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"Common Sense Counts When it Come to Risk Management" by Paul Cook

While at the national Venue and Incentive Shows last week I spoke to a number of event and incentive travel planners regarding risk management principles. My key message to them and in fact to everyone involved in organising events is that common sense counts for a lot.  So to help, we have put together a simple RESCUE plan.

Uninsured
I always encourage people to act as if they were uninsured as this has a way of focussing the mind. After all buying an insurance policy can only be part of a risk management programme.

RESCUE (Risk Management) Principles

• Review – Make sure you are aware of the changing political, legal, and environmental situations that may affect your event. We recommend that you make full use of the weather, travel and news information – easily found by searching websites. 

• Event only – Losses due to Terrorism may be very significant for a Defence Exhibition organiser in London but less so for a networking reception in Bath. Ensure that you have identified the key threats to your event. No two events are ever the same. 

• Simple plan – A detailed lengthy plan that sits in an office that no one looks at or uses as a doorstop will hardly be useful. Keep your plan simple and accessible; memory sticks, copies outside of the office are examples of good practice. 

• Communicate well – make sure your team all understand their roles, and also the methods in place to inform delegates that an event has been cancelled, or has changed in some way. Communicating effectively is also a great way of managing expectations.  

• Unexpected circumstances – There will always be circumstances that we cannot foresee, e.g. foot and mouth outbreak, the petrol crisis, recent bad weather in the UK, or even a bad hair day – very significant if your VIP guest is Madonna! Just be aware that because you may not be cancelling your event it doesn’t mean that other circumstances will not decide otherwise. A Plan B is always a good idea. (Moira advises standby cans of hairspray in the case of Madonna by the way!)

• Entrepreneurial thinking – A lateral thinking and problem solving mindset will really help when you come up against the many challenges in organising an event. We always encourage people to look at the situation in a number of different ways. Invariably there will be a suitable approach that can be used.  

About the Author
Paul Cook, MD of Clarity Event Insurance, is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute and has many years of insurance knowledge. Clarity has years of experience of making corporate event, wedding and other insurance easy and simple. Paul is also MPI UK Chapter President 2007/08.

For more information on Clarity Event Insurance, click here.