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[Cheetah]

Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely do value constructive input. But crowd control is not a new problem, and neither is queue management. They are both extremely common problems. I'm pretty sure that if there was any worthwile solution for the challenges we face, a simple google search would find it. And yet, at millions of events world wide at equally countless venues, after thousands of years of human existance ... people still just queue.

I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that, and I'm also pretty sure we won't re-invent the wheel in this web forum.

There are a few marginal conditions you can optimise ... like, you can queue in parallel, you can fold up queues, you can put up priority queues, you can try and manage the time people start queueing, you can make the stay inside the queue more pleasant. But eventually, the audience has to gather and wait to be seated. And if the wait is over, a sequence has to be determined in which they will safely enter the room as fast as possible. And the obvious solution for that is a line. No way around it.

I think we have bigger problems - like managing events in a way allowing them to start on time, and not three hours late. Which is the real culprit here.

[Luchs]

On a side note: No matter how you manage a queue, in the best case you can prevent people from starting to wait 'too early' - but you won't be able to reduce the seating time.

Even with a perfect lineup, the people at the end of the queue will have to wait, simply because - for the safety of everyone involved - security won't just let 1000+ people enter a hall at once.

[BluePaw]

just a question here.
what if you didn't really queue at all?
or at least kept it to a specific time no matter what the case?
unless found too much in the way. let the people in to take a seat, and entertain them by watching you work.
while just standing there for 3 hours getting angry or hurting feet, or getting cold.
have something they can leave at their seat, like just a pipe-cleaner or something cheap to say "this chair is now taken".
and then treat it like a break-time in the actual show where people can just leave and go eat.
and then the call out over speakers or through security "the show will start in 15-30 minuts" so everyone can go back to their seat in the same way they do during break times in the show.

it will possibly hinder some running back and forth for staff if they need to run to the sound booth and back to the stage again or something.
but it will solve other things instead
you could for example get the "do not pass tape" and make your own corridor between the stage and the sound booth down the middle aisle and tell people to go behind so they won't obstruct the direct path needed?

(EDIT) might even show some sort of movies or fun stuff on the projector screens?

[Luchs]

There are various tasks where an audience would cause problems. Final soundchecks happen before seating, and they can be done in an efficient manner because the hall is empty and quiet, and FoH can easily talk with the people on stage. If it's equipment on the trusses that needs to be fixed/added/replaced - you need space and a clear floor, because things theoretically *can* fall down during the process of attaching/detaching them when the safety wires are off. Last but not least, nobody likes delays, and as delay time accumulates, both the audience and the hosts become more and more unnerved - and a bit of air to breathe without getting stared at is the least you need to stay focused and get the job done.

~Luchs