Everything You Need to Know About Event Security

While the world of events can seem very glitzy and surrounded by glamor, there are so many moving parts behind the scenes that are required to make an event successful. One of the most important moving parts is security. What is event security? It’s a type of service that you can opt in for or hire from a third party while organizing the event to take care of all safety aspects of the event venue and the guests attending. If you find yourself asking, ‘how do I plan event security?’, you came to the right place because at Piovra Group, we are experts when it comes to the multi-faceted world of events.

Tips for Hiring Event Security

1. Know and Trust the Team You Hire

When you begin to look for and hire a security team, you want to make sure you do a deep and thorough dive on the people who will be working on you. Run background checks, host interviews, look at past experience, call referrals, you can never be too cautious when it comes to the safety of an event. More often than not, when things take a turn south, it’s because someone on the inside was involved which is why security is so important at events to get it right. In this day and age, you can also work with recruiting companies that do the heavy lifting for you so you can continue to plan the rest of your event.

2. Educate Your Team

You want to make sure you educate your team so everyone knows what their duties and responsibilities are. It’s crucial for a successful security team to operate as one cohesive unit regardless of whether you’re at rooftop wedding venues in Los Angeles or a convention center in Long Beach. No matter what type of event or venue it is, your team must function together to keep everyone safe. You should have protocols, training on how to identify threats, how to stay in control during problematic scenarios, and so forth. This will set your team up for success and avoid a crisis.

3. Complete Venue Security (This Includes Cyber!)

When it comes to event security services, you want to make sure you have complete venue security. It’s not simply about what goes on outside of the building, but also about protecting guests against insider threats, as well as cyber threats. A great place to start is making sure you have security checks at all entry points throughout the venue. You will also want to assign security guards throughout the venue and have exits mapped out in case an evacuation is needed. Additionally, having cameras that are monitored and a communication system throughout the venue so your team can speak to one another is important. There is also hackers to worry about in this generation so making sure you are protected against data-breaches, money fraud and terrorist attacks are equally as important.

4. Medical Staff Available

Having medical staff available in case things go wrong is also important. Having this kind of help on site mitigates someone suffering further injury by having no one to tend to them if they get hurt. Stocking up on first-aid kits can also help with smaller medical emergencies. We always recommend the bigger events having qualified medical staff at the event so they can help paramedics and first responders in traumatic situations.

5. Crowd Management

Depending on if you are looking at outdoor party venues in Los Angeles or more intimate restaurant patios, your capacity and size of your event will look different. This means your security team will have to have measurements in place for crowd management and what that looks like based on the size of the event. Making sure exits aren’t blocked, people are not overly excited or rambunctious, guests aren’t cramped in small quarters for long periods of time, and guest speakers aren’t harassed are great ways to inflict crowd management.

6. Have an Emergency Plan

Finally, you want to have an emergency plan if you do have to do a full-blown evacuation. Mapping out what that looks like and who is responsible for various duties and reactions will make your life a whole lot easier if this event did occur and can also drastically reduce injuries or worse. 

At Piovra Group, we are well connected when it comes to venues in Los Angeles, and have worked with a variety of different kinds of security teams for different events and capacities. We would be more than happy to discuss your next event and what that looks like from a security perspective.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Does the venue provide security, or do I have to hire a third party?
A: Both of those options exist! Depending on the venue, sometimes they offer that as a service through their own internal team, and other times you have to hire a third party, it just depends.

Q: Can Piovra Group help coordinate security or is that something I would have to manage?
A: Of course, we can help manage various components of every event so you don’t have to worry about it.

Q: Do you think it’s smart to have security even at smaller events?
A: Absolutely. Maybe you don’t need the same coverage as a massive event, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.