Whether you work in the events business or not, most are aware that events present a high level of risk. Recent events including the tragic loss of life at the Astroworld Festival and the spread of COVID-19 at large-scale festivals illustrate the consequences of risks actualizing into issues.
It is the Event Project Manager and Project Team’s responsibility to identify, anticipate, and plan for risks before they occur. Doing so ensures that your audience, crew, and partners come away from your show having enjoyed the experience as intended.
Before diving into the key tool that all event project managers should apply to protectively manage risk, let’s go over a few Risk Management definitions and ground rules.
- Risk means the chance of something happening that will have an impact on project objectives. Risks have not materialized. If a risk occurs, it becomes classified as an issue.
- There are both positive and negative risks. A negative risk is a threat that would have an unfavorable impact on the event project, while a positive risk can be seen as an opportunity.
- Risk management is the responsibility of everyone on the project team
- Risk identification, the process of identifying risk, must happen continuously throughout the project. Not just at the beginning. The more team members involved in this process with diverse experiences and perspectives, the more complete picture of project risk will be built. Risk workshops are used to gather the project team, subject matter experts, and project stakeholders to identify and evaluate risk.