The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Event Security Services

According to a recent study, event planners have some of the most stressful jobs in the world right now. It found that event planners are most stressed out than teachers, surgeons, social workers, and even first responders. If you currently work as an event planner, you probably know all about this based on your own experiences. Trying to bring together all the different elements of an event can be extremely difficult to do. Would you like to make it slightly easier? Then you should learn how to hire event security services for your next event from the start.

The right event security service will ensure that everyone who attends an event that you’ve planned will be safe. They’ll also provide you with peace of mind and put you in a position to focus on all the other aspects of keeping an event running smoothly.

We’ve created a guide that’ll make hiring a security company simpler for you. Check out the steps you’ll need to take when hiring security below.

Assess Event Security Needs

What exactly are you going to need an event security service to do for you during your event? This is a question you’ll want to answer before you start looking around at different security services.

For example, do you just need a few security guards to stand at the front door during your event? Or are you going to need more than a dozen security guards to canvass your venue and provide things like executive protection?

Whatever the case, assessing your event security needs from the start will be of the utmost importance. It’ll let you know which types of security services you’ll need a company to be able to provide.

Search for Options

Once you know what your event security needs are, the next thing you’ll want to do is come up with a list of potential event security services. Ideally, you’ll want to gather the names of as many security companies as you can so that you’re able to learn about your best options.

Googling something like “event security services” or, better yet, “event security services near me” should help you get your hands on a long list of options. You might want to make it your mission to hone your search in on only the event security services in your immediate area by adding the “near me.”

You’ll then be able to take this list of options and get to know each one better. It’ll lead to a more successful search for an event security service you can trust.

Conduct Research

Doing your homework on an event security service will be a lot easier than it used to be. You will be able to discover everything you’ll need to know about different security companies simply by visiting their websites and poking around on them for 20 minutes.

Visit each of the websites for the event security services you’re considering and try to find out:

• How long they’ve been providing event security
• What types of security they’ve provided in the past
• Where they find their security guards and what they do to train them
• Which kinds of events they’ve provided security for in the past
• Where they’re located and which areas they serve

Your goal should be to give yourself a great overview of what each event security service on your original list brings to the table. A few names should start to stand out after this process plays out. A few might also show that they wouldn’t be the best choices after you learn more about them.

Read Online Reviews

Just about every event security service on your list is going to make it sound like they’d be your best option on their website. They won’t have any issues singing their own praises in an attempt to convince you to hire them.

But would the customers that have called on them for security services in the past sing their praises, too? This will be the next question you’ll need to work on answering.

All the event security services on your list should have online reviews available. If they don’t, that alone could be reason enough to knock them out of contention. It likely means they’re either too new or they haven’t done good enough work to warrant reviews.

Either way, you’ll want to set your sights on finding event security services that have nothing but positive reviews to their names. It’ll guarantee you’ll be in good hands when you agree to bring one of these security companies on board for your upcoming event.

Check References

Do you want to go the extra mile when you’re looking to hire an event security service? Of course you do. Hiring the wrong company to work at your event could end up ruining the whole thing.

With this in mind, you should reach out to any of the security services that are beginning to appeal to you and ask them to provide you with references. The great security companies won’t hesitate at all to send you several references to use.

You can then touch base with these references and inquire about the experiences they had with the services you’re considering. They’ll be able to shine so much light on what you can expect to get when you hire a service to set you up with security at an event.

Compare Costs

The costs associated with hiring a security company will vary from one event security service to the next. It’s why you’ll want to get around to comparing the costs that’ll come along with working with different companies.

You shouldn’t just hire a security company because they’re able to charge the cheapest prices. Doing this could very well lead to you putting your trust in inexperienced security guards who might not know how to handle more serious security issues.

But you also shouldn’t hire a security company that’s going to make your event go way over budget. You should have some general idea of how much you can afford to pay for a security service and then look for one that will fit into your budget while also providing you with the right types of security.

Ask Questions

When you hit this point in your search for an event security service, there should only be a few options remaining on your list. These will be the security services you’ll want to get in touch with so that you can speak with them on the phone or in person and ask them further questions.

You’re probably still only going to know what you were able to learn about a security service from their website. Actually talking to someone from each service will put a brighter spotlight on security services and tell you everything you need to know about them.

Some of the topics you might want to discuss will include:

• If a security service has ever worked at an event like yours
• What a security service might do if they face specific problems
• Who you will stay in touch with from a security service during your event

That last one will be especially important. You’re going to want to have a great rapport with whoever will be running point on leading the security team that’s sent to work at your event. It’ll make your communication throughout the event that much more effective.

Share Security Concerns

Are there any major security concerns that you have personally heading into your event?

Maybe you’re worried about how you’re going to get event guests through your front door fast and into their seats with heightened security measures. Or maybe you’re worried about providing a specific person or a group of people with more security than everyone else.

You shouldn’t be shy at all about bringing these kinds of concerns up with an event security service. They should be more than happy to address your concerns and share ideas of how they’ll work to put your mind at ease.

As we touched on back at the beginning, you’re going to be stressed out about a million and one other things during your upcoming event. The last thing you need is to pile more onto your plate by adding security concerns to the mix.

The right event security company will see to it that they’re going to be ready, willing, and able to take care of all the concerns you may have.

Evaluate Security Plans

Outside of sharing your own security concerns, you should also ask an event security service to tell you about the concerns they might have. They’re usually going to have at least a few things that they know could present challenges during an event.

You should make sure you’re on the same page as them when it comes to each of your concerns. It’ll suggest which areas you might want to focus on most when putting together security plans.

Speaking of security plans, you may want to go as far as to ask a security company to come up with a well-thought-out security plan for your event. Once you tell them your needs and provide a layout of your event venue, they can get to work on generating a plan.

You’ll get the opportunity to evaluate this security plan to see if you like what a service has in mind. You’ll also get to see what a security company is like when they’re in action.

In a perfect world, you’ll want to work with an event security service that works well under pressure and comes up with excellent ideas on the fly.

Check Licensing and Insurance

You don’t want to hire a security service for an event and find out later that they weren’t properly licensed. So you should check with a company from the start about their licensing status.

They should be able to provide you with their license number pretty much on the spot. It’ll show you that they took the right steps to register their business and legitimize every aspect of it.

You’ll also want to ask a security service whether they’re insured. If they aren’t, this will be another big red flag. You don’t want to get stuck working with a security service that isn’t carrying the appropriate insurance. It could come back to bite you and cost you a fortune.

Make a Final Decision

As you can see, there’s no shortage of steps that you’ll need to take to inch your way closer to finding a great event security service. You’ll need to take each and every one of them to guarantee you’re treated to the types of security you need.

By doing this, you’ll end up in a place where you know which security service will be the right one for your event. It’ll be the one with more than enough experience, a slew of security services, and costs that you can afford.

You can pick this security service to help you create plans for your event. You’ll be glad to have them there as they’ll make your job as an event planner just a little less stressful.

Book a Consultation With Our Event Security Service

Are you ready to jumpstart your search for an event security service? Iron Shield Protection would love to give you a glimpse of how our security company can help you.

We can provide many types of security, including special event security. We can also do things like help you secure transportation for an event or even deliver executive protection services.

We hope you’ll consider booking a consultation with our security service soon. Contact us now to schedule one.