managing travel for planned special events - FHWA Operations ...

ics of interest to all participants and not designedto be biased against any stakeholder.Further details of the agenda can be filled inafter the event and when problems requiringcloser examination can be identified. Again,it would be beneficial if all participants hadinput into revising the agenda to make certainall concerns are addressed.Table 10-6 lists the broad topic areas thatshould be covered in the post-event debriefing.Table 10-6Post-Event Debriefing MeetingAgenda TopicsTOPIC AREA• Purpose of meeting• The planning process• Interagency communications• Traffic management in and around the venue• Traffic management outside of the event site• Traveler information, including media• Lessons learnedIdentification of Key Successes andLessons LearnedThe purpose of the post-event debriefing isnot to just identify what could have beendone better but to note what was successful.As has been the case from the start of theevent operations planning process throughthe event itself, multiple viewpoints arehelpful as stakeholders identify key successesand lessons learned. Depending uponperspective, one element of the plan may beviewed as a success by one party and seen asan area needing improvement by another.Identifying these areas can be accomplishedas each stakeholder individually reviews itsactions leading up to and going through theevent and as the stakeholders, as a group,review what took place.It is helpful if participants are asked to identify,before the post-event debriefing, whatthey see as key successes and lessonslearned. It may also prove beneficial ifthese notes are shared among the participantsbefore the meeting to help facilitatediscussion.While identifying these points are very useful,it has little value unless there is someway to identify how to apply what is learnedto the next planned special event. No oneindividual should be expected to serve aseither the group’s or their agency’s corporatememory. The successes and lessonslearned must be chronicled so that thosestakeholders who are responsible for planningthe next planned special event will beable to tap the wisdom of those who havedone this before.As an example, the following represents anexcerpt, regarding traffic management andoperations during Daytona Beach, FL RaceWeek (e.g., Daytona 500) and Bike Week,from the minutes of a regular, bi-monthlyVolusia County (FL) Freeway IncidentManagement Team meeting: (3)• Race Week was February 14 th to February17 th . Traffic was very heavy eachday of the races. Friday the 15 th hadproblems in Ormond Beach. There wasan unexpected large outbound towardsOrmond Beach. Saturday, FloridaHighway Patrol, Ormond Beach PD,Daytona Beach PD, Volusia CountyTraffic Engineering, FDOT and DaytonaBeach Traffic Engineering met to discusstraffic patterns and staffing for OrmondBeach so Friday’s problems wouldnot happen during the outbound of theDaytona 500 Race. Sunday’s traffic wasextremely heavy for the inbound. Thefree parking lot entrance on Williamsonwill need to be larger for next year. The10EVENT PROFILE POST-EVENT ACTIVITIES DAY-OF-EVENT ACTIVITIES ADVANCE PLANNINGOVERVIEW10-9