Event contingency planning

Last May, my wife gave birth to our second child (whom along with his older sister I affectionately refer to as the ‘’TrivWorks Interns”). The delivery went smoothly – but not in the way we expected.

Childbirth is an unpredictable thing, and can happen at any time. When it’s your first baby and your wife goes into labor, it’s simply a matter of dropping whatever it is you’re doing, and you both go to the hospital. However, when you already had another child to deal with, it’s not so simple – now, you have another person in the mix!

As a professional event planner, I thought I had this thing under control. We had another couple on standby, whom we would call the moment my wife went into labor and would take care of our older kid while we went to the hospital. My wife and new baby would staying overnight while I returned home, and the next morning I would take our older one to day care (young children aren’t allowed in the hospital) so that I could return – a schedule which I’d repeat for the next few days, until everybody came home.

Can you see the flaw in my logic?

Here’s what ACTUALLY happened.

My wife went into labor at 5pm on Friday afternoon. For those without kids, here’s a fun fact about day care: it’s not open during the weekends. While I had a plan for dealing with child care for my oldest in the best-case scenario, I had completely neglected to prepare for the chance that the new baby would come over the weekend – meaning I’d have no one to watch her at home so I could be at the hospital with my wife & new baby.

It took some frantic scrambling, but I was fortunately able to find babysitting coverage. However, the lesson was learned, and learned hard: when planning events, you MUST prepare for contingencies!

For most team building activities, corporate entertainment events, staff parties or other large functions, some contingency planning is obvious; most outdoor venues have a backup rain plan, for instance. However, what is unique about your situation, event or group which may merit some additional planning? What are the scenarios – however unlikely – which could lead to disaster if not mitigated?

As the planner, it is your responsibility to ensure that these contingency plans are thought through ahead of time. Like my example above, you may get lucky dealing with the crisis in the moment – but what happens if you aren’t so lucky? I shudder to think of what might have happened, had I not been able to be with my wife and newborn at the hospital for the entire weekend. I urge you not to be put in a similar situation – plan ahead, and prepare for contingencies!