Event risk management plan: ACTION!

Puerto Rican Latin music star Andy Montañez and his managers had to postpone his concert (planned to be held in the Coliseum of Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot) after suffering a serious transit accident in Colombia last April 30. The concert was originally dated Saturday May 26, where he would celebrate his 50 years of participation in the Latin music industry. After one of the tires of the bus where he was traveling with 4 musicians exploited, the bus left the road, hit a tree, and overturned. The accident caused the singer a trauma in his spine and severe lacerations in his body and right foot. The artist was the most injured of all the affected.

After being attended in the Santa Teresa de Fundacion Clinic, Dr. Reynaldo Ferrerira (emergency surgeon) said that despite the lesions and the operation that had to be performed to fix the foot, he is stable and out of danger. Still, medical studies have been done to monitor the artist’s spine and general health.

How unexpected incidents like these affect event management? Tropical Productions, company in charge of the concert’s planning and coordination, had the obligation to postpone the long-awaited celebration of Andy’s 50-year career in the music industry. The concert was rescheduled, and will be performed July 14 at 8:30 p.m. (in the same arena). The tickets that have already been sold for the original concert will be accepted and honored. The ticket price range also remains the same, starting in $ 25.00 to $ 65.00.

Besides responding to an event planning and coordination, event planners must implement a risk management plan to solve situations like these. There are times where the guest talent cannot participate anymore in the event for reasons beyond his or her control (like Andy’s case). To know what to do when uncontrollable incidents happen, a risk management plan will identify possible risks to develop and implement programs to protect the organization and prevent event loss.

More structured it is important to assess and evaluate to identify, analyze and prioritize potential risks; select the methods to prevent the event and the company’s loss; implement the best methods; monitor results; and modify if is needed.