Creating Safe Overflow Viewing Zones on Music Festival Sites.

For any sizeable music festival built on a greenfield site the inclusion of designated overflow zones close to main stages is essential for maintaining crowd safety. Festival-goer crowd movements and densities can be unpredictable so the provision of overflow zones should form part of the event planning process.

A popular artist can attract a large audience, and it can be challenging for festival organisers to accurately judge capacities for spaces in front of main stages. Technology and careful planning is enabling more accurate crowd monitoring which helps to avoid excessive crowd densities, which can lead to crushing. A well-designed overflow zone with good facilities can help to redirect festival-goers when overcrowding situations are anticipated. What are the considerations for organisers planning an overflow zone.

Planning and Building Overflow Zones.
Organisers should have a good idea of the anticipated number festival-goers expected at their event and careful site planning can help direct people away from overcrowding situations. Site design is critical in avoiding possible chokepoints and crowd movement simulation software can help site design that ensures a free flow of people. Popular artists and surprise guest appearances can cause a sudden migration of festival-goers to that stage, anticipating these scenarios helps identify high risk periods during the event. The location of an overflow zone should still feel part of the festival preferably along natural pedestrian flow routes but still relatively close to main stages. The overflow zone can also form part of the festival site’s evacuation plan with easy access for emergency vehicles for example.

Monitoring Crowd Density.
Sophisticated software is available and widely used on a large festival site to monitor crowd densities in real time. These systems are linked to CCTV and drones which use infrared to assess crowd build ups and create alerts. If a potential overcrowding risk is identified organisers can quickly activate staff and volunteers to implement pre-agreed plans to close main stage areas and divert people to overflow zones. Careful management of entrances to main stage zones can spread the flow an prevent crowd build ups. If the safe capacity is known staff managing entrances can potentially use access control systems utilising festival-goer wristbands to check actual numbers. If the main stage is already at capacity organisers can generate alerts via their App to tell festival-goers that the stage area is already full and that they they should proceed to the overflow zone.

Crowd Movement Management.
The key to good crowd management is communication between organising staff and festival-goers so that everyone is appraised of situations in real time. Staff use walkie talkies to coordinate with the organiser’s control centre where a responsible person will have great situational awareness of the entire festival site. The control centre can direct crowd control teams and implement digital alerts as well as generating clear messages on LED signage and messaging boards for festival-goers. The staff and volunteers responsible for crowd control will need to be adequately trained prior to the event live dates. Key elements of any training should include crowd psychology, flow management techniques and understanding the early warning signs of dangerous crowd densities.

Overflow Zone Facilities and Audi-Visual Feeds.
The designated overflow zone should not just be an empty field; it needs to contain sufficient facilities to cater for a large crowd. The inclusion of adequate toilet facilities along with bars and water stations can make festival-goers feel more comfortable. It may also be worth considering having a first aid station and information booth in this zone too. There should be good ambient lighting throughout to avoid dead dark areas which can be a security risk. The addition of high-quality live audio and video feeds from the main stage will ensure that festival-goers in the overflow zone still feel part of the main attraction. These installations should include large LED 4K IMAG video screens and distributed PA systems with audio synchronisation. These audio and visual systems should show live camera feeds from the main stage area. Building an overflow zone that includes all these elements will help to ensure that festival-goers get a good experience, making them willing to stay in this zone.

For festival organisers planning their next event 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, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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