If you’ve been working in live events over the last few years, you’ve probably sensed that something has shifted.

Not in a dramatic way, but in the quieter expectations that sit behind every brief, planning meeting and conversation with a venue or local authority. By the end of 2025, it was clear the sector had entered new territory. Safety and security were no longer supporting functions sitting politely behind the creative. They had moved firmly into the centre of how events are planned and delivered.

As we move through 2026, organisers are operating in an environment where responsibility feels heavier and tolerance for uncertainty is much lower. Audiences still want joy, scale and spectacle, but they also expect to feel safe without ever having to think about why. Balancing those two things has become one of the defining challenges of modern event delivery.

Part of this shift is regulatory. The introduction of Protect Duty has focused minds and accelerated conversations that were already happening. Safety is no longer something you evidence at the end of a process. It shapes decisions from the start, influencing site layouts, crowd movement, staffing, communications and the technology chosen to support it all.

What’s striking is that when you speak to organisers, their concerns are rarely framed in legal language. They talk about confidence. Confidence that plans will hold up under pressure. Confidence that teams know what they’re doing. Confidence that when something unexpected happens, the response will be calm and proportionate.

There’s also a growing realism about technology. Most organisers are no longer chasing innovation for its own sake. They’ve seen enough shiny tools to know that novelty fades quickly on a live site. What they want now is visibility that supports better decisions in real time, and systems that work just as well late at night in difficult conditions as they do in rehearsals.

Alongside this sits the ongoing challenge of people. Recruitment and retention have become strategic conversations, not operational afterthoughts. Clients are asking tougher questions about who is on site, how they’ve been trained, and whether they understand the environments they’re working in. Flexibility still matters, but reliability and judgement matter more.

Experience plays a quiet but important role here. Working across large scale events quickly teaches you that no two days are the same. Crowd behaviour shifts, transport systems ripple and weather intervenes. Delivery isn’t about perfection, it’s about consistency. Teams who understand pressure, communicate clearly and adapt when needed tend to create calmer sites where fewer issues escalate.

Protect Duty has sharpened the focus on this reality. Compliance is becoming the baseline, not the differentiator. What sits above that line is how risks are interpreted, how plans translate into behaviour on site, and how people are trained to make decisions rather than simply follow instructions.

This is where training and culture come into their own. Frontline teams are often the first to notice when something doesn’t feel right. When people feel informed and supported, they tend to spot issues earlier, communicate more effectively and respond with confidence. In many cases, culture is the difference between a situation escalating and being resolved quietly.

Technology has a role to play here too, but only when it supports people rather than overwhelming them. The most effective systems are the ones that integrate smoothly into existing workflows and help experienced teams do what they already do, just with better visibility.

Looking ahead, the events and security sector in 2026 feels more mature than it did even a few years ago. There’s a growing acceptance that great events rely on far more than creativity alone. They are built on thoughtful planning, experienced people and clear communication. As expectations continue to rise, the value of partners who understand both the theory and the reality of live events becomes increasingly clear, not because they promise flawless delivery, but because they know how to operate when it matters most.