Kristi Casey Sanders noticed some parallels between the game of rugby and meeting planning. Many of the insights apply to presentation problems as well…
“You have to hit first,†he told me. “If you hit them before they hit you, you’ll never get hurt.â€
In other words, if you’re prepared to attack a problem before it happens, you have an advantage. Meeting planners who think of everything that could go wrong long before the day of the event are better prepared to respond quickly to crisis. And you have to be prepared because anything can happen.
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The random accidents that occur during the execution of events can be just as devastating. A friend told me about one convention at which one of her executive attendees jumped into a pool and died. At an association event I attended, more than 100 people came down with food poisoning.
The truth is, no matter how prepared you are for the unexpected, something will happen that you can’t foresee. But what doesn’t destroy you, makes you stronger, smarter and more prepared for next time.