CONtinuity Planning

[robgates]

So....I'll be interested to hear the post-con news regarding the Great Wiscon Plague of 2008 for real details, but the "stomach flu" outbreak at Wiscon got me thinking about the application of Business Continuity Planning concepts to convention planning. How, as a convention, do you respond to an outbreak like the one at Wiscon...to a weather

Comments

[naomikritzer]

I overheard Jeanne Gomoll saying on Sunday or Monday that they have contingency plans for all sorts of emergencies. They have a plan for tornado warnings, a plan for fires, etc. But it had never occurred to them to plan what to do in the event of an epidemic.

I imagine a whole lot of cons are going to discuss what to do in the event of an epidemic. Smaller cons will probably go with the "eh, hopefully it won't happen" option but the big cons should probably seriously consider some more detailed plans. Also -- this was clearly not something simple like a food-poisoning outbreak from consuite potato salad, but consuites tend to be very slack with food handling. One of the ironies of this happening at WisCon is that they're really GOOD with the food handling -- the hot dogs have their little turner to see that they stay hot, the pizzas are made up fresh from the freezer and are quickly consumed, etc. Many cons, though, will leave out perishables for hours and hours -- I've eaten room-temperature gyro meat and cold cuts that have sat out for hours, and lived to tell the tale, but really, it's not a good idea, and this will probably raise some awareness of it.