Learn What It Takes to Be a Real Event Security Professional
What you'll learn
- Identify and locate the key features of an event space.
- Understand most of the jargon used by event staff.
- Work a concert pit.
- Perform basic bag searches and pat downs.
- Check ID and credentials to control access to various spaces.
Requirements
- You should be aware of any legally required training, certification or licensing in your state, province or country. You will need to meet those requirements before you can work in event security.
Description
Large concerts, major sporting events and music festivals each need hundreds of security guards to run smoothly and successfully. A large number of those guards get hired on a one-off or temporary basis. Most don’t get the chance to develop the event-specific skills and knowledge necessary to really excel in the field. This course aims to fill that knowledge gap by providing a comprehensive introduction to event security.
Learn the Fundamental Skills of Professional Event Security
- Recognize and Locate the Key Features of an Event Space
- Learn the Jargon Used By Event Staff and Security
- Find Prohibited Items By Doing Pat Downs and Bag Searches
- Control Access by Checking Identification and Credentials
Stand Out From the Crowd
Once you know where to look, finding security work at events is relatively easy. With the knowledge and skills in this course, you will not only find work - you will be in demand.
Professional event security guards who know the jobs and have good customer service skills always get the best jobs. They get regular work at big concerts, major sporting events, music festivals, even at corporate events.
Contents and Overview
This course is designed for anyone interested in event security, regardless of how much prior security experience you have. It includes 28 lectures and 5 quizzes, over 90 minutes of content as well as exercises for you to practice on your own.
You will learn what steps to take to become an Event Security Professional, including how to find work. You will know how to prepare for work and what to do when you get there. You'll learn how to perform the main duties of an Event Security Professional, including ID checks, bag searches, pat downs, access control, pit work and roaming. We'll discuss in concrete terms issues such as professionalism, customer service and how to use a two-way radio.
By the end of this course you'll have more knowledge your first day on the job than many security guards gain in months of event work. You'll be confident and ready to tackle any task handed to you.
If you follow the advice in this course, you'll advance through the ranks, making a name for yourself in an exciting and ever changing industry.
Who this course is for:
- This course if for security guards with no experience working events.
- This course might also be for you if you have some event experience but want a formal introduction to some of the key ideas and principles.
- This course isn't for you if you have a lot of event experience and are confident doing most jobs at an event.
Instructor
If you glance quickly at my education and experience, you might not think that becoming an expert in Event Security is the most obvious place for me to end up. But on closer inspection, you'll find it makes all the sense in the world.
Molecular Biology & Biotechnology:
From a very early age I wanted to study nature in some form or another. That path led me to study molecular biology at the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto in Canada. While completing my graduate work I published a number of peer-reviewed papers and had some success. But I realized the day-to-day work wasn't for me.
Business and Entrepreneurship:
I decided to change directions and in pursued an MBA at the Rotterdam School of Business in the Netherlands. Before the end of the program in 2004, my partner Peter and I launched what would become the country's first North-American style chain of coffee houses. After a few years of hard work, countless cups of coffee and being featured in a number of national print publications, we decided it was time to move back home to Canada.
We followed our overseas success with a number of exciting ventures, including taking over and fully renovating a hotel, building and launching a bar, a sports nutrition store and a skateboard shop. Every new venture brought with it invaluable experience in facing challenges by using my existing skills and strengths whenever possible and by developing new skills to fill in the gaps.
Event Security:
In 2012, I decided it was time for a new adventure. The existing businesses were sold and we moved to Toronto. This was a fresh start with no real plans. The idea was to explore and try different things and figure out where to go from there.
When I first arrived, I took work as a security guard in nightclubs. This was an easy option for a couple reasons. a) I had worked as part of campus security during my undergraduate studies many years earlier, and b) I had obtained my security license a couple years earlier when we opened the bar. During that time I managed the security staff and helped several guards with the training required for licensing. While my actual "security" experience was minimal, my customer service skills and professionalism more than made up for it.
While looking for additional work, I inadvertently came into the Event Security world. I signed up with a company and started as one of hundreds of guards working at concerts and music festivals and professional sporting events. Supervisors and managers quickly took notice of that professionalism and customer service. Within weeks I moved from basic, remote posts to controlling dressing room access for superstars like Beyonce, Trent Reznor and Ozzy Osborne. Within two months I was supervising deployments and was being courted by the three major Event Security companies in the province.
I currently do all the hiring for one of those Event Security companies in Toronto, the fourth largest city in North America. In overseeing the hiring and management of large deployments, I see what skills allow an Event Security Professional to excel and have identified areas of training that are lacking in most companies and individuals.
My Goal:
I've joined Udemy and developed my first course in order to fill some of those gaps and to help people pursue an exciting career direction they may not have otherwise considered.