The ability to manage special events safely and securely requires proactive planning to address risks ranging from natural hazards to evolving threat actors. Leveraging deep expertise across emergency management and homeland security disciplines, Hagerty partners with communities nationwide to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities, mitigate cascading impacts, and build long-term resilience before, during, and after major events such as the Super Bowl, Olympics, and the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Understanding the Evolving Risk Landscape
As threats and hazards become increasingly complex and place new demands on emergency management systems, Hagerty helps communities anticipate and manage emerging risks to ensure operational safety and resilience during high-profile events.
Our team addresses risks related to civil disruption, Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks (CCTA), critical infrastructure impacts, cybersecurity threats, and natural hazards—applying tailored frameworks for security and threat management and operational readiness.
Supporting Special Event Preparedness
Effective planning, training, and exercises are essential to enhancing resilience and preparedness ahead of large-scale special events. Hagerty brings together event organizers, transportation authorities, public safety officials, and other key stakeholders across jurisdictions to ensure seamless coordination through:
- Planning and Assessments: Event-specific plans and risk assessments that identify vulnerabilities, address high-impact scenarios, and integrate contingency and communication strategies.
- Training and Exercises: Customized training, innovative scenario design, and realistic exercises to enhance decision-making, coordination, and collaboration across agencies. Focus areas include mass fatality planning, crisis communications, incident response, crowd management, active threat response, and other hazard-specific scenarios.
- After-Action Reporting and Improvement Planning (AAR/IP): Insightful reports to help communities identify lessons learned, close capability gaps, and enhance preparedness ahead of future events.
- Continuity of Operations (COOP): Continuity strategies and initiatives that address cascading impacts and ensure resilience and rapid recovery.
Strengthening Response Capabilities
Hagerty stands ready to deploy seasoned emergency management professionals who serve as force multipliers for response operations during major special events. Our support includes:
- Data Analysis: Developing dashboards that provide real-time situation assessments and easy-to-digest snapshots of event activity.
- Incident Management and Response Planning: Providing backfill and support to state and local emergency management agencies through Hagerty’s Incident Management Teams (IMT). Our trained planners help manage the event planning cycle (Planning P) and develop products that drive operations (e.g., Incident Action Plans and Situation Reports).
- Mass Care and Sheltering: Delivering sheltering and mass care services through a human-centered approach that ensures compassionate, safe, and culturally sensitive care for individuals and families.
- Staff Augmentation: Filling temporary staffing gaps across operations, logistics, planning, finance, administration, and other key functions.
- Stand-by Contracts: Establishing stand-by contracts to enable quick mobilization of support and resources as soon as a threat or incident arises.
Our Experience
Ravinia Festival Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)
Hagerty developed an all-hazards EOP for the Ravinia Festival—the nation’s oldest outdoor music festival—addressing a range of potential manmade and natural risks. The project included tailored, all-hazards planning and facilitated tabletop exercises (TTX) with both staff and external stakeholders.
San Diego County
Our team conducted a full-scale CCTA exercise engaging over 1,500 participants from nearly 80 agencies. The exercise identified strengths and areas for improvement, enabling the County to further enhance its planning, policies, and procedures.
Hunter Seeker Program
Hagerty delivered a series of tactical exercises for a large metropolitan law enforcement agency ahead of a major special event and the 2024 Presidential Election. These strategy-driven simulations enhanced information-sharing, diverse stakeholder coordination, and crisis communications among law enforcement, public safety officials, event organizers, and external partners.
Emergency Operations Support and Staff Augmentation
Hagerty has extensive experience rapidly mobilizing response staff to fill key positions and supporting state and local operations nationwide. Our team members deployed for special event response operations have led and delivered critical support for large-scale planned events, including National Special Security Events (NSSEs).
Hagerty Can Help
Successful special events, whether large public gatherings or high-visibility operations, require clear planning, coordinated partners, and strong operational readiness. Hagerty can help you navigate complex requirements, align stakeholders, and prepare for the risks that can disrupt events.
Our team applies practical, multidisciplinary expertise to strengthen planning, decision-making, and response capabilities. Through structured planning, targeted training, realistic exercises, and post-event evaluation, we enable clients to protect attendees, maintain continuity, and manage incidents quickly and effectively. Our goal is to ensure that when the unexpected occurs, your team is ready to respond with confidence and agility.
