From eliminating foreseeable risks to being prepared for the worst, there’s never been a more critical time for event marketers to arm themselves with the intelligence and resources necessary to maintain safe and secure events.Events Security Cape Town
Here are 5 event security tips from security professionals that will help ensure that your events and staff are prepared for the worst.
- Assess your event’s security risk upfront – Not all events carry the same security risk, and so you should first assess if your event is a high, medium or low risk. The things to consider when assessing event security risk include the organization that is hosting or promoting the event; the content or context of the event; the key individuals speaking at or attending the event; and the exhibitors or sponsors related to the event.
In addition, you should assess the likelihood of protests as well as of the presence of local or national media at the event (more cameras and microphones increase the likelihood for confrontations and demonstrations). You should also take into account the potential vulnerabilities of the venue you choose. For example, outdoor venues are often harder to secure than indoor spaces, but indoor spaces may also have fewer escape routes.
- Create an emergency response plan – Planning for a disaster can mitigate risk, and so it’s important to sit down and create an event emergency response plan ahead of time. And, if your event is large enough, you can hire an event security service to help you draw one up.
The event security plan should also include a crisis communication plan that outlines how you will communicate with attendees and the general public if disaster does strike. This would include creating a list of potential crises, naming your crisis communications team/point people and identifying your communication channels in advance.
Finally, if you decide to hire an event security company, you should ask them about their staff training procedures/certifications, prominent events they have worked, references and insurance as well as what level of advance work they will do.
- Create a visible security presence – According to event security experts, hiding your security force or putting them undercover may do more harm than good, mainly because attendees now rely more than ever on event security staff to direct them in time of emergency and distress.
The reason for this is that attendees simply don’t pay as much attention to their environment as they used to. As such, they are not prepared mentally when someone instantly poses a threat to them. People are always walking around with headphones on, looking down non-stop at their iPhones, not paying attention to what is going on around them.
Awareness is so critical, and people should always be aware of their surroundings and thinking about how to respond to a situation. At events, this responsibility for awareness falls on security to ensure people have obvious cues and authority figures who can provide direction and guidance during high-stress situations. This is why we wear uniforms like police, to provide a symbol for attendees to look for during times of stress.
- Make your event as invisible as possible to the public – Some events like employee appreciation celebrations or board/investor meetings don’t necessarily need to be made public, but often organizations put these events on their websites, in monthly newsletters and on hotel event announcement boards where the general public can learn about them.
Unless the event is open to the public, it’s a good idea to keep private events as secret as possible. This is especially important for companies that might operate in an industry that has politically charged opponents. And if it’s not possible to hide your event from the public, you can take steps like password protecting your registration form (so only people with the password can register; event registration software like Planning Pod offers this capability) as well as making your event check-in “will-call only” and requiring all attendees to show a valid ID.
- Screen all staff, including venue staff – Security threats can come from places where you least expect them, including from event and venue staff. In fact, this may happen much more often than you think.
Inside jobs are the number one cause of security failures. So make sure your event security knows who they are working with regarding event and venue staff.” This means that anyone working on the event needs to be pre-screened and assessed thoroughly, and once they have been cleared, they should be properly credentialed to identify them as event staff. And, like attendees, you should still check their credentials at the venue and match it with a legal ID.
In conclusion, the two keys to establishing solid event security are advance preparation and vigilance before, during and after the event itself, and the more resources and effort you put into these, the better prepared you are to fend off serious threats.
If you are keen to have Nzacksi Security securing your business or office or home, please contact us today and one of our advisors will be willing to help with your specific requirements. Your safety is our Priority.Click here to send us your Enquiry or to request a callback. Click here to send us your Enquiry or to request a callback.
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