Top Tips for Access Control at Festivals & Live Events

So much time goes into preparing for the “onsite experience” of festivalgoers ahead of time. Festival & live event organizers are actively trying to figure out which artists will be a hit, what food vendors they will like, what types of beverages they’re going to serve, how many mobile charging stations they should have onsite, and so on… but there is something that is often overlooked and is a critical part of ensuring a positive experience: festival access control! Over the past number of years I have attended many festivals and navigated through many different access control systems to get where I need to be onsite. There are many options when it comes to setting up access control, some best practices, and some definite do’s and don’ts. Hopefully this information will prevent you from making costly mistakes and will help to create a stellar audience and staff experience. So, let’s first ask a few questions… How Will You Implement Access Control At Your Festival or Live Event? With so many different credential mediums to choose from, you will need to consider the pros and cons of each one in order to find the best choice for your event. Tickets, bar coded lanyards or wristbands, tyvek wristbands, and RFID wristbands are just a few of the available options for attendees and staff to gain access through access control points. RFID: Although RFID (radio frequency ID) is currently the more costly option, it provides the most data about how attendees and staff move throughout the festival site and is also easier for security or staff to monitor & manage RFID access control points. Wristbands either simply allow or deny someone access to an area. If a patron feels they should have access, that person would need to return to the credential tent and have it rectified. RFID is one of the only mediums that fairly allows for that sort of no-nonsense policy. At an event I supported, an RFID software solution was able to track each area I had entered and exited through the event. This can be a great tool in the review process of your event to evaluate how your crowd entered, exited, and moved throughout your entire event to ensure you are properly staffed for optimum patron-flow throughout your event. Depending on your RFID partners, different access levels can be added onto each RFID wristband, granting access to different areas of your event, such as admin compounds or artist hospitality areas. Although this solution is expensive, RFID technology is rapidly developing, and lower cost solutions are starting to make their way into the market, bringing this access control option within reach for medium and smaller type events. Tyvek Wristbands: Although tyvek wristbands have become a staple festival access control solution, any sort of credential that requires security to grant entry based on visual cues will require more training on credential types and what access levels they grant. With this method of credentialing we recommended you have clear colours for each wristband and/or differentiate each wristband as much as possible. You’ll also want to have signage at each point, specifying which credential types are allowed past that point, reducing confusion for both the attendees and the security staff. Remember: when just one person who isn’t allowed access starts to argue because it isn’t clear, a line up will form, and this is exactly what you want to avoid. Tickets: A less and less seen solution for access control is tickets. Ticket stubs can be easily lost, wrinkled, bent, or ripped, and make it easier for someone to gain access to the event by simply finding a lost ticket or making a counterfeit replica. If you are going to be using tickets, it is recommended to make them as unique as possible to make them difficult to counterfeit. Barcodes: Any credentials with barcodes are seen as the intermediary between tyvek and RFID. Since they can be scanned, they do allow you to track data about who is entering which areas. However, barcodes can easily fade or wrinkle, making them difficult to scan. This again will potentially increase your wait time getting through busy access control points. Where Will My Access Control Points Be and How Will They Be Organized? When organizing entrances, exits, and all other areas that require access control, it is important to consider the movement of traffic in order to ensure efficient crowd control. To determine this, think of things like:

How many people do you expect during peak hours?
Does your setup account for this amount of traffic?
Are there any bottlenecks?

Each one of these questions is important to consider when setting up and organizing your access control points. Another essential element to consider is the structure of your lines at your access control.

Will you offer entry and exit through the same points?
Will there be a separate VIP or staff entrance?
Do you have adequate signage for these areas?

If you are working at an event, you have to move through access points many times during the day. It can be frustrating when you wait in a line only to be told you need to go move into the staff-only line or that the access point is an entrance only. This problem can be easily solved with proper signage. In order to ensure the best traffic flow for your event, plan each area and make sure you have clear, easy to read signage. Not only does this reduce headaches for your attendees and staff moving through these points, but it will also help reduce the number of issues your security or access control staff will have to deal with. How Will I Staff My Access Control Points? Most festivals use security personnel as the frontline for access control to different areas of the event. While this may seem like a no-brainer, it is important to consider your security staffing requirements and where they will be stationed well in advance of the event to ensure you have enough staff. Some things to consider are:

How many points of access will your event have?
Will there be any areas on-site that will have another access control point (backstage, artist hospitality, admin compounds)?
What times of the day are busier than others?

In order to ensure your staff and attendees can quickly access areas of your event, it is important to ensure you have the proper amount of staff for each of these access control points. Too few staff means longer wait times, while too many staff looks disorganized and means that you are paying staff members to do nothing! Each access point or line should have at least 1-2 staff members in order to check wristbands, credentials, or bags. If you are using RFID, the data you collect during an event on movement throughout the festival site can help you plan staffing levels for the following year. Are You Getting The Most Out of Your Software? If you are using an RFID solution, be sure to ask your supplier to help you review your statistics after your event. Be sure you thoroughly understand the flow of traffic throughout the site during the event. Pro tip: Most RFID providers will actually be able to produce live analysis of your event allowing you to correct any bad traffic flow issues or allocate more/less staff to certain areas. In Conclusion… Whether we’re talking about software, staffing, or physical setup of access control, these best practices will help get you started. When outlining how your festival or live event will use access control, be sure to consider each of these points carefully.