Crowd management is essential at large business events such as trade shows and conferences. While widescale drinking and even drug-taking are less likely to be an issue like it would be at a rock concert, the more people there are in attendance, the more likely you are to have problems. Managing a crowd lessens the risk of personal injury and property damage. It’s also essential to control large groups of people to prevent overcrowding, which can be dangerous.
Effective crowd management should always be an essential part of events planning. If you have been tasked with planning a large business event, read on for some useful crowd management tips.
Know How Many People Are Expected
It’s important to have an accurate idea of the number of people attending the event. If the venue isn’t large enough to safely accommodate everyone, safety will be an issue. For an invitation-only event, it should be relatively simple to check how many people are coming, but if it’s an event that’s open to all, have a system in place whereby people do at least need to register before arriving. Otherwise, you could be caught out by an unexpectedly high turnout.
Hire the Right Venue
As we have already touched upon, hiring the right venue is key. If a venue is too small, fire safety will become a problem. Even once you have a venue booked, think about how many people will be moving around at any given time. If the event is a conference, for example, you can expect attendees to be seated for long stretches while they listen to the speakers, whereas at break times, most people will be moving around. When this happens, some kind of crowd control is essential, such as a tensa barrier. Num8er Events provides different moveable barriers for zoning areas,including a tensa barrier, which is useful if you need to keep people away from certain sections of your venue.
Do a Risk Management Assessment
Health and safety are important, so undertake a risk assessment before the event takes place. Identify the potential dangers and issues, and come up with strategies to mitigate these. Crowd control at entrances and exits represents a big health and safety issue. This is where there will be bottlenecks, and if there are any problems, a bottleneck can be very dangerous.
Traffic management is also important when large groups of people are expected. Ensure there is enough car parking and people to manage the flow of traffic into and out of the venue.
Use Signs
There is less likely to be an issue if people know where they are going at the venue. This is where adequate signage is so important. Use large signs that are clear and easy to read from a distance, and in multiple languages if appropriate. Make sure key areas such as toilets, reception areas, and staff-only zones are easily identifiable.
Finally, have a streamlined reception/check-in area so people are not caught up in a large crowd unnecessarily.
