Safety first. That’s a mantra that many people live by, and from which Alan Kleinfeld has formed his professional career over the past two decades. With 20 years of experience in both meeting management and public safety, Kleinfeld is certified in a wide variety of disciplines, including fingerprinting and animal control, and has held several volunteer positions within law enforcement. He has also dedicated his time to meeting industry organizations, such as PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), MPI (Meeting Professionals International), SGMP (Society of Government Meeting Planners), and AMP (Alliance of Meeting Professionals).
Kleinfeld was selected as one of ConventionSouth’s Meeting Pros to Watch in 2024, and in his profile in the December 2023 issue, he indicated that the meetings industry “chose” him.
“After finishing my undergrad, I worked as an office manager, which included twice-yearly events. Although small, these events introduced me to the world of catering, budgeting, and audiovisual and showed how great a feeling it is when everything goes right at an event,” he wrote.
He recently spoke with ConventionSouth about how one of the biggest tragedies in history led to his interest in event safety and why being ahead of the game will help planners avoid preventable issues at their events.
Can you share how you became so focused on the safety of events?
I was living in Washington, D.C., when 9/11 happened, and witnessed the destruction and fear it left. I signed up as a reserve police officer and have been involved with safety ever since. My time in public safety evolved to include emergency dispatch, community services, public information, and, eventually, assisting in or with event management, such as races, parades, and other community events. Plus, I served as a member of an emergency operations center to prepare for and respond to disasters.
Given all the moving parts that go into making an event or meeting successful, is the safety aspect sometimes overlooked?
I feel it is almost always overlooked. Safety can be perceived as boring, expensive, or as an issue for vendors or suppliers. Or, often, it is not on the event planner’s radar at all. Unfortunately, it is only after something happens that many planners begin to look at safety.
What are the most important things to consider in ensuring the safety of an event?
It depends on what the most likely scenario of the individual event is. Planners might consider physical safety, reputational safety, technological safety (this could relate to cybersecurity and drones), crisis communications, and environmental safety (weather climate, political climate, and surroundings/environment). A growing issue is mental and behavioral safety as we work our way through all the concerns brought on by the pandemic.
Have you ever witnessed an event in which safety was compromised?
Over the years, I have encountered bottle-necked access areas (which could have posed a safety hazard if the fire alarm had been activated); climate incidents that delayed or cancelled functions; medical events (from minor cuts to slip-and-falls to cardiac events); and fire events (a table candle started a fire but was extinguished quickly). However, I would be hard-pressed to say if any of those incidents were due to compromised safety.
Some incidents occur because someone did not plan or prepare properly or was distracted. Years ago, in a commercial driver’s license class, the instructor made a distinction between car ‘accidents’ and ‘crashes.’ As he explained, accidents are preventable, but crashes are usually the result of mistakes or distractions. That mentality can be applied to event safety, too. Assess the chances of something going awry at a meeting to help determine how to avoid it, plan for it, or respond to it. Managing risk is a key element of event safety.
