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Developments in the real-time evaluation of audience behaviour at planned

events

Article  in  International Journal of Event and Festival Management · March 2013

DOI: 10.1108/17582951311307502

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Melbourne Health The University of Newcastle, Australia
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Developments in the Audience

behaviour at
real-time evaluation of audience planned events

behaviour at planned events

Steve Brown
43
School of Humanities, Flinders Uniuersity, Adelnid'e, Australia, and
Alison Hutton
School of Nursing and Midnifery, Flinders Uniuersity, Adßlnide, Australia

Abstract

Drawing on work being undertaken in the mass gatherings, tourism

and synthesises these into a proposed model for the effective
evaluation of the event ,Jî.:::Ïtttt
?'Jî
ding
::k:ïffiTJåi*':ff:
aPPlied at Pianned events.
Keywords Sweden, Austria, Australia, Event and festival management, Crowd safety,
Risk management, Health and safety requirements, Events, Mass gatherings, Event design,
Audience behaviour, Event risk management
Paper type Conceptual paper

Introduction
This paper explores recent technological and methodological developments in the
evaluátiõn of áudience behaviour at planned events and discusses the implications
for researchers in this field, particularly the advantages of evaluating in real time.
The paper argues that such evaluation provides a greater understanding of the
audiencè's phyiíological and psychological engagement with the experience leading to

Inttrnational JourM[ of Event and

Fætival Mæagement
Steve Brown (festivals and events) and Alison Hutton (mass gatherings) have been working Vol.4 No 1,2013
pp. 43-55
collaboratively for a number of years on research related to event safely and audience behaviour
@ Eremld Group Publishing Limited
evaluation and are both lead researchers on the MaGDAA Project and members of the Disaster r75aæv
Resilience Centre Mass Gatherings). DOI 10 110&1?58æ51311307502
uoFM
4,1

44

The emergence of event design as

field of event studies has also led to a
 Audience
behaviour at
planned events

45

o better predict and better Plan to

at events. For the event designer, a
ehaviour enables the desþ of the event
progr¿Lms as a response to observable

Primariþ been to determine

iour once on the event site

cts a¡ound
attemPt to
and psychologrcally on audiences (Arbon'
rs found within each of the tbree domains
l;l

t'
I

l;

1t,,
!
í

46

le Ð.

Post-event (later)
At the event On exit of event

Three domains Audience satisfaction

Audience motivation Immediate respolrse
Bring with them Experience at event

DemograPhic Audience behaviour

Age will either be:
Gender
Reinforced, or
Income Modified
Lives
Cultural
EtluricitY
Religion
"Baggagd'
Expectatìons
Been before
Marketing SurveY
Suwey
SurveY Survey Face to face
Face to face Face to face
Face to face Postcard Postcard with
Postcard with On-site barcode
Weather Online
barcode Online
Online Site laYout Blog
Blog Still camera WebPage
WebPage Peak exPerience Facebook
Facebook GPS úacking
ExPerience
hotsPots
Arousal
 Audience
behaviour at
planned events

47

Mass gathering resea¡ch Event resea¡ch

Mass gathering Event/festival

Incidents Table tr.
Events/presentations
Audience Comparison of resea¡ch
CrowiVattendees/patients
Event safety/event risk management nomenclature
Public health/trealth care
IJEFM
4,1

48

4¡trv v¡$-- -- ¡
gether with Partlcrpanl' observation'
of the
ilä'"mett*"tügicat evaluation

Environmental domain
Bio-medical domain
Psycho'social domain
Event site design
Age
Audience motivation MeteorologY
Gender
Audience behaviour Audience density
Arousal levels Light/sound levels
Audience satisfaction
PredisPositions
etc. Timdduration
etc.
etc.
Table Itr.
Event design Arbon (2004)
proximirY model Source: Brown, adapted from
 event site - all compared and matched to the event's desþ, proglamme and setting - Audience
provides a much better picture of the environment within which the audience behaviour at
ãxperience takes place and the actual physiological response to that environment. The
than 200 different points of data at any given event and
planned events
IDS,S collects data more
combines a range of research methodologies to do so (see Table IV). It is a combination
of active data collection (involving the audience in the provision of the data) and
49
Event va¡iables Methodology

Type of event Coding scheme - classific¿tion of type of event into

categories using nominal measurement
Event program genre (artist line up and Coding scheme - classification of type of program
activities) genre into categories using nominal measurement
Enuironm¿ntal characteristics
Outdoor or indoor event Coding scheme - classification of lype of event into
categories using nominal measu¡ement
Admission price Recorded using coding scheme
Event is bounded/unbounded (fenced or füding scheme - classification of çpe of program
contained) genre into categories using nominal measurement
Geog:aphy of the evenlterrain/locale; Photographs of venue site
underfoo! shade; shelter Scale site plan - using CAD softwa¡e
Building structures þuilt natural, existing, Photographs of venue site.
temporary) Scale site plan - CAD software
Barriers to ingress and egress (number of Observation coding scheme
entrances and exits; ave¡age distance to car
parking and public transport)
Time (day/nighVseason) Coding scheme - classification of time of event into
categories using nominal measurement Time
category will vary depending on event size and
duration
Duration event Coding scheme
Short 1-12 hou¡s
Mediumone to fowdays withnight time shutdown
Long >4 days
>24 hou¡s continuous program
Weather (temperature humidity; wind speed/ füding scheme - data collection using weather station
direction; wind chill; hours of sunlight; for temperaturg wind-speed, humidity
brightness (lumens)
Light levels Hou¡s of sunlight data recorded from Bureau of
Meteorology (sunset and su¡l¡ise times)
Lux and Fc light meter
Sound levels Coding scheme - sound pressure DSE digital sound
level meter
Crowd sizdattendance Coding scheme - number of ticket sales
Crowd predominantly seated or mobile within Coding scheme - classification seated or mobile into
the venue categories using nominal measurement
Crowd density Observation - m2 per person and recording
Event staffing (type, number and location) Observation and recording, mapping/photographs/
number
Securily officers Staff rostered-coding scheme. Classification seated or
Police officers mobile into categories using nominal measurement Table W.
Example of original
(continued) IDSS data points
IJEFM MethodologY
Event variables
4,L
Psvcho-so cín| cha'racterßtic s peak experience team
Mid.-sweden University MSfl)
Cáwd mood and enjo]¡ment ð;;d.t GPS/orperience tracking unit' Classification
;i;."d charactìristics into categories using ordinal
measurement
50 d
Crowd mobilitY
map. Digital video camera

Observation - coding scheme

Coding
Coding
Coding ility
Catering
and wa
Food - hot, cold
nominal measurement
Audience suPPlied
Beveraqes - hot, cold
Coding scheme. Classification of availability
of alcohol
Availabiliw of alcohol and drugs times in queue into categories using
*l*ãiti"g
nominal measur
and Coding scheme.
Emergency stafüng (fype, number groups/location
location)
measurement
First-aiders
Ambulance teams
Police and state emergency servlces

Sources: Adapted from A¡bon (2004); Milsten et aI (2002); Brown (2010)

Table IV'
 Audience
behaviour at
planned events

51
IJEFM The Adelaide SYmPhonY Orches
virtual performances via Second
4,1 musicians and at recent theatrical

ing recorded and screened live.

for their favourite chef, dancer,
52 singer or variety act on any one of nqp. ality shows' now speak to other
? purpose-
,årri"t. members via Facebook (www.facebook.com) or on the
"r¿iencé (htþ//au.fango.yahoo.com4. That these
built FanGo tur, .onu"i.ution application
-'äi are called "reality" television
events
tt'"rvro."umororãanãÑ.*.q't (oi'
say

BiJfuT,Tåtrgr*,ñ;.)ì

provides information about the exhibits you

your visit you can
of the exhibit that you point the devicé at At the conclusion of
ur vrstt which shows a 3D model of your "traiT'
s You have viewed'
simultaneously experiencing the event,

a distaction or an interruption to the exp

do not impose any
The use of these new tËchnologies aná resea¡ch methodologies
"
on in terms of professional training than
ir'."..orstandar
greater impost

i:ffi,îåîï*T;ffi:ï:ifli:i:ïå
automated so that results are recorded
-
are collected and recorded and c¿n be
provides the oPPortunþ for event
nment and prograrnme in real time,
on improved audience satisfaction,
nd safety.

Conclusion
As logies ìnc-reases, the opportunity for
the hmethodologies to-more precisely
eva at events also increases' Further research
ãertainly needs to be undertaken to capture these new advances and
to inform
current being used and developed.
ã"d pìãíi¿ããrri¿ãn.. tot the measurement scales
(from January
}tt"?ãif out of ttre MaCOAA research or er the Australian summer
2103 onwards) at a range of outdoor mus
advancement of such technologies and
literature in a wide range of disciplines
festivals and events and mass gathering
that can inform this research.
 Clearly, audiences engage with the experiences created and staged for them in Audience
many new and often unusual ways, but it is an understanding of the audience's
physiological and psychological engagement with the experience that will reveal behaviour at
insights into how events can be better designed and how event design principles and planned events
techniques can be applied to influence audience behaviour in real time, the event
designer is able to more successfully create and stage the event experience to meet
the aims and objectives of the event. The real-time capture and analysis of data of 53
audiences at events is likely to be a more effective means of developing an
understanding of the effects of event design techniques applied at planned events,
particularly from the event risk management perspective.

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About the authors

University, Austalia and
Steve Brown is Head of Tourism in the School of Humanities, Flinders
studies programs
*ã. i..po*i¡le for establishing the undergraduate and postgraduate event
years'professional practice in the event industry
there. As a practitioner academic with over 30
he has worked and consulted on events across
u. un auaoi designer, marketer and manager,
and in Sweden. He completed his PhD (on Event Design) and has lectured
Au.tuliu, in the ÚSA
on Event besign and Management for Flinders, Adelaide, victoria
and Midsweden universities'
in Östersund. Steve Brown is the
He is a Visiting Rese¿rch Ëelow at Mid-sweden University
corresponding ãuthor and can be contacted at steve.brown@flinders'edu'au
of young
Alison Hutton is a nwsing academic, whose work focuses on the health and safety
people at mass gathering ãvents. She believes that mass gatherings are important
sites

for research as they capture the understandings of young people in contemporary sociefy'
they
À component of this worÈ is examining the motivations of the crowd and what expectations
research is an opporhrnily to interpret young people's decisions
,nightï¡ng to an event. This
health and safety and Alison Hutton has published on a range of mass
urrã p¡o.iti.. of
gu*t˿ne. including World Youth Day and
')' She is
President and Youth Advocate on the Associat Care and

Associate Editor (Paediatric) for the Neonntal

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