As we’re in the winter
months, now’s a good time to start planning your summer festival or
event. Although they’re a great way to bring communities together,
organising them can be a complicated process. Here are a few do’s and
don’ts to help you get started.
Firstly the do’s
Make sure both staff
and attendees stay hydrated
Summer festivals
generally mean long days of hot weather. To avoid problems make sure
your guests and attendees hydrated. Look to provide water stations
where attendees can fill their own bottles and do whatever you can to
provide ample opportunities for people to have access to it.
Plan customer flow
In the hot summer
months there’s nothing more off-putting for an attendee that being
confronted with a massive queue of people in front that doesn’t seem
to be going anywhere. Or alternatively the area is too small to house
the amount of people at the venue, and congestion is causing
problems. Therefore do make sure that the venue holds the required
amount of people comfortably and think about customer flow in and
around the grounds.
Provide security
keeping people safe is
paramount at any festival so make sure that adequate security is in
place. Consider evacuation plans and first aid and make sure that you
have a qualified team handling the project.
Provide help centres
Inevitably at any place
where there is a multitude of people problems are going to occur.
Lost belongings, lost accommodation (tents), or lost people may all
need assistance. By providing regular help centres stationed around
the event, it tells people that (A) you’re thinking of their needs
and (B) they can come to you should they encounter any problems.
Have sufficient
staff
How many staff are you
going to need, 50, 100, 150? The truth is that you’ll probably need
more than you think. It’s far better to be overstaffed than
understaffed especially at places such as entrances and exits, so
make sure that you provide relevant and adequate training.
Now for the
dont’s...
Don’t over-serve
revellers
Yes there’s generally a
lot of alcohol served at festivals but bar staff should be aware of
anyone who appears to have had too much to drink In this instance
it’s best to hire bar-staff who are fully trained to spot those who
have over indulged and identify them.
Don’t skimp on the
restrooms
Restrooms at large
scale events can become rather unpleasant places and that’s putting
it mildly. So make sure there are sufficient restrooms available for
the numbers and don’t forget to hire staff to maintain them and keep
them clean.
Don’t run before you
can walk
If you’re planning a
massive event on a large scale then you might want to think twice.
Large scale events take a monumental amount of meticulous planning to
execute and even then there are always lessons to be learned going
forwards. If you haven’t put on an event before, you may want to
start smaller and work up. This way you can learn as you go along and
save yourself a great deal of stress in the short term too.
Don’t leave a
footprint
Lots of people means
lots of rubbish and the last thing you want is to leave a carbon
footprint on the landscape when all is done and dusted. Instead you
might want to advertise it as a green event from the start and this
way people will take more notice. Have recycling and composting
stations around the event too and encourage people to participate.
Finally make sure that you employ enough people to monitor any waste
build up so that it can be dealt with sooner rather than later.
Don’t forget to
inform the authorities
Finally, if you’re
having a large scale festival don’t forget to get the go-ahead from
the local authorities. It won’t look good if you forget and then the
police come to shut you down on day one!
Although running a
festival is a lot of work it can also be rewarding if done properly.
At MA Security we specialise in event security so if you need someone
to run your entire security operation, or you simply want to hire
security staff, we can help you do that. For further information,
contact us on 1300 020 406 today.
