Snow Catches NCPA Unprepared

When the staff of the North Carolina Press Association woke up to a foot-and-a-half-of snow the day a major convention was scheduled to begin, we realized too late that we had been in denial our whole careers.  Even though this convention was scheduled in January, we had never been snowed out, and simply never wanted to visit the stress and horror of what would happen if snow DID hamper our plans.  After all, we live in Raleigh, NC, where major snowfalls are few and far between, even in the dead of winter.

We were unprepared, but managed to cancel the convention, stopping nearly 600 people from trying to attend (the snowfall was isolated to the middle part of the state), and working out the details with all of the associated venues so we did not suffer a financial catastrophe in the process of canceling.  We actually found a later date, and postponed the event.

After we solved the initial crisis and prepared to move on, the next thing we did was to create a disaster plan.

If faced with a crisis, you will never be able to avoid going into a scramble mode, but a little planning, and having written instructions in place, will make the scrambling go a little smoother.