Lessons from the Japan Earthquake

As the situation is still very much ongoing, and the scope of the tragedy still not entirely known, I was initially hesitant to write a piece drawing lessons taken from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. However, I've concluded that the takeaways thus far are in fact hugely inspirational, and offer several lessons critical to anyone who deals with events and crowds.

Planning and training are absolutely critical – From the strength of their buildings, to the measured response of it's population, the Japanese have performed better than anyone could have possible expected given the magnitude of the earthquake. This is not by accident. The Japanese people are taught from a very young age the threat of such earthquakes, and are continually drilled on the proper response to them. Likewise, they have some of the most rigid and forward-thinking building codes on the planet, and have engineered most modern structures to respond well beyond an “average” earthquake. Sadly, this did not entirely prevent the widespread destruction that has occurred. However, one must imagine that the situation would be far worse had these procedures and codes not be continually examined, updated, and executed.

The take away – although it may seem a waste of time and resources, it is critical that you develop an in-depth response and training plan for your events. Your staff should have extensive training in all relevant aspects of the plan, and be drilled on their response as often as possible. This plan should be reviewed and updated annually or as often as circumstances require.

Do everything possible to maintain a level head – whenever a situation begins to spiral out of control, fear and chaos are your worst enemy. Whether it's a result of training or an aspect of their national character, Japan and it's people have seen little of the panic and looting that has befallen many other major catastrophes around the globe. This in turn has not only garnered the respect of the world, but has undoubtedly saved additional lives and assisted in relief efforts.

The take away – Stress to your staff the importance of keeping cool in high pressure situations, and train them in communication methods of doing so with large crowds. Regardless of their size, a panicking crowd is a dangerous situation.

A lack of information (or misinformation) can be your worst enemy – I wish I could sing the praises of the entire response to this tragedy thus far. However, the response of authorities and company representatives to the damaged nuclear reactors leaves much to be desired. Whether it's the lack of consistent, verifiable information being released, or the byproduct of our 24 hour news cycle's need to engineer stories, the relative lack of straightforward information has created concern not only among the Japanese people, but countries around the globe. In most cases, vague responses are met with skepticism. Couple that with the aforementioned news cycle and the proliferation of real-time social networking, and your attempts at protecting information will cause you to lose control of the messaging, which is nearly impossible to reclaim.

The take away – no matter how bad any potential event situation may become, the worst thing you can do is be vague and/or indecisive. It's better to get out in front of your messaging and be as direct and forthcoming possible, by whatever means necessary. As long as those speaking for your organization are properly informed and consistent, there's little to lose by being honest. Dishonesty, whether fact or implied by others, can cause you to lose the greatest asset you have. Your reputation.

Ultimately, we must remember that what we do as event producers pales in comparison to the thousands who dedicate their lives to helping others respond and recover to tragedies such as this. As such, I encourage all of you to donate whatever time and resources you can to the charity of your choice (I've included the link to the American Red Cross below)

The American Red Cross