This episode does not hold back, covering many angles and challenging topics. Rachel Jackson, a freelance crowd management and event operations professional and I discuss the change in crowd behaviour post lockdown, the challenges and opportunities facing women who work in security and safety, Zone Ex, burnout and more. Rachel does not hold back in her honesty and wisdom of her experience in working major events at home and abroad, which I hope will inspire and "enfire" you as you listen.

Rachel's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-kate-jackson/

Ise's website: https://www.isemurphy.com

Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/isemurphy

Marcel, who is Senior Lecturer in Crowd Science at Manchester Metropolitan University is a friend, colleague and teacher, whom I met when studying the MSc in Crowd Safety and Risk Analysis. There were many routes this episode could have gone down has I had so many questions to ask. What I value about Marcel is his exceptionally unique perspective and outlook on life and situations, always challenging me to see things differently. This approach has aided him in developing unique solutions to challenges at the major marathons he works on across the globe. In this discussion, he shares his experience of responding to a bomb threat at one of the marathons he worked on, demonstrating the importance of training, experience and self awareness when working in a control room. We discuss an important event in his military career, his journey to crowd science, deviant behaviour in audiences and the importance of working as a team.

Marcel’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-altenburg-596382123/

Ise's website: https://www.isemurphy.com

Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/isemurphy

John Dundas, a Radio and Spectrum Manager for major events, provides insight into the world of spectrum management and how this work underpins Command, Control and Communications, sharing how his unique background taught him problem solving.

I learn just how much work goes into spectrum planning and how events cannot operate without good strategies. Learn how this is key to interoperability, what we can learn from Manchester Arena attack and Astroworld, and the critical importance of the big red button. We discuss the debated use of code words and key protocol tips for operating a radio. I have always been amazed by John’s breadth and dept of experience and hope you will enjoy this episode as much as I did.

John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndundas/

Ise's website: https://www.isemurphy.com

Buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/isemurphy

Some of the initialisms include:

C3 - Command, Control, Communication

FA - Functional Area

Glasgow 2014 - Commonwealth Games

Code Words: Link to Episode 2 with Janthea

I start with a solo chat about my experience at IBIT 2024 conference on event safety and security in Cologne, Germany before sharing three interviews with Roxana, Alexandra and May-Britt, three women who are spearheading change in the industry. With varied backgrounds in production and event safety, they share their views on their role in the industry, what inspires them, what draws them to be part of the YES Group (as part of the Yourope Festival Association), licensing, integrated planning, Gen Z, and what they want to see in the future.

Roxana Luca https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucaroxana/

Alexandra Von Samson https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-von-samson-718a1767/

May-Britt Morgenstern https://www.linkedin.com/in/may-britt-morgenstern-4862b220b/

Ise Murphy-Morris: https://isemurphy.com

Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/isemurphy

Olivia Bellas, a facilitator who empowers people to make sense of complex work, speaks with Íse about the importance of creating an environment with purpose to get the most out of meetings and gatherings. We explore the power of facilitation to create safety, empower people and make big change.

Support the show: If you enjoyed this episode and want to say thanks, you can leave a tip.

About Olivia: A facilitator at the intersection of arts, digital, charity and government spaces, with a 25 year track record of leading social impact work through fundraising, designing and evaluating. Putting people first is at the heart of what Olivia does, to generate untapped insights. She reframes learning, development, relationship building - bringing distinctive value by merging traditional and digital practices.

For more information see her website https://olivia-bellas.com/

Ise Murphy-Morris: isemurphy.com

In this episode I get to chat to Becca Wilusz, Assistant Director of Athletics / Game Operations & Championships at Duke University in North Carolina. Becca discusses her unusual career path into crowd safety at events, how she designs event plans, applies her background in biomedical engineering to planning, risk and data analysis and how her team work with students and student bodies to manage crowds. We only scratched the surface of Becca’s extensive experience and knowledge so I look forward to inviting her back very soon for part two. I hope you enjoy.

Support the show here!

Ise Murphy-Morris: https://isemurphy.com

Becca's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccawiluszphd/

This is my first Safety Sistas Solo episode and is an honest share about my intention on improving the industry, what I truly value, the systems that help me, understanding decision making, feeling incompetent, developing awareness, behaviour in the event control room, fear of rejection, being too hard on ourselves, and what happens when we trust ourselves.

For more information on my work in crowd safety, see https://isemurphy.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isemurphymorris/

I meet with Emma Parkinson, who leads the MSc Crowded Places and Public Safety Management at Coventry University, works as a crowd safety manager on some of the world’s biggest events as well as studying a Professional Doctorate into learning from High Reliability Organisations such as nuclear, aviation and space.

We discuss our role behind the curtain in facilitating joy and escapism in events, the power of volunteers in a crowd safety management plan, respecting, training and briefing our staff appropriately and C3 - Command, Control/Coordinate and Communications.

Emma is one of the leading crowd safety practitioners in our industry and as you will hear, I am a big fan of her work, wisdom and passion for crowd safety.

Emma’s Linkedin

MSc Crowded Places and Public Safety Management

Ise’s Linkedin

Ise’s website

In this episode, I catch up with Becky Stevens, director of Hybred Events, on site at Lumiere Durham 2023, a biennial light art festival in the north of England. Becky shares insight into how we approach event control, discusses the importance of training for safety advisory groups and debunks the narrative of us being the “safety police”.

She shares her experience of having to manage an emergency evacuation of Bloc Weekend festival at London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as working on the famous Fatboy Slim concert on Brighton beach in 2002 that almost turned deadly. Hearing Becky’s experience of dealing with both these events is crucial learning for all event professionals and attendees to help develop awareness of how we can reduce risk in the future. Becky’s wisdom, experience and perspective taught me a lot and I hope you find this episode as insightful as I did.

Hybred Events https://www.hybredevents.com

/ Becky’s LinkedIn

Ise’s website

Instagram

TikTok

LinkedIn

Welcome to my first in person podcast episode, where I sit down with Morten Therkildsen, Director of Safety at Roskilde Festival in Denmark. We caught up at the IBIT 2023 Conference in Cologne, where we were both speaking.

I represented the Global Crowd Management Alliance speaking about Zone Ex, and Morten spoke about the meaning of, and how we use the words Safety and Security, especially as in some languages they are the same word.

We spoke about some of the sessions we sat in, such as the Love Parade: Lessons Learned by Prof Doc Jurgen Gerlach and Figen Murray’s presentation about Martyn’s Law (Protect Duty). Our discussion continued into the importance and evolution of formal education, how the events industry should be classed as "high reliability organisation”, political influences, the definition and competency of “Crowd Managers”, proximate and distal risk and where we need to go next.

As this is recorded live in the RheinEnergies Stadium, there are background noises of talking, bottle crates and the Football Club’s mascot reminding us of session start times. This is a casual conversation between two members of the Global Crowd Management Alliance, hopefully demonstrating the importance of international exchange, something which IBIT and the GCMA champion and facilitate.

Morten’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortentherkildsenrfx/

Ise Murphy-Morris: https://isemurphy.com

IBIT https://ibit23.de/UeBER-DAS-IBIT/

GCMA https://www.thegcma.com/