One of the key ways to protect people from security threats is to establish control points away from the meeting that attendees must pass to enter. This forces agitators to confront security personnel (or even registry personnel) long before they can cause any harm. Threats to enclosure security can take different forms, which means that enclosures must have a comprehensive risk mitigation plan. Each venue will have different and unique risks.
This means you'll want to think about how the venue will affect the safety of your team, your attendees, and your speakers. Take the time to map the emergency exits and note the possible hazards that could become a problem. These can be anything from unguarded back doors to tripping hazards caused by old carpets. Work with a security company to help you analyze the site and compile a list of all potential problems before the big day.
Once you have that list, you can come up with a plan to address those dangers and keep everyone safe. Public events attract all kinds of people, good, bad and ugly. To prevent unforeseen threats or dangers from unknown guests to the event, security guards on duty must inspect all guests. Make sure that all guests have been properly vetted and registered with the proper credentials, as well as with the rest of the staff.
You can trust your event staff, but the expert eye of an experienced security team can be of great help during a high-risk, crowded event. Considering that event budgets are shrinking, it is necessary to establish a fixed budget for the security of the place to work with. Look at past events that happened in your area and events your speakers participated in in the past. Event safety can no longer be secondary, and event organizers must be prepared for anything.
To ensure the success of your meeting, start by creating a list of meeting and event spaces with strict security measures and ideal locations for surveillance. Event security is not simply about appointing a few security guards at the entrances or having CCTV cameras around the venue. Proper planning and risk assessment are a fundamental part of a venue's safety plan, whether you're planning a large-scale event or a smaller meeting. Some organizations like to announce their events publicly, even if they aren't open to the public.
You have to consider all the dangers without leaving anything to chance, because a safe place is the first step to a safe and well-protected event. Planning a big event is hard, and if you're like 91% of event hosts, your first priority is to make sure that attendees have a great time. This can cause the event planner to visit the site in depth, possibly several times if it's a place they're not familiar with. This allows them to more easily prepare the venue for the event and improves the effectiveness of their security efforts.
The security of the venue is not only about dealing with external threats, but also about protecting the participants of the event from internal threats, whether technological, man-made or natural.
