Weird A$$ Weather
We all experience it, but how do you DEAL with it?
Unique weather events are happening across the globe, and unfortunately with climate change, it’s only going to get worse. In fact, as I edit this, my hometown is experiencing a blizzard. But that is normal for my area, and just the beginning of weird weather talk: F2 tornadoes in New England, earthquakes in the great plains, tsunamis worldwide, and Oregon recording record heat that melts the tar off of bridges. Weather is only getting crazier.
One of the first events I ever worked was a music festival in New England. The show was hosted at a mountainside ski resort which normally experienced blue skies, the occasional rain shower, quintessential ideal New England summer weather. That was not the case in 2008. On the second day of the festival, we had a major thunderstorm that led to a tornado warning. (Which is very, very rare for northern New England). Our staff had prepared for all kinds of weather including: thunderstorms, drought, normal wind, rain, and more. What we weren’t prepared for was the hurricane force winds and torrential downpour that occurred. Since we were hosting at a ski resort mud, run off, and landslides became items of concern. As the rain was pelting us, we scrambled for large pieces of cardboard and rugs to place over the most saturated parts of the grounds at the base of the mountain where all the runoff was pooling. We also saw our small tents receive damage, and a few blew across the grounds. At which point our team needed to find make-shift tent stakes to put them back up. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the worst of the damage was wet feet and a few damaged tents.
While we were prepared for certain situations, including having several extra tent stakes, a few rugs for muddy areas, etc. We were prepared for the massive winds and rains we experienced for just over an hour one night.
So how do you deal with these crazy weather experiences? How do you deal with historic flooding? Four inch snow storms in Florida? Etc. It’s difficult. Most of the time for major events we plan years out. General seasonal weather can be planned for quite far out (IE: snow in New England for a January show or rain in Florida in summer time.) For the big, crazy, unexpected weather we often need to wait until we are close to the event to get into the minucia. Plus, weather changes by the hour, just ask us New Englanders, or see how we travel. (Do we keep ice scrapers in the car year round? Damn right we do!) How can we anticipate or prepare for strange weather so far out? There are some serious consequences to consider by not planning for the un-plannable. (That’s one hell of a sentence.)
My solution? Create the “Oh S#*%” plan. It’s never a fun conversation to have, but a serious one to consider. When your event is happening, at what point do you say “Oh S#*%, we need to stop this.”? At what point do you shut down one section or the entire event? The aptly named “Oh S#*%” plan helps to determine when a shut down or pause is necessary. It should be laid out in such a way that clear steps are listed and actionable. I tend to use an If This, Then That layout and make the “This” very clear and measurable. For example: If lighting/thunder are registering 10 miles away or less, then shut down all outdoor stages. Your key stakeholders (the important high level people, usually 10 or fewer individuals), should have a strong understanding of when the “oh S#*%” plan is necessary. Make sure the plan is written out, discussed, and understood by all parties. This should be done in pre-event meetings, and should be reiterated onsite.
How do you go about creating this document?
For the weather aspect of the document, I start by reviewing traditional weather sites to see averages for temperature, rain/snow fall, etc. Then I look at historic and seasonal items, like hurricanes, storm surges, wind events, tornadoes, anything that would be news coverage worthy. Beyond that, I look into various things, like weather patterns for that year. (Is it an El Nino year?) This gives me a decent baseline as to what to expect for the area. I usually build in some of the extremes, IE this area had a major storm surge last year for the first time ever. I will plan for that to happen again. Then I work with my venue(s) to fill in the blanks and understand what the facility(ies) can withstand. That’s when I fully develop the weather aspect of the plan.
Overall, you will never be able to fully prepare for the extremes Mother Nature can throw at us, but you can mitigate and manage some of what she throws.
The Old Guard
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Small and local festivals in particular have an unfortunate stereotype of being the same year-over-year. Same venue, same vendors, same bands, same competitors, etc. They get tired, sad and slowly lose attendance numbers every year. In my experience these events are usually run by the same group of people over the years. These individuals usually become complacent and develop an “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it” mentality. While certain things are bound to fall by the wayside (like a slightly outdated website). There are several other items that should be addressed regularly, like website updates, available payment options, popular entertainment, etc.
Having worked with these kinds of event boards in the past, I understand how frustrating it can be for both sides. One group has seen success with this approach for years, why would it not work now? The other group can see that when technology and processes can be updated, it should be looked into and assessed for the event.
I’ll give a personal story: I was working with a local non-profit festival that had been run by the same core group for over 20 years. In the year 2017 their main marketing strategy WAS LOCAL NEWSPAPER ADS! They had absolutely no digital marketing at all. (I thought for a moment I had been sent back to the year 1995. But alas, it was still 2017.) In asking about the reasoning behind this, I learned it was because “that’s how it had always been done.” It was because of this old-school marketing that their numbers had been dwindling every year. The board had never thought to develop a social media presence and the event website was tragic. The webpage was from the late 2000’s and included information no one really needs or wants to know. The vendor page showed a list of all vendors that attended each year throughout the event’s multi-decade history (so vendors that had been at the show for 10 years would show up 10 times.) To add to the event’s website troubles, there was no way to accept payment online. We could ONLY accept payments by cash onsite or by mailed in check. (Yes, in the year 2017 this was still a thing). Upon bringing the website issue up to the board, about half of the members agreed things should be changed, the slight majority, including the chairperson, did not understand why the website needed to change. “Why fix it if it isn’t broken?” Knowing how the events industry is run, and that our attendance was dropping dramatically, I knew something needed to be done. The fact that the approval was not given for the website was frustrating, but being dedicated to the festival, I decided to take things into my own hands.
I researched the best simple web hosting platforms, for this event, the best option was Weebly. So I set up a free account, and in my limited free time, created a basic dummy site, pulling pertinent information from the current live webpage. It took some time on a weekend, but when it was done I felt it was a good shell of a simple, updated website.
At our next board meeting, I again asked to speak and showed the current website, showing the difficult navigation, etc, and then presented the dummy site. The board members, upon seeing the dummy site and hearing the annual actual cost, immediately approved the new website. Of course, lots of edits needed to be made, information needed to be updated, but they were shocked by how different their website could look.
Ultimately, this was a hard lesson for me on how; when working with these kinds of event boards, nothing can be assumed. NOTHING. Showing them and taking the time to explain these situations in in-depth but processable terms is the best way to address uncertainty or fear of anything new. It’s the best way to help ensure the event and all of its components remain as up to date as possible.
If you need assistance with your festival or event board, please feel free to reach out to Triskele Events. We are ready to help make your next event the best one yet!
“Controlled” Chaos
How Working with Animals Shaped My Views on Event Safety
How working with Animals Shaped My Views on Event Safety
Just about every young child learns the common phrase “Safety First”. We live by it as kids, looking both ways before crossing the street, holding hands with mom or dad in the mall, etc. We forget it as rowdy know-it-all teens, and try our best to relearn it as adults. How does this idea of “Safety First” fade away and leave our minds when it comes to events? Is there a sense of “Someone else will handle it”? Is there a universal mentality of “I’ll know what to do if something arises”? (On a side note, has that ever worked?)
I’ll fully admit to not going through a rowdy teen phase, but that’s mostly because I was heavily focused on working with horses. Safety is the number one focus when working with horses and animals in general. “Safety First” was burned into my mind every moment of every day. It became so ingrained that it is now a way of life, and has greatly impacted the way I run events. Safety should also be a key consideration in all events. However, event safety is something that is so frequently tucked away, with bare minimums implemented, or the thought that “the facility or other unknown party will deal with that.” This is where event communication, and ultimately event safety, breaks down and things go wrong.
Event safety is something that should NEVER be “poo-pooed”. Events are serious situations that can garner and pull massive attention, create unique circumstances, and lead to some incredible ripple effect happenings. A great example is a loose pin/bolt on a truss, in the right situations such as heavy winds or a large piece of equipment hitting a brace, it can lead to structure collapse, which can lead to serious injuries or even death. When it comes to events I have the same key thoughts I have when preparing to go riding. Before getting on the horse, my main thoughts are:
Come prepared
Do my best to understand the situation
Communicate needed items with the proper people: “it’s important that someone knows where you are”
And no matter how much training, I STILL wear my helmet. Because no matter how much I plan, there is always a chance something could happen. Wearing that helmet is a way of planning and preparing for the unexpected.
Do the same for events. While planning and preparing for your event:
Come Prepared/Prepare for what you can: Are you ready for something to arrive late, or for a staff member to come up ill before getting onsite? Have you prepared for every potential you can?
Do you understand the situation and what is going on in the city/region? Is there civil unrest, a storm, or even parade?
Communicate with your team all pertinent information to ensure each person knows what their role is in the event of an anomaly arising. It’s important to get your team of decision makers on the same page when it comes to safety and communication.
And still, no matter how confident you may be, always prepare for the unknown or remain prepped and ready to address whatever comes your way.
I’ll cut to the chase, the big item I hope to instill in this inaugural blog is safety preparedness; doing what you can to help keep any situation safe, well, and enjoyable. Keep yourself and your team ready for everything you can. Just like a riding helmet, event safety is there for the “just in case”, and hopefully you never have to use it.
Being prepared is not the easiest thing, but it sure as hell is easier to handle than catastrophic disaster that could be avoided.