Tabletop Exercises as an Event Training Tool

(Editors note - this picture has absolutely nothing to do with the the contents of this article. However, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw a little “Simpsons” into the mix)

When it comes to executing live events, nothing is as important as having a informed and well-trained event staff. All other operational elements may be in place and running smoothly, but one misstep by an eager but unknowledgeable staff member can create chaos, trigger a customer service nightmare, or in the event of an emergency situation, place your guest’s lives at risk. As event managers, it’s our duty to train our staff well, and to ensure that they are competent in the appropriate response procedures. However, our responsibility for their understanding should not simply end once the book closes on their initial training. We must also ensure that they retain this information, and are able to accurately recall and utilize what they’ve learned in a real-life situation. One method which I have found works extraordinarily well in testing an employee’s knowledge retention is the use of tabletop exercises to simulate potential situations your event staff may encounter.

What is a tabletop exercise?

Although there are many variations of the tabletop exercise model, they all share the same general definition, structure and intent. At their core, they are a facilitated, systematic form of role-play that use hypothetical scenarios to facilitate group discussion and problem solving. The intent of the tabletop exercise is to test some aspect of an organization’s operation, such as a participant’s knowledge of an particular process, a facility’s emergency response plan, or the event operations program as a whole.

Tabletop exercises are guided by a facilitator, who releases aspects of each scenario to an assembled group of employees so that it plays out in “real time”. These include establishing the primary scenario being addressed, outside influences that affect the the situation, and the corresponding environmental and social conditions. The participants then discuss how they would respond to the primary scenario given the established conditions, and how they should work together to achieve a successful resolution to the problem addressed. As they do so, the facilitator guides the group, maintains focus on the core objectives, and answers any clarifying questions the participants may have. The facilitator may also take notes on how the group interacts or any areas of concern they may have. They should not actively influence the group’s response beyond keeping them focused on the primary objective of the drill (An outside observer may be used for additional input, which is recommended if resources are available). At the conclusion of the tabletop exercise, the facilitator (and observer if present) will meet briefly to go over their notes. The group will then reconvene and conduct a debriefing, where the facilitator can go over the exercise, discuss the group’s performance, and offer suggestions on how to improve the participants response if necessary.

What are the benefits of tabletop exercises?

The benefits of including tabletop exercises into your event’s training and operations plan are numerous. They allow for the testing of your event team’s reasoning, communication, and problem-solving skills in a simulated environment, before they may confront a similar situation in the field. This interactivity is usually far more effective in teaching and reinforcing a correct employee response than traditional testing. Conducting a tabletop exercise will allow you to observe your team’s recall of trained protocols and procedures, which may help you identify potential weaknesses in your current training program. Not insignificantly, for all their practical training benefits, tabletop exercises are also easier to develop, plan, and execute than full-scale exercises, and use far fewer physical and financial resources.

How can tabletop exercises can help with your event operations program?

To date, tabletop exercises have been used primarily by public safety and emergency management agencies to test responses to unpredictable situations (earthquakes) or those in which a full-scale exercise would cause undue community disruption (hostage situations). However, there are many aspects of your event operations that can be effectively tested using tabletop exercises, as well. A sampling of these may include:

• Your severe weather response plan - how should your employees respond if severe weather strikes during your outdoor event?


• Event cancellation and evacuation - Your primary act just cancelled at the last minute, leaving you with thousands of angry guests demanding a refund. How should your team respond?


• Stampede/crush/crowd control situations - The stage lights went down, and now everyone is returning to their seats at the same time. The crowd stops moving, and people are angry and panicked. Now what?


• Mass egress/parking situations - The show is over, cars are leaving, and there’s an accident on the main road out of your facility. People are angry, possibly intoxicated, and have access to a 2000 pound weapon. What do you do?


• Lost child - You’re holding an event, and there’s a lost child, a vague description, and a hysterical parent. How should your team react? What if this was an event for children with thousands of kids present?


• Mass medical - Imagine you’re holding a large music festival on a hot day. Heat related illnesses begin to overwhelm your temporary medical facilities. How do you handle the influx of casualties?


• Media incidents - The media can be your event’s greatest ally - until something goes wrong. Media situations can be some of the toughest for an event team to respond to...does yours know how?


• Mock events - The structure of a typical event can make it the perfect candidate for a tabletop exercise. After all, an event is little more than a series of individual yet interconnected situations played out in sequence. Nothing says you can’t tabletop your entire event BEFORE it actually occurs, from gate opening to show close.

Developing your tabletop exercise

Now that we’ve discussed some ways in which tabletop exercises can be integrated into your event staff training program, here are some things to keep in mind as you develop your exercise program:

• Have a specific situation (and response) in mind - Without knowing exactly what you’re looking for in regards to a team response, it’s difficult to gauge how well they performed. If you are unsure yourself, then make sure you develop your response program and train your staff in it before conducting a tabletop exercise.


• If you can afford it (financially or otherwise), have a two-person exercise team consisting of both a facilitator and an outside observer - The outside observer can focus and report on the team’s performance, leaving the facilitator to guide the actual exercise.


• Details are everything - the more developed your hypothetical scenario is, the more accurate and insightful your team’s response is going to be. Be vivid...you want to create as much realism in their heads as possible.


• Be creative, yet realistic - although you certainly want to test your employee’s response to the unexpected, simulating a martian invasion may not be the best way to go about it. Stick with things they’re more likely to encounter.


• Time your exercise - Although you should allow enough time for proper discussion and decision making, you still want to apply a bit of pressure to the situation. Limiting the action/decision time to a few minutes per phase is recommended.


• Be flexible - No matter how well you’ve scripted your scenario, the group discussion may venture into unexpected areas. Allow them to do so within reason (uncharted territory is where the magic often happens), but be sure to bring things back on track before you lose control of your exercise.


• Guide, don’t lead - Your group should be controlling the action of the situation through their responses. Unless they appear to be truly stumped as to their next step, don’t intervene and give them the answer simply to keep things moving. Instead, rephrase the last input to your situation, giving them just a bit more insight as to the response you’re looking for.


• Manage your group size - Getting a large group of people to come to consensus on anything is extremely difficult. Keep the number of people in your exercise reasonable - I recommend no more than 2 people per discipline per exercise (such as two security team leads, two guest services staff, two parking staff, etc).


• Make sure you have the right tools - a short list of items to bring may include a whiteboard (to illustrate movement if necessary), notepads/pens, site maps, and a timer.

As you can see, developing and executing an tabletop exercise program can be a herculean task, and there are many different ideas and concepts not covered in this discussion. However, they are well worth the investment in both time and resources. Tabletop exercises are an excellent means of augmenting your training program, testing an employees concept retention, and identifying weak points in your operation. If you’d like further ideas or assistance on designing an exercise program for your event staff or facility, feel free to leave a comment, or contact me directly.

The Guerilla in the Room

Ran across this post via Twitter regarding 20 places to activate a guerilla marketing campaign. Although I’m not usually one to express my disagreements via the internet, I felt compelled to respond in this instance not out of any animosity towards the author or company (quite the contrary, Pro Motion Inc seems like a rock-house marketing company), but towards the practice of guerilla marketing programs.

My feelings towards guerilla marketing are admittedly mixed. As the former manager of a large (28K) outdoor amphitheatre, GM teams were a constant nuisance on most every show. They'd show up onsite, sample for a few minutes until noticed by our staff, and then promptly bounced from the facility after reaching maybe 100 guests. As they should have been. After all, if they were conducting business on our property, they should be required to follow the proper sponsorship channels, and pay the associated fees. However, the young punk that still resides in me (somewhere) still relishes the at-any-cost, DIY ethic that comes with the this type of marketing.

My personal feelings regarding the practice are essentially irrelevant, however. The objective assessment is much more important - unless done exeedingly well, guerilla marketing is simply a bad, often counter-productive business practice.

When considering any guerilla marketing campaign, keep in mind the following phrase - if it's not public, it's trespassing. In most people's eyes, the line between public and private property is open to interpretation. In the eyes of the law, however, it's not, and the designation of "private property" usually works in the facility's favor. After all, you've made the decision to go after THEIR audience, outside (or on) THEIR property, without asking the same permission as everyone else who participates in the event. Unless you're working in a decidedly laid-back jurisdiction, you've just broken the law, and can face expulsion or arrest. Adding to this insult, most guerilla marketing teams are comprised of students and/or younger marketing grads, ambitious, naive, and given little instruction as to how handle such situations. If they're lucky, they've been told by their supervisors to simply pack up and leave when told. If they haven't, they're faced with a quandary - do the job they've been paid to do (and have often been told, incorrectly, that they have the right to do) or leave, having wasted an evening for an hours pay. Meanwhile, what does the client get in return? Very little.

Marketing is more complicated than simple impressions. It's about building goodwill, not only with your target demographic, but with the larger community (business or otherwise). Compromising a venue's exclusive deals by simply "showing up" not only destroys this goodwill, but makes both the marketing company AND client look unethical. Although it may cost more, I would always advise a client or marketing agency to play above board and go through the proper channels. The benefits simply aren't worth the risk.

Technology Will Not Save You

What I'm about to say is unlikely to win me many allies in modern event production circles. In fact, it may seem downright hypocritical given my last post extolling the benefits of Twitter as an operations tool. However, I feel it must be said, if only for the benefit of those newly-minted event producers who've come up in the age of having the world at their fingertips.

Technology cannot make you a better event manager.

If you've spent any time trolling the plethora of event marketing and technology websites out there, you've undoubtedly come across a number of programs and services claiming to be the pinnacle of event management technology. They promise you instant access to your contacts, unbelievable scheduling capabilities, and countless other features unheard of just a few years ago. Without question, such services can be extremely beneficial to event managers of all stripes and sizes (my current favorite being ZeristaPro, a mind-boggling software suite that simply blows away most competitors I've researched).

For all the hype, however, it's important to remember that although software and other technologies can make your communications easier, it cannot make you a better communicator. It may make scheduling a breeze, but if you don't understand scheduling methodology and how the pieces of your event fit together, it's worthless. If your marketing plan is ill-defined, if your operations plan is under-developed, or if you're simply unorganized by nature, no smart phone application or social media wizardry is going to save you. Quite the contrary, a focus on tools at the expense of the fundamental skill-sets can prove deadly to your growth as an event manager. Many times, casting aside these trappings (distractions?) and focusing on the core of your business (in this case, event production) may be exactly what is needed to become a successful manager, in any industry.

Richard Branson, billionaire founder of Virgin Companies, has built an empire with the help of two simple things – a legal pad and an innate ability to listen to people. Branson, a self-described “computer illiterate”, famously carries around a yellow legal pad to take notes on virtually all aspects of his company's operation, from customer comments to the condition of the seats on Virgin Airlines flights. Also, unlike many other CEO's, Branson doesn't isolate himself from the “rank and file” of his company, preferring instead to remain open and available to all employees. This attention placed upon the company's most important assets (their employees and customers) has helped Virgin become a customer service leader, with a value of over 8 billion dollars.

Kevin Lyman, founder of the hugely successful Warped Tour, still personally talks to guests at each event and asks them what acts they'd like to see on the next year's lineup. This not only ensures that the festival is current with the musical taste of the audience, but makes that audience feel as though they have a real stake in the process. This has allowed Warped Tour to remain consistently popular AND profitable for over 15 years, regardless of the current economic environment. Although both Branson and Lyman could easily utilize technology to achieve the same results (and do in many circumstances), it's their focus on the fundamentals of their business that's important, not their specific “tools”.

Having a hammer doesn't make you a carpenter...it simply makes you someone with a hammer. Likewise, having access to the latest in event management technology will not make you an effective event manager. That takes time, experience, and a healthy foundation in the core people and management skills not found on a touch screen. For those just starting out in the industry (and those of us bringing on new graduates and interns), make sure you're not placing too much focus on the newest tools of the trade at the expense of fundamental business, management, and communication skills.

Beyond Marketing – Twitter as an Event Operations Tool

By now, most everyone you speak with has some knowledge of the social networking tool Twitter, either as a user or through the extensive media attention it has been given over the last year. Regardless of how you may personally feel about the usefulness of the technology, there's no denying the fact that many industries have embraced the service, and have integrated it into their public communications with varying degrees of success. The event industry, always at the forefront of new communication technologies (text-to-screen, anyone?), has managed to utilize Twitter more effectively than most. The benefits of using Twitter for event marketing are quite apparent – it's cheap, immediate, and provides a level of feedback not available with traditional media communications. However, outside of their marketing efforts, many event producers have yet to utilize Twitter to it's full potential. This is unfortunate, because with some foresight and a few tricks, Twitter can be the perfect tool to for event producers on an operations level, assisting in everything from crowd control to real-time performance information.

For event producers to get the greatest benefit out of Twitter, there are a few steps that I recommend you take. First, I would suggest that you establish a separate Twitter account for your event or venue operation, independent of your general and/or marketing account. This serves two purposes. First, it will ensure that your event guests (or others opting into that particular feed) have easy access to event-specific information, without having to wade through countless unrelated messages. Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), it ensures that your primary feed isn't cluttered with event information irrelevant to the majority of your followers. Just as with email, Twitter spam can be frustrating, off-putting, and ultimately fatal to your marketing and communication efforts.

Additionally, make liberal use of “hashtags” in your messages. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, hashtags are topical notations within messages (designated with a “#” at the beginning), which allow users to search for specific items within Twitter. For example, you may identify the topic of your tweet by adding the hashtaged term “#eventinfo” somewhere within the message. This in turn will allow your users to search for that specific tag while ignoring other, less relevant messages. Although there are few rules regarding the use of hashtags, it is best to ensure that they are short, specific, and relevant to the topic being addressed. You should also make an effort to communicate what the hashtag means to your followers in advance, lest your efforts at communicating information be met with confusion. The effective use of has tags is an art unto itself. A great primer on the subject can be found here.

Now that you've created a “clean” channel for your event guests to follow, and have designed a system to classify your messages, let's explore a few ways in which you can effectively use Twitter to help manage your event.

1) Control your gate traffic – Update your subscribers as to what gates have the shortest lines, what items are permitted and/or prohibited, and what your search policy is.

2) Crowd-source your traffic reports – create a specific hashtag for event traffic, and encourage your guests to reply with their own updates. Often times, your audience can alert you to traffic issues well before your local police can. You can also use the same hashtag to pass along alternate routing and reassure guests stuck in traffic!

3) Virtual house lights – alert your guests five minutes from start time to return to their seats,k and avoid the mad rush back to their seats.

4) Send a “Twitter” coupon – send a tweet with a secret “code” they can redeem for a discount or free item at the concession stands.

5) Policy reminders – too many people smoking? Crowd surfing out of control? It never hurts to send a friendly reminder of your house policies (whether they listen is another matter altogether).

6) Event schedule and updates – keep your subscribers abreast of set times, schedule changes, and any other ever-changing information.

7) Public alerts – be it lost children or lost keys, a Twitter alert can quickly give you hundreds of additional eyes on the lookout.

8 ) Thank your guests for coming – it may seem obvious, but this simple act of appreciation can be worth it's weight in gold...even in 144 characters.

These are just a few of the many possible uses for Twitter as an event operations tool. As the number of smart phones continue to grow, it's worth investigating whether adding a “communications” position to your event staff to handle such communications is worth the investment. After all, the possibilities are virtually limitless, and constrained only by your imagination and resources to execute such a program.

Quick Hits - The Economics of Live Music

Take a look at this piece over at NPR.com, which explores some of the economic aspects of the live music industry. Specifically, how economics dictate many aspects of an artists decision making, including how they make their money, how much (or little) they earn, even how they decide where to play in a given market. Although much of what is covered is common knowledge for those within the concert industry, it's a great primer for those with only a passing affiliation.

One bit of information that may be of interest to event producers outside of the the concert industry is how even more establish acts (those drawing upwards of a few thousand people per concert) are often just breaking even, and how their earnings are usually at the mercy of a very fickle ticket-buying public. These facts can potentially make the fixed guarantee you offer for your small corporate performance quite appealing to many acts you wouldn't imagine being interested. If you're looking for an live music act for a private performance, it never hurts to aim high...you may be surprised at what you'll find.

The Concert Ticket Food Chain: Where Your Money Goes (NPR.com)

(Did you know that Sytelabs can help you with any number of event services, including event design, talent acquisition, and event execution? Drop us a line to learn more.)

Order Up! - Tips for Managing Food Vendors

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. - Luciano Pavarotti

Regardless of whether you're producing a trade show, concert, or arts festival, one thing is for certain. If you are interested in creating an all-encompassing and guest-friendly environment, you must make some consideration as to providing your guests access to food and drink. This can be done a number of ways. You can institute a liberal re-entry policy for your event, which will allow your guests to seek out their own meal options. Although this is an easy solution to the meal “problem”, such open access can present additional access and security challenges, not to mention ignoring an additional revenue opportunity. If your event facility has an established food concessionaire, you can simply utilize them to provide food services. Depending upon their menu, this can be a viable option. However, anyone who has been to a concert or sporting event can attest to the inconsistent nature of traditional “concession” food, both in quality and variety. Thankfully, there is a third option – soliciting and securing contracts from outside food vendors.

Before you run right into pursuing food vending deals for your event, realize that working with individual food vendors can be a double-edge sword. On one hand, the variety provided by individual vendors can add color and an uniqueness to your event. Likewise, you can tailor your offerings to fit the occasion (hot dogs and potato chips go quite well with events geared towards children. Less so with an orchestra performance). Perhaps most importantly, individual vending deals can offer you additional sources of revenue from both participation fees and revenue splits.

However, unlike standard event sponsorships, food vending deals carry with them specific requirements that make them more difficult to negotiate and execute. These can include special business and health licensing, scheduled and impromptu inspections by city officials, and the tracking and reconciliation of any revenue split that may be negotiated. Despite these issues, food vending deals can both add to the event experience and generate a nice profit, if you keep the following points in mind.

Ask for references – request a list of references from any vendors you may be considering for your event. Most reputable vendors should have this information available, and be more than willing to provide it to you. Likewise, their references will undoubtedly be happy to give you an overview of both the vendors operation and their guests' response to their offerings. Don't be afraid to ask for specifics (display and employee appearance, attitude, special requirements, and issues). However, stay away from questions pertaining to the revenue they generated – this is usually confidential and will undoubtedly end your conversation).

If this is the first time a food vendor has participated in live events (very possible given the up-tick in new business ventures as of late), don't let this discourage you from pursuing them! Although they may require more hand holding than established vendors, they often make up for it in attitude and a willingness to be flexible.

Appoint a vendor liaison – One of the downside of incorporating individual food vendors into your event is that they requires more of your time and attention than an established concessionaire. That said, I highly recommend you appoint someone to be your “vendor liaison” for the event. This person should be placed in charge of all “facilitation” aspects of your vending deals. Responsibilities might include gathering the appropriate licensing forms and requirements from the city or county, as well as insuring all materials have been completed and returned to the appropriate source BEFORE THE EVENT. They should also be tasked with creating, distributing, and tracking advance information forms, as well as checking in with vendors continually throughout the event (more on this in a bit). If your staffing plan doesn't allow for a dedicated position, consider distributing some of these tasks as additional responsibilities to multiple people.

Know your local licensing requirements – Unless the vendor operates frequently within your jurisdiction (or has a brick and mortar location), they'll undoubtedly need to secure a business license to operate at your event. As requirements vary widely by locale, it would be impossible to list exactly what a vendor may need or where to go within this article. As the event producer, you should seek this information out well in advance of your negotiations, and have all forms and information available to your vendors upon contract. Your city or county website should be able to provide a contact telephone number and name to get you started. Your best bet is to turn this project over to your vendor liaison or other staff member, as dealing with government agencies can be a time-consuming enterprise .

Know the vendors physical requirements, and make sure they know yours – It's always best if a food vendor can be self-contained, with their own power, water, and sanitation capabilities. However, this is rarely the case. You or your vendor liaison should develop an “advance” sheet that requests the vendor's resource needs (how many power outlets, water hookups, etc) and details what you can reasonably provide to each. It is important that your vendors are fully aware of your facility capabilities, and that they inform you of any special needs they may have well in advance. Believe me, engineering four additional electric circuits on the day of an event is a frustrating experience.

Be prepared for the health inspector - As a matter of course, most local health inspectors are skeptical of food vending operations. Whether their scrutiny of temporary vendors is justified or not, it does not change the fact that a food vendor operates primarily by the good graces of the health department. That said, it is in your best interest to anticipate an inspection and accommodate them as best as possible should one occur. Get a copy of your local laws and fastidiously confirm vendor compliance to them before gates open. If the inspector arrives, drop whatever it is you are doing, meet the inspector with your vendor liaison, and then have your liaison walk with them as they perform their inspection. Even though you may not have time to walk with them personally, a moment of respect shown from the top will only help should issues arise.

Constantly check in - As the event wears on, your vendors may become busy and/or complacent, and therefore pay less attention to following health and safety requirements. Better that you identify and correct any issues than the aforementioned health inspector, who may be less likely to grant a chance to correct problems before shutting a vendor down.

Enforce your own customer service standards – Even though they are their own separate businesses, all vendors act as representatives of your event. How they treat their (your) customers are a reflection of you and your event. Make sure that their customer service is up to your standards, and never hesitate to correct any major issues right away. In my opinion, poor customer service is an impeachable offense, by my own staff or a vendors.

If your vendor deal includes a revenue split, validate your figures - Even if you're not a food expert, ensure you have some means of validating your end of night sales figures with the vendor. This may include tracking their starting and ending inventory, reviewing receipts, or simple observation – any means you feel comfortable using to ensure that the final settlement is accurate. In most cases, such steps aren't necessary, as the vendor will have accurate receipts and records. However, some operations are a bit more “fly by night” and may not have an sales tracking process beyond a ketchup-smeared piece of notebook paper. Make sure you're doing your own legwork in these cases, and aren't solely relying on their figures.

Given the detailed considerations required, I have saved a detailed discussion on setting vending fees and revenue split percentages for a future post. Feel free to leave any additional items and considerations you may have in the comments section.