Crowd Control Ideas for Your Store Event

The invites are sent, the publicity posted, and the crowds are coming to your store event. But how do you keep them managed? Here are some tips.

Know Your Attendees

One of the first ways you can begin to manage a crowd is by anticipating their wants or behaviors. Chances are you have a pretty good idea what your attendees will act like or expect, and if you don’t know, try to plan for a wide variety of variables.

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints at events is wait time in line. This can be helped by having visible ques like a retractable belt barrier to signal to the crowd that they are moving. Passing out water, coupons, or having a staff member answer questions from those waiting in line can also help pass the time and be helpful. Customers should always be able to leave the line at any time if they need to for restroom or emergency purposes.

Organize

Good organization is key. Proper signage both outside and inside the store will help customers know where to go and cards or emails with instructions can help attendees know what to expect. A good idea can be to stagger the times of the event. If your function is by invitation only try to schedule blocks of time so instead of having 300 people come all at once you have 100 people come during the first shift, 100 the next, and so forth. This will depend on the type of event you are hosting and your crowd whether or not this can work, but if it is feasible it is a good solution.

You should have an emergency plan in place. Work with local police or town organizations so they know the event is happening and where and when and they will have a heads up in case something does go wrong. Staff should have ways to communicate with each other via electronics and make sure the entrance and exits to the building are clear at all times.

Staff

If you implement no other tip or technique from this list the one you must do is staff well and staff adequately. This means you have enough personnel to manage the event and everyone is where they need to be. Personnel that are trained on the registers should be checking customers out while staff that is not trained or does not have strong cashier skills should be working with those in line or bagging products, etc.

If you are expecting a very large crowd it can be a good idea to have security staff on hand for the event and use other safety methods like a retractable belt barrier. Remember to keep the atmosphere positive so you, your staff, and your crowd can enjoy the event.