How to Manage the Crowd During Events

Events can be small or big, depending on the type of event. Namely, if you organize a private party it will be a small event that requires only basic organization skills, finding the right venue, and good signage at the place. But, if you organize a conference or a festival, then, you will need much more than basic organization. In fact, you will need a lot of planning and dedication if you want the event to be successful.

Big events are difficult for organizing because they have a lot of attendees. In other words, a big event has a big crowd which needs to be controlled in order to have a great event. Although managing a crowd is complicated, it’s not impossible. All you need is to know the audience, the venue, have lots of signs, including a carpet runner and dividers, have security guards, and queue management. So, let’s have a look at these things.

You Need To Know Your Audience

Once you know the venue and type of event, you need to get to know the audience. And, this isn’t that difficult having in mind that different events attract a different audience. For example, a rock concert will probably attract teenagers and young adults who are likely to cause a fight or attack security in order to get on the stage. On the other hand, a conference will probably attract business people who aren’t prone to breaking the law and causing any problems. Nonetheless, you always need to be prepared for every situation which might occur.

You Need To Know The Venue

This doesn’t refer only to the address of the place where the event will be held, but also to the venue itself. This means to know the object, hallways, rooms, toilets, lobby, and all other areas within and outside the venue. Knowing the place will help you place the signs, and you need lots of them. It will also help you maximally secure the place, thus preventing any unpleasant situation.

You Have To Place A Lot Of Signs

The best way to manage the crown during events is by placing lots of signs around the object. Namely, you should have entrance and exit signs (including emergency exit), toilets, bar, reception, ticket office, red carpet runners, only for staff rooms, parking, and so on. Having signs placed inside and outside the object will ensure the crowd knows where to move in any situation.

You Need To Plan and Organise The Crowd Movement

Crowds are stressful enough and having a wandering crowd is the last thing you want on your event. In order to avoid this, you need to have a good crowd flow management. This includes ensuring that the entrance points are different from the exit points and that the crowd is moving from one place to another in one direction. Also, you need to divide the different areas one from another so the attendees know where one area stop and another starts. You can do this by placing rope dividers, barriers, screening, and other similar equipment. In this way, you will prevent chaos in the lobby and the hallways.

You Need To Ensure A Fast Processing

Let’s admit it, we all hate waiting in lines to enter an event. Although it’s part of the process, we don’t like it, probably because it’s in our nature. Having in mind that we, people, are impatient, you need to ensure the is fast processing. This will prevent really long queues where people start yelling and become aggressive.

In order to ensure fast processing, you need to have enough staff that is trained and experienced in dealing with these situations. If they are high-efficient as you would expect, they will be both, thorough and fast when checking the attendees and their tickets. And, they have to be polite because waiting makes us impatient and impolite. You can also have people monitoring the queues, so you know if you need to add more people at the processing point.

You Need To Communicate With Your Team

Apart from communicating with the crowd through signage, you also need to communicate with your team. This is because your team plays a crucial role in crowd management during events. Therefore, you need to have clear communication with each of your team, as well as between the team members. For this, you can use a telephone, two-way Radios Kenwood or another way of communicating.

As can be seen, a great organization and communication are the two key elements for managing the crowd during an event. Therefore, you always need to plan everything into details and make sure everyone in your team know the plan. Moreover, you need to ensure your team understand their duties and knows how to react in any situation.