What do you do if technology fails during a live event production?

1 Assess the situation

The first thing to do when technology fails is to assess the situation and determine the cause and the impact of the failure. Is it affecting the entire event or only a specific component? Is it a temporary or permanent issue? Is it something you can fix yourself or do you need external help? Depending on the answers, you may need to take different actions, such as switching to a backup system, contacting your service provider, or informing your audience.

2 Communicate with your team

Communication is key to managing any crisis, especially a technology failure. You need to keep your team informed of the situation and coordinate your actions. Use a reliable communication channel, such as a walkie-talkie, a phone, or a chat app, and assign clear roles and responsibilities. For example, you may have someone in charge of troubleshooting the problem, someone in charge of updating the audience, and someone in charge of monitoring the feedback.

3 Inform your audience

One of the worst things you can do when technology fails is to leave your audience in the dark. You need to inform them of what is happening and what you are doing to resolve it. Be honest, transparent, and professional, and avoid blaming anyone or making excuses. You can use different methods to communicate with your audience, such as a microphone, a screen, a social media post, or an email. You can also apologize for the inconvenience and offer some compensation, such as a discount, a refund, or a freebie.

4 Have a backup plan

The best way to deal with technology failures is to prevent them from happening or minimize their impact. That's why you need to have a backup plan for every possible scenario. You can have backup equipment, software, and power sources ready to use in case of emergency. You can also have backup content, such as pre-recorded videos, slides, or audio, that you can play if the live stream or the presentation fails. You can also have backup venues, speakers, or performers that you can switch to if the original ones are unavailable.

5 Test everything beforehand

Another way to prevent technology failures is to test everything beforehand and make sure everything works as expected. You can do a dry run of your event and check all the equipment, software, and network connections. You can also do a sound check, a video check, and a lighting check before the event starts. You can also have a checklist of all the items and tasks that you need to complete before, during, and after the event.

6 Learn from your mistakes

Finally, you need to learn from your mistakes and improve your processes for future events. You can do a post-event evaluation and identify what went wrong and why. You can also collect feedback from your team, your audience, and your partners and see how they perceived the event and the technology failure. You can then use this information to make changes, adjustments, and recommendations for your next event production.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?