blog.propared.com: While the application of new event technology is a top priority for most planners and organizers, attendee safety is paramount. From addressing potential terrorist threats to weather procedures, from securing personal data to managing complex new event tech systems; there are more risks for planners to tackle than ever before. You are going to need some help.
7 comments:
This is a really helpful article, it boils down and condenses the information from a monthly subscription into usable pieces of information. All of the points were clear and concise, and some of them I wouldn’t never have thought of while planning events. Looking back it seems like a no-brainer to prepare for all sorts of weather, but when you’re planning the event maybe this information falls through the cracks and you don’t catch your mistake until day of, and by then it’s too late. I liked the small blip about recognizing heat stroke, because it is one of those things that can sneak up on you. A crew member or audience member may not know why they’re feeling unwell, but this can be dangerous if they don’t cool down and hydrate themselves immediately. It’s important to train your staff and crew to recognize heat stroke, both for their safety and the safety of others, especially if you’re outside for long periods of time.
I agree with Kelly in the fact that this article does a fantastic job at boiling down a lot of dense information into something easily accessible for any average person. I worked a lot of outdoor gigs in high school and it was amazing my first year at Bay Street when we did two outdoor events, one parking lot gala and one Shakespeare in the park, and how little people new about why you do these things and even missing a lot of them. I believe we got to Gala and though there were cases of chilled water, there was no one explaining the rate at which you should drink it. This lead to most people trucking through for three hours and then stopping for a gross amount of time just to catch up on water consumption. The park was even worse because apparently not having a hard floor was something unheard of. God forbid it rained, because even the sprinklers threw off the electricians – whom brought no tarps.
This article has some really good information about things to keep on your mind when you are planning an outdoor event, most of which I never would have thought of. Mostly when I think of outdoor events I just think of the best case weather situation and assume that it will be nice out. Of course that is not the reality, and event planners knowing that too is extremely important. I especially liked the point about knowing how to spot the signs of heat stroke. This puts something that only affects people differently on the radar of someone really high up on the food chain. Usually you wouldn't think that the top event planner would bother themselves with knowing heat stroke but if they are thinking about it, they are going to make sure that every person on their staff is also thinking about it and able to spot the signs so they can get out and help. It’s really reassuring that they aren't just thinking about the event as a whole and are concerned with the individual patrons who come.
I really need to remember to show this article to the people running Spring Carnival at our next meeting. Pretty much every thing in it is applicable to what we’re doing then and its all stuff we should start doing. We have a system in place to alert us to weather changes but as far as I know no one that knows how to use it. Even if we did we don’t have systems in place for dealing with that information. Currently our plans for dangerous weather situations are exactly what the fourth point is saying not to do. Our evacuation plans exist in the form of “if there’s lighting strikes within x distance of midway evacuate the people” and that’s it. We have no idea how long it would take and maybe three people involved in carnival would actually know the steps to take to go about evacuating midway.
This is definitely a useful article. We were just going over theater/construction safety in our tech management class with Molly a few days ago, and both that class and this article really goes to show how many things can go wrong if even the smallest thing is overlooked or not done correctly. As someone who's prone to heat strokes, I generally avoid and am not particularly familiar to outdoor theater. This article brings up issues that don't necessarily affect indoor theater, and so I've never really thought about the issues discussed here. Including the cast and crew, everyone's body reacts differently to the temperature and environment around them. Just because weather is uncontrollable doesn't mean there's nothing you can do other than relying on weather apps. On the contrary, even more research and planning should take place to prepare for possible outcomes. I took a look at Event Safety Insights, and I think it's definitely a good idea to always read more because there are always room for improvement, especially when it comes to safety.
I am so glad that an article is covering this because there are so many horrible cases that you hear of involving deaths at huge music festivals due to things like dehydration and heat strokes. My heart goes out to all of the families that lost loved ones to this. The problem is that the arenas are so massively huge and at festivals there are multiple stage areas. It is virtually impossible to have somebody watching every single person as they are at the festival. However- It does not seem like a bad idea to plant a bunch of trained medical personnel in the crowd specifically to keep an eye out on signs of heat strokes or dehydration or other issues that may come up. Outdoor weather safety is another huge factor in event planning and maintaining of equipment, artists, and guests. There are so many things at play here and when you’re a guest I like to say that you leave your brain in the parking lot. The guests rely so much on proper and safe management.
So, when you are producing an outdoor event, oh man you better watch out for a whole extra slew of safety concerns. Certainly, the whether is a large concern, both as it effects the structures that you have installed and the audience members that are at your event. And this all goes on top of the regular hazards of event production, such as all the staging collapses that make the news. I had no idea that an organization such as the Event Safety Alliance even existed, but I am certainly more intrigued by the classes and content that they offer now.
That being said, I wonder at what scale you have to start really planning out these things. Like, how big does your outdoor event really have to be before you need to hire a meteorologist to be on staff? Likewise, when does your evacuation plan need to be more complex than, everybody get out now? Again, I'd be interested in reading their Event Safety Insights publication to learn more, and perhaps it delves into greater detail than this short article.
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