Meeting professionals need to provide appropriate trained staffing levels for all events based on anticipated attendance, the type of event, history, intelligence and recognized risks/threats. The U.S. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) suggests using a ratio of one trained crowd manager for every 250 attendees or participants. But major factors can alter this number.

You will also want to base your “appropriate” staffing levels on event type and history, intelligence, weather, and alcohol sales/use as well as risk factors unique to your event—content, speakers, special guests and participant demographics. Staff levels should be sufficient to respond to incidents that can be realistically managed without external resources, consistent with the risk, threat and vulnerability assessments of your group and event.

And staffing shouldn’t change over the course of the event. Maintain consistent staffing levels throughout the entire experience, and encourage event owners, stakeholders of leaders to not release employees solely for cost savings. There must be sufficient staff to manage shelter/evacuation at any time during your events. Be creative by redeploying event staff to meet operational needs.

For some venues or events, staff may be volunteers, so it’s incumbent on the meeting professional to ensure that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities. Crises and emergencies are unpredictable, and if staff members are unsure of their roles and haven’t practiced responses, they won’t be able to act and react with the quickness they need to should an incident occur.