45 Things That Can Go Wrong at Events

Picture this, you spend three months planning your biggest event yet and the day comes and things start to go wrong. If you're an experienced event planner then you know this is bound to happen, but if this is your first event you might be caught off guard.

Here's a list of things that can and might go wrong at your event. If you know them now, it could save you later!

Things That Go Wrong at Events

1. Weather
2. Run out of food
3. Speaker gets stuck in traffic
4. Attendees don't show up
5. Not enough event space available
6. Bar tab goes over budget
7. Not enough seats
8. Too hot/cold
9. Theme fell flat 
10. Speaker drops out last minute
11. Food doesn't meet expectations
12. Fire
13. Power outage
14. Missing event items 
15. The stage isn't set up right
16. Attendees are confused
17. CEO is unhappy in general 
18. Way too much leftover food
19. Speaker content is poor (offensive, not funny, dry, etc.)
20. Important members are late
21. AV company makes last minute changes
22. Food is left out from the BEO 
23. Scheduling is off
24. Transportation mishap (falls through, late, accident, etc.)
25. Forget to share documents beforehand, like powerpoints
26. The speaker goes over time
27. Not enough break time between segments
28. Not enough water
29. DJ plays a bad set
30. The event is short-staffed
31. Not enough parking
32. More guests arrive than RSVP'd
33. Parking is too far away
34. Losing attendee attention
35. Epic lines
36. Something in the venue breaks (pipe burst, flooding, etc.)
37. Event manager for venue doesn't show up
38. Main event contacts don't answer their phones or go MIA
39. Road blockage right before the venue
40. Attendee/staff/speaker flights get delayed
41. Medical emergency
42. Forget to provide dietary options for food 
43. Bathrooms out of order or not enough of them
44. Rooming issues (not enough rooms, last minute cancellations, wrong room assignments, etc.)
45.  Political incident

Now that you know 45 things that can go wrong at events, you're prepared for the worst! Hopefully, you avoid most of these, but you never know what will happen.

Need a way to make your events run more smoothly? Check out Cvent's Event Management Software.