plan b PLAN A: Event security is no laughing matter, but there were more than a few smirks when a pesky pickpocket was caught on videotape at a recent physical-therapy conference in Boston. The AV supplier I was working with at the time heard a rumor about a pickpocket targeting attendees. Apparently someone had been stealing discarded badges from the convention center’s trash cans and mingling with guests — not to mention pilfering their pockets and purses. Neither I nor the other staff assigned to the show gave the rumor much thought until the closing general session — when the daring pickpocket struck in front of a crowd of 2,000. During the session, a group of panelists were seated at a table on stage. Near the end, the panelists introduced the association’s outgoing officers (a group of roughly 10 or 11 people) and invited them out of the audience and onto the stage. The group of officers walked across the stage and past the table to shake hands with each of the panelists before returning to their seats. As they made their way across the stage, little did they know there was a trespasser in their midst — one with rather quick and sticky fingers. When the group passed in front of the head table, the thief snatched a wallet from a panelist’s purse resting on the edge of the table. He even had the audacity to shake hands with the panelists and wave to the audience just as the other honorees had done. By the time the panelist realized she’d been victimized, the daring thief was long gone — no doubt thinking he’d made another easy score. PLAN B: What sticky fingers hadn’t realized, was that the session was being videotaped. My AV company had cameras feeding large screens in the room, and luckily we were on a tight shot of the stage as the officers paraded across it. We hadn’t noticed the live thievery, but when the panelist insisted that she’d had her wallet before the session began, we reviewed our tape. Sure enough, when it was played back in slow motion, you could clearly see the pickpocket make the grab. We turned over the tape to security, and with a description and video photo in hand, they captured the pickpocket at the next convention-center event. E   Richard Ferrara, account executive, massAV, Burlington, MA