Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety

James Taylor interviewed Carol Cambridge and they talked about Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety

In today's episode Carol Cambridge talked about, Active Shooter And Threats to Event Safety.

Carol Cambridge is CEO of The Stay Safe Project, an international conference speaker and workplace violence expert. She is on a mission to help people and organizations stay safe by being prepared and taking action from a place of strength not from a place of fear. Her career began as a communication specialist in emergency services and disaster preparedness with a Canadian Law Enforcement Agency. Today, 25 years later, Carol has taught over a quarter of a million people how to make good decisions. Highly profiled for her expertise, she is constantly sought by media for comments when workplace shootings and tragedies occur. Carol has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, USA Today, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation & News Channel Asia in Singapore.

What we cover:

• Emergency planning for events

• Active-shooters and terrorism at live events

• Working with local enforcement

Resources:

• Carol's Website

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Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/active-shooter-and-threats-to-event-safety-sl095/

James Taylor Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today's episode.

Hey there, it's James Taylor, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Carol Cambridge. Carol Cambridge is CEO of the state safe project and international conference speaker and a workplace violence expert. She is on a mission to help people and organizations stay safe by being prepared and taking action from a place of strength, not a place of fear. Her career began as a communication specialist in emergency services and disaster preparedness with a Canadian law enforcement agency. Today 25 years later, Carol has taught over a quarter and a quarter million people how to make good decisions and credible number highly profiled for our expertise. She is constantly sought after by media for comments when workplace shootings and tragedies occur. Carol has been interviewed by ABC, NBC, USA Today Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and news channel Asia in Singapore. It's my great pleasure to have Carol join us today. So welcome, Carol,

Carol Cambridge thank you. My pleasure to join you this morning, James.

James Taylor So share with everyone what's going on in your world just now. What are you currently working on at the moment?

Carol Cambridge I guess more than anything, the inquiries I get are all around active shooters, workplace violence in general, things that we didn't see years ago, we're starting to see and it's becoming almost commonplace. I hate to actually acknowledge that or to say that, but it is becoming more commonplace, especially with event planners, they're dealing with things in the last year, so that weren't even on their radar five years ago. So across all industries, I would say increase in violence increase in workplace safety, security issues. And active shooter is probably the biggest concern, at least in the United States. And I think globally, people are starting to wake up and think, Hey, we have time now to get prepared to take whatever steps necessary to maybe not be able to eliminate but to reduce the risk of that ever happening.

James Taylor Yeah, I know where I'm speaking to you from today, here in the UK, you know, obviously terrorism has been a strong, you know, a big one for many, many years and thinking about and preparing for those as there's incredible work that's gone into around that. But in the US, obviously gun crime is a bigger issue. And we've seen some terrible occurrences recently as well. And you're I know, you're often brought on to like news channels and TV shows to do that. Do you ever feel sometimes I really wish I wasn't having to go back on and do these do these interviews? Because you know, you're having to? I know you're having to do, unfortunately, you have to do a lot of them in a bad sense.

Carol Cambridge Absolutely. And, you know, it's very sad. There's a recent study been done out of the University of Alabama, that shows when there is one bad incident like this, that almost always within a two week period following there will be another severe incident, whether that's in the UK, in Europe somewhere, whether that's in the United States, but you know, my phone rings, I have more interviews, I have people that wake up to the possibilities. So the unfortunate part for me is every time there's a terrible incident, anywhere in the world, my phone starts to ring.

James Taylor Let's talk about how you came into this industry. I mentioned you worked in law enforcement and helping those kind of agencies as well. When did it when did the more the events side start for you? When did that all begin?

Carol Cambridge Well, I moved to the United States from Canada about 24 years ago. And when I started into this business, I just saw that there was a hole, I guess, in both corporate america and then probably just five, six years ago, really in the events industry started to realize that that event planners just weren't prepared. And this is happening more and more. When I get hired to do. I do an active shooter keynote, which I know sounds a little odd to do a keynote on an active shooter, but we actually do a couple of mock drills. And when I get hired to do something like that, I have something that I send out to my client to help the event. planter, from the point of insurance to talking to where the the event is going to be located, whether that's a conference center or a hotel, but really where they can combine forces. And what I realized going through this is that most event planners are just not aware at all of the potential for violence or what their role should be in this, I think the UK and is probably further ahead. In this area, the United States is getting there, but other countries are really far far behind and smaller events, event planners who are maybe running conferences for 150 people or 200. People, they have less knowledge of what preparation that they need to be concerned about

James Taylor is one of the reasons I was so keen to get to get you on here, because I just feel it's such a, it's such an important issue at this point as well. We're seeing obviously more and more occurrences of this happening as well. And also with the the nature of this event, we're doing just that as a global event. So I you know, I know that frozen in the US and and also in the UK, they're really at the forefront of some of these things as well. But I wanted to get him get your knowledge to as many people as possible because it could potentially save lives as well, when you were starting in this business of actually talking about these things, especially to meeting professionals, event professionals. Was there any other kind of mentors or any other people you saw during that time that we were doing this work? Or did you have to kind of forge your own path,

Carol Cambridge I think it really forged my own path. When I first started doing this, I almost had to twist people's arms. And even now I just spoke with a bureau speaker's bureau this morning, and let her know that I have a last minute booking. And I know she had a couple of people who maybe couldn't afford me. But I thought if I'm there locally, maybe we could work out a deal. And she said, I can't understand why I'm not booking you three or five times a day. She said everybody needs this. But in the event planning industry, there's a little bit of denial going on. I think people there's two reasons I think people are in denial, they're afraid that if they address these issues, or they address them with their audiences that they're going to create fear with the audience. And then I think secondly, they think that this is a negative or a downer, you know, as a professional speaker, and presenter as you are, we know how to work with audiences, I know how to take a traumatic topic, a topic, that could be a real downer, but I make it, I almost hesitate to use the word fun. But it's very experiential. And audiences say they have fun, I'm constantly coming back as one of the highest rated, and it isn't because necessarily what I'm doing. But the way I choose to set up the program, it's extremely experiential, it, there's not a talking head, I'm not the talking head, everybody is involved, and everybody plays a role. And so I think that's what makes it exciting. And, and attendees learn better that way. So I'm starting to see where some event planners are getting more and more calls, even in the last month, from event planners who are more open to let's get our staff trained, let's get our people trained, because if something does go wrong at one of our events, we do have some liability there.

James Taylor Now we're gonna get into some more specifics in a minute. But one of the stats that I heard and I came up with you told me or maybe it was one of one of my speaking colleagues was this 10 8010 rule where this, I think they said it was, in the case of an event, basically, 10% of people will actually actively do something to help and to get things happening. 80% will do nothing, unless they're given instructions from either the keynote speaker on stage or someone there. And actually not and 10% will almost actively see the wrong things to do. And actually, you know, get missed, not intentional misdirection, but they're doing things which are not helpful to deal with that situation as well. So when you're first talking to going in and speaking to audiences about that, let's say if you're if you're in a in a room, you're speaking in a room, what are some of the first little things that the you kind of bring their mind to and bring their attention to?

Carol Cambridge Well, you're totally right. 80% do nothing and 80% do nothing from the perspective that they don't know what to do. So people aren't freezing out of fear. They're freezing because we haven't trained ourselves. We don't have messages in our brain as to what to do. So when I'm first with an audience, and let's say we're talking about an active shooter incident, I'll actually run a drill probably five to seven minutes, maybe after I start. And I actually watch everybody, there's some warnings that I give to people. Of course, I don't want anybody who might be susceptible to a heart attack or anybody who's dealing with emotional illness or PTSD. I give them warning. So I never surprised an audience with an active shooter drill. But what I do is I allow them to do everything wrong. The meeting players don't even really know what's going to happen. They just know that I'm going to let everybody do what's wrong. And if you think about it, most of us as adults have been trained, for instance, what to do, if there's a fire alarm, what do we do we get up, we orderly leave the room, most participants will leave the room in exactly the same manner that they entered. So they don't bother to look around at the other exits in the room, they don't know what's behind closed doors. So they go out in a very orderly fashion. Well, if it's an orderly fashion, and you're stacked up at a door, and you have an active shooter that you don't know where they are, all of a sudden, that person is going to take out a lot of people, a lot of folks are going to be injured or killed. So then when I bring people back in, we actually have the conversation, and we do a debriefing. And the number one thing that people will say to me is, I just left the room, I didn't even think to look to see if I could find a shooter. I didn't, I didn't know I could have been running right into him. So several things that happen, people go out the doors, because they don't know anywhere else we don't. We're not aware of situational awareness, we don't pay attention to what else is going on around us. Secondly, we follow the crowds. We do what everybody else is doing. Or Thirdly, the people do your third point that that other 10% takes actions that they probably shouldn't. In this example, many people will pull a fire alarm because they think, Oh, I need to I need to be the hero here. I'm going to warn other people, it's done with great intent. Even meeting planners will pull a fire alarm. Well, what do most of us do? If we're in a hotel venue and Conference Center, and you hear a fire alarm? What normally happens, James, we sit back and we wait, don't waste it.

James Taylor And as you're saying that one of the things I'm I'm thinking of just now is, you know, that happens. And I'm wondering here, what the role of not just the event planner, let's say before and doing things there. But what is potentially the role of the keynote speaker, maybe the person that's up on stage or has that microphone at that point, because that's that's a pretty powerful position to have to be in when something like that happens. And you could go either way there.

Carol Cambridge Absolutely. We saw that in the horrific Las Vegas shooting that just happened within the last month, the band when they realized that there was shots being fired, the band turned off all the lights, well, then there was great controversy. What do we do? Do we shine the lights? Do we turn them on? Does that make people an easier target for that active shooter? Or do we turn the lights towards the active shooter? Well, in that particular incident, it wouldn't have made a difference. But when you're in a controlled environment, like a meeting space, it really is up to the speaker who has control of the mic to give some directions. We often can see better from the platform, we have a better view, we're often on risers, and we can see the room, we can give advice to people. Here's the biggest issue though. Many speakers don't go into the room and see what's behind those closed doors. Are they fire exits are those doors locked? So I think as a part of this, speakers, event planners, vendors, the facility managers themselves, we all need to start working together and create some checklists. And I do have some checklists for your listeners if they want to email me for that, on creating a safer event. And these will be really important for speakers as well. Some of the information on there is not only going to be what, what we do as professionals to help get people out of the room. But what kinds of things can they do up front in preparation for along with, you know, when do they hire executive protection? When do they bring in law enforcement? Do you have them in plain clothes Do you have them in uniform, and there's lots of different reasons that you would want people in to appear differently, and this white paper I have is going to address many of those issues that they need to look at. So that we, as speakers and event planners, we're not getting caught by all of these blind spots that we have.

James Taylor So that's interest, you know, in that role in terms of trying to get as much as many things planned upfront as possible. I'm interested to hear also from the speakers, I know, a lot of speakers are attending this, and I've been in situations where I'll be speaking at an event and where I've had a meeting beforehand with one of the team, and there's been certain, I've been taught about certain kind of code words and certain things in the case of emergency that will be said and, and other procedures, but I would say, it's pretty rare, you know, it's a relatively low number that that's ever that's ever happened to me. Most of the time, you know, you're not, you know, you're you have your AV check, and, and your your PowerPoint presentation, and kind of you sit in the greenroom and you go up and do your thing there as well. So, what should you know, because this is a this is a point that other speakers we can take about a leadership stage here as well. What should we be asking those those? Those people are booking us, either on our pre event calls? Or when we get on site itself? What are some of the questions that we should be asking to ensure that we have at least you know, we think about the entirety of our job, this is another part of our job that we need to really have locked down? You know, that's

Carol Cambridge a great question. And it sparked some interest in me, I think I need to write an article about exactly what speakers can do. Let me share with you a couple of questions I asked. I want to know if the association I'm speaking to or the event planner, do they know anything? Do they know or anticipate protesters of any kind. Even if it's a corporate event, I've had corporate events where the corporation is launching a new product, and perhaps word has gotten out that there may be something in that product, for instance, that that might cause cancer? Well, an event planner, a speaker, we would never think of asking that question. So we have to think and ask that the event plant planner to check back with a client. Is there anything that would create a protest? Is there anything that would cause problems here? Give me another example. We have we had a 21 year old woman shot dead at was it Hannover, Germany

James Taylor at a wedding? I say

Carol Cambridge to event planners, if it's a wedding asked do you expect an ex husband and ex boyfriend and ex girlfriend to show up and cause problems? So as speakers, we asked that question as well. Do you anticipate any protesters? Do you expect anything negative to happen as a result of this? I often asked the planner. Have you connected with the hotel with the convention center? Do you have an emergency plan in place? And does that include a plan in terms of active shooter? Most of them will have a plan in place, but they have a plan. If something goes wrong with the AV or somebody gets injured or someone has a heart attack? I want to know Do they have communications? Have they spoken with local law enforcement? If I know that there's the potential for protesters, I take it upon myself to call law enforcement, I will call the police chief in the area that I'm speaking ahead of time and have that conversation with them on a personal level. So I want to know what what they anticipate for problems.

James Taylor So you know, just as you as you're saying that, and I'm thinking I mean, one of the things as we start to talk about this area, so many other kind of follow up questions happen as well, because you start you know, you think about, well, what's in this kit, and so it can feel it can feel a little bit overwhelming, because this is another thing that, you know, we have to think about. And we have to develop, you know, if there was if there was someone's has an event, let's say they've got an event coming up very, very soon, ie within the next few weeks, you know, what are the two or three things that you should be absolutely ensuring if they don't have a huge amount of prep time, but they have some prep time that they should be ensuring that they have together?

Carol Cambridge Yeah, I want to know where the exits are. I want to know ahead of time very often I actually asked the event planner to send me a copy of the room that I'll be speaking in. And so I actually can see where the exits are. If I have any issues, any problems with that I can find out from the hotel or the conference room. I want to know what safety briefings they are going to give or they expect me to give, usually as a keynoter, it's someone before us that gives that information, but I want to know if they address these issues at all. And I give them guidance. I say to them, if you're going to deliver this deliberate in a matter of fact way, just like the safety briefings on an airplane, we're not terrified when we hear those safety briefings, we shouldn't be terrified. And we shouldn't be terrifying anybody in our audience with a safety briefing. But I do think it's very important these days that we do take the time to ensure that either we or the event plan or whoever's introducing us, gives that information to our audiences. So that's a question I would make sure up, will you be informing people where the emergency exits are and where they should go in the event of a problem? And I also think, if we have, the most important question we can ask is, do they expect protesters? Do they expect tourism? are we speaking in an area that is dangerous? Any of those things, then would lead me to the next question? Will you have executive protection on site in the form of off duty law enforcement? Will they be dressed in suits? Will they have a uniform on, I want to know who I can count on to help me in the event of an emergency.

James Taylor So most events will have some kind of event insurance. Our insurance company is really starting to kind of catch up with this and ensuring that when they're there, they have someone that's looking to get cover of some sort of that the ensure that they have some plan in place some in terms of looking at different risks and have some preparedness in place. Or is I'm even insurances companies maybe perhaps coming in to help provide some of that, that that training, because I know there's, this is an area that's relatively on spoken about. Obviously, event security is often more spoken about. But things like this is less spoken about, using insurance companies may be stepping up to the plate, a little bit,

Carol Cambridge not a lot, it's new to them, it's a new area, they really just have started in the last year to 18 months addressing workplace violence type issues. But I haven't seen too much in the event planning portion of it, I think we are going to see more and more of that. And I think when we have I spoke earlier about a controlled environment, that's an inside environment like a ballroom, when you have an outdoor event, that's I think, where insurance are much more concerned insurance companies are then stepping up to the plate. Because there's a much higher risk and a much higher vulnerability in any kind of an outdoor event.

James Taylor So let's get to this maybe some slightly lighter things now as well. I know you're always speaking your your keynote, speaking all over the place. Just now you're attending events all over the place. Are there any any apps or online tools or resources you find really useful to help you do the work that you do, especially when you're having to travel and speak all these different events?

Carol Cambridge You don't none that I can think of? And that gives me a great idea. Maybe that's something I need to invent. But no, I don't know of anything online as a tool at this point, that's going to make that effective.

James Taylor And what about I know whenever I go to speak events, there's there's a couple of things that are always in my bag, I never go to any event without having to mobike you know, for me, it's like my clickers. And there's a couple of other things I have other any things that you take to events and bearing in mind, because you understand the safety, the security side a little bit more than most of us, as well as anything that you have maybe have in there that most people probably don't have. And they when they go to an event,

Carol Cambridge you know, nothing I take with me. But here's the thing, because I'm familiar with it, I would even know how to lock a door. If you think about it, if you were at an event and you got when that there was an active shooter at the at the conference center, but your people are safe inside there, we need to secure the doors. And most of those event doors, they're just push handles to get quick access. We don't they're not set up so that we can lock those doors from the inside. But very quickly, I would be able to say to people from the platform, who's got a belt, grab your belt, undo them, you can tie them, secure them, lock them, you can put tables up against those doors. Part of it is how do you secure the doors quickly. So I don't think that I actually bring anything with me other than the knowledge of how you could quickly secure yourself and keep the audience safe and attempt to head hide some of those audience members in that secure space.

James Taylor If people you know they want to maybe go a little bit further into it maybe to to kind of bring you out to their event or maybe their their their they need some consulting or maybe they they actually apartment Association, it's just really use someone like you coming in where's the best place to go to? To find out about that,

Carol Cambridge you can go directly to my website, which is www the stay safe project.com is probably the easiest way I get notified within seconds of somebody sending a message that way, and happy to help happy to offer some consulting to help planners figure out what they need to do and what some of their blind spots may be.

James Taylor Well, Carol, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you today, I think this is a this area is going to be something that people will be talking about a lot more I know as a speaker, just speaking to you and learning from you is incredibly valuable, because we never know if we're going to be in a situation we may have to use some of this this information as well. So thank you so much for coming on. And also thank you so much for the work that you're doing and helping training event professionals in this area.

Carol Cambridge Well, I sure appreciate your time. And thank you for the idea. Now I'm going to go back to work and I'm going to include in that safer or creating a safer event I'm going to write down a list of things that speakers can do to keep people safe so thank you for putting that idea into my head.

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