16 caring for your audience pulling in the middle … · 2 16 caring for your audience pulling in...

2 16 CARING FOR YOUR AUDIENCE

Pulling in themiddle class,middle-agedcrowds ...ANOTHER major variable is theartists booked to perform at the con-certs which tend to fall into two cate-gories – pop or picnics.

This year those in the former cate-gory include Sugababes and McFly,while the latter include Vanessa Maeand Jools Holland.

John added: “In the main, theseshows tend to attract middle class,middle aged England.

“Overall we don’t get a young audi-ence, because the ForestryCommission team very carefullychooses the artists. Even what we’dregard as pop acts like the Sugababes,Status Quo, Simply Red, the HumanLeague and Paul Weller – all bookedto play in 2009 – have a significantly30-something audience, so there isvery little trouble.”

AP’s Adam Scott added: “They arevery much family-orientated events,they don’t have anything that attractsa controversial or big, heavy drinking

crowd.“Last year McFly was booked for

one of the shows, for the first timebringing the average age of the audi-ence down by a reasonable amount,and of course we had to plan differ-ently for that. A significant propor-tion of youngsters in the audiencemeant that there was much morepotential for lost children, childrenrunning about being a nuisance orpossible alcohol-related problems.

“For that show we also had to tight-en up the generally relaxed pass outsystem, because the last thing youwant is kids wandering off into theforest. Plus, of course, with young-sters involved you have to look outfor lone adults acting suspiciouslyand so on.

“But they were all things we builtinto our planning and it was such asuccess that McFly is back this yearfor three shows, all in differentForestry Commission venues.”

Responsibility to treatlocation with respectAS well looking after the public, it isalso important the public looks afterthe site.

Although the Forestry Commissionemploys wildlife and habitat expertswho carefully vet each venue, there isa responsibility among all on site totreat the location with respect.

John added: “Of course people liketo bring picnics to the shows andthat’s encouraged. But china andglass are out of the question, both forthe sake of the site and for people’ssafety.

“For the same reasons no metal cut-lery is allowed, so if any of theseitems are brought, people are giventhe choice of putting them back in

their car, or they can get a ticket,deposit them and collect them at theend.

In place of them, they are givenpaper plates, plastic or wax cups andwooden cutlery.

“There is also now a no umbrellasrule. If it rains, of course people wantto stay dry, but if you’re sitting behindsomeone with a whacking great bigfishing umbrella, you can’t see thestage. We tried limiting the size ofumbrellas one year, but then peopletried to argue the toss over if theirumbrella was big or not. So to make iteasier for everybody, we all agreedthat the rule is no umbrellas.”

What do event organisers needto consider when thinkingabout security at an event?By Clayton Dean, Red Carpet Security

EMPLOYING and working with a pro-fessional security company is one ofthe key aspects of an event. Alongwith many of the other serviceproviders, security harmonise andhelp maintain a peaceful, relaxed andenjoyable environment.

More often than not, many of theguests at an event are not even awareof their presence and the importantrole they play, particularly if the nightis smoothly run by a professionalteam.

The only time they may be aware iswhen something may go wrong or ifthey are needed.

Producing an event nowadays is somuch more than it ever has beenwith the array of facilities, servicesand products that are available con-tinually growing.

For any of these to work cohesivelythere is one thing that all involvedneed to have in common and that iscommunication.

Whether the communication is ver-bal, written or visual it has to bedirect, clear and concise.

� Health and safety – Are there suffi-cient fire extinguishers, has a risk

assessment been done, have you adetailed evacuation route?

� Details of all suppliers at the eventmust be given to the security so that when staff arrive or if securityneed to find them they know who toask for.

� Signage – whether it is for the toi-lets, cloakroom, parking, smoking orexits etc ensure they are up and clearand plenty of them.

� Event information – ensure startand finish times are clear, entryrequirements and location is clear, the dress requirements are clear.

� Allocated areas – VIPs, smoking,staff etc – make this clear.

� Uniforms – All staff should beclearly identifiable wearing appropri-ate uniform, wrist bands or otherobvious clothing.

� Be advised of any other extraduties that security may be requiredto take care of.

It is most important that there is arepresentative there who can briefthe security before the event begins.

With larger events a security com-pany should always provide a teamleader and a pre-event recce wouldhave been carried out with the secu-rity team being briefed prior toarrival.

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