Risky Business
Terms like virtual reality and augmented reality have been the big buzzwords of the last
few years. However, for all the attention that ‘virtuality’ has garnered, consumers instead
have shown that they prefer to actually ‘be there’ in the moment, at the center of any
number and type of live events. There has been a tectonic and well-documented shift
in consumer values in the last several years away from things and towards experiences
that generate a sense of happiness and well being. Spending on a variety of types of
experiences, like travel, leisure and food service are projected to rise to an astounding
$8 trillion by 2030 globally.
Within this massive movement is a core trend:
the growth in popularity and value of the live
event. From concerts and cultural events (think
Burning Man) to sporting events, from corpo-
rate conclaves to brand messaging affairs
(Apple has raised these to a fine art), being
a participant of the live event, as a fan in the
stands or a concertgoer in the club, has sup-
planted material accumulation as that which
we as a society aspire to. Live experiences
offer a sense of community and a level of
authenticity that virtuality likely never will.
This shift has translated into very big business.
Music concerts now generate over $28 billion
in revenue annually. Research from the Center
for Exhibition Industry predicted trade-show
events would grow by 2.4 percent globally.
In the U.S., the world’s largest market for
live events, revenue from events of all types
is expected to show an annual growth rate
(CAGR 2018-2022) of 8.8 percent, resulting in
Weather hasn’t been especially kind to live
music events, either — 2012 is regarded as
the industry’s meteorological annus horriblis,
when wind blasts estimated at 60 miles per
hour hit the stage at the Indiana State Fair in
Indianapolis, killing seven and injuring 24 when
the rigging collapsed on the crowd and stage;
at the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, Belgium
sudden violent wind and rain killed five and
injured dozens, and the Ottawa Bluesfest saw
several severe injuries when weather turned
violent there.
a market volume of $16.7 billion in 2022, with
sports the sector’s largest single segment, with
a market volume of over $4 billion in 2018.
Looming Shadows
Not surprisingly, all of this positive news is
shadowed by some serious concerns, and the
music industry in particular serves as a canary
in the coal mine. Several notable music events
were turned into disasters in recent years due
to terrorism and active shooters: the 2015
attack on musicians and attendees at the
Bataclan in Paris during an Eagles of Death
Metal show, a bombing in Manchester, U.K.
at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017; and
the devastating attack in Las Vegas later that
same year in which 58 were killed and 851
injured when a lone shooter opened fire from
a hotel perch, taking aim at those at the
Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.
Weather-related disasters have declined in
number and severity in recent years, thanks to
heightened awareness and initiatives by vari-
ous organizations. But all types of danger are
always possible when large groups of people
gather together, and while live events are a
massive driver of global revenues they are of-
ten also one disaster away from economic ruin.
Assess, Implement, Insure
2 3
Risky Business Risky Business
Live-event producers and the vendors and
services providers that support them can follow
a basic and sound set of principles to mitigate
and minimize the changing array of risks faced
by that industry sector.
• Assess: Keep abreast of the most danger-
ous challenges facing live-even productions
today. Compare what’s been taking place with
your own situations. The reporting around
event-related disasters by media like the New
York Times and the major news networks is
usually extremely deep and comprehensive,
and offers a remarkable amount of insight that
producers can apply to their own situations.
For instance, a catastrophic fire in a night-
club in West Warwick, RI in 2003 uncovered
a number of problem areas that other event
producers could and did address, including
the location, condition and markings of exits. It
also led to more specific regulations, such as
the requirement for crowd managers at a ratio
of 1:250, which improved the environment for
all stakeholders by establishing new clear and
authoritative NFPA guidelines.
• Implement: A number of excellent resourc-
es have for live-event safety have arisen in
the wake of various disasters. The Event
Safety Alliance (ESA), which has organized
conferences around the topic of event safety
and created guidelines event producers can
follow to minimize risk from meteorological
dangers. The ESA has also adapted that same
approach to address potential gun-violence
incidents, even as these remain on the rise.
The ESA publishes its Event Safety Guide,
the most widely used operational practices
currently available in the live-event industry,
and part of the ANSI-accredited Technical
Standards Program established by PLASA, the
organization of professional lighting and sound
providers. All of these protocols are available
for implementation of by event production
professionals.
• Insure: Insurance is the single biggest factor
in the aftermath of an adverse incident, thus
it ought to be one of the first to be considered
ahead of time. However, it’s complicated.