Keeping People Calm While Waiting in Line for Events
When people have to wait in long lines, they experience a wide range of emotional states: happy, excited, frustrated, upset, angry, and more. While excitement and happiness are often contagious, other negative emotions can quickly turn waiting into line into a nightmare, not only for the other guests, but your own business as well. Any time you expect long lines of people, you need to consider various options to help keep them occupied and calm as they stand waiting in between crowd control stanchions.
Set up stanchions, retractable belt barriers, and other crowd control equipment in such a manner to keep lines flowing in the right direction. Do not overlook using signs on top of stand posts to help people find their way and to ensure they are getting in the right line. People anger quickly after waiting in long lines, only to discover they were not in the right line, and that they now have to go to the back of another equally long line. Utilize employees to help avoid this problem by asking people where they are going, and then direct them to the right line. Additionally, have other employees walk up and down large lines and speak to your guests. Have them verify they are in the right line, thank them for coming, and talk to them to help pass the time.
If someone is upset or angry, it is important to diffuse this situation as quickly as possible. Talk to the guest to find out why they are angry, listen to their needs, and take steps to remedy the situation. The problem could be as simple as them forgetting their tickets in their car and having to get out of line after getting to the front. In this example, reassure them they do not have to wait in line again, and direct your employees to have the guest return to them after retrieving their tickets.
Another situation which quickly upsets guests is in layouts where venues use multiple line queues. This type of setup should be avoided whenever possible, because it relies on chance. For instance, the snack bar could have two registers open, where one cashier is able to ring customers up faster and keep their line moving, while in the other line the cashier is slower or has to wait for the guest to make up their mind. People in the slower line are not going to be happy if they have to wait longer than the people in the other line. Instead, use a single line queue, and direct guests one at a time to each open register.
Lastly, make it just as easy to exit the venue as it was to get in after the event. Keep lines moving and flowing by directing crowds through crowd control barriers taking them to the nearest exits. To learn more about controlling crowds and keeping guests calm, call us now, here at The Crowd Controller, at 1-800-516-2115.
#crowdcontrol #stanchions #retractablebelt #barriers #retractablebeltbarrier #retractableribbon #barrierstoentry #queuemanagementsystem #crowdtraffic #eventmanagement #queueline #line #queues
- The Crowd Controller
