When I have been asked about the best way to protect the community from sexual predators while hosting one day events, it seemed almost trickier than when you are overseeing a multi-day event.
It is much easier to regulate a controlled environment as opposed to something that is wide open to the public.
I really think the best place to start is the same place that you would for a multi-day event as described in the ‘Before the event’ section of this website. Establish what is and is not acceptable for people who are involved in an official capacity (staff, merchants, etc.) as well as for your attendees.
After you have set your ground rules, the best thing you can do is to screen all staff for the event as well as merchants, presenters, and musical guests. Also screen all volunteers that you may have. Again, take a look at anyone that you have in an official or semi-official role with an event.
The extent of the screening is at your discretion. Maybe you just want to verify that you don’t have any registered sex offenders, maybe you want to take a more in depth look for suspicious behavior. Between sex offender registries and general internet search engines to find news articles and social media profiles, you can do your own screening for free, but it can be time consuming. You can always shop around for paid services that will do background checks for you. They will cost money but will be much more encompassing for information that can be found.
In this situation it’s hard to know who will attend your event but you can have your staff keep an eye out for vulnerable people or perhaps overly pushy ones or other suspect behavior.
Gorgon Network 