The attack in Manchester in May has highlighted the importance of students learning to react to serious crisis situations when managing events. Edinburgh Napier MSc Festival and Event Management students were recently part of a group who took part in a simulated training exercise at Craiglockhart campus with visiting Professor Chris Kemp.
Date posted
1 June 2017
12:28
The attack in Manchester has highlighted the importance of these educational programmes that include a level of work related learning allowing those on such programmes to practice elements in a controlled environment to ensure that when they face these issues in the workplace they are ready to deal with them. The recent Event Safety and Security course held at Edinburgh Napier University on the 9/10 May was one such course, where a series of incidents took place and those participating worked their way through a number of possible outcomes to help them ground the incident in their workplace environment. In such situations, the knowledge gained from the scenario can then be played back into the participants' festival or event. Focusing on the live event in situ through scenario based learning is important in supporting the development of key skills used in emergency incidents.
Visiting Professor Chris Kemp, known throughout the world for his work on the safety of crowded places and his ceaseless endeavor to make events safer, led a timely 2 day programme which focused on providing an insight into what it is like to be faced with an incident at a major event on 9/10th May. The scenarios used covered a range of leadership and management skills focusing on problem solving, negotiation, communication, leadership styles, empathy, teamwork and organisational culture. The course focused on the key areas of safety and security at all events and helped the participants in making fast decisions and solving problems well outside their comfort zones. The course was sponsored by Event Scotland and had a combination of Edinburgh Napier MSc students studying International Festival and Event Management and industry professionals from Even Scotland and key Scottish festivals and events including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Electric Fields Festival attend.
