7 Biggest Dangers in Events – Corporate eventprofs expert roundup

What are the biggest dangers in the corporate events field? We decided to ask this from corporate events professionals and find out!

When we wrote our previous roundup, it took respondents time to pick an idea and answer. This time, the answers were spontaneous and quick. Apparently, the topic of event dangers is relevant and somehow has touched people during time that they worked in the industry. Without further ado, here is what they thought.

Adam Parry, Event Industry News

Personally I think the biggest dangers and risks you have to manage in (corporate) events is to stay focused on the vision and concept of the event that your looking to deliver.

With events, there are so many great creative designs, approaches and styles to events that its easy to keep looking at changing elements of the event which can lead to the event not being as it was in its original conception.

Doing this can not only cause a huge amount of work for your team in altering elements of the event planning but it can also lead to attendee confusion (not getting what they expected) a mixed and distorted marketing message and problems or mistakes with suppliers.

Adam is an editor at Event Industry News, speaker on event technology, online marketing and social media

Christian Holst, Teambuilding Kompagniet

My biggest concern is always if it will be a success, and to prevent failure, I debate before the event all aspects I can think of and also ask my clients: What will happen if it is a success? And what if it is a failure? So the more you prepare before the event – the better chance you have for success!

Christian is  master coach in the solution-focused approach. Has a broad HR experience specializing in team development and coaching of management teams, focusing on strengths and positive psychology. Christian is an active mountaineer, skier and kayak instructor in the Klampenborg Canoe & Kayak Club.

Marley Majcher, Party Goddess

The biggest dangers and risks you have to deal with in corporate events are lawsuits. Like it or not, we live in an increasingly litigious society and planners MUST protect themselves with very tight contracts spelling out exactly who is responsible for what, and for what the planner is NOT responsible. Key contractual terms like required retainer amounts and cancellation clauses are vital, as is a ton of insurance, including professional liability (or the equivalent in your country). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the big corporate attorneys can probably clean your clock if they want to so spell it all out from the get go!”

Marley Majcher is the best host for crazy awesome rock star events. Also know as The Profit Goddess! small business coach, pricing expert & author of But Are You Making Any Money? which Forbes lauded as “A great how-to book for any entrepreneur.”

Valters Slišāns, Eži

It is always nice when participants arrive to the event prepared both physically and mentally. Especially if an outdoor event is planned ahead. This sometimes does not happen, unfortunately. From time to time an information ‘black hole’ occurs in between the organisers and the client, and this might lead to disappointment, confusion, and even risk being injured because of inappropriate gear. Do not underestimate the importance of preparation for life’s twists and turns, this might save some hustle on the spot.

Valters is a team building project manager in Eži helping companies to plan fun physical outdoor activities to bring out genuine emotions.

Austin Nicholas, Travel Out There

The key danger I think in many cases is managing and exceeding expectations as well as ensuring that lines of communication are clear and understood. Often, companies work with a local DMC who then partners a DMC in the desired destination who then co-ordinate an event encompassing a variety of service providers. In such situations there are many links in the supply chain and your event is only as strong as your
weakest link. ALL the event staff are fully briefed about the event. Travel Out There tries to streamline the supply chain as much as possible by directly connecting the local event architect with the client.

Austin is founder and director of Travel Out There, and has built businesses all his life. He believes that businesses are essentially formed when a solution meets a problem, producing results. Austin specializes in disruptive and meaningful innovation.

Lynn Ferguson Pinet, Conundrum Adventures

One of the greatest dangers in managing corporate events is having participants feel that the time spent was not worth the investment of being away from their job. A concept that I learned early is to be clear on basics:
· What would be an ACCEPTABLE meeting – this is your purpose for having it, if this is satisfied then participants will see the investment was worth it.
· What would be a GOOD meeting – what can you add that will either add enjoyment or additional benefits but keeping in mind you must satisfy the acceptable first so don’t add elements that although may be enjoyable will interfere with achieving the key purpose of the meeting.
· What would be a GREAT meeting – once you have covered your basics and if you have time and budget that can you add that can really make the event stand out.

By utilizing this simply process you ensure you don’t risk the meeting objective but free yourself to be creative once your core objectives have been met.

 Lynn has held executive positions at a variety of organizations. Throughout her career she has demonstrated the ability to lead and inspire teams to achieve excellent results. Lynn draws on her experience to effectively facilitate team discussions to find creative solutions to the most challenging problems. 

Miki Ionescu, Esophia

One of the most invoked aspect when it’s about improving competences of the staff is the return on investment. Usually, after a training session, the customer is asking for at least a feed-back form or a questionnaire in an attempt to see if the investment was done properly. A very popular corporate event type is team building. whether it is outdoor or indoor, there are some favourite areas like „extreme“, „mystery“ or „adventure“, where the cost per person, in most of the cases, is much more than a regular training session. Surprisingly enough, I rarely saw serious attempts to see if a certain aspect was really addressed and improved by the teambuilding event. Almost the same can be said for teambuilding preparation. The customer preference and decision is mainly emotional, based on how original and spectacular the event scenario is, on price and on the physical shape of participants.

Of course my experience is limited and statistically speaking I might be wrong but I see the poor planning & implementation of the pre and post teambuilding event activities as one of the biggest dangers.

With more than 20+ years experience in management and 10+ years in training Miki creates fun and  out of box learning solutions for complex problems.

To sum up the main keywords about dangers and avoiding them:

• Keep in mind to stay focused on the vision and concept of the event
• Ask yourself and your clients what will happen if it is a failure
• Put time into well-written contracts to avoid misunderstandings and lawsuits
• Inform participants well to make them arrive to the event prepared both physically and mentally
• Ensure that lines of communication are clear and understood to manage and exceed expectations.
• Manage and minimize the possibility that participants feel the time spent was not worth the investment of being away from their job
• Think out a plan & implementation of the pre and post teambuilding event activities to improve competences of the participants to insure  your clients get a return of their investment.

We hope it was interesting to hear what seem to be the most relevant dangers in corporate events to other event managers and trainers. Feel free to share your experiences and thoughts on the topic in the comments below.