Corporations love events. Even with the move to more and more “online” events, corporate events are increasing according to those entities that track this in a statistical way.
It seems like as much as technology progresses with mobile phone, SKYPE, video conference, and even “virtual reality,” humans like to see other humans face to face in the real world. There’s no substitute for a handshake, and there’s no substitute for looking a potential business partner directly in his or her “real” eye and not their “virtual” eye. Indeed, with global trade expanding, many global corporations hold corporate events and meetings overseas. The staff may be rounded up for a big yearly corporate event in London, or a smaller meet-and-greet in Mexico City. It all depends – but the trend is clear – corporate events are here to stay, whether overseas, in international venues, or here at home in the United States.
Corporate Event Security: What Threats Do You Face?
All of this, however, brings us to corporate event security. Any high profile event is a potential terrorist “target,” and even medium events may be targets for corporate espionage or other wrong-doers. Unfortunately, we’ve seen examples of corporate events gone awry, up to and including kidnapping and technical espionage. Whether it’s a terrorist that’s looking for a high publicity way to “make a statement,” a criminal looking for a “high value” executive to kidnap, or just a competitor seeking to hack into your corporation’s email system to secure trade secrets – you’ve got to address the problem of corporate event security. This goes for events that are just a few key executives and events that may be hundreds or even thousands of participants, such as a corporate trade show.
Some potential questions for an audit would be as follows. First, what is the location of the event? Not just the city or country but the venue itself. Is it to be held in a public location such as a convention center of hotel, or is it to be held in a truly private location? Second, what type of publicity is required? Obviously, events that require outreaching publicity are, in a sense, more likely targets vs. events that are secret or not promoted. Third, what types of individuals will be in attendance and, at what levels? An event that has outside customers, sales representatives, and key executives is different than an event that brings together only senior executive. Fourth, what are the likely threats? A high profile event may provoke the threat of a terrorist attack, while a low profile event with senior executives might be a target for competitor cyber terrorism. These are just a few questions in a security audit; no two events are the same, and the first important step is a conversation with a corporate security expert to assess your event and begin to identify potential threats.
Request a Consultation with a Corporate Event Security Expert
Our corporate event security experts can help do a pre- and post-event security audit. With a background in technical expertise, our experts and corporate security consultants bring a keen eye to seeing what you may not see. The first step is to reach out for a consultation on a possible event security pre-audit. If we decide to engage, our consultants can then provide a step-by-step corporate event security plan. While it’s true that no event can be made 100% secure, the point of engaging a security expert is to mitigate risks and bring down the likelihood of a problem.
Photo credit: University of Salford via Foter.com / CC BY