LIVE EVENTS : IT ’ S AN EXPERIENCE THING
As part of # WeCreateExperiences , professor John Drury talks about the value of shared experiences . Drury is based at the University of Sussex heading the Crowds & Identities Group , and sits in the UK Government
SAGE behavioural science subgroup SPI-B . He is a member of Independent SAGE
The emotional importance of live experiences
I have been studying people ’ s behaviour and experiences at crowd events for nearly 30 years . This has included live music events , sporting occasions , religious festivals , rallies and protests , and national ceremonies . These investigations and others have enabled us to understand the emotional importance of many kinds of live event , as well as how these are different compared to experiencing events remotely .
People come to live events because they want to experience them with other people who feel the same way as they do . They put up with all sorts of inconvenience and sacrifices to have this kind of experience , including travelling distances , the financial cost , the time required , queuing , and so on . All this is worth it for the experience that comes from being among like-minded others at a live event you value .
It ’ s not just any crowd that people crave and want to be in among . The crowd of people milling about a transport hub or a shopping centre doesn ’ t have the same attraction ; quite the opposite . Here , people often want to get away from others and to maintain personal space . We call these types of crowd physical
“ People come to live events because they want to experience them with other people who feel the same way as they do .” crowds ; they are simply people in the same space .
The live event crowds where people are all there for the same reason , where people want to be with like-minded others , and where everyone knows this about everyone else are called psychological crowds . Here , people share a social identity , or definition of themselves collectively . It could be snooker fans , or Spurs fans , or One Direction fans , or festival goers . The point is that it is a valued group identity to those that attend . It means that they believe other people will appreciate the event in the same way that they do and will share the same assumptions about what is important and indeed how to behave .
When we ask people about what they enjoy about a live event , they use words like ‘ atmosphere ’, ‘ excitement ’, and ‘ energy ’. They are referring not just to the performers in the music , sports or arts event , but to the emotional and behavioural responses of others in the crowd . It means that others enjoyed the event and expressed that enjoyment . Emotions are not just internal states but ways of interacting with others . At the exciting and atmospheric events , people smile at each other and meet www . conference-news . co . uk