From the White House to London’s Southbank Centre
On Monday 3rd December, over 100 Showsec staff provided security and crowd management for the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, on her book tour. From the world’s most famous address to London’s Southbank Centre, Michelle Obama discussed her best-selling memoir, ‘Becoming’.
The 90-minute appearance included Michelle Obama in conversation with novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. With 200+ attendees, school children and community groups from the local area were given complimentary tickets. A combination of figures in politics, fashion and the arts including Sadiq Khan, Adwoa Aboah and Michaela Coel were also in attendance, along with the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
As a high-profile event, Showsec received praise for their commitment and the event was a great success. Showsec team members travelled from Nottingham, Birmingham and the South Coast to London’s embankment and provided external security services for the Southbank Centre. Along with security for the indoor live stream and backstage, Showsec also managed six floors in the Royal Festival 2,5000 capacity auditorium.
Laura Alexander, Operations Executive for London South, said:
“This was a wonderful opportunity for Showsec. Operationally, it was different to what we’re used to, but the team worked fantastically hard to ensure the event was a success. Being a part of something like this really demonstrates the high-quality service our staff can deliver, their dedication to travel and how our training programmes prepare them for all event types.”
Sean Carter, Duty Manager at London’s Southbank Centre added:
“Although we’ve worked with Showsec on many occasions at the Southbank Centre prior to this event, this was logistically and operationally a far bigger undertaking for all involved. The security needs and measures were a large part of this.
“On the night, Laura headed up the team of over 100 SIA’s, all of whom were presentable, professional and polite throughout the event.
“There was a last-minute change to proceedings as a principle VIP received tickets. This meant that we needed further security and Showsec were able to cater to this requirement.
“Thankfully, there were no issues on the night. However, with the team working and the communication I had with Laura throughout the night, I’m confident that had any incident happened, it would have been dealt with efficiently and professionally.
“The whole team performed fantastically and I’m looking forward to working alongside them for future events.”