Why Your Event Needs to Account for Weather

If you think the only time the weather matters is when you’re running an outdoor event, you’d be sadly mistaken. The weather has an impact on virtually every facet of your event, even if it’s not immediately obvious. For this reason, ignoring it entirely is a foolish thing to do.

Today, we’re going to examine how the weather affects your events –and what you can do to account for it.

Don’t worry; we’re not going to be dealing with any of that hogwash about how weather can change the mood of your guests. Even if it can, the impact will be minimal – hardly worth consideration. Of far greater concern is the effect the outdoors has on logistics.

Transportation

First and foremost, let’s talk about transportation. Particularly if you’re running a conference with a large volume of out-of-town guests, inclement weather is going to present a significant obstacle for anyone who’s looking to attend – guests and partners alike. Take NYNOW, which last December was hosted in the middle of a blizzard.  Vendors from all over the world saw their bottom line being crushed by the storm, as many guests didn’t want to brave the cold in order to attend.

Weather

That isn’t the only way the weather can wreak havoc with an indoor event, either. A severe enough storm can knock out the power for an entire city block, shutting things down entirely in the process. Not exactly the sort of thing you’d want to be dealing with, right?

So…aside from keeping an eye on the weather reports in the days leading up to your conference, what can you do to mitigate the impact a storm?

Mitigating the impact

First off, you need to make sure your event always has a dedicated coat check room. That way, if it’s raining or snowing outside, guests have somewhere to store all their weather gear while wandering about the event floor. That’ll help keep cleanup a bit easier, as well – you won’t have to worry as much about mud or slush being spread throughout the venue.

Second, you should seriously consider providing dedicated transport to the event venue. Although that might incur a bit of extra cost on your part, it might be worth the effort if it keeps your vendors and guests happy, especially those attending from out of town. Look into shuttle rentals if you’ve the time (it can be something of an overwhelming job, especially if left to the last minute).

Third, you’re going to want to issue regular warnings and advisories to both attendees and event partners. Keep everyone up to date, and offer plenty of advice on how they can get themselves to and from the event safely. SMS is a great avenue through which this can be done. 

Last, but certainly not least, the best piece of advice I can give you is to be proactive. Be prepared to adjust, postpone, or even cancel your event based on how the weather’s looking. You can always run it some other time, after all – preferably when the weather’s actually willing to cooperate.