Alleviating the Entrance Gate Queue at Music Festivals.

Queues to enter a music festival site are unwelcome by festival-goers and organisers creating frustration for all involved. Aside from associated safety concerns long queues also generate immense dissatisfaction amongst ticket buyers potentially damaging the event’s brand and reputation. What steps can organisers take to manage and eliminate queue times.

Music festivals have had a reputation over the years of long queues whether it's at the entrance gates, for food or to use the toilets. There has been a significant improvement over time as organisers get better at planning but problematic queues are still being experienced at some events creating unsafe conditions and attracting plenty of adverse coverage in the media. There are some simple steps that organisers can take to minimise queuing at entrance gates.

Planning.
A full understanding of the likely numbers of festival-goers that will attend is essential and organisers should utilise data form ticket sales along with historical data from previous events. Further analysis of CCTV footage from previous events can also help to highlight any areas that need particular attention. The planning process should cover improvements to site layout and staggering visitor arrivals combined with excellent staff training.

Site Layout. 
Previous experience can help to highlight particular hotspots for excessive queuing to gain entry to the festival site so creating a good site plan with sufficient entrance and exist gates will help. Consulting with experts who understand crowd movements and human behaviour can ensure that a sufficient number of gates exist to spread out festival-goers across multiple entry points. Technology may be able to assist and using self-service unmanned ticket scanning terminals can speed up entry. Organisers should employ a dynamic approach to crowd control and congestion at entrance gates by monitoring entry flow data in real time so that remedial action can be taken quickly.

Staffing. 
Many music festival entrance procedures are impacted by the need to search festival-goers after successful scanning. Using well trained security staff with support from volunteers the searching process should be as fast and efficient as possible. If thorough searches are required it is likely to be a choke point at entrances. If there are safety concerns about the build-up of people outside the gates staff should know when to alleviate pressure by allowing visitors in without being searched or scanned.

Timed Ticket Entry and Allocated Gates. 
For a large music festival site with a good layout with numerous entrance gates organisers should consider allocating specific gates and entrance times to visitors. This can be specified on their electronic ticket along with associated parking facilities. Warning festival-goers that their entry may be refused if they attempt to use the wrong gate or arrive at the wrong time should help to reinforce this message.

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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