Flexible Seating for Changing Times - Keeping Audiences Socially Distanced

This is particularly true when it comes to the arts and leisure sectors since these – as well as events such as conferences and rallies – are aspects of life which naturally involve groups of people coming together, often in a confined interior space.

How Can The Arts, Culture And Sports Adapt So Audiences Can Return?

In order to grasp the freedom of being able to gather in such a way and enjoy everything from sporting events to theatrical performances and musical shows, people are going to have to demonstrate a degree of flexibility and ingenuity, and this particularly applies to the question of flexible seating.

Retractable seating has become the main-stay of multi-use venues around the world. The power of its mobility and flexibility has expanded the possible events a venue can stage - and allows them to attract a wider variety of audiences. With new rules about social distancing coming into play, it can once again prove its worth. Venue owners and managers can reconfigure the layout of the seating in a way which makes it much easier to keep everyone attending safe and well.

You Must Plan Ahead And Be Prepared

Holding any kind of crowd-based event will require in-depth advance planning, with sets of seats pre-booked by groups who don’t need to socially distance from each other, and the right distance between each of these groups built into the seating arrangement. You need to be prepared. 

In the first instance, the plan could be to simply reduce the capacity of the venue, making it less likely that people attending events will find themselves too close to one another - for example, in areas such as entrances, exits and foyers. The beauty of modular flexible seating, with stands that are movable and retractable, is that it allows for truly bespoke seating plans for each and every event. The distance between performers and audience can also be increased, by putting what would traditionally be standing replaced with blocks of seating to make social distancing easier to maintain.

One thing which needs to be emphasised is that the retractable, flexible seating of today isn't the fold-away bench seating that many of us might remember from our school days. At Master Industrie, retractable seating incorporates high comfort full-size chairs which come in a range of colours and finishes and enables a genuinely comfortable viewing experience at the same time as maximising safety.

More Ways To Create Socially Distanced Audience Seating

If you are still looking around for a solution to the distancing rules, Master Industrie has been helping venues create new socially distanced audience seating with the launch of our specially designed seat covers. 

Of course, there are other ways of creating separation, such as folding back certain chairs or taping a sign to the chair but they do run the risk of being ignored; that's why we think these covers make it easy to mark out those seats which aren’t available for use - and make the situation perfectly clear.

With elastic bands on each side, the seat covers can quickly and easily be slipped over individual seats, keeping them folded and impossible to use. Depending on circumstances, venue managers might opt to cover every second or third seat or to mark out areas based on bookings. Just like the seats themselves, the seat covers we provide are high-quality products, available in a range of colours and can even be embroidered to align with the wider venue customization. They can be adjusted to work with a wide range of seat sizes and are manufactured from fire-proof fabrics which meet all relevant safety regulations.

Uphold Your Reputation As A Safe Venue For Audiences

If you run a venue and you’ve been concerned about how you can re-open in line with social distancing rules, then flexible seating which utilises retractable blocks could offer the ideal solution; adding the seat covers gives you even more flexibility. Without having to compromise on quality, comfort or even appearances, you can create seating solutions on a show by show, audience by audience basis making it possible for people to enjoy the cultural events, entertainment and sports they love at the same time as keeping them as safe as possible.