The wrong winner for Best Picture gets announced at the Oscars
We can never forget that cringeworthy moment when La La Land was wrongly announced the winner at the Oscars 2017. The real winner was Moonlight, but somehow the cards got mixed up and Warren Beauty was instead handed the card for Best Actress. The cast crowded on stage and as the second producer started to give his acceptance speech an embarrassed Horowitz came out to stop the celebrations and announce the right winner, saying ‘this is not a joke!’ Awkward might be an under-statement!
Moral: Check, check and check again – organisation is everything!
TomorrowWorld 2015 Flood Disaster
A concert that the organisers never wanted to end, they kind of got what they wished for! Mid-concert, heavy rains started and flooded the venue. Roads in and out of the venue were closed off and the event goers were trapped with no food or water for days. Cars couldn’t get in and out of the venue and there was no contingency planning for alternative transport or emergency supplies.
Moral: Plan for every contingency and always produce a comprehensive risk assessment and disaster plan, especially for events in areas where the weather can be unpredictable!
Glastonbury 2021 Technical Fail
A live streamed event due to Covid leading to the live event being cancelled for a second year, the festival promised live streaming to millions of fans, but a technical glitch left people receiving an ‘invalid code’ message when attempting to login to watch the event. Whilst people were told they would be to rewind once logged in, many had delays of up to hours and missed out on seeing their favourite acts perform live from the famous Pyramid Stage and Stone Circle. Something of a global embarrassment then!
Moral: If you are using a third party supplier of technology, make sure they perform test runs and check everything before the event goes live.
Starbucks social media goes wrong!
Using social media at your event? Use this a word of warning – using a live feed can and does sometimes go wrong! Starbucks found out the hard way when they streamed their social media feed live, just as the hashtag #SpreadTheCheer started trending to call the coffee giant out for allegedly avoiding taxes. The screen was displayed prominently at the Natural History Museum. Ouch!
Moral: Have someone continually checking your social media during a live stream and of course, pay your taxes!
Barney blows up
The USA hosts a huge Thanksgiving Day Parade once a year which involves carnival floats and giant balloons of famous characters, only in 1997, Barny blew up – literally!
High winds saw the balloon blown into a pointy lamppost, causing the explosion. Since then, high winds have been balloons kept firmly on the ground!
Moral: Risk assess properly and ensure any hazards are accounted for, including dynamic risks that may occur because of weather or unpredictable natural disasters.