One of the most significant risks we face when we organize, work, or attend an event is other people. More specifically, when people form a crowd. Some people may be familiar with the term “Crowd Control” – this is not something we aim to do at Live Events. Crowd Control is more commonly used by Law Enforcement as a tool to control public order; in the event world, it is something that is done to regain control when something goes wrong.
Crowd Management is about the prevention or mitigation of hazards that might be reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances of your event. Crowd Management is about the safe movement of people; it is about effective communication to 2,000 of your closest friends whom you have only just met. Crowd Management is about making your attendees and teams safer so that they can all focus on the event itself and the experiences they came to enjoy.
It is about predicting and understanding potential behavior and what you can do to prevent, encourage or guide people, mitigating the risks during normal operations and emergency situations.