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Think through the design of the event. Can you plan your events more shrewdly to minimise disruption or disturbances? See the Campusalam guide to challenges in organising events.
Also put in place solid arrangements on the day to keep the event running smoothly and under control of the organisers. Don't just hope for the best.
Do have people in place to act as 'stewards'– whose job it is to help protect your guests and discourage disruptive behaviour, or the targeting of individuals by outsiders. Make sure they have good skills at managing hot situations.
Agree tactics with your stewards about how to manage disruptions of different kinds.
Do feel confident and assertive about questioning someone you don't know if they arouse your suspicions.
Don't allow yourself or the students to be manipulated or exploited. For example, don't allow your or their motives to be questioned in managing the event well.
Don't give out personal contact details, mobile phone number etc.
Do make sure that responsible people are keeping an eye out for your students; in addition to loud and disruptive heckling, make sure none of your students are quietly being solicited or inappropriately approached by someone you do not know and trust.
Case study: Targeting by extremists
A particular group of highly aggressive individuals decided to target a well-known Muslim scholar who dared to speak about 'extremism'. They seemed to attend every talk or lecture that he gave over a period of months. They shouted and disrupted the talk, despite attempts by the chair to ask them to respect the rules of the lecture and question format. They dominated the questions and tried to prevent anyone else from speaking. They attended and heckled and disrupted other speakers and events too; sometimes with deliberately provocative material, such as shouting out a jeer associated with Abu Bakr about 'go suck the clitoris of the wife of Al Lat', which understandably caused offence not least to the sisters present.
The conclusion of the talk did not bring an end to the disturbances, as loud and angry arguments – sometimes almost becoming physical – took place between this group and Muslims in the audience who were deeply angered by such conduct. It was severe enough that the organisers of the events, a highly respected and professional organisation, were banned from renting one university's premises through no fault of their own.
This particular gang would not respect any conventional 'chairing skills' or any normal and polite ways of trying to bring them under control. It illustrates that normal social manners and tactics are often not enough to manage an event which can attract such deliberately extreme behaviour.