windeurope.org EVENTS’ RISK MANAGEMENT – TURNING CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY. Malgosia Bartosik Deputy CEO WindEurope EAS 2 June 2016

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Bad luck Volcano eruption in 2010, in Warsaw Blackout in 2006, in Athens General strikes in Milan and Marseille, 2007 and 2009 Terrorist attack in 2015

Crisis Any unplanned event, occurrence or sequence of events that has a specific, undesirable consequence “crisis do not make an appointment” – it can come at any time and under the most unfavourable circumstances

Crisis = danger + opportunity 危 机危 机

Main causes of crisis Acts of God Management decisions/indecisions Operational or mechanical problems Human error

Example of crisis Natural disasters Terrorism Asset damage Health threat Strike Corporate scandal Transport delays

Crisis categories Insignificant event: a minor incident that can be handed internally, with no external impact Minor event: it does not pose an immediate threat Moderate event: could escalate to more serious crisis Major event: may seriously disrupt operations Critical, catastrophic event: detrimental effect, serious threat to stakeholders; disrupted operations

Risk assessment: brainstorm session What could happen? How do you deal with it? Who does what? Who takes the risk? Insurance?

Importance of crisis management planning Roles and responsibilities Crisis team (strengths of individuals) Decision process Communication

EWEA2015 at a glance The wind industry’s annual gathering Porte de Versailles, Paris 16 – 19 November ,000 attendees, from more than 80 countries

Friday, 13 November, 22:00 A series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris

Terrorist attack must be part of event’s risk assessment Be prepared: Insurance Define crisis management team Chain of command Communication

ACT FAST: asses the situation and take control Activate the crisis management team Communicate Your stakeholders need to know you are on top of the situation and they can relay on you Who are your stakeholders? Who and how communicates with them?

Take informed decision Who takes the responsibility? Check with local authorities What other organisers are doing

The event goes ahead Focus on: Communication (external and internal) Organisational adaptations (social events, budget, empty stands, less participants)

Communication 24h hotline Real time updates about Paris situation, transportation, security, quotes from politicians (website, media partners, mailings) Real time feed from the event with information and photos

Insurance Collect all the evidence to prove your case

Conclusions & lessons learned

We managed to turn the disaster to a very successful event 7000 participants from 70 countries Praised by all the stakeholders Strengthen the brand of the association and the industry itself

Other examples

Quick response with a humorous tweet. Result: the tweet generated buzz among bloggers and it got support from the brewery, who embraced the hashtag and encouraged its followers to donate

Taco Bell’s “seasoned beef” meat filling lawsuit Lawsuit was dropped and Taco Bell has even strengthened its brand Taco Bell’s parent company was sued over the content of its meat. The lawsuit alleged that the company’s “seasoned beef” contained only 35% beef and that Taco Bell was lying in its advertising. Taco Bell explicitly declared the claims false and shared with public its percentages (88% beef and 12% secret recipe), along with the ingredients in the secret recipe itself. They have fired up a PR campaign to shoot down the allegation and to get the word out about its “not – so – secret” recipe.

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