As last week’s strikes by hotel workers remind us, disruption can, and does, happen in top meeting and event destinations. Between the potential for future strikes and a volatile political election season that could also bring protest actions, event planners need to prepare now for a tumultuous fall meetings season.

With 10,000 or more union hotel housekeepers, front-desk staff, kitchen and restaurant staffers and other workers at 25 hotels in 10 cities going on strike over the Labor Day holiday to express their demands for higher pay, better workloads and increased staffing, the potential for a labor strike at fall meetings and events just got more real. While many of the strikes have since ended, hospitality workers, members of the Unite Here union, have shown they aren’t afraid to put their jobs on the line to make their wishes known — and the union is indicating that the strike could extend to as many as 65 hotels in additional cities if both parties can’t successfully negotiate new contracts.

While the hotels affected by the latest round of strikes said they had contingency plans in place to minimize the impact on their guests — both transient and those attending meetings and events — the reality is that loud picket lines and reduced service could interfere with achieving a meeting’s goals.

And it’s not just striking workers at hotels (or municipalities, or other related entities critical for a meeting’s success) that planners have to contend with. As this year’s presidential election cycle continues to heat up, protests from various interest groups could also target your meeting for protests — especially if your organization represents a field under debate or has high-profile, controversial speakers.

While disruptions can occur no matter how well you plan, there are a number of things planners can do to ensure they have done their due diligence and planned as best as possible to handle any contingency that may arise — including protests.

• Talk with the host venue well ahead of time about its plans to handle disruptions. What safety and security measures are in place? What additional security measures might the meeting organizer want to consider? What plans are in place to ensure the meeting could go on if staff do go on strike? Will the venue agree to sign a service guarantee that includes any financial compensation for disruptions that could interfere with the event being able to achieve its goals? If the catering staff goes on strike, could the group bring in alternative food and beverage providers? Who decides when and how the situation needs to be escalated from internal handling by the organizer or the venue to local authorities?

• Review, and update if necessary, your organization’s duty of care protocols and code of conduct. Dust off your organization’s relevant policies and protocols to ensure they cover protest-related contingencies. Do they outline protocols for handling protests within the meeting itself, say if some disgruntled attendees protest during a session, or, as happened at the Democratic National Convention this summer, protesters sneak in and sabotage a breakfast meeting by adding some live insects to the pre-set tables? Also review and update your code of conduct to ensure it covers what is and is not acceptable protest behavior, as well as consequences for violating the code.

• Monitor the local situation so you can anticipate any potential issues. It’s not unusual for strikes to happen when important hospitality union contracts come up for renewal, so keeping up with the status of important union contracts in your host venue is one way to be able to anticipate, and create contingencies for, any potential disruptions along those lines. The local destination marketing organization also can keep you up to date on local happenings in its city, including any that potentially could be controversial, or even just cause big traffic snarls that could complicate getting your shuttles to the evening off-site reception.

• Talk with your legal representative to see what can safety measures, contingency plans and financial recourse for disruption can be negotiated in the contracting phase.

It may feel like overkill to spend a lot of time and energy planning for disruptions that in all likelihood won’t happen. But if something does occur, you’ll be glad you did — and you’ll be a hero to your organization and your attendees.