What do you do if your live event faces unexpected challenges?

1 Plan ahead

The best way to avoid or minimize the impact of unexpected challenges is to plan ahead and anticipate potential scenarios. Before your event, make sure you have a clear goal, a detailed agenda, a reliable platform, a backup system, and a contingency plan. Test your equipment, software, and internet connection, and have a technical support team ready to assist you in case of any glitches. Communicate with your speakers, guests, sponsors, and partners, and confirm their roles, expectations, and availability. Inform your audience about the event details, the format, the rules, and the benefits, and encourage them to register, RSVP, or buy tickets in advance.

2 Stay calm

Even with careful planning, you may still face some unexpected challenges during your live event. For example, you may have a power outage, a speaker cancellation, a security breach, or a negative feedback. When these situations occur, the most important thing is to stay calm and not panic. Remember that your audience is looking at you for guidance and reassurance, and your reaction will influence their perception and experience. Take a deep breath, acknowledge the issue, apologize if necessary, and focus on finding a solution. Don't let your emotions get the best of you, and don't blame yourself or others for the problem.

3 Be flexible

Another key skill to overcome unexpected challenges during your live event is to be flexible and adaptable. Sometimes, you may have to improvise, adjust, or change your plans on the spot, depending on the nature and severity of the issue. For example, you may have to switch to a different platform, reschedule your event, replace your speaker, or modify your content. In these cases, you need to be creative, resourceful, and open-minded, and use the available tools and resources to make the best out of the situation. Don't be afraid to ask for help, feedback, or suggestions from your team, your partners, or your audience, and be willing to learn from your mistakes and improve your performance.

4 Engage your audience

One of the main goals of any live event is to engage your audience and provide them with value and satisfaction. However, unexpected challenges can disrupt your engagement strategy and affect your audience's attention, interest, and participation. To prevent this from happening, you need to maintain a high level of interaction and communication with your audience throughout your event. For example, you can use polls, quizzes, games, Q&A sessions, chat rooms, or social media to keep your audience involved and entertained. You can also use humor, stories, anecdotes, or testimonials to keep your audience inspired and motivated. Finally, you can use incentives, rewards, discounts, or giveaways to keep your audience loyal and grateful.

5 Follow up

The last tip to overcome unexpected challenges during your live event is to follow up with your audience after your event. This is a crucial step to show your appreciation, collect feedback, measure your results, and build relationships. After your event, make sure you thank your audience for their attendance, their patience, their support, and their contribution. Ask them to fill out a survey, a testimonial, or a review, and use their feedback to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Send them a summary, a recording, a transcript, or a certificate of your event, and provide them with additional resources, information, or offers. Finally, invite them to join your community, your newsletter, your social media, or your next event, and keep in touch with them until then.

6 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?