Chris Powell The Event Expert Events Courses

Events play a significant role in our everyday lives: they are part of who we are. Every event needs an event manager to organise it. Every event manager needs a team of people to help set it up and run it. 

Working alongside the core events team will be a team of event stewards, performing a range of roles. Event stewards are often volunteers and may form most of the onsite workforce. Event volunteers are of course those lovely people who enjoy helping at events for free.  

Events are complex entities. Managing and delivering events today comes with an increasing range of much published challenges. In addition to this, is that everywhere people gather, accidents, incidents, and threats to their safety from other audience members and or from external sources, can follow.

Today the reality is that there are more volunteer stewards on site at events than ever before and more of them in positions of responsibility – managing teams of volunteers. It’s not far from the truth to say that without these event stewards there would be no events. Their help is invaluable. Practically every major event or festival I know completely relies on volunteer staff. 

Therefore …. No event stewards: No events

At an event, site stewards are part of the operational team, the boots on the ground and in most cases the public face of their event. They are the link between the organisers and the audience. While they will be undertaking their key role (checking tickets, providing direction, supervising activities, etc.) ensuring everyone has a lovely time, they must also help keep attendees safe and free from harm at events. 

Keeping people safe at an event is importantly, every team member’s responsibility and not just the safety and security leads.

Some context from my event travels:

Over the years I’ve met lots of volunteer stewards. When I ask them about their role, they often give me a response such as, “I’ve been told to stand on this gate and direct audiences to the entrance.” 

If I enquire further, “is there anything else you’ve been asked to do?” I may get an “uh…and do anything my team leader says?” in reply. 

Please let me remind you:

Event stewards are never just standing on the gate, shouting ‘this way please’.

Their roles and wider responsibilities are in fact extensive and extremely important. 

Many stewards don’t seem to know the extent of their role and alarmingly some event organisers don’t seem to know this either! It is a role they must be trained for.

The Professional Volunteer Event Stewards Course overview:

Event stewards are the organisers’ eyes and ears on their event site and often the first members of the events team that audiences see and engage with. They should be providing information, advice, and real time event intelligence to event organisers. They also have a vital role in keeping audiences safe, free from harm and in responding to emergencies. 

It’s a role they need to be trained for

This short practical course helps event organisers train their volunteer or paid stewards to provide a professional standard stewarding service. 

You / they will learn how to provide a professional standard of event stewarding service by: 

1. Understanding the 3 principal stewarding functions of providing information, advice, and safety instructions. 
2. Understanding what real world event stewarding means on an event site: stewards are never just ‘checking tickets, providing direction or standing on a gate.’ 
3. Understanding a steward’s wider roles and responsibilities (there are many) and the required responses to typical event incidents, audience behaviours and assisting with onsite emergencies.
4. Understanding their 3 principal safety roles of First Line of Defence - providing real time event intelligence on audiences, pinch points, queues, potential threats and hazards, possible suspicious looking activities: First on the Scene response and Emergency Rescue help. 
5. Understanding what event organisers should expect of their stewards and the skills and qualities an event steward should ideally have.      

NB: They may be volunteers, but they can be professionally trained and expertly briefed. 

Who is this event stewards’ course for?

Everywhere you look, organisations such as: clubs, charities, schools, uniformed organisations, councils, churches, governing bodies, interest groups, venues and local communities are running events, and they all need volunteer event stewards to help set up and deliver them. 

This course is also applicable to all those event managers, team leaders, and supervisors managing event stewards, whether paid or voluntary. It doesn’t matter how small or large your event is, event managers have a legal duty of care.

In short, all event managers have an absolute legal duty to keep people safe at their events. They must also train and brief every member of staff to be able to competently perform their roles and prove how they intend to keep everyone safe and free from harm. 

On the horizon, Martyn’s Law will place a new duty on events managers and venues to improve their preparedness for a terrorist attack: to improve public safety at events.   

References to the roles event stewards and other event team members perform will therefore feature in event safety plans and risk assessments. Where official permission is required to run an event from, for example, a local authority, the provision of trained stewards performing a range of tasks will be part of the licensing conditions. 

As organisers you’ll know how difficult it is to get all stewards to pre-event briefings. You often have to settle for trying to get team leaders to these briefings and then trusting them to cascade the information on to their reports. 

Imagine being able to ensure all stewards got the same training delivered online and at scale?   

Of note: This course is not a replacement or suitable for those wishing to take event stewarding or spectator safety qualifications to allow them to work (for payment / wage) at event stadiums and festivals.   

Volunteer Stewards Course Requirements

An interest in events would be useful but not essential, access to a device with internet connectivity and a desire to learn new skills. 

All those who complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion.   

You’ll need 1 hour to complete the course. 

What does a trained event steward offer event organisers? 

Having trained stewards means that event organisers know:

1. They have met their legal duty to train and fully brief all their event staff. 
2. They can be assured their event stewards have the knowledge to perform their roles with confidence and skill.
3. They have a team of people entirely focussed on providing a great front of house and event experience for all attendees. 
4. They have a team of people fully conversant with a steward’s wider safety and emergency incident responsibilities. 
5. They will have a team of people who, alongside the professional onsite event team, will be a genuine asset to any event.
6. They have a team of people who feel empowered and confident enough to do the right thing; to help, intervene and or ‘call it in.’ 
7. They will have a list of those who complete the training for current and future recruitment and role allocation reference. 

Still not sure?

Event volunteers are the life blood of many outdoor events. They contribute their time, skills, enthusiasm and smiles to your events. They help make it a success. 

Investing in empowering and upskilling your volunteers is an investment in your events community, reputation and longevity. I believe it is a very smart investment!      

Your trainer: Chris Powell, The Event Expert

I design and deliver event management and event safety courses and provide consultancy services covering all types of public and business events. My objective is to help my clients and course delegates develop the confidence and skills to design, plan, promote and deliver successful and safe events. My advice and courses are based on 25+ years practical event management experience. This is what I do all day every day. 

Over the past 25+ years I have helped clients from the world of business, exhibitions, education, sport, the public, voluntary and charity sector, training, tourism, creative agencies and festivals across the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.  

With a back catalogue of over 500 events delivered and 7000+ event managers trained; I practice what I preach. I am a self-confessed event groupie…a lover of all thing’s events, regular event blogger, international keynote speaker, event trainer and author of event planning books.

My courses and consultancy services are high content, practical, and solutions-based sessions designed to give my clients all the tools they need to run successful events - on time, on budget, every time. 

Event managers… 

Are you an event organiser interested in upskilling your event stewards and making them a genuine asset to your event? 

Are you an event organiser who wants your event stewards to deliver great audience experiences and keep people safe at your events?    

Are you looking for a quick and easily scalable way to ensure all stewards receive the same high-quality training, ensuring consistency of knowledge and response across your whole event?    

Are you concerned that future legislation is going to put the onus directly on event organisers to have every team member playing an active role in keeping audiences safe?   

Perhaps you are a volunteer event steward and want to have the skills to provide a high-quality event stewarding service? 

It's time to take action, sign up today and get your volunteer event stewards professionally trained and expertly briefed.