Your Event has just ended, Now what? (An excerpt)
The event is over and, in all likelihood, it was a huge success. Sadly, you probably have almost as much work now as you did while setting up. As they say, the party is over and it’s time to go.
Some actions need to happen right as the last ball is being hit. Security needs to tighten up concerning the things which will tend to get stolen. Your crew is out taking down the flags and banners before they become souvenir items.
After the banners and flags have been secured, you want your crew to get some rest. Make sure all the villages are secure and any area which may have a television, copier or fax is locked up; then cut your crew loose for the evening. By this time it will usually be around 9:00 pm.
Check the shuttles to insure they are running smoothly, and discuss with dispatch a specific time to shut it down later in the evening. Once the celebration party has ended and all of the spectators are gone from the site, its business as usual for the overnight security.
The next day, concentrate the television distribution crew on retrieving all the televisions from all areas. While they are accomplishing that daunting task, have another crew working with the copier company retrieving all of the copiers and faxes. Still another crew is working with the bottled water company picking up all of the water dispensers from all the locations.
The day after any event is like a free for all. There are many truck and vendors trying to occupy the same space to pick up equipment. It is semi-organized chaos.
After the likely theft items have been retrieved, have some of your crew direct trucks to the proper locations for equipment pick up. The soft drink company has huge box trucks in the village removing refrigerator coolers; the décor company, which had worked into the previous night, has returned to strip the interiors of the tent. There are three dumpsters on each side of every village, moved into location in the early morning to provide the décor vendor a place to discard the broken-down interiors. There will be drivers hauling dumpsters continuously throughout the day trying to keep up with the demolition of the interior of the tents. The décor company has another job waiting in another city, so they are in a hurry. The tent vendor is removing all of the furniture from the tents behind the décor vendor.
During this time the electrical and HVAC vendors have disconnected the electrical from the generators and the HVAC units. The generator company has a huge forklift and is moving the generators to a staging area.
At the same time ecology crews are removing trash from the course and from each tent, following the décor company. If trash is not out of the tents before tear down, there will be trash all over the site. This would not be pretty.
This is another excerpt from my book “Operationally Speaking”. It was written to help those who are operating events of any kind. Experience is paramount but we all can use help along the way. This book is the help.