Here's how you can effectively handle disruptions and emergencies during events.

Assess crowd size and pre-entry security activities. Assess exits and access ways for any limitations and corrective measures. Assess indoor and outdoor areas for potential problems.

Often, and a widely used process is the development of a THIRA, or Threat Hazard Identification Risk Analysis. It is a type of Matrix that can be built upon by a team of those responsible for Emergency Readinesd and Responses to resulting calamaties from hazard risks. It can be expanded further with response needs both during and after during recovery to firther prepare and effectually reduce the impacts. Very often those of us in emergency services heavily focus only on the immediate goals shorg term. However, equally important is tbe longer game, post event and the road to recovery and how to impact that to your level of ability.

This first step,the Risk Assessment”helps you to understand what types of disruptions you could expect which leads to the list of necessary tools or resources you may need to mitigate them. For example in these times of vehicle borne attacks or even accidental vehicle breeches of a perimeter, placement of (HVM) Hostile Vehicle Mitigation devices becomes key to event safety. Traffic cones and wooden barricades only work for the honest, safe and sober driver. Planning ahead for these possibilities, no matter how unlikely you may think they will happen, safes lives.

Another thing to consider when performing a risk assessment is to not do it alone. Involve a multidisciplinary team. Involve local Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Public works, and others you can think of. Adding subject matter experts help develop a comprehensive and realistic perspective. It also serves to build long term relationships and help with communication during the event.

Performing a proper risk assessment, be it to a local area event or a large regional event you must assess each area of concern individually, then how can this event be mitigated in both situations. What are the primary concerns and what are the secondary, or ongoing concerns? a special event such as a sporting/concert event (local problem). Don't just look at the event, look at the entire area. What are the traffic changes, what are the medical concerns, and what are the safety and security requirements of these changes in the normal workload? When assessing large-scale regional or state events i.e. weather, think BIGGER, get a 20,000 feet view. Think evaluation, stay in place, or temp. Shelters. Then, divide, manage, and conquer

One element to consider is that no matter how many contingencies an organization plans for, it will never be able to account for every possible emergency scenario. However, making and practicing plans facilitates forward, out-of-the-box thinking. Personnel well-versed in an organization's emergency plans (and who routinely exercise them) can more effectively innovate solutions when they encounter a crisis for which a plan has not been created. Planning for the expected fosters readiness for the unexpected.

Once you've developed the plan, exercise it. Include wild cards in the exercise, and use hot washes and After Action Reports (and outside observers) to refine and fine-tune your plan.

A good thing to remember: if you mention another agency in your plans, make sure they're at the table and remember it isn't a %100 guarantee. This is where building relationships is important to any plan development. Plans deliver handshakes, it's up to the plan makers to continue the conversation long after the plan is made. I.e., training and exercising together.

In your risk assessment, you've identified areas of concern depending on the size of the event. Invite plenty of people to this event. Fed, State, Local area not affected, experts in those fields you've identified as concerns, identify local businesses with materials and equipment. Support (Red Cross, Food Banks, etc.). Again, Divide and Conquer. Gather all who can help in some way, bring them together, and develop a plan with all players/stakeholders. Practice each step, and work the plan when there are no lives at stake. Then, mold that plan the best you can. An event is not stationary, it evolves so a plan should as well. Work it, dissect it, and find the weak spots for improvement. Rinse and repeat.

Planning, in anything, is crucial for the success of the team to complete their goals. In public events, there are a lot of factors that need to be accounted for. One you have your risk assessment, include your partners in the planning. Each partner is your partner for a reason, and allowing them to own their space within the plan is vital. Their knowledge will elevate the plan, and they will have the expertise to provide the necessary training. The other important aspect of including your partners is communication. During the emergency planning, you will be able to determine the necessary interoperability of each stakeholder, and this will jump start your communications plan.

Training the team by going over some possible disruptions in a table top exercise will help create the “muscle memory “ to initiate the proper action when something actually occurs. We did this in 2017 leading up to a World Cup Rowing event involving 72 Countries. We gathered the planning committee and gave them a crash course on the Incident Command System, wrote an event emergency plan and held a table top exercise. The exercise had a variety of possible disruptions including a tropical storm (which actually occurred 2 weeks before the start of the event”. Because we conducted this the tent company knew to flatten & stake the frames into the ground and leave the “skins” off until after the storm had passed. End result, successful event

Once when I was ops chief at FDEM during a drill I just turned off the computers and said we are going all paper. Learn to get up out of your chair and talk to each other. Fun day.

Training is indispensable in an emergency response action plan. The prevention of pandemonium necessitates the calm direction of crowds. Use visible markers or signage to assign trained personnel to serve as guides. For instance, our volunteers were readily identifiable among the crowd and contributed to maintaining order during the wildfire evacuation response in Manitoba by wearing brightly coloured Red Cross vests. This example demonstrates the significance of actionable emergency plans by illustrating how a structured approach and a prepared team can prevent a disruption from escalating into a full-blown crisis.

Another consideration is using commonly understood language when communicating. Make sure event staff understand any event specific jargon, or--better yet--use plain English or native language.

Make friends with Law Enforcement. Build in budget funds to "hire" police to be at your event (required by some venues if alcohol is served) and include their representative in team trainings. They've seen it all and can outline your volunteers' limits/liabilities in handling unexpected guest behaviors and situations.

Hay un refrán que dice "la practica hace al maestro". Revisa siempre lo que si estuvo correcto y lo que no. busca un feedback del evento. Cada persona tendrá una mirada y experiencia distinta. recuerda que la critica no es personal, sino de como lo vio el otro.. y claro mientras mas eventos coordines mas experiencia y capacidad resolutiva tendrás.

Monitoring:- Continuous monitoring the event, environment for any signs of disruption. Have staff regularly check critical areas e.g. entrance, exist and high -traffic zones.