Crowd Control & Why It's Important

What is crowd control? 

Before we explore the logistics of crowd safety management, we should start with the basics. So, what is crowd control? 

Often used as an overarching term, crowd control more specifically covers many practical methods for ensuring large groups of people are managed in the moment. For example, this could be via physical barriers, or the employment of security personnel to direct and guide crowds. Crowd control techniques are usually planned for before the event starts, which is where the idea of crowd safety management comes in… 

 

Are crowd control and crowd management the same? 

You may have heard both crowd control and crowd management used interchangeably – but, they technically refer to different parts of the same topic.  

As we mentioned above, crowd control is used to describe methods of keeping large groups contained safely during the event. Crowd management is somewhat broader, as this term tends to be used to describe planning and strategy before the exhibition, including but not limited to: 

• Coordination of security staff before the event. 

• Planning efficient methods for crowd control (to be used during the exhibition). 

• Communicating crowd control strategies. 
• Researching venue layouts and effective flow management strategies. 

In this way, crowd management is a proactive branch of your security strategy which then dictates the crowd control methods you need. 

 

Why is crowd management important? 

Whatever the type of exhibition you’re hosting, you want to attract as many attendees as possible to be successful. But, with more people comes an increased need to ensure everyone stays as safe as possible. An effective crowd management strategy is vital to: 

• Offer a better exhibition experience: not only can larger crowds be intimidating, but they could even limit how much a person can do at your event. To prevent this, an efficient crowd management plan (and crowd control measures) can help your attendees have a better exhibition experience. 

• Keep people safe: while large groups of people are not inherently dangerous, there are more risks involved when you increase capacity. Effective crowd control and management allows you to keep people safe. 

• Improve exhibition mobility: if you’re hosting an exhibition across multiple areas or with lots of booths (think trade shows, or vendor exhibitions), people need to be able to move around your venue. A proper crowd management strategy ensures that your attendees will be able to move around the event as needed. 
• Improve risk management: in cases of emergency, you need effective crowd control to ensure you can respond to an issue. For example, crowd control becomes essential in cases where you need to evacuate a venue, or get to the site of an incident. 

Exhibition security doesn’t end with crowd control – learn more about our Safety and Security Services at Exhibition Centre Liverpool. 

 

What are different techniques for crowd control and management? 

Implementing an effective crowd management strategy, with practical crowd control measures requires some pre-planning throughout the lifecycle of your exhibition to make sure you cover the key areas. To help you out, we’ve highlighted some of the main techniques for crowd control and management. 

 

Crowd management 

When it comes to crowd safety management, consider employing some of the following techniques: 

• Access control: controlling who can access your venue, at what time, and how many at once, can go a long way in improving your crowd safety and security. Using ticketing, even for free events, helps you to keep track of potential crowd numbers on the day. 
• Traffic flow strategies: before your event, discuss traffic flow strategies to help you predict high-traffic areas – and how to limit them. These could be via limiting how many people are in a room, using a one-way system, etc. 
• Pre-planned crowd limitation: consider how many people can comfortably fit into your exhibition at once and use this as a limit to prevent overcrowding. For example, for seated exhibitions, creating reserved areas can help to reduce crowds across your venue. 
• Communication: communication is key for crowd management. Work together with your security personnel before, during, and after the exhibition to ensure you maintain effective communication with everyone – and make sure you communicate the plan to everyone who needs to know. 
• Risk assessment: before any exhibition, you will need to conduct a risk assessment. This will help you identify potential crowd control issues and allow you to plan for them. For example, are there staircases or narrow corridors that can cause bottlenecks, and is there a way to alleviate the pressure in these areas of the venue? 
• Emergency response plans: part of your risk assessment should always contain your emergency response plans. As part of crowd management, you will need to know who are your first responders, and how to get them to the incident area as quickly as possible. 

Top tip: when you’re filling in risk assessments and emergency response plans, make sure to cover each aspect of your chosen venue – for example, at Exhibition Centre Liverpool, we have a range of spaces within our Venue that you can use, all of which will need to be covered in your crowd safety management plans. 

 

Crowd control 

In the run up to the day, and during your exhibition, there are a selection of crowd control techniques you can use to make sure everyone is as safe as possible during the event. These include: 

• Barriers: whether you use the classic velvet rope, metal barriers, or cones, make sure you have some physical measures to guide attendees through a queue (and cordon off restricted areas). This will help you keep people where they need to be. 
• Ticketed entrances: using ticketing helps to stagger entrance, reducing the total crowd entering and exiting your exhibition. It also allows you to keep numbers at a more reasonable level for the comfort of your exhibition attendees. 
• Security personnel: make sure you have a wide range of security personnel onsite to help manage and direct your crowds, and answer questions when needed. On large-scale exhibitions, you might also want to consider including some discreet members of security to provide additional backup where required. 
• Surveillance: alongside visible security personnel, you should have staff behind the scenes monitoring live CCTV to identify potential problem areas before they develop. 
• Signs: effective signage is essential for crowd control. Make sure you have plenty of visible notices directing people around the venue, and highlight key areas they should visit. 
• Public announcements: if your chosen venue has the option, make use of the tannoy system to make public information announcements when appropriate. This can help crowds know where they need to be, or can be used to stagger entrances and exits on timed exhibitions. 

 

How to employ crowd control measures at your exhibition 

Still not quite sure how to put these measures in place? We’ve got you covered. Below you will find some practical examples of how you can employ crowd management and control at your exhibition – and how the team here at Exhibition Centre Liverpool can be of assistance… 

 

For trade shows 

Trade shows are a fantastic way for businesses and companies to showcase their products. Of course, this means they can attract a large crowd, especially if they’re for specific industries or businesses. Some of the key crowd control/management techniques for this type of exhibition include: 

• Stewards: having visual stewards in place around the event can help to direct visitors to the different areas of the venue, helping traffic to move smoothly without people getting lost or blocking doorways. 

• Signage: with lots of different stalls and booths, having accurate signage to important areas will help to control the flow of people in one area. It also helps people navigate the event safely. 

• Surveillance: using real-time CCTV surveillance can help you spot potential issues before they develop, allowing security staff to arrive if necessary. 

• On-site security personnel: you need to have both visible and discreet security staff on-site for your exhibition. Not only can this help crowds feel safer, it also means someone can respond to any incidents (if they occur) in a timely fashion. 

• Staggered session timing: staggering when different sessions begin and end helps to prevent congestion in high-traffic areas. Note, this is also applicable for consumer events (see below). 

 

For large consumer events 

Large-scale consumer events, like our Christmas Indoor Funfair or ComicCon Liverpool, attract huge crowds, so it’s absolutely vital to choose the right methods of crowd control to keep everyone safe. In these instances, some measures you should implement are: 

• Barriers: these will help to control access to different areas of an exhibition, both to stop people from going in restricted areas, but also to provide a cushion from large machinery or offer safety to special guests.  

• Ticket checks on entrance: offering tickets for these events helps you to get a rough estimate of how many people are attending. Checking them at the entrance reduces unauthorised people that may impact the safety of the event, and prevent you from going over the venue capacity. 
• Risk assessment: the risk assessment will be even more essential for such large scale events, particularly when there are rides or interactive technology to ensure everyone is safe – and large crowds are accounted for across the venue. 

Top tip: when working on your crowd management strategy, you should make sure to have thorough debriefs and reviews of any previous events you’ve hosted. This helps you recognise areas that need improvement, such as pinch points within the venue that may need handling differently to help traffic move efficiently. This could include making changes to your exhibition layout to allow people to pass, or moving some of the attractions around to allow for more space for visitors to queue safely. 

 

For immersive experiences 

Immersive experiences, like art exhibitions or sound and light shows, are an incredible way to combine technology with culture to create a whole new way to experience both. With an immersive exhibition, and the people they attract, some key crowd control measures you should have in place are: 

• One-way systems: using a one-way directional traffic flow allows everyone to move through the experience at their own pace without creating blockages or hazardous crowds. 

• Timed ticket entrance: staggering when people can attend helps to reduce overall crowd numbers, keeping attendees safe and ensuring they can enjoy the experience without being overwhelmed by other people. 

• On-site security or customer service staff: having a visible presence helps to reduce the likelihood of issues, whilst also providing someone to offer directions or assistance when required. All venues will have on-site security teams that you can deploy to help with crowd control, and this is a non-negotiable aspect of crowd management that you will need to include in your strategy and planning. 

 

Host your next event with Exhibition Centre Liverpool 

Make your next exhibition a success with the help of our amazing teams here at Exhibition Centre Liverpool. With access to state-of-the-art Production Services, IT Services, and so much more, your attendees will love their experience. And, with safety and security at the heart of everything we do, you can trust in your planning and our exhibition experience.  

 

Interested in finding more industry knowledge and advice? Find useful information in our Resources Hub… 

 

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