For years people have asked me about attendee queues. Hardly anyone asks about the other door, the load-in door. And almost every big problem I've dealt with started there, two or three days before the first attendee walked in.
Here's how I see it from the service entrance.
The problem nobody plans for
During load-in, everyone shows up at once. Stage trucks, sound crew, catering, security, sponsor installers, the person putting up signage, the client who wants to "see how it's going." Each one says they're here on behalf of someone and that they're expected inside.
Without a system, access control is whoever happens to be at the gate, running on their own judgment and patience. And patience runs out at three in the afternoon on the first day of setup, with three trucks waiting in the street.
I've seen what comes next many times:
- People get in who aren't on any list, and nobody knows who they belong to.
- A vendor loses two hours because their name was misspelled.
- Credentials get lent from one day to the next.
- On event day, there are people inside the perimeter who shouldn't be there anymore.
Separate load-in from the event
The first thing I do is treat load-in as its own event, with its own list, its own schedule and its own door if the venue allows it. It doesn't mix with public entry or with operational staff entry.
That alone solves half the problem. The person unloading a truck has no reason to cross the accreditation area, and the person accrediting has no reason to dodge a forklift.
One credential per person, not per company
The most common mistake is accrediting companies. "The lighting vendor is coming" is not a list. It's an excuse for anyone to walk in.
Here's what we ask every vendor for, well in advance:
- Full name and ID number for each person who will enter.
- Role and the zone they need access to.
- Working days and time slots.
- One single point of contact who answers for the rest.
With that we issue QR credentials, one per person, validated at the gate with the same system we later use for the event. If someone needs a replacement, the point of contact requests it and the previous credential is deactivated. Without that, the credential passes from hand to hand and the list stops meaning anything.
Trucks are a separate entry
A truck isn't accredited like a person. You need to know what it carries, when it arrives, where it unloads and how it leaves. What helps most is a grid of unloading slots, built with the vendors and enforced at the gate.
When two trucks arrive at the same time and the access is narrow, what gets jammed isn't the load-in, it's the street. And the street belongs to someone else, with other permits and other problems. Better not to get there.
What about the client and last-minute guests
Someone always shows up with a visitor who "just wants to see the stage." There's no trick here: you decide in advance who can authorize extra entries and how they get logged. At our events it's one person on the client side and one on ours. If the request doesn't go through them, the person doesn't get in.
It sounds harsh, but it's what saves you later when something goes missing or gets broken and you need to know who was inside.
Load-in close: the cutoff almost nobody makes
There's a key moment that almost never gets marked: when load-in ends. That's when you have to deactivate the load-in credentials and switch to event operations credentials. If you don't, credentials stay active for people who already left, and you open a hole right when the public arrives.
We do a formal cutoff. We check who is still inside, deactivate everyone else and hand out the new credentials, with different schedules and different zones.
What to ask whoever manages your access
If you're in marketing, procurement, or on the production company side hiring this service, these questions will structure the conversation:
- Are load-in credentials named individually or issued per company?
- Is there a separate door or time slot for vendor entry?
- Who authorizes an entry that wasn't on the list?
- How are credentials deactivated when setup ends?
- Can you see in real time who is inside?
If they can't answer any one of the five, you have a problem to solve before the date.
What stayed with me
The audience is visible, noticeable and photographed. Load-in isn't. But an event that starts with an orderly venue runs differently: fewer phone calls, fewer people lost, fewer emergencies to handle while half the setup is still unfinished.
Taking care of the back door is the least showy part of the job and the one people appreciate most afterwards.
Franco Ridao Founder of SOMOS DER