We look forward to seeing you at the 2025 Event Safety Summit (ESS25), the Event Safety Alliance’s XXth annual conference. The Summit will be held at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 11-13, 2025. Renovated and expanded during the pandemic, it now has 160,000 square feet of meeting space alongside 280,000 square feet of exhibit space.
The ESS25 theme is “Solidarity in Safety.” We believe that by elevating a culture of safety across the live event workforce, we are empowering individuals, educating teams, creating field-ready tools, and keeping human impact at the forefront. ESA is focusing our efforts on ways to bring the live performance industry together, whether it be organizations, guidelines, people or ideas.
This year our goal is to bring in more faces and more perspectives than ever before so that we are effectively promoting the totality of all pieces of the event safety environment. Our wide-ranging content will surely engage and inspire seasoned professionals and those new to this industry. There is much to be gained for the cause of “Life Safety First” by taking this approach and by instilling a comprehensive safety culture throughout all phases of the production of live events.
Stakeholders who should attend ESS25 include production and operational workers, legal and insurance experts, regulatory authorities, promoters, venue operators, ticket and sales entities, media and streaming platforms, and artistic, cultural and creative individuals and organizations.
AGENDA
ESA guidance and standards are collaboratively developed with the world's foremost safety experts, event professionals, academics and government officials. The work is optimized for real-world application and undergoes regular updates to ensure its continued relevance. Our Call for Presentations is live now on our website, with applications being due on July 31, 2025. If you’ve attended the Event Safety Summit before, you know you’ll learn from the top subject matter experts in live event safety and thought-provoking insights and analysis everywhere you turn. ESA will be announcing our line-up speakers later this summer.
The preliminary Event Safety Summit schedule is as follows:
Mon Nov 10: Pre-Summit Weather Training (optional/additional course) | Pre-Summit Crowd Management Training (optional/additional course)
Tue Nov 11: 2025 Event Safety Summit- Day 1 of 3 (full day)
Wed Nov 12: 2025 Event Safety Summit- Day 2 of 3 (full day)
Thu Nov 13: 2025 Event Safety Summit- Day 3 of 3 (half day)
Fri Nov 14: Post-Summit training opportunity TBD (optional/additional course)
REGISTRATION
Pre/Post Summit Opportunities
In addition to the education offered at ESS25, there will be training sessions on important topics taking place just prior to and right after the Summit. Our popular trainings in weather and crowd management will be offered again (these are optional sessions with additional and separate registration) and space is limited! Go here to register NOW!
Sponsorship
Is your organization interested in increasing your reach to ESA members and attendees? Watch this space for details on the ESS25 partnership opportunities soon to be made available. Would you rather talk about partnering now? Contact Rob at robbergeron@eventsafetyalliance.org.
Travel
Befitting this exciting metropolis is one of the country’s busiest airports: Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). ESA conference attendees will greatly benefit from air travel into CLT, which serves as a major American Airlines hub and features non-stop domestic flights from almost 150 cities. Interstates 85 and 77 also provide direct routes to Charlotte. See the Schedule Summary above to help you make your travel plans.
Lodging
ESA has an attendee room block at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown, which is linked to the Charlotte Convention Center via an outdoor pedestrian walkway. Discover motoring history at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, three blocks away, and take in big events at Bank of America Stadium, Truist Field, and Spectrum Center, all under a mile from our door. Perks include free access to the connected YMCA.
About Charlotte
Our conference host Charlotte is the 14th most populated city in America and often appears in major city lists for fastest-growing, most livable and greenest. It is the third largest financial city in the USA, behind only New York City and San Francisco, and is a Top 10 Best Craft Beer Town. Within walking distance to our conference location in the Uptown neighborhood is the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, the Levine Center for the Arts and the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Their NBA arena and NFL/MLS stadium are also very convenient to our conference facilities.
From the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority: Charlotte is a melting pot. A heaping spoonful of natural beauty and metropolitan splendor. A blend of inventive chefs, talented artists, fierce athletes and mission-minded gamechangers. A mix of night owls, early risers and all-day adventurers. And equal parts funky and eclectic, traditional and charming. Charlotte has something for everyone. For 101 Fun Things, 101 Restaurants, or for more information: https://www.charlottesgotalot.com/about-charlotte.