The Kravis Center: Protecting Our Guests, the Experience, and Customer Service

Ask any senior executive in charge of a public venue what keeps them up at night and one of their top answers is likely to be “security.” The sad reality of our modern society is that popular venues of all kinds – concert halls, stadiums, schools, places of worship – have emerged as potential targets for terrorists and active shooters.

At the Kravis Center, like every performing arts venue, we’re focused on proactively addressing these security threats to ensure our audiences, artists and staff members remain safe. At the same time, we’re committed to providing the best customer experience possible to our patrons.

Security and the customer experience can sometimes be at odds. Making everyone line up single file and go through a metal detector, empty their pockets and take off their belts isn’t exactly good customer service, but many venues have been conditioned to think this is the only approach.

This is why we’re working to transform how we scan and identify deadly threats while ensuring that our patrons are provided a fast and secure entry.

We have a new approach to screening for weapons and explosives that provides significantly better detection rates than metal detectors while allowing for mass scanning of crowds – speeding up the security process.

Here are a few reasons why we implemented the Evolv Edge® and what it means for our customers:

Non-Intrusive Screening

Unlike traditional screening solutions, the Evolv Edge allows our guests, artists and staff members to enter and exit the venue without the need to stop, pose, or empty their pockets.

Optimized Traffic Flow

By eliminating the need to stop each individual guest as they enter, the Evolv Edge enables us to provide a quicker and seamless guest experience, preventing bottlenecks and long lines from occurring.

Advanced Detection Abilities

Today’s threats are no longer limited to firearms and we wanted to make sure our security measures weren’t either. With the Evolv Edge we detect explosives and other weapons concealed on an individual, including fully non-metallic explosives. It even offers multiple sensitivity settings to respond to different threat scenarios should our risk-based security policies change.

Lifetime Evolution

Because threats, technology and security are constantly changing, we wanted to identify a partner that would help us keep pace with those changes and ensure we evolve with the industry. Evolv’s industry pedigree, paired with its multi-disciplinary team of experts are keeping us on the front-lines of performing arts security today and in the future.

While all of these advanced capabilities have significantly improved our security measures, we strongly believe that good communication and training for our security team members, staff and ticket holders are key pieces of our security puzzle. By pairing the Evolv Edge with our high-quality customer service, we can be confident in our ability to provide high-quality security and guest experiences.

After working with Evolv and the Evolv Edge for over a year now, we’ve been nothing but thrilled with the results. We even have patrons regularly approach our staff to express their appreciation for the increased security measures. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Evolv to bring our guests, staff and artists safe and enjoyable experiences.

Judy Mitchell is CEO of The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, a professional performing arts center in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida. Read more about the “Five Steps to Implementing a Balanced Security Plan at Performing Arts Venues” by Anil Chitkara, president of Evolv Technology. 

Photo Credit: Nick Juhasz.