It's All Good - Use What You Got

I am not a fan of being constricted by anything, really. I'm also a fan of using what you already know but in a way you're not thinking about it. My example comes from going to a Savannah Bananas game this weekend at Clemson, SC.

I started my departure from my nosebleed seat with 20 minutes left. It was a sell-out crowd of 81,000 people. Imagine the traffic nightmare of 81,000 people trying to leave at once. I did, so I made my exit early. I was able to get out onto the street just as the game ended. I had my head start. I know the police were going to be directing traffic, but what I saw made my heart smile.

Contraflow operations.

What?

On the main road, which is two lanes of traffic each going in both directions, all four lanes were headed to the highway. This is something emergency operations people do for evacuations. One of the issues with town evacuations for local emergency managers is they don't get to exercise or practice them. Why wouldn't the town of Clemson be pros at this? During college football season, they get to practice moving 81,000 fans out as seamlessly as possible a few times a month.

But that's emergency management, not business continuity, right?

Yes and no. It's technically both. Emergency management is part of a robust business continuity plan, and something like contraflow operations has a direct impact on the fan (AKA customer) experience. People will buy a ticket and add parking on top of it if they know it won't be a cluster to get out. I met people tailgating at a NASCAR race who tailgate after the race because by the time the traffic jam to get out is complete, their bellies are full again - that's one way to handle it, but would they even need to plan like that if the exit flow was managed well?

I also say that big football college towns can probably give some training to other towns on evacuation planning and execution of evacuation plans for disasters (if they aren't taking field trips already, since they can't practice them, they should be reaching out!). Speaking of that help, they will help you, too! If you are opening your business in a college town with a huge football stadium, reach out to the local police department and ask how game day will impact your customers and work that into your plan (I've previously written about how road closures for parades and marathons need to be considered for your business).

The conditions are a little different (a level of stress and resistance in evacuations scenarios, for sure, will be different from fans who want to leave), but the idea is the same. It is similar to using medicines for something they weren't approved/intended for ("off-label use"). It's amazing to find out you already know how to do something well you will need to save your business because you already do it in principle for something else.