Picture this, you spend six months planning your biggest event of the year and the day comes and things start to go wrong. Sometimes, no matter how well organised or planned an event is, unforeseen problems can arise. How you respond to these issues directly influences how successful your event will be.

If anything, the below list highlights the importance of working with a great event agency (I hear Hippo Events are really good…!). A decent agency will foresee the below potential issues and formulate contingency plans to reduce the risks prior to arriving on-site. They should also be highlighted in their Risk Assessments.

Moreover, even if they did occur, the agency would manage the situation on-site, minimising the impact, and leaving you, the client, to manage your stakeholders. To help you be as prepared as possible, we’ve rounded up fifty possible issues you could face.

So, here it is, 50 Things That Could Go Wrong During Your Event:

    1. Lots of no-shows
    2. Too many attendees show up
    3. Public Transport strikes / delays
    4. Flight cancellations
    5. Parking issues
    6. Last minute speaker dropouts
    7. Your supplier doesn’t turn up
    8. Forgotten items (e.g. badges)
    9. Long queues
    10. Technology failures
    11. The weather!
    12. Fire
    13. Power failures
    14. Room temperature too hot/cold
    15. Not enough seating
    16. Not enough food
    17. Short-staffed
    18. Your cloakrooms overflowing
    19. Undeclared dietary requirements
    20. Food poisoning
    21. Speakers running long
    22. Medical emergencies (trips, slips, falls)
    23. Exhibitor / Sponsor complaints
    24. The entertainment falls flat
    25. The bathrooms become out of order
    26. Rogue delegates
    27. Accommodation issues
    28. Drunken antics
    29. Your bar bill is huge
    30. Items go missing / get stolen
    31. Last minute unforeseen changes
    32. Your transport breaks down
    33. Political incidents
    34. Terrorist threats / incidents
    35. Your signage is incorrect
    36. Trespassers in your event
    37. Venue Manager is impossible to find
    38. Presentation PPTs don’t work
    39. Your (badge) printer breaks down
    40. Damage to the venue
    41. Miscommunication
    42. Overcrowding in breakouts
    43. Overenthusiastic security personnel
    44. Insufficient AV
    45. Attendees depart early
    46. Attendees won’t leave
    47. External noise impacts (e.g. roadworks)
    48. Nobody dances at your disco
    49. Unstable internet connections
    50. Luggage gets dropped to the wrong rooms

Pretty scary list, don’t you think? Hippo Events are a Conference Event Management company, specialising in Event Project Management and Global Venue Finding. Feel free to contact us to see how we can assist with your next event, and make it all run smooth!! ?

Hippo offer Event Project Management and Global Venue Finding services. Please feel free to contact us today on 01372 460 100 or email on enquiries@hippoevents.co.uk