Crowd management is a multidisciplinary field that combines an understanding of human psychology and physics with an ability to bring order from relative chaos. For professionals who manage crowds at mass gatherings, the Global Crowd Management Alliance® is hosting the second Global Crowd Management Congress, taking place virtually February 20 - 22, 2024 from 19:00 - 22:00 GMT each day (2:00 PM - 5:00 PM Eastern).

The Global Crowd Management Congress will bring together crowd managers and those who rely on them for three days of learning and conversation. Discussions regarding crowd behavior and crowd management techniques will be led by experienced practitioners and experts from around the world.

Registration is open to all current GCMA members. Follow the link below to register.

Program Agenda

Tuesday, 20 February

In Conversation: The “Magic” of Crowd Safety
Simon James & Tim Roberts, Director, The Event Safety Shop
19:00 GMT

Crowd safety isn't magic - there are many complex decisions and lots of hard work to make it appear that way. Simon James and Tim Roberts of The Event Safety Shop will pick up their wands, reach into their top hats, and conjure a variety of topics sure to inform, surprise, and delight.

Measuring Leadership through the Lens of Inclusivity
James Pogue, President and CEO of JP Enterprises
20:30 GMT

“If it doesn’t get measured it doesn’t get done.”  We have heard this phrase used on multiple occasions across a variety of areas, well it applies to Inclusion too. For too long we have been told that Leaders should be Inclusive, that teams should be Inclusive and yes, so should departments and organizations. But in most organizations, there is no way to cleanly measure whether that Leader or Team actually are, that is until now. Attendees of this presentation will be introduced to the Inclusive Leadership Assessment™, a way to measure where a person is on their inclusion journey. Using live polling and a dedicated Q and A section this presentation will involve attendees in both the listening and the learning, leaving them with a deeper sense of where they are in their own journey and decisions to make in relation to which path towards inclusion they may want to walk. 

Wednesday, 21 February

An integrated approach to safe events with DIM-ICE
Syan Schaap, Director, Event Safety Institute
19:00 GMT

Event Safety Institute, based in The Netherlands and holding office in Australia, is known for its expertise in planning, preparing, and coordinating freely accessible public events in city centers. Throughout its nearly 10-year existence, ESI has been involved in many events like cultural exhibitions, sporting events, national celebrations, and even protests. ESI’s approach is characterized by making profound analysis, using Crowd Science models like the RAMP-analysis and the DIM-ICE risk model. In this presentation, ESI’s director Syan Schaap will show how the DIM-ICE model, that makes a clear distinction between three phases of an event and separately focuses on Design, Information, and Management components, helps to guide all stakeholders, public and private, in an integrated approach towards running a safe event. He will illustrate this with different examples, like a crowd of 150,000 cheering football fans turning up to honor their team as the national champions, and the vast crowds turning up for King’s Day and carnival celebrations in many Dutch cities.

Training the Next Generation of Event Professionals: What Works and What Doesn’t
Ira L. Rosen MA, CFEE President – Ira L Rosen LLC Festival and Event Consulting
20:30 GMT

As seasoned professionals in the event industry grow older, what are we doing to train people to take their roles?  This is especially critical in the world of event risk management and crowd management which have traditionally been under-discussed at the university level.  Ira Rosen has decades of experience in the event production industry and spent 15 years teaching event management at the university level, and he will suggest some practical strategies for ensuring a consistent stream of trained professionals

Thursday, 22 February

Crowd Management… Artist Protection… Tour Security… what’s it all about ?
Richard Douglas, Director – Events, SES Group
19:00 GMT

 It’s often the case that music artists or their managers will hire a protective security team. This team may vary in size, roles, and responsibilities. Is there an argument that in this era an understanding of crowd management is necessary when providing protective services to music artists? What involvement should the artist's protective security team have around the crowd management of an event? Join me as I discuss my 30 years in the events industry providing protective security for artists, celebrities, and VIP’s & crowd management planning and operational management at events around the world and how the two have combined to enable me to operate at the highest level.

Smoke From a Distant Fire: Planning for Wildfire, Heat, and Other Climate Challenges
Dr. Kevin Kloesel, University Meteorologist, OU Department of Campus Safety
20:30 GMT

"Unusual"... "extreme"... "unprecedented". The weather of today is pulling the rug right out of using past conditions as a means to prepare future expectations. What does tomorrow hold, and how will it impact our crowds and staff? Let's take what we should've seen a long time ago, lets stack up, slack up, and give reality a roll. Our events are under siege from weather like very few times before, and I'd just like to know.