Accreditation: Who cares anyway?

If you are organising an event or running a venue, then you have workers and you have attendees. Call it what you will (accreditation, credentialing, verification) but regardless of size, you want the data of those working in your event, you want your event to be secure, and you want people to be able to get from A to B as quickly as possible.

• Your Security Manager cares because they want to make sure that you aren’t employing illegal workers or suspected criminals either directly or via contractors
• Your Operations Manager cares because they want everyone at the event to be able to move around the event as efficiently as possible
• Your PR Manager cares because they want to be able to capture details of the media attending your event and control their access to restricted areas
• Workers and contractors care because they want to be able to access the correct areas with the minimum of fuss
• Spectators and visitors care because they trust that organisers have made all efforts to keep them safe from harm
• Players, artists and VIPs care because they want quick access to restricted areas and want to know that only the right people are in those spaces
• Your insurer cares because a robust accreditation procedure greatly contributes to keeping your venue and participants safe

Of course, the size and prominence of the event will affect how much time and money is invested in an accreditation process. But the principle is beneficial to events of all sizes.

For major events and large venues, everyone cares. A robust accreditation process simply must form an essential element of the event plan because when it’s done properly, the impact for your business is far-reaching. It will automate and simplify labour intensive tasks. It will improve operational efficiency and event security. It will save you time and money. It makes sure you process data legally. It stops you employing illegal workers. It helps you to fulfil a duty of care to workers and visitors. And it can lower insurance premiums.