Cool Ways You Can Keep Waiting Times Down At Your Event

The truth is, no one likes waiting in line – it can be boring, frustrating, and sometimes, even infuriating! Waiting in lines becomes inevitable when planning an event, especially a large one.

As the host of the event, it is your responsibility to cater to your guests and make sure they are not inconvenienced by long wait times. It is important to keep your event organized and running smoothly so that your attendees have a great time.

However, managing a large number of guests can be a difficult task; it can be hard to keep everything organized and keep everyone happy – but you can always make an effort to achieve that goal. Here are some ideas you can implement to keep waiting times down at your event:

Keep Your Attendees Aware Of the Process

Before your event commences, it would be a good idea to make attendees aware of where they should go and what they should do once they arrive at the location. Through emails, social media posts, and text messages, you can keep them informed. Keep the information given brief and to the point so that guests have no trouble understanding.

When attendees know where they need to go and where they need to be, it creates less of a crowd; individuals are easily able to find their way and are less confused. Knowing where to go makes guests move faster through the entrance and the event, leading to shorter lines and waiting times.

If you will be selling merchandise at your event, inform your attendees of the process for purchasing products. Information such as whether vendors will only be accepting cash or cards, what items will be for sale, and the stall number at which each item will be sold could be helpful to attendees as they will know where to go and where their desired items will be sold. Knowing the type of payment accepted can keep customers ready to pay and avoid holding up the line.

Use Signage to Direct the Crowd

Even if you inform your attendees beforehand, people tend to be forgetful. Guests may forget where the entrance is located, what is being sold, and where each item is being sold. It can be helpful to customers to post frequent signage across the event.

This helps to keep people’s memories refreshed and reduces confusion. Reduced confusion reduces extraneous wandering, which reduces crowds and, hence, waiting times.

For example, let’s say you are a guest at a large event. The event has several stalls selling merchandise. One of the things you are interested in purchasing is scented candles, but you have forgotten what stall they will be sold at. Since the event does not have posted signage, you wander around and stand in line for many stalls as you do not know which one is selling the candles. Once you get to the front of each line, you realize that the stall is not selling what you want. You eventually leave without purchasing anything; essentially, you have wasted all that time waiting in line and held up the line for others.

Remove Obstacles That Might Create Crowds

You want the area of your event to be as clear as possible. Make sure there is no trash and create clear, straight paths towards the main attractions of your event, such as the main stage and stalls.

You should remove any large obstacles and avoid installing them at your event. This includes large pieces of artwork, fountains, statues, and unnecessary light fixtures. These obstacles and fixtures create crowds and block paths for walking. They leave less space to walk around, which creates crowds. Crowds lead to longer waiting times as it takes longer to move across the space.

The path you create should also be well lit. It would help if you avoided unnecessary light fixtures but kept some to ensure you have good lighting. There is no point in making a clear path if your guests are unable to see through it.

Use Barricades and Stanchions

As mentioned above, lines are inevitable no matter how well you plan out your event. You should take steps to organize these lines so that each individual receives timely service in a smooth and orderly fashion. 

One type of barricade you could use is a retractable belt barrier. You can use them to help organize lines and keep people waiting in an efficient form. A retractable belt barrier is a standing metal rod built on a metal base; the top includes a retractable rope that can be pulled out to your desired length. These barriers are cost-effective solutions and are used mainly for temporary crowd control. To see some awesome options for retractable belt barriers, visit Crowd Control Company’s website!

By making people stand in order, they are able to receive service quicker than if they were to stand in a huge crowd where it would be difficult to determine who should be served next – this would increase waiting times by a long shot.

Hire Patient and Helpful Staff

With a large number of attendees, you may benefit from hiring some professional event management staff that are trained and equipped to handle large crowds.

It is important to make sure your staff is helpful, patient, and polite. These personality traits help keep customers calm and patient, especially when waiting in long lines.

It is important to have staff that is well-informed of the entire event’s operation; this will help reduce customers’ confusion throughout the event.

Bottom Line

Taking the above steps can help ensure a smooth event; you will leave attendees happy and satisfied!

Making an effort to reduce line waits will leave a good impression of your event on your guests; this can be a great asset in promoting your event for when you are to hold it next time. Having an event that is well organized is a key aspect of that event’s success. Keeping that as one of your main goals should be a priority for you – you will soon reap the rewards!