Parking

There are two options. If you are working with a fixed facility, the place is largely set up for you. The other main option is a large grassed area, which will require some extra thought.

 

Fixed facility

  1. Estimate the number of cars.
  2. What will you do if the number of cars is way over your estimate?
  3. What about special needs:
    1. ACROD/disabled
    2. elderly
    3. people with small children
    4. VIPs
    5. staff
    6. performers, exhibitors, competitors, stallholders
    7. taxis
    8. loading zones, and
    9. drop-offs?
  4. Will you need passes and separate parking?
    1. Will you need to issue staff passes for free parking or separate staff parking areas?
    2. Will you need to issue passes for separate parking for performers, exhibitors, or competitors?
  5. Will you charge for parking?
    1. If so, how much?
    2. Where and how will you charge people?
    3. How will you inform them of parking fees?
  6. Will you need signs to tell people where to get into parking?
  7. Will you need parking stewards to guide people to parking places and control traffic?
    1. What training or briefing will they need?
    2. They will need distinctive jackets. Will they also need torch-lights and walky-talky radios?
    3. Where will you place them?
    4. Will they need a diagram?
    5. Hint: use a simple, clear system of hand signals.
  8. What security will you need to put in place? What about lights?
  9. What about rubbish pickup afterwards?

 

Grassed area: extra tasks

This can be trickier than it looks if you are parking on a large grassed area.

  1. Plot the traffic flow.
  2. Plan a traffic flow system so you fill up bays systematically.
  3. Plan a system of bays or rows and mark it out.
  4. Will you need portable lighting for nights?
  5. Will you need advice from local police?
  6. Will you need barriers anywhere?

If the parking is not adjacent to the venue, will you need signs from parking to the venue?

 

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Plan venue entry procedures

Someone needs to monitor entry to a venue and to monitor and report on crowd movements. This task is usually assigned to a regular staff member operative or or to a front-of-house manager. It is not a specialist security role done by licensed security staff, although some procedures tend to overlap. Consequently you will need to develop procedures for controlling access.

  1. Find out the maximum number of people the venue can accommodate. (It should be written in a council permit for public buildings).
  2. Can you safely admit the number of people in the limited time? (Imagine admitting 40,000 people in a space of less than two hours.)
  3. Identify the venue's access points and related areas, e.g.:
    • public entrances (some of which may be less conspicuous, or via restaurants, hotels, car parks, etc.)
    • VIP entrances
    • stage door, staff entry
    • service entries (including large vehicle bays)
    • fire exits.
  4. Identify restricted areas, e.g.:
    • the performance area
    • backstage
    • operating point for technical equipment, e.g. sound mixing desk.
  5. If there are multiple entries, will you need to determine who should go in what entry? If so, how will you tell people?
    • for general public
    • for staff
    • for performers
    • etc.
  6. What entry areas need to be monitored? E.g. street entrance, footpaths outside the venue, cloak rooms, backstage, loading bay, lobby or foyer, auditorium entry area inside the venue.
  7. Will you have entry restrictions?
    • Will there be a dress code requirement for admission?
    • Will you use a colored stamp or wrist-band?
    • Will there be a time limit after which people may not enter?
    • How will you inform the public about planned restrictions (dress, banned goods, etc.?
  8. Personnel
    • Which tasks must by done by licensed security guards and which can be done by venue admission monitors? Draw up job descriptions and task lists for the various roles.
    • What training will they need?
  9. Will you need to install barriers, gates, or fences? Does the main VIP entrance need a red carpet?
  10. What will staff do to monitor and maintain access to the venue? For example:
    • Open up in the morning.
    • Check accesses to the venue before people arrive.
    • Check the venue before people arrive (e.g. clean, well-presented, nothing is there that shouldn't be).
    • Control access to the venue from the time you expect guests to start arriving, and restrict access to the auditorium until you gain clearance.
    • Answer basic enquiries from guests. ("Is this the right place for ...?" "How long until the next session?")
    • Check areas regularly for safety and comfort of guests.
    • Check identification in restricted access areas and allow only authorised personnel to enter restricted areas.
    • Close down a end of day.

 

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Plan signage, especially in the admissions area

Signage is usually necessary even in relatively small events. Good signage (especially the welcome sign) re-assures people that they have showed up at the right place at the right time. If there are no signs, the event appears to have been cancelled. Besides, guests find it very frustrating to arrive at an unfamiliar venue and not know where they're supposed to go.

What kinds of signs will you need? For example:

Who will do signage?

Are any signs reusable or recyclable? How will you dispose of disposable signs?

 

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Front of House

The Front of House is the entire front guest reception area. The job of the Front of House manager is to make sure the entire job of getting people happily from the front of the building through the front desk procedures and on to the rest of the venue.

Manage Front of House

  1. Check that all staff are present. If someone hasn't showed up, it's your problem to solve.
  2. Brief your team before you open the venue e.g. event details, fire drills, house policies.
  3. Give public announcements as necessary
  4. Handle all enquiries and complaints. Be informative and polite, and refer people to the appropriate personnel if required.
  5. Check the venue to make sure that it is clean and ready for guests, e.g.
    • set up/prepare cloakroom
    • prepare food and drink service
    • set up promotional displays
    • check that the venue is clean and tidy
    • clean and tidy the venue or instruct other staff to do so.
  6. Activate emergency procedures if necessary.
  7. Close the venue at end of event.
  8. Debrief your team at the end of the event

Do Front of House admin.

  1. Prepare staff rosters and distribute them to staff.
  2. Check staff time cards and validate them as required
  3. Write incident reports if necessary.
  4. Keep your staff informed of anything they need to know.
  5. Maintain inventories of all Front of House stock (e.g. tickets, programs, vouchers, promotional material, food and drink, office supplies)
  6. Do stock control:
    1. Order new stock as needed.
    2. Monitor stock to identify popular and unpopular selling items and respond appropriately.
  7. Instruct staff to:
    1. Do any stocktakes
    2. Record wastage and out of date stock, note expiry dates, and rotate stock.
    3. Rotate display and shelved stock on a first in, first out basis.

 

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Front desk

The front desk is called a box office for a theatre or music production, or a guest registration desk for a conference. Either way, the planning and procedure is much the same.

Planning the set up

  1. Start by establishing the guest database. This applies to conferences and for pre-sold show tickets.
    1. What information will you get from guests at check-in?
    2. How will you collate it?
    3. What needs to go into a database?
  2. Confirm access details with the venue:
    1. Who is the contact person at the venue?
    2. What time can you get access for set up?
    3. What time you can get in on the day of the event?
    4. Are there any particular requests or instructions regarding the venue?
    5. To whom should you to refer difficulties with the venue or equipment?
  3. How will you handle money?
    1. What banking arrangements need to be made?
    2. How will you count and bank proceeds?
    3. Do you need any special security arrangements? (E.g. anti-robbery, anti-theft, etc.)
    4. How will you pay for ticketing services for internet bookings? What surcharges will apply, and how will they affect customers?
  4. Will you get especially printed tickets and programs?
  5. Will you accept phone bookings? If so, what are the rules (e.g. for no-shows)?
  6. Will you also register absences ('no shows')?
  7. How will you set up your front desk?
    1. Where?
    2. Who will staff it? What training do they need?
    3. What hours?
    4. Do you know how much tickets will cost?
    5. What equipment will you need? e.g. ticket box, power, telephone lines, cash collection.
    6. Set a timeline that allows you to do everything in your plan before the event.

Planning the procedure

What will you do for arrivals and check-in? (E.g. VIP arrivals, Airport pickup, greeters, complimentary items (flowers, stationery, merchandise), foyer signage and entertainment, help with luggage.)

Plan the steps for registering guests, for example:

  1. Give guests a courteous, friendly welcome
  2. Check guest documentation
  3. Finalize and confirm registration
  4. Check and record details, and fix any discrepancies
  5. Act on accommodation and travel as required
  6. Advise guests on features of the event and venue, answer their questions, and give them any appropriate materials
  7. Accept payments and issue receipts
  8. Refer guests to the next step:
    1. Check that guests can move on to the venue or accommodation as appropriate.
    2. Some events have a waiting area where guests can socialize before moving into the main venue. In this case, you might serve drinks and perhaps canopes.
  9. Afterwards, you might have to:
    1. Report special requirements to suppliers
    2. Produce guest lists that include all information for those who need to know (e.g. supervisor, colleagues, clients, suppliers).

Make some planning decisions, for example:

  1. How will you receive, receipt and confirm payments? Do you need to set up credit card facilities? Foreign currency exchange?
  2. What ID will be required, if any?
  3. How will you attend to special needs (diet, disability, translators, currency exchange, etc.)?
  4. What information will you give guests at check-in? It could be oral information, or documents and materials (e.g. name tag, list of delegates, info kit, agenda, travel and accommodation confirmation, venue map, parking details).
  5. Prepare all materials and equipment required for registration and check them before the event.

Training

Give your staff enough practice with the basic procedure to make sure that they can do it easily and efficiently, and give the best possible impression to attenders. They will also need to be able to handle the more difficult details effictively.

Set up the front desk

Do the set up on the day of the event, or the day before if possible.

  1. Familiarise yourself with the venue if you need to do so, and locate power points, facilities, etc.
  2. Put up signage and display materials.
  3. Install equipment and check that it works.
  4. Prepare materials and and place them in the registration areas, e.g. stationery, computers, etc.

HintBefore the gig, have a look through the guest list. While you probably won’t remember everyone, you will remember some and it will make it easier to welcome guests and direct them to their seats.

 

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Plan queuing system*

Queuing systems are one of the most interesting new developments in event management. People generally dislike waiting in long queues, so a good queuing system contributes to a positive experience.

  1. Decide on the number of queues.
  2. Forecast traffic flow and busy times, and identify possible bottlenecks.
    1. When will they form?
    2. Do you need to stagger admission times?
    3. Can you deploy extra staff for peak periods?
    4. Could you have separate procedures for special groups (VIPs, large groups by appointment, elderly, disabled, people with small children and infants, etc)?
  3. How many personnel greeters, crowd controllers, ticket collectors and security will you need?
  4. How can the perceived waiting time be reduced? e.g. queue entertainers (such as clowns), TV, gifts, etc.
  5. What first aid, access and emergency procedures are in place?
  6. Are lighting, sun and rain protection adequate?
  7. Are crowd friendly barricades and partitions in place?
  8. Are toilets, food and water necessary?
  9. Are different booths needed for different payment methods or prepaid?
  10. If queues are unexpectedly long, what can you do to compensate? (E.g. discounts, gifts, etc.)

*Ref: http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~wotoole

 

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Ushers

Check and process tickets

  1. Meet guests and greet them
  2. Check tickets/passes for accuracy and validity
  3. Give them information as required

Seat guests

  1. Encourage guests to enter the appropriate location.
  2. Monitor crowd movement and disperse bottlenecks. Deal with queues to minimize waiting time.
  3. Tell guests their seat location or guide them to seats
  4. Resolve any seating problems
  5. If guests have special needs, seat them at the most appropriate time for the comfort and convenience of all parties (e.g. wheelchair access, hearing assistance, translation assistance).
  6. Deal with latecomers tactfully.
  7. Handle all enquiries and complaints. Be informative and polite, and refer people to the appropriate personnel if required.

Carry out other duties

  1. Close venue doors when required.
  2. Answer guest's questions e.g.
    • cloakroom arrangements
    • location of toilets
    • correct venue entrance
  3. Hand in lost property.
  4. Clean and tidy venue as required.
  5. In an emergency, help people to evacuate according to emergency procedures.
  6. Help guests to leave the venue at the end of the performance/event as required

 

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Plan venue exit procedures

Someone needs to monitor exit to a venue and to report on crowd movements. This task is usually assigned to a regular staff member or to a Front of House manager. It is not a specialist security role done by licensed security staff, although some procedures tend to overlap.

You will need to develop procedures for controlling exits. If an event finishes at a specific time, most attenders want to leave soon afterward, creating pushing crowds and traffic jams. In this case, traffic supervision and police cooperation may be more necessary during exits than entry. In some sports, supporters of losing teams might commit acts of hooliganism.

Consequently, you might need to plan for a deliberate wind-down phase so that crowds will disperse gradually. This will lighten the load for traffic supervision and police cooperation.

 

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