Tyra Warner, Esq, PhD, CMP

Please can you give us a bit of background about yourself and your experience on EIC’s APEX Commission?

My interest in safety and security in the meetings and events industry came about because of two main things — growing up in hurricane country and being a lawyer. I grew up on the coast of Georgia with a healthy respect for inclement weather. I will never forget missing the first day of seventh grade because of Hurricane David — I was always a school geek, and I was upset to miss the first day.

I am thrilled to be a part of the Event Industry Council’s APEX Commission. The industry is vast and diverse, and something like APEX is needed to create accepted practices that can be used across all segments. I love that the APEX Commission and each APEX initiative are made up of such diverse representation. I think it’s my favorite thing about volunteering — the opportunity to meet and work with such interesting people from around the world doing amazing things. 

You developed the original Risk Management Guidebook for the Event’s Industry Council. Tell us about that and what you learned as a result of the findings.

Most recently, I helped to create the APEX Risk Management Guidebook. I did my Ph.D. research on the crisis preparedness of meeting professionals. What I found, which corroborated previous findings, was that meeting professionals agreed that it was important to be prepared, but one of the reasons that they weren’t prepared was because they didn’t know what to do. Other reasons included lack of support and budget.  Where we can help is with the knowledge piece through the Risk Management Guide, webinars, and other educational products and documents.

What, in your opinion, are the biggest risks the global business events industry currently faces?

In my opinion, the biggest threats to the global business events industry are cyber incidents, natural disasters and reputational crises. There are many things that can occur that can adversely affect a business, but data and information is our most important commodity. Great measures need to be taken to protect it and to address what to do if it is attacked, stolen, or breached. Natural disasters cannot be avoided or controlled, only prepared for. I always say that being crisis prepared isn’t another thing for meeting professionals to do. It’s just something to incorporate into every decision made.

Are there any additional risk management resources that you would recommend to planners and organisers?

Some resources that may be helpful:

FEMA Special Events Contingency Planning Job Aids Manual & Training –

Manual - https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=759939

Training - https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=is-15.b

FEMA 141 Emergency Management Guide for Business & Industry (A Step-by-Step Approach to Emergency Planning, Response and Recovery for Companies of All Size) - https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/bizindst.pdf