Do you need to make sure your next meeting is safe for attendees? Use the script of “Risk World 2025”. Its website covers security from the McCormick Square Convention Center held last week, with nearly 11,000 participants in business security, to safety in business travel.
There is information about emergency procedures, lists of prohibited items (including lists of guns and explosives, and brochures such as brochures considered to be destructive to events), catalogs of nearby emergency care facilities and pharmacies, and customized videos created for attendees.
Many tips apply to attendees of any meeting: “Remove your registration badge when leaving the conference center;” “Don’t show the hotel room keys in public places;” and “use only the main entrance of the hotel.”
Prepare for unknown
Stuart Ruff-Lyon, chief event and sales officer of RIMS, Risk Management Association, said it was the world’s largest gathering of risk professionals, and it was hard to identify the biggest threat to large events like the risk world, because there are many.
RIMS had to activate its own crisis management program in 2023, when a deadly shooting in Atlanta forced organizers to cancel the final day of the Georgia World Congress Center meeting about two halves away. One person was killed and four others were injured, and they were still in the entire place, and they sent home 9,000 attendees and 300 exhibitors.
“Violence and cyberattacks are still the most concerned,” said Ruf Leon. “But that’s not always the threat we have to address. When you bring thousands of people to a location, event organizers are bound to leave attendees through illness, weather issues, challenging facility layouts, complex shuttle routes, and other potential obstacles.”
Multiple safety plans
RIMS hires security personnel to monitor the entrance and exit the conference center during the show. Merrill Herzog’s team includes former members of the U.S. intelligence community and U.S. special operations, managing the world of on-site security risks. During the meeting, Chicago police and medical staff were also on the scene.
“In addition to these major players, everyone from our shuttle bus providers to housing providers were involved in the security calls that led to the world of risk and attended a live security show the day before the show,” Ruff-Lyon said.
The entire rim staff helped them. “We rely on their eyes and ears to solve the problem and then they escalate.”
RiskWorld is also the first meeting in the world to use smart accident response technology called Gabriel Protects, which allows attendees to notify the security command center of problems and then provide instant communication to attendees and visual surveillance in the area.
The challenge of changing positions
RIMS changes its risk world risk management program every year. “When a large-scale event moves from location to location every year, the biggest change is the safety team itself,” said Ruff-Lyon. “Moving from the San Diego Convention Center to McCormick Square in Chicago requires rims and safety teams to evaluate the layout of the new convention center, understand where the exit is located, and develop a plan that makes the most sense.”
Then they have to make sure everyone is in the conference center leaders to city executives and then to local police forces.
After the show, the organizers reviewed with all partners and then began preparing for next year’s show for six months (it will take place in Philadelphia from May 3-6, 2026).
