Although your youth exchange lasts, for example five days, you should gather your project team at least one or two days earlier, as already mentioned before. This is not only important in the context of technical preparation for the arrival of the group, but it is also an important phase of building and enhancing the team. Anyway, no matter how well prepared you are, there will probably be situations impossible to predict! Some of the most experienced event organizers shared a list of 45 things that may go wrong. Check it out – better be prepared than sorry!
| Things That Go Wrong at Events | ||||
| Important members are late | Food doesn’t meet expectations | Speaker content is poor (offensive, not funny, dry, etc.) | Main event contacts don’t answer their phones | Event manager for venue doesn’t show up |
| Run out of food | Power outage | Weather | Fire | Theme fell flat |
| Speaker gets stuck in traffic | Attendee/staff/speaker flights get delayed | AV company makes last minute changes | The event is short-staffed | Road blockage right before the venue |
| Attendees don’t show up | Speaker drops out last minute | Food is left out from the BEO | Not enough parking | DJ plays a bad set |
| Way too much leftover food | Missing event items | Scheduling is off | Political incident | Medical emergency |
| Not enough break time between segments | Rooming issues (not enough rooms, last minute cancellations) | Transportation mishap (falls through, late, accident, etc.) | Something in the venue breaks (pipe burst, flooding, etc.) | Forget to provide dietary options for food |
| Not enough seats | Attendees are confused | The stage isn’t set up right | Losing attendee attention | Parking is too far away |
| Too hot/cold | CEO is unhappy in general | The speaker goes over time | Epic lines | Not enough water |
| Forget to share documents beforehand | Not enough event space available | Bar tab goes over budget | Bathrooms out of order or not enough of them | More guests arrive than RSVP’d |
Now that you know what can go wrong at events, you’re prepared for the worst!
How can you deal with it on the spot? Consider these five-star rules:
- Pause before you act! A deep breath can make a difference!
- Accept the unexpected! After all… it shakes things up!
- Consult with your team! Remember: you are all together in this!
- Be optimistic and positive! A bright smile always lightens things up!
- Embrace your imperfections! Even if you don’t manage to solve the issue, there is always room for improvement! We are all humans after all!
SECRET BOX
To commit the same sin twice [is] not [a sign] of a wise man! Write down what happened, how you reacted and all other details of the incident, so you can discuss it with your team during the evaluation process! Maybe next time you can be more prepared (or more…lucky!).