Industry Issues: Crisis Plans

1
Industry Issues Crisis Plans

• Sheryl F. Kline, Ph.D.
• Stacey L. Smith, M.S.
• Purdue University
• SURVEY RESULTS
• July 25, 2006

2
Presentation Overview

• Who are the respondents? (demographics)
• Meeting Information
• Current Business Crisis Plans Situation
• Specific Emergency Situations
• Training for employees key responders
• Communication coordination among key players
• Scenario planning Testing of plans
• Keys to Success Additional Comments from the
  meeting planners
• Conclusions to Research Questions

3
Who are the respondents?

• Type of Meeting Planner (N333)
• Association Meeting Planner 64.6 (n215)
• Third Party/Independent Planner 17.1 (n57)
• Corporate Meeting Planner 8.7 (n29)
• Association Management Company 6.9 (n23)
• Government Meeting Planner 3.6 (n12)
• Other (N24)
• CEO 31.3 (n5)
• How large is the membership of your association?
  (N228)
• Only answered by Assoc. Mtg. Planners Assoc.
  Mgmt. Comp
• 1,000 to 4,999 members 21.1 (n48)
• 10,000 to 24,999 members 21.1 (n48)
• More than 50,000 members 19.7 (n45)

N total number of people who answered the
question n the number of people who chose
the specific answer
4
Who are the respondents?

• Number of years as a meeting planner
  (N330) 6-10 years 24.5 (n81) More
  than 20 years 24.5 (n81)
• Number of years in current position (N330)
  1-3 years 24.5 (n81)
• Highest level of education (N326)
  Bachelors Degree 51.2 (n167)
  High School Diploma or equivalent 20.2
  (n66)
• Types of Certifications (N326)
• No Certifications 52.8
  (n172)
• Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)
  41.4 (n135)
• Certified Association Executive (CAE) 3.7
  (n12)
• Certified Exhibition Manager (CEM) 1.8 (n6)
• Certified in Meeting Management (CMM) 1.2
  (n4)
• Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) 0.3
  (n1)
• Certified Global Meeting Professional (CGMP) 0.3
  (n1)
• Certified Wedding Consultant (CWC) 0.3 (n1)
• Destination Management Certified Professional
  (DMCP) 0.3 (n1)
• Special Events Coordinator 0.3 (n1)

5
Who are the respondents?

• Member of any Associations? (N326)
• Professional Convention Management Association
  (PCMA) 98.5 (n321)
• American Society of Association Executives
  (ASAE) 27.3 (n89)
• Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
  25.8 (n84)
• International Association of Exhibition
  Management (IAEM) 8.0 (n26)
• International Special Events Society (ISES)
  1.8 (n6)
• International Festivals and Events Association
  (IFEA) 0.3 (n1)
• Insurance Conference Planners Association
  (ICPA) 0.3 (n1)
• Not a member of any association 0.3 (n1)
• Other (N37)
• Association of Meeting Professionals (AMPs) 13.5
  (n5)
• Society for Government Meeting Officials
  (SGMP) 10.8 (n4)

6
Meeting Information
Number of Citywide meetings held in 2005
(N330) 1 meeting 43.0 (n142) 0
meetings 40.9 (n135) Number of meetings, in
total, held in 2005 (N330) More than 20
meetings 38.2 (n126) Net square footage of
largest meeting in 2005 (N326) Less than
50,000 sq. ft. 27.3 (n89) 50,000 to
150,000 sq. ft. 27.0 (n88) Number of
attendees at largest meeting in 2005 (N326)
1,000 to 5,000 37.7 (n123) Less than
1,000 27.3 (n89) Number of full-time staff
(N326) 26 or more 39.6 (n129) 2
to 5 employees 25.2 (n82)
Meeting includes meetings, conventions,
exhibitions, events
7
Current Business Crisis Plans Situation

• What is your overall level of preparedness in the
  event that a
  crisis would occur at one of your meetings?
  (N400) Prepared 39.3 (n157)
  Not Very Prepared 37.8 (n151)
• Does your organization have a crisis management
  team? (N400) No 49.3
  (n197) Yes 42.0
  (n168) Dont Know 8.8 (n35)
• How many times per year does the team meet?
  (N162) 1-3 times per year 51.2
  (n83) Dont Know 21.6 (n35)
• How many people are on the team? (N162) 4-6
  people 37.0 (n60) 1-3 people 21.0
  (n34)

8
Current Business Crisis Plans Situation

• How important do you think it is to have a crisis
  plan? (N390)
• Do you have a crisis plan? (N390) No 58.5
  (n228) Yes 41.5 (n162)
• Have you have had to implement your crisis plan?
  (N161) Never 60.2 (n97)
• My crisis plan is written with extensive policies
  procedures. (N159) Agree 40.9 (n65)
  Neutral 35.2 (n56)
• How often is the plan updated? (N155)
  Once per year 47.7 (n74)

9
Current Business Crisis Plans Situation

• I have a comprehensive insurance policy (N356)
  Agree 41.0 (n146)to assist with recovery
  actions. Neutral 29.2 (n104)
• My insurance plan includes a business
  interruption clause. (N215) Yes 87.0
  (n187)
• How important is it to gather information from
  (N374) Very Important 35.6 (n133)a
  facility concerning their crisis plans?
  Extremely Important 33.4 (n125)
• I meet with the facility to discuss their crisis
  plans. (N374) Never 16.8 (n63) Rarel
  y 17.6 (n66) Sometimes 27.8
  (n104) Often 19.5 (n73) Always
  18.2 (n68)
• How important is a facilitys level of
  preparedness (N374) Not Important
  7.5 (n28)in your site selection process?
  Not Very Important 25.7 (n96)
  Important 33.2 (n124)
  Very Important 21.1 (n79)
  Extremely Important 12.6 (n47)

10
Specific Emergency Situations

• Have you ever experienced a crisis at one of the
  meetings you have planned? (N393)
• No 63.4 (n249) Yes 36.6 (n144)
• Which crises have occurred at one of the meetings
  you have planned? (N144)

Other Mentionables Terrorist Alert Elevated
(DC), Gas leak, Theft, Disruptive attendee
behavior
11
Specific Emergency Situations

• Have you ever had to implement your crisis
  plan(s)? (N161)
• Never 60.2 (n97) Yes 33.6 (n54) Dont
  Know 6.2 (n10)
• Which crises did you implement your plan? (N54)

12
Specific Emergency Situations

• What is the possibility that each of the
  following situations could occur at the meetings
  you will plan in the future? (N364)

13
Training for Employees Key Responders

• How often are your employees trained in each of
  the following areas? (N357)

14
Communication Coordination

• Were any external partners included in developing
  your crisis plan(s)? (N159)

Other Shipping Services (FedEx, UPS, USPS),
City County Governments, Exhibition Management
Company, Contractors, Other association executives
15
Communication Coordination

• I communicate coordinate my crisis plans with
  facility staff, taking into consideration the
  facilitys own crisis plans for a meeting.
  (N159)
• Always 34.8 (n54)
• Often 27.1 (n42)
• Sometimes 22.6 (n35)
• How important is it for meeting planners to
  review emergency procedures at preconvention
  meetings? (N374)
• Important 39.3 (n147)
• Very Important 29.7 (n111)
• Extremely Important 26.2 (n98)

16
Communication Coordination

• How important is it to have a WRITTEN
  communication plan in the event of a crisis
  situation with regards to each of the following?
  (N364)
• I have a WRITTEN communication plan in the event
  of a crisis situation. (N357)
  Never 27.2 (n97) Sometimes 23.5
  (n84) Rarely 20.2 (n72)
• I have a designated media spokesperson for my
  meetings in the event of a crisis.
  (N357) Always 40.1
  (n143) Never 25.8 (n92)

17
Scenario Planning

• My organization engages in scenario planning in
  order to recognize potential threats. (N374)
• Never 40.6 (n152)
• Rarely 26.5 (n99)
• Sometimes 22.7 (n85)
• Often 6.4 (n24)
• Always 3.7 (n14)

18
Testing of Plans

• I have conducted mock drills to test my crisis
  plan(s). (N155)
• No 89.0 (n138)
• How often are mock drills or simulations held to
  test your crisis plan(s). (N17)
• Once per year 64.7 (n11)
• 2-3 times per year 35.3 (n6)
• What exercises do you use to test your crisis
  plan(s). (N17)

19
What do you believe is the most important thing
to consider when creating a crisis plan for a
meeting planner?
Keys to Success

• 
  TOP 5 RESPONSES (N128)
  n

Others Getting started support information
gathering universal, standardized plan, dont
know need help
20
What do you believe is the most important thing
to consider when creating a crisis plan for a
meeting planner?

• Sample of Comments
• Flexibility - no matter what you plan
  for, you can't plan for the exact sequence of
  events. Communication is key.Needs of the
  attendees in an emergency situation.Make it
  specific as to who does what, who will speak for
  the organization how communication with the
  attendees will be madeRecognizing the
  possibility that something may happen (however
  unlikely) and planning accordinglyInvolving
  your local public agencies, police, fire dept,
  health welfare, transportation. Coordination
  with site education of meeting staff.To refer
  train staff hotel partners. It is good to
  have a plan, but there needs to be a "fire drill"
  to make sure all parties know what to
  doPrioritize potential threats and develop
  response scenarios.I believe it is important to
  have a plan. My association only does a plan for
  the annual convention but we plan over 100
  meetings a year with 10 conferences ranging in
  size from 80 - 850 attendees. After taking this
  survey I plan to create a plan for the meetings I
  am responsible.Get started, and you have
  inspired me.Researching and including
  information from the facility(ies), city/local
  government.Crisis plans must be complex enough
  to cover all the bases, but writing and rewriting
  to ensure simplicity and ease of use is
  keyDeveloping a comprehensive plan, including
  communications, that can be readily understood by
  all levels of staff and key leaders.Know how
  well prepared the facility is in helping to
  determine what level of preparedness needed by
  your organization.

21
Would you like to provide any additional
comments regarding Crisis Plans for the
convention and meeting planning industry?
Additional Comments

• 
  TOP 4 RESPONSES (N39)
  n

Others Stress no one-size-fits-all Want info
on outdoor events Organization
Communication Testing the plans Be thorough in
your plan Simple wording Boilerplate model of
major meeting types
22
Would you like to provide any additional comments
regarding Crisis Plans for the convention and
meeting planning industry?

• Sample of Comments
• I really think there needs to be a
  seminar showing how to get started preparing a
  plan...with samples and speakers with
  experiences.Our organization lacks proper
  planning implementation procedures our
  employees are not properly trained in how to
  handle crises..Crisis Plans need to emphasize
  those aspects of an event that are most
  reasonable. Need to be tailored to each event.
  There is no one size fits allI would love to
  see someone (PCMA, CIC, ASAE) provide planners
  with a sample crisis plan. We have a check list
  for everything elseGive us some case studies on
  actual occurrences. type of disaster, how it was
  handled, did they have a plan, did they follow
  the plan, what were the final results. this
  would be extremely useful. I'd like to learn from
  those who had experiences than those who wrote
  the what-if scenario.Hotels and other
  facilities, CVBs and cities need to be part of
  this. I've learned how ill-prepared we all are
  by watching and askingIt would be beneficial if
  there was crisis management development training
  as well as mock events available for plannersI
  need to put one together!!A boilerplate model
  for the major modes of meetings Citywide vs
  center vs. hotel focused on key items to assist
  all in developing own base planSince I am
  trying to prepare one for our company, I would
  like to see a White paper on this written plan as
  I have not been able to find one.Professional
  assistance should be made available to meeting
  planners for Crisis Planning. While crisis
  planning is a very important item, I bet most
  meeting planners do not know how to develop a
  plan. Seminars classes even the option of
  purchasing an overall plan would be helpfulI
  think many plans are in place, but not enough
  people (myself included) do drills with staff or
  review the plan to ensure people will really
  understand what to do. Since few crisis plans
  are put to the test, there are probably extensive
  holes in many of them, and will not serve us well
  if we have to actually use them. This survey
  pointed out a few holes in my own plan!

23
Question 1

• What is the current level of preparedness for the
  meeting planning convention industry?
• The current level of preparedness for the
  meeting planning and convention industry could be
  characterized as fair to poor. Meetings planners
  seem to be aware of the importance for crisis
  plans, but the extent of the plan development
  shows gaps. Approximately 40 of meeting planners
  feel prepared in the event of a crisis, whereas
  another 40 feel not very prepared. Nearly half
  (49.3) of the meeting planners organizations,
  however, do not have a crisis management team
  which is considered to be a vital aspect of a
  strategically developed crisis plan. Having this
  type of team assists with scenario planning and
  testing to identify gaps in the plan and better
  prepare the meeting planners.
• Although 65.6 of the meeting planners felt
  having a crisis plan was either very or extremely
  important, over half of the meeting planners
  (58.5) do not have a plan. Of the 41.5 that do
  have a plan, 60.2 of them have never had to
  implement the plan. This lack of implementation
  tends to leave meeting planners uninformed about
  the serious need of updating and testing their
  crisis plans.
• A final note from the survey regarding the
  current situation is that meeting planners
  believe that it is very to extremely important
  (69) to gather information from a facility
  regarding its crisis plans. They also believe it
  is important (33.2) to consider the facilitys
  level of preparedness during the site selection.
  With all this importance to collaborate with the
  facility being understood, it was surprising to
  see that only 18 of meeting planners always meet
  with the respective facility regarding its plans.
  The highest percentage (27.8) of the meeting
  planners only meet sometimes with the facility.
  This dissonance identifies a lack of action on
  behalf of the meetings planners even though they
  realize the importance of collaboration with the
  facility.

24
Question 2

• What are the strengths of the current crisis
  plans?

• 41.5 of meeting planners have some sort of
  crisis plan
• 40.9 feel their crisis plan is written with
  extensive policies and procedures
• 47.7 of plans are updated once per year
• 41.0 of meeting planners have a
  comprehensive insurance policy to assist with
  crisis recovery actions
• 87 of the insurance policies include a
  business interruption clause
• Almost half (45.9 ) of the meeting planners
  surveyed have collaborated with the
  facilities (convention centers, hotel, etc) in
  developing the crisis plan
• 40.1 have a designated media spokesperson as
  part of their plan

25
Question 2 What are the weaknesses of the
current crisis plans?

• Over half of the meeting planners surveyed did
  not even have a plan 58.5
• Nearly half of the organizations do not have a
  crisis management team 49.3
• A lack of training in areas of potential crises
  was identified by both the survey results and
  additional comments provided by respondents
• Only about one-third of meeting planners
  collaborate with external partners in the
  development of their plans
• 27.2 of meeting planners surveyed never have
  a communication plan in place for their
  meetings
• 40.6 of organizations never engage in
  scenario planning

26
Question 3

• How well have crisis plans been tested for
  effectiveness?
• Literature and experts identify scenario
  planning and testing crisis plans as essential
  action steps in measuring the effectiveness of
  crisis plans. Both of these steps help to
  recognize gaps in the plan that must be corrected
  to ensure a strategic and successful response to
  a crisis situation.
• The 2006 PCMA Crisis Plans survey found that
  40.6 of the meeting planner organizations never
  engage in scenario planning in order to recognize
  potential threats. This is a huge weakness
  identified through the survey. Only 10.1 of the
  respondents organizations often or always engage
  in this process.
• Testing of plans, in the form of exercises, has
  also been identified as a huge weakness for
  meeting planners and their respective crisis
  plans. Of the 41.5 of meeting planners that
  have a crisis plan, 89.0 have never conducted
  mock drills to test the plans. Of the 11 that do
  conduct exercises to test the plans, 64.7 do it
  once a year and 35.3 do it 2-3 times per year.
  The most popular exercises (of the 11) to test
  the plans were mock drills and tabletop exercises
  (e.g. discussions). Computer simulations was only
  selected by one meeting planner. This type of
  exercise is becoming more popular and
  economically feasible. A possible future service
  of PCMA to the industry is to assist in the
  creation and offering of a simulation exercise to
  help meeting planners test their crisis plan.
• Both of these actions scenario planning and
  testing exercises - are areas of concern that
  have been identified as weak aspects of the
  crisis plans. The tremendous importance of these
  action steps must be communicated to meeting
  planners and their organizations.

27

• Questions? Comments?