There is one constant in project management, and that is that things will go wrong. Preparing for the possibilities of what could go wrong, in the project planning stages, will be critical – but it seems that spending the needed time and focus on this as part of managing projects is something that small business owners push to the bottom of the priority list – and I have made it my mission to encourage you to move it back up to the top – or the resulting effect could be costly.

I think it is human nature to say, “It won’t happen to me.” Yet, things do happen to us – far more often than we would like – and so to plan for the unforeseen and unexpected is like giving an insurance policy to our projects. Let me share one of my more embarrassing moments – where I failed in this miserably – but learned a very valuable lesson.

Over the years, a fair share of the project management work I have done has been related to planning and managing special events. From being the Chairperson for three Charity Golf Tournaments, to Corporate Sales & Training Events, to Co-Chair for a city wide festival – for the most part I have been successful in avoiding the unexpected because I am annoyingly detailed.

I’m the kind of person who would think about – “What if the golfers get held up on the green because some rattlesnake decides to coil up next to the 7th hole.” (Hey…In Colorado, it could happen!) OR… “What if we get all of the tents setup for the farmer’s market and a tornado decides to roll through.”

Most people do not want to think about those things. They just want to get rolling on the project. But I’ve learned over the years to anticipate just about anything. And while I actually never encountered any issues with rattlesnakes – I did encounter something, which I am convinced to this day, is something that I would have never thought of in even my wildest imagination!

Back in 2004, I was managing a 3-day conference which was on tour around the U.S. This particular event was held in Los Angeles. The average age of the attendees at these events was 45 – 80 years old, and they were moderately conservative, as was my client, as so am I.

The second night of the event was on a Saturday. Our event was scheduled to end at 8:00 pm – with a one hour tear down time – so that meant we needed to be completely out by 9:00 pm. There was another event booked in that room - scheduled to start at 10:00 pm. The hotel made an error with the other group and told them, they could begin setting up at 8:00 pm!

This other group wasted no time. They literally showed up and came right in and began to setup right at 8:00 pm, in spite of the fact that we were all still in the room, trying to clear it. They could not have been more rude if they had tried – OH…and their products??? Adult toys! Their mission? Well, at that moment it seemed that they were going to do everything and anything they could to offend and shock OUR guests. From putting things into people’s faces, to wearing certain items and running around the lobby, to certain attire – they were going to make sure they were noticed.

To say the least I was mortified, horrified, and any other kind if "...ied" you might think of! What was worse – the hotel management and security people did not care – and were not at all willing to help us! This group was bringing in a lot of revenue compared to our group, and so we definitely took a back seat.

There was absolutely nothing I could do but try to appease our guests, profusely apologize, offer to get them other nearby accommodations (of which there were none), and have our volunteers help them exit that floor as quickly as humanly possible. We had to refund money because many people refused to return for Day-3, and the trickle down effect went on for about 2 weeks.

To this day I do not know how I could ever manage a project and totally plan for something as outrageous as this again but you can be sure I added several things to my checklist! And as annoyingly detailed as I was before this incident – this experience definitely put me on a mission to convince others to always plan for the worst – and expect the best out of your projects.