How To Know The Crowd You Need To Manage During An Event

When organizing a big event, such as a sports match, a music festival, or an international conference, you need to have a crowd control plan. It’s because hundreds and thousands of people will attend the event, and you must ensure nothing wrong happens. In other words, having a crowd control plan, as the name says, means you will have the crowd under control.

But why is this important? Simply put, you don't know what may happen during the event because you are dealing with many different people with different characters. For example, there could be a sudden fight between two or a group of attendees because they are fans of the opposite teams playing in a football match. Or people might get lost in the venue's hallways, looking for a toilet.

Regardless of the situation, you wouldn’t like it to happen because it will negatively affect the event organization. To minimize the risk of unpredicted events, you need to learn more about the crowd at the event. Once you know what kind of people will be there, you can prepare the place by placing signs around the venue, lining dividers, and securing the place.

Why Knowing The Crowd Is Important?

Many might ask why you need to know the crowd when preparing your crowd control plan. The most straightforward answer is that you will have to control the CROWD. And how can you prevent it if you don’t know who your crowd is?

Namely, if you organize a rock concert, you assume that most attendees will be teenagers and young adults who might get drunk and start a fight. On the other hand, if you organize a business meeting, you assume there will be severe businessmen who will likely not cause any unpleasant situation. If this is your first event or you need help analyzing the crowd, here are several things you should do.

Look At The Competitors

If you are new to crowd control management, you can look at similar events your competitors have organized. In this way, you will see who has attended those events. This will help you learn what kind of people will attend your event.

Look At Your Previous Events

If you have organized similar events before and have some experience in crowd control, you can look at your past events. This will refresh your memory of who attended those events. Moreover, it will show you whether or not there was an unpleasant situation and how you have dealt with that.

Ask Event Experts

If you know someone who works in the event industry and has experience organizing events, you can ask them about their audience. You can also ask them how their past events, similar to yours, have passed and if something unexpected has happened. Moreover, you can ask them for advice on what you can expect from the attendees at your event. For instance, if they've held a similar event to the one you're planning and the crowd was hard to control, they can recommend the best pedestrian and crowd barricades to keep them controlled and safe. If you don’t know anyone who works in the event industry, you can simply check some LinkedIn groups. You will find plenty of helpful information regarding events and crowds. 

Create A Crowd Profile

You can create a crowd profile once you have information about the crowd. A crow profile is similar to a buyer persona profile because it helps you gather all the information you have. That way, it will help you create an example of the typical crowd attending events like yours. For instance, you can see the crowd's age range, which will help you predict their behavior during the event. If you are dealing with teenagers, you can assume everything that might happen, such as a fight, a robbery, pushing in the queue, rushing around the hallway, etc.

Once you know your audience, you can take further steps to ensure their safety, which is crucial for crowd control. To do that, you should consider the possible security risks, which are part of the risk assessment. 

Hence, you should consider:

The hazards result from the crowds’ dynamics, such as sawing and rushing, which may cause people to fall against structures and get harmed, fall down and be stamped by the crowd, or engage in dangerous behavior, such as throwing objects or climbing on structures.

Hazards as a result of venue or event activities include failure of equipment, a temporary structure collapse, lousy ground conditions, inadequate venue/site design, source of fire, and so on.