sure to allocate specific tasks to specific team members and make sure to communicate effectively. Is this workload fair and manageable, or will you need to hire additional help? 

• Hire additional staff: Depending on existing staffing levels, you may choose to hire additional team members for the day to help even workloads and ensure resources aren’t stretched too thin. 

• On-call staff: In the case of illness or emergency on the day, you might need to fall back on on-call staff to help run your event. Make sure to put this in place beforehand — whether that’s assessing on-call staff availability ahead of time, or working with an agency or the venue to make up for staff shortages. Make sure there is a plan to train them as well!

Hybrid events: the future of event planning

Creating a hybrid event contingency plan? You’ll need to factor in several potential virtual and in-person blockers. In your planning, eliminating issues with your hybrid event technology is crucial — so you’ll want to pay particular attention to the technology challenges and solutions above. 

In addition to this, it’s important to factor in hybrid-event-specific roadblocks. For example, if attendees experience technical difficulties joining the event remotely, you might want to consider employing an experienced technician to rectify any issues. 

For a hybrid event, you’ll also want to make sure that your contingency plan covers what you’ll need to help the event run smoothly for virtual attendees. This might include carrying back-up streaming equipment, and ensuring staff are on hand to assist guests attending remotely. 

Legal and financial considerations

As part of your contingency plan, make sure to pay attention to any potential legal and financial roadblocks. 

• Contracts: Before signing a contract with a venue or a supplier, make sure to look for cancellation clauses in order to understand what might be involved if changes need to be made at short notice. Negotiating more flexibility here might help to reduce losses that might be incurred. 

• Ticket policies: Before selling tickets, set clear refund policies and ensure guests are familiar with these — plus your policy for canceling the event due to unforeseen circumstances, such as adverse weather. 

• Emergency funds: To safeguard your event’s success, it’s a good idea to have emergency funds in place — whether this is for paying a cancellation fee to the venue, or last-minute expenses such as replacement tech. This will help you to keep within your budget and allow your event to go ahead, despite risks posed by unpredictable factors. 

Training and communication 

A coherent team delivers a successful event. One of the main purposes of creating a contingency plan is so you and your team have clear, actionable steps to take in the face of last-minute issues. To make sure everybody is familiar with your plan, it’s important to do the following: 

Conduct regular training

Once your contingency plan is created, make sure to conduct appropriate training with your team so that each person knows what to do if any challenges arise on the day of the event. You might choose to train specific teams according to their responsibilities — for instance, if there are food and drink-related roadblocks, make sure to go through these in detail with the catering and bar team. 

After the training, provide each team member a copy of the contingency plan to ensure everybody can refer back to it in the lead-up to the event as well as on the day.  

Create clear communication channels

On the day of the event, make sure to establish clear communication channels in the event of emergencies, schedule changes, or other issues that arise. This might be setting up walkie-talkies for staff to carry, or establishing a specific team WhatsApp group to ensure all communication is cohesive and in one place. 

Update your team with any changes 

If any changes are made to your contingency plan, make sure to update all relevant parties — this might include your team, guest speakers, suppliers, stakeholders, venue staff, and caterers — so that everybody is kept in the loop. This is especially important if the response strategy to a specific problem changes, or a new issue is identified with a specific proposed solution. 

Case studies: real-life examples of event contingency plans in action

Many of the most successful event creators have been through a process of trial and error when it comes to creating their events. Making mistakes can be a valuable lesson in future contingency planning — discover how two Eventbrite creators learned from theirs and built robust solutions into their future plans. 

Eastwind Books of Berkeley

California-based bookstore Eastwind Books of Berkeley is known for its Asian-American literature offering and hosts multiple virtual events. At one of their biggest events, many attendees, particularly older guests, were unable to access the event and could not find their Zoom link. 

The contingency plan solution? The next time, events coordinator Janie Chen decided to use multiple platforms, while also uploading the recording to YouTube — increasing accessibility and ensuring guests could watch on the platform they were most comfortable with. 

The Bloody Mary Festival

When The Bloody Mary Festival first launched, co-founder Evan Weiss found that attendees were frustrated with slow admission, and were stuck queuing at the front gate for 30-45 minutes. 

Weiss turned this into an opportunity for a better contingency plan with more robust solutions. Before the next festival, he created an early admission ticket that allowed guests to enter before others, helping to eliminate 35% of the problem. The festival also tackled staffing shortages by recruiting volunteers in exchange for free admission. 

Discover how more Eventbrite creators turned mishaps into success. 

Whether you’re planning a multi-day music festival or an intimate dining experience, a contingency plan is essential in ensuring a successful event. By planning ahead, you’ll help to eliminate any major challenges — and have a clear, actionable strategy in place to deal with any unexpected issues on the day.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some examples of contingency plans?

Contingency plans provide a clear roadmap for responding to any potential issues that arise in business, such as adverse weather, data breaches, or equipment failures. The contingency plan for your event will clearly identify specific problems — for instance, the audio-visual software stops working at your event — with a plan of action on how to solve it. 

What are the three major steps in contingency planning? 

There are three major steps in event contingency planning: conducting a risk assessment, prioritizing those risks according to likelihood and severity, and identifying clear, actionable response solutions to each risk. 

Should my contingency plan include event cancellation plans? 

Yes, your contingency plan should cover what steps you should take if you need to cancel your event. Whether this is due to adverse weather conditions or last-minute changes to a line-up, it may be helpful to set out what your team should do in these situations, how attendee communication will be handled, and the process for refunding tickets.