Do You Need Crowd Control At Your Wedding?

Crowd control isn’t often in the front of your mind when you are planning a wedding. It’s all about the food, the DJ, the decorations…but having the right crowd control is actually extremely important. What’s even better is that it does not have to be complicated.

Controlling your crowds at your wedding starts very early in the process…with the guest list. Creating your guest list is likely going to be one of the first things you do. The amount of people you plan to invite influences your catering, venue, chair rental, and more.

So, once it’s time to invite your guests, there’s a few things you need to make sure you do. Be specific when addressing your invitations. This means indicating if your attendee may bring a guest or not. This means giving specific names, versus generic ones such as “The Smith Family.” This way you know exactly how many people you are inviting.

The next step for crowd control is to handle your RSVPs appropriately. This may involve extra work, but it will really help with the guest list in the end. What you can do is call all of your guests and thank them for RSVPing. At this point confirm the amount of people their RSVP covers. For example, “Thank you for getting back to me Jasmine. I have you marked down for one. I can’t wait to see you.” This eliminates any confusion. As for people who do not RSVP, track them down and get their answers. Trust us, you don’t want to be scrambling to find somewhere for them to sit on your wedding day.

And speaking of seating, if you want to avoid more crowd disasters, be sure to have assigned seating. Open seating, where guests choose what table they want to sit at, is chaotic and causes a lot of awkwardness for your guests. Assigning a table means your guests know exactly where to go and makes the seating process much smoother.

Now if there are areas of your venue you need to keep guests out of, you can do this with some simple crowd control posts. They are a clear indicator that an area should not be entered. This isn’t strictly necessary, but if the venue layout is confusing it can be helpful.

A huge question you have to ask yourself is do you want to hire security? There are some good reasons you may want to shell out the extra cash. Security would be able to deal with wedding crashers, for example. They can also come in handy if conflict arises, which can happen due to arguments and alcohol. You don’t want your big day ruined by a fight!

We know that planning a wedding is stressful, but don’t forget to include crowd control in your wedding plans!

Think Like Your Attendees

Summer is still going strong, which means there’s tons of outdoor events going on. Outdoor events can come with their own headaches, and outdoor events in summer come with even more.

So how do you deal with these problems? No matter what the problem may be, they key is to be prepared. Issues always surface during an event, but preparing can significantly cut down on the issues.

When planning an outdoor summer event, it is important to think about what issues you may run into months before the event even happens. Consider, for example, if lines are going to be long. This could be due to ticket sales or security. How do you prepare for this? You keep lines organized. You promote advanced ticket sales to cut back on lines. You have multiple entrance points so security doesn’t take too long to get through. This way people will get into your event quickly and not be irritated before the event has even begun.

So, once people get into your event, what issues might they run into? Most commonly this will be finding their way your event. Putting an information booth right by the entrance can direct visitors to where they want to go, provide maps, and promote event schedules. The next step is signage. It is extremely important that you have helpful signage at your event. Label different stages and buildings, list events happening in particular areas, and direct people with easy-to-spot signage.

The next problem they may run into? Long lines for shows, food booths, and services. This can happen for many reasons. Sometimes a particular booth or show is just very popular. There is not much you can do about this. What you can do, however, is arrange booths in a way that allows for easy line formation. You should also be sure to have a lot of options when it comes to food and entertainment.

The crowds are in, they are enjoying the festivities, but it’s summer. It’s hot. People are feeling sick and leaving early. How do you stop this? Make sure you have cooling stations throughout the event area. You may also choose to have a centrally located area where guests can purchase water and request first aid. If possible, an air conditioned building within the event area is perfect for providing some temporary relief from the heat.

As the event comes to an end, don’t think your job is over. A large group of people leaving at once is a logistical nightmare. Have volunteers directing the flow of traffic out of the correct areas. Be sure there are others directing actual, vehicle traffic, which is often the most frustrating part of an event. You want attendees to leave with a good impression, not with a sour taste in their mouths.

As you can see, thinking about your event as if you are attending it can be very beneficial. When considering your event specifically, you can also come up with more specific solutions that cater to your event and location. Summer and outdoor events are great, but with people’s high expectations make sure you are up to the challenge!

The festival season is upon us, which means there are even more events to be organized and even more crowds to control. While your actual strategy is likely to change based on the type of festival and the size of it, there are a few things that you should always keep in mind when planning an event.

·        Consider the audience. What is the average age of your attendees? Will there be alcohol? What type of day, and what events, are the most popular? These are huge factors in planning out a crowd control strategy.

·        Consider the venue. Do you know it? Has it held an event like this before? If you’ve held this even before, what didn’t work about the venue?

·        Consider your staff. Are most of them new, or have they done this before? This will help you select where staff members are placed and what type of training they need.

·        Train your staff to be courteous. Friendly interactions with staff members are more likely to keep crowds calm during the festivities.

·        Give your staff members uniforms. This is as simple as having everyone wear the same T-shirt. You want staff to be easily recognizable.

·        Provide a clear chain of command so information gets from your staff to the right people. This is very important.

·        Be sure to brief your staff clearly. They need to know where everything is, the procedures for a multitude of events, etc.

·        Have a clear method of communication. This may be phones or radios, but whatever it is make sure you have it and all staff has access to it in some way. If there is a situation requiring backup but your staff can’t communicate that, it’s going to escalate.

·        Do your research when hiring a security service.

·        Plan the event like you are planning for your family to attend. Think of how you want to keep them safe. That’s the same amount of work that should go into an event for strangers. They’re trusting you to keep them safe too, after all.

Each event is different, but each event should also have these strategies put in play to keep events running smoothly. Happy festival season! 

Managing Crowds at Large Events

We’ve talked on this blog before about managing crowds at locations such as theme parks and festivals, but what about events that take place indoors? Hundreds of conventions are held across the USA every year, and the majority of these conventions take place indoors. When you have thousands of individuals crowding into one building, it can be a bit hectic. Luckily many conventions have found ways around these issues.

In this post we’re going to go over a few of the main problems with large indoor event crowds, and solutions you may use to overcome them.

Number 1: Registration lines are long and slow.

Solution: There are multiple ways around this problem, though it cannot be eliminated entirely. Anime Central, the third largest anime convention in America, now offers mailed badges. Attendees pay an extra fee for their badges to be sent in the mail. This eliminates a large chunk of people from the line entirely. Those not wishing to pay extra or who don’t register in advanced can still do so the traditional way. You may also choose to have multiple registration lines, such as one for pre-registered attendees and one for those registering onsite, as onsite registration takes longer. Another excellent option is to offer registration the day before the event, so those arriving early can get signed in early to cut down on lines the day of.

Number 2: Multiple lines cause confusion.

Solution: Have signage to help guide your guests. It is traditional for signage to be at the front of the line, but if it’s a large line your guests can benefit from multiple signs along the way. A whiteboard can work very well for this to write out the name of the panel and the capacity of the room. This may lead to guests not waiting needlessly if the line is already very long for an event. It also allows you to easily update schedules that can change quickly during a convention. 

Number 3: There are too many people in too small a space.

Solution: Make use of every bit of space of your venue that you can. This is really about planning ahead. Predict how popular a particular screening or panel is to be. The more popular, the larger the room should be with plenty of space for lines. Dealers and registration need a large, open area for setup and lines, so take that into account as well. If possible, expand to multiple buildings. A lot of conventions make use of part of a convention center as well as one or even multiple nearby hotels. You may even choose to host several outdoor events. Utilizing your space correctly will make it less crowded and overwhelming.

Number 4: Panels and screenings are overcrowded.

Solution: Panels are the largest reason attendees will pay for admission to a convention, so of course they are going to be crowded. Clear signage and crowd control barriers are a great way to keep the lines themselves organized. If you are hoping to cut down on lines, a great way to do this is to have plenty of ongoing programming. This will depend on what type of event you are hosting. You may have lounge and networking areas, video game rooms, lending libraries…whatever fits the theme. It should be something available throughout the entire convention so guests can come and go, and hopefully cut down on traffic to panels a bit.

Problem 5: Lines are too long

Solution: If you are running a popular event, lines are going to be long. There’s not much you can do about that. What you can do is keep lines organized and keep guests happy. Using tape, rope, or other barriers can keep crowds organized. When there are multiple lines in one area it’s easy to become confused. You should also strive to keep attendees informed. Staff should go up and down long lines, giving instructions and guiding attendees to the correct areas. You may even choose to use apps to track how many people plan to attend specific panels and screenings.

Running a large event is a lot of work, and you’ll have to deal with a lot of crowd control issues. This is inevitable. We’ve got several small, extra tips for you to keep in mind. Make sure you keep attendees informed. When issues arise, fix them immediately, as this can cause the snowballing effect. And of course, remember this event is about making your attendees happy. Ultimately, the crowd control isn’t for you, it is to make your guest’s experience as good as possible.