Join the event security sector and you can see the world – and hear Celine Dion. No two events or nights are alike, a security man at the O2 Arena in London tells Mark Rowe.
Who’s performed at the O2 Arena – the former Millennium Dome at Greenwich – and who is due to, reads like a who’s who of music and popular culture. Prince, Kylie Minogue, Simply Red, Leonard Cohen. Take That on TV last New Year’s Eve. Not only music: Disney on Ice, ice hockey, basketball, gymnastics. So different audiences bring different tasks for security? Mark Hamilton, MD of G4S Events, replies in terms of audience profile: "And it can change quite dramatically from one night to the next." To make it more complicated, the 02 is so large that unrelated shows can run at the same time. Mark gives the example of the Spice Girls in the main arena on their reunion tour; and Joe Cocker playing a smaller concert in another part of the building. Hence one audience profile – in other words people coming in through the main concourse area – is mixing with another. Mark adds that this drives service to the customer, and makes the briefing to staff, and training before event, important. G4S by the way has quite a background with the site: it had the contract for the Millennium Dome Experience (remember that? It was our cover story in May 2000) and guards the ‘Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of the Pharoahs’ exhibition which within seven months to May sold a million tickets. As Mark Hamilton puts it, it has given G4S another string to its bow, the Tutankhamun assignment being quite specialist – protecting priceless artefacts, temporary exhibits in what is more or less a museum (or to quote the 02, an ‘exhibition space’). Mark Hamilton can better than most appreciate the change from Dome to 02 Arena as he was inside the empty shell when Sir Paul McCartney used it to practice for a world tour. But to return to those same night audiences: the Spice Girls’ original audience has got older, but the Girls still appeal to a lot of children, Mark explained. So a lot of families went to the concert, plus groups of now adult women who saw the concert as a night out; ‘quite a mix of people’. In a word, a pop show. Joe Cocker, on the other hand, draws a much more mature audience, mainly of couples. And then there is the expectation of the audience for the event; in other words, quite how much of an occasion is it? This means the event security manager has to know about the artists. Mark explains: while Joe Cocker tours quite extensively, so that many of the audience will have already seen him live (and can hope to see him again), the Spice Girls had re-united solely for the tour, which made it less likely they would be in concert again. <br><br>Spice Girls<br><br>So, I ask, if the Joe Cocker T-shirts sell out at the merchandise stall, it’s not as upsetting to the concert-goer as if it happens at the Spice Girls night? Mark Hamilton says that’s not a bad way of putting it. And Celine Dion, as Mark adds, has been in Las Vegas for the last four years and her appearance at the 02 was Londoners’ only chance to see this world-class artist … unless they fly to America. As he puts it: "You want everybody’s experience to be a memorable one, for the right reasons, but expectations among audiences can differ." <br><br>With it<br><br>It struck me that the event security man, needing to know the careers of the likes of Celine Dion, has to be more ‘with it’ than, maybe, security people in other sectors? Mark Hamilton replies that event security is very much consumer-driven. Elsewhere, only retail security, he suggests, has security people so close – face to face – with the consumer. While others are organising an event, and selling the tickets, it is the security person or steward who is the face of the organisation on the day. Hence event security staff have to communicate, empathise with, the consumer, whether a 12-year-old Spice Girls fan or 50-year-old couple. By contrast, if you are a security manager or guard at a cornflakes factory, you are not dealing with customers who eat the cornflakes. <br><br>Young people<br><br>Which brings me to another question; is event security more for younger people than maybe other sectors of security? Mark Hamilton says: "The age range of people in the event security is now quite wide. It isn’t all about young people; we are very much an [events] industry which needs to reflect the society which we serve." So a team of security or crowd management staff should be diverse. As Mark Hamilton adds, that does mean that some staff, some of the time, will be working at a concert with the type of music they don’t like. Mark gives the example of a classical concert – G4S does the Proms in the Park – ‘and a lot of young people work there, and perhaps it’s the first time they are exposed to classical music’. And it may be that their ears are opened. Even if not, stewards have to do their duties understanding that the thousands of paying customers are there because they do enjoy this type of music. <br><br>See the world<br><br>Which sort of leads to the next question; can a young person entering the event security sector see the world? Given the right visas, as events, pop tours, are global, he or she could work in Sydney, Montreal …. Mark Hamilton replies that the UK is particularly good at event and crowd management, ‘partly because of bitter experience’. He adds that some people have gone into the close protection side of event security, ‘and travelled with [music] artists, movie stars, travelling the world and making a career out of it’. And that person who become a bodyguard, or stadium manager, may start from a quite basic position, such as a part-time steward, maybe while a student. In other words, as Mark says, the event security sector is beginning to create a career structure, starting with a steward gaining an NVQ level two in spectator control, and taking higher qualifications, maybe in health and safety; crisis management and emergency planning; or risk assessment; or, crowd safety management. Una Riley in our April issue featured Buckinghamshire New University’s International Centre for Crowd Management and Security Studies; Mark Hamilton is one of the industry figures who has put time and effort into the centre; he is head of the centre and chairs the strategic policy board. To drop a couple of names on that board that have been in Professional Security: Mark Harding, MD of Showsec; and Jim Chalmers, president of the Football Safety Officers Association. The event security sector, then, mirrors UK private security in general that managers are seeking academic qualifications. The universities (and it is only fair to add that it’s not only universities) offering management-level courses attract global attention due to the UK’s reputation. Mark Hamilton adds that crowd management is a subject not just for music and sports events but for people managing shopping centres, and bus and other transport terminals. p<br>l About Mark Hamilton: Founded Rock Steady Security in 1980, acquired in March 2008 by Group 4 Securicor (G4S). Among his many security credits, the Live 8 events in London and Edinburgh, and Sir Paul McCartney For more about him, and the foundation degree courses at Bucks University (he was among the first graduates in crowd safety management at Bucks, in 2005) visit www.crowdsafetymanagement.co.uk <br><br>About the O2: With bars, cinema and eating places, it’s hosting the 2012 Olympics gymnastic and basketball finals. Visit www.theo2.co.uk
