What if talking about failures is the key to planning safer events?

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Lessons in Safety and Large-Scale Event Production from SOEM

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How Did Fuckup Nights Support This Community?

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At the SOEM Summit — México ’s first conference dedicated exclusively to security leaders and organizers of large-scale events—a very special space was created: a “ Fuckup Nights ” to discuss what goes wrong, the mistakes that go unseen behind the scenes but that determine the success (or failure) of an event.

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A Cocktail of Failures… Literally

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Led by Vanessa López and Víctor Vergara, SOEM wanted to open a relaxed and honest space to share real failures from the event production industry. That’s how this special edition of Fuckup Nights was born, where three speakers revealed career-defining failures. 

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"This event was born out of a genuine desire to build a community committed to safety and organization as a foundation for creating memorable events." - Vanessa Lopez and Victor Vergara, SOEM co-founders

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What Could Go Wrong at a Football Game?

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Pedro Tomás Boticariohead of security and emergencies at LALIGA, traveled from Spain to tell a story that made the entire audience think: how the unexpected can put even the most robust protocols to the test. 

Vanessa Ibarra, sports director of Bucaneros Satélite, told how a simple logistics decision ruined her team’s most anticipated day. 

Joaquín YañezJoaquín Yañez, a producer with years of experience, told how a technical error almost ended in a total crisis. 

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Three different contexts, but common lessons:

• The importance of asking for help.
• The need to document takeaways.
• The power of safe spaces where people can talk freely about failure as a path to innovation.

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Why Is Failure Still Taboo in the Industry?

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Eric Jiménez, General Manager of Fuckup Nights Global and event moderator, shared insights from the Failure Survey 2024, proving just how necessary these conversations are:

• 35% of people avoid asking for help for fear of damaging their professional reputation.
• 51% don’t share lessons learned from projects with their team.
• 56% of leaders don’t openly admit mistakes.
  
  

These numbers show us just how powerful sharing failures can be as a method for learning and innovation.

And large-scale event production is no exception.

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“If we don’t address the failures in event production, we’re putting the safety of thousands of people at risk.” — Eric Jimenez, general manager of Fuckup Nights

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Why Did SOEM Choose Fuckup Nights to Talk About Failure?

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• A flexible, tailored format that turned a casual evening into a powerful learning tool.
• Honesty and sincerity  storytelling that created empathy and real takeaways.
  
  
• The ability to connect a diverse community of roles—organizers, producers, safety directors—through vulnerability. 
  

“Shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces.”

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This was just the beginning of something bigger for the event safety community: a network learning from mistakes, not perfection.

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Would you like to bring a " Fuckup Nights " to your conference or company?

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Transform the way your team talks about failures, processes and leadership. We create private events for organizations looking to innovate from vulnerability.

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 Learn more about our private events here.

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About the speakers

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Pedro Tomás Boticario
Responsible for the Emergency Area at LALIGA (Spain), expert in security at sporting and mass events.

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Vanessa Ibarra
Sports director of girls' and baby flag soccer, leader of a club with more than 600 students.

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Joaquín Yañez
CEO of Beat Meetings, a production company specializing in large-scale events at México.

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