Danielle invites UK crowd safety specialists Eric Stuart and Miriam Stone to discuss the role of steward in the field of crowd management and trace the lines between volunteers, stewards, and licensed security.

Eric lays out a five-tier crowd-management hierarchy -- volunteers, stewards, security, police, military -- with stewards sitting just above volunteers: paid, unlicensed, responsible for wayfinding and soft enforcement. Miriam adds that in the UK anything above steward requires a license and training. The conversation also covers volunteer management, noting that fans of the event rarely no-show while general volunteers need clear expectations and something meaningful in return for their time. The group debates whether stewards should face the crowd outright or monitor at a 45-degree angle, and argues for briefing them to spot behavioral outliers -- heat illness, crowd distress, demographic mismatches.

Guests:

Miriam Stone | Operations Consultant, Arena and Venue Industry

Miriam Stone | LinkedIn

Eric Stuart | Owner and Director, Gentian Events

Eric Stuart QPM | LinkedIn

Hosts: Danielle Hernandez

Tami Richter, ESA's current president, moderates the second commemorative webinar panel, titled "Looking Forward: Education, Collaboration, and the Future of Safer Events." After a moment of silence honoring those lost in 2011, the discussion turns to several active ESA initiatives.

Guests:

Tami Richter, John Badcock, Jessie Sullivan, Bryan Huneycutt, Doug Bruce, Danielle Hernandez

Show Notes:

Event Safety Alliance | https://www.eventsafetyalliance.org

USITT | https://www.usitt.org

To mark the 15th anniversary of the Indiana State Fair stage collapse that killed seven people and injured 58 others, Danielle shares Part One of an ESA presentation commemorating the event, and how it inspired us to change to safety at live events, work that continues to this day.

The panel, led by ESA founder and immediate past president Jim Digby, traces ESA's founding: the conference calls that grew from a handful of concerned industry professionals to dozens, the Event Safety Guide, and an early meeting with Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels that persuaded state officials to let the industry self-regulate. Topics also cover the 13 ANSI standards now available free through ESTA's Technical Standards Program, the insurance sector's role in rewriting weather cancellation policies to address wind and lightning rather than rain accumulation, and evidence of safety culture taking hold on show sites worldwide.

Guests:

Jim Digby, Don Cooper, Scott Carroll, Sue McGuirl, Jacob Worek

Show Notes:

Event Safety Alliance

ESTA Technical Standards Program