Ironically, as the world advances in technology, the security of our meetings diminishes at an increasing rate. We are not as secure as we once were because, nowadays, everyone can easily be a threat to the secrecy and anonymity of our meetings.
There’s always a security threat any time you gather a large number of people together, and as an event host, it’s your job to ensure the safety of your guests. The main goal of security is not to react to threats but rather to prevent threats from happening in the first place, yet security is often the last aspect of an event that is considered.
There is no perfect security program, and you can never guarantee that a place is entirely safe. Still, for high-profile events drawing crowds or protesters, you must ensure security plans that can’t afford to miss anything.
This is why you need to ask yourself some critical security questions, like
•How many people are expected?
•Where the meeting will take place (off-site or at corporate headquarters),
•What steps will you take to prevent outside disruptors from gaining access to your event?
•How will you handle the situation if they do?
•Does the venue have any security vulnerabilities (e.g., an outdoor venue is harder to secure, but an indoor venue has fewer escape routes.)?
•Are you restricting confidential data to the people who need to see it? How are you destroying or disposing sensitive information at the end of the event?
Your answers to these questions give you an overview of how secure your security measures are and how you can improve them. From a security perspective, more advanced planning is demanded at off-site meeting locations such as hotels and convention centers so that each area to be accessed is reviewed and accounted for from a security perspective.
Also, you should ensure your attendees understand that not all information should be disseminated on any public Wi-Fi but only secure, encrypted networks should be used.
Some organizations like to announce their events publicly, even if the events aren’t open to the public. Keeping it as secret as possible is a good idea unless the event is open to the public. Agitators cannot cause harm to a meeting they do not know about, right?
With the proper planning, training, and resources, every meeting can be productive and secure, and it starts with you.
Do you have a system in place to keep your meetings safe?
