Have an Exit Strategy

As I was working on an outdoor event recently, I had the opportunity to watch a very skilled semi truck driver maneuver down a narrow, gravel, farm road hauling a full-sized, pop-up, outdoor concert stage which was accordion-style folded onto what felt like the largest, heaviest tractor-trailer I’ve ever seen. I mean, this behemoth looked incredibly out of place in the country, let alone inching down a skinny, dirt road for actual tractors.

The impressive part was watching him drive it to the back-forty, pull up, then back it into the tulip field, “against the grain,” so to speak, the way the field had been plowed; it was a very bumpy ride. All in one shot. No 3-point turns, no back-n-forth. One and done. After he unhitched it and parked his cab, he came into the hospitality tent for lunch. This is where I met up with him.

We chatted a little and I tried not to act like a groupie at a rock concert. I asked about his crafty driving skills and how he learned to do this. He told me about other tricky driving and parking scenarios he’d encountered, mostly in city areas with narrow streets, low-hanging trees, buildings that sat too close together, and of course, low clearance bridges.

I asked him how he was going to get this monstrosity out of the field? Out of this narrow dirt path and up onto the paved street? It seems pretty steep, are you sure you won’t bottom out? We’re expected to get rain, are you sure you won’t get stuck? The driver looked at me very confidently and said, “There is always an exit strategy.“

Of course there is. You wouldn’t plan to bring this thing into the middle of a tulip field and not have plan A, B, and C how you might get it back out. This stage has a date with a festival in two days. It needs to be there rain or shine. Which snapped me back into event-mode and reminded me that when planning events, we also don’t go into an event without having an exit strategy of our own. You don’t only plan to set up the event, you also plan to tear it down. You don’t only plan to ship supplies onto the property, you also plan to have them picked up. You don’t plan to only fly to the venue for the event, you also plan to fly home.

What a great reminder from the driving superhero not to forget that as you are creating your event setup plan and planning task list that you are also thinking about the event teardown plan and exit strategy as well.

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email me, I’d love to hear your story!

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