Event security: a comprehensive guide

Steps for Keeping your Special Events Secure

Event security is fundamental to any gathering; guests must feel safe to attend and, ultimately, enjoy the event. From private parties to large-scale concerts and arena events, event security solutions are a top goal for anyone looking to host a successful event. Just as your event will be a unique experience for all attendees, you want a security plan that adapts to your event’s unique location and goals and draws from previous experience.

A smooth and secure event requires an experienced team of security professionals to develop a well-researched and tailored plan. This same event security team then executes the plan, monitoring activity during the event and adapting to security risks in real-time. After the event, you’ll want to conduct an after-action review to improve security operations in the future.

Some events that require a strong security presence include:

Corporate Events
Fundraisers and Charity Events
Premieres, Red Carpet Events
Ceremonies and Awards Shows
Parades and Large-Scale Public Events
Sporting and Stadium Events
Conferences and Trade Shows
Celebrity Appearances
Press Junkets
Speeches, Talks, and Public Addresses
Concerts and Festivals
Local, Country, and Regional Fairs
Tournaments and Competitions
Theaters and Show Venues
Meetings and parties that high-net-worth individuals will attend

Below are the steps that Global Risk Solutions, Inc. recommend as components of event security to ensure that you, your staff, and all attendees remain safe.

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Step 1: Risk Assessment & Pre-Planning

The first step to event security planning usually happens several weeks or months before an event, in the form of risk assessment and the necessary planning that comes from it. Event security encompasses a broad range of objectives and coverage depending on the client’s specific needs— therefore, our first step in approaching any event is to analyze your needs and situation. After this analysis, we thoroughly assess the brief and provide a thorough risk assessment of what resources are needed to achieve your security goals.

After assessing your event’s coverage needs in a detailed security plan, we plan strategically according to priorities and budget.

Physical Location

You want to perform a full risk assessment of the physical location. We look at factors such as venue capacity, travel and traffic flow, potential risks and liabilities. We then assess the surrounding areas and determine what security personnel are necessary. One of the first steps for offering security for events is to understand the venue’s unique security needs and to meet them.

After assessing your event’s coverage needs in a detailed security plan, we plan strategically according to priorities and budget.

Personnel, Background Checks

A proper security plan includes the staffing of personnel required for your specific event— this may consist of access control procedures and security guards, surveillance specialists, close protection agents, emergency response, and traffic specialists— to name a few. Personnel must be cleared via a proper security screening and vetted before working any event, regardless of what their role is in the event itself.

Our team of highly-trained personnel provides the backbone to manage personnel and provide a secure, safe experience for all.

Attendees

In addition to event personnel, it is also helpful to develop a profile of who will be attending the event or carefully review any guest list. There may be a need for background checks or a familiarization process with the audience type. Security screenings are necessary for all attendees to ensure that your event runs smoothly.

Additional VIP security services may be necessary for more high-net-worth guests, a service that Global Risk Solutions, Inc. is proud to offer. For more information about this form of close protection security, please read about our Executive Protection service.

Personnel must be cleared via a proper security screening and vetted before working any event, regardless of what their role is in the event itself.

Permits & Coordination with Local Governance, Insurance

There is almost always a need to comply and coordinate with local ordinances for special events. These regulations often require meeting specific insurance requirements and abiding by pre-defined parameters during the event. Global Risk Solutions, Inc. offers a comprehensive service to ensure that all permits and insurance are taken care of and understood fully, so coordinators and attendees can focus on having a successful event.

Intelligence Gathering and Threat Assessments

Gather and interpret real-time information related to events and situations. Our intelligence team — backed by decades of experience at the most sophisticated intelligence operations — can collect and analyze data points from various sources such as social media, online resources, and criminal activity databases.

Resource Audit

After you know what your event will require, you’ll want to perform a full audit of the existing resources:

Existing, full-time security personnel
Security checkpoints
Surveillance systems
Entry and exit points
Emergency plans
Fire systems
Capabilities of local law enforcement
Security plans for previous events
Existing insurance policies

In general, you want to alleviate a security concern through existing resources without wasting a valuable budget. Now that you know what resources you have to work with, you can make a well-informed plan and get buy-in from all stakeholders.

In general, you want to alleviate a security concern through existing resources without wasting a valuable budget.

Step 2: Executing the Event Security Plan

During the event, it’s important to stick to the predetermined plan in order to avoid any potential security risks. Managers and security personnel need to work together to manage a potentially wide range of staff and services for the event. For example, you’ll need to coordinate on-the-ground security, crowd management, ticket ushers, traffic control and parking services, gate attendants, guest services, and more.

Step 3: Post-Event Security

Post-event services are just as crucial as other elements of the event security planning process. After an event, we help you plan and implement changes that will improve the event’s quality in the future and make it more secure. Global Risk Solutions, Inc. offers a thorough, systematic, and analytical post-event assessment to provide you with all the information you need to assess how the event went. Even though our pre-event plan and operations keep the event safe, our post-event services offer additional insight into how the plan worked in action, allowing you to iterate and improve upon your event security solutions for your next event.

Conclusion

Many different resources and expertise goes into successful event security, which is why we maintain a strict strategic, analytical, and tactical approach to all of our special event security services. When clients present a security challenge to us, we assess the risks comprehensively and recommend an action plan.

The security process may seem like a simple ID and bag check to general attendees. However, there is much more at play. Health, private and public safety, liability, emergencies, compliance issues, regulations, management, infrastructure, training, traffic, and more are significant aspects of event security planning.

Global Risk Solutions, Inc. specializes in bringing all the elements of event security together and coordinating them in a thoughtful, systematic process. Choosing an experienced security provider who knows how to plan for the worst-case scenario is essential so that only the best outcomes occur. For most events, leaving security up to an organization that only provides event security guards on the grounds is insufficient. It leaves you, attendees, and all parties involved open to serious health, safety, liability, and other physical threats.

Many different resources and expertise goes into successful event security, which is why we maintain a strict strategic, analytical, and tactical approach to all of our special event security services.

About Global Risk Solutions, Inc.

Global Risk Solutions, Inc. is professionally licensed, and our team carries over 100 years of industry expertise at the highest security levels of government, corporate, healthcare, energy, and private industry.

Ultimately, clients who meet with us for a consultation get an immediate sense of our breadth of knowledge and insight for security challenges. We built our success on a team of experts specializing in crucial operational disciplines. As a result, we are not a one-dimensional event security company; we are a multifaceted security organization with access to intelligence tools, advanced surveillance methods, elite field agents, and tactical risk mitigation and crisis management tools.

Our on-the-ground agents have extensive experience in law enforcement, military, and other protective agencies that provide the same high level of proactive services.

If you are planning an event and want to start a no-obligation conversation about your security plan, we’d love to connect with you!