Jim Digby, PMP, is co-founder and Immediate Past President of the Event Safety Alliance | Tour & Production Director
At 8:46 p.m. on August 13, 2011, a storm gust-front struck the temporary roof structure over the Indiana State Fair grandstand stage, minutes before Sugarland was to perform. The structure came down into the crowd. Seven people were killed. Fifty-eight were injured. August 2026 marks fifteen years since this wholly avoidable incident.
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I was not in Indianapolis that night, but what has occurred in the wake of that tragedy has never left me and has changed the industry forever.
When the investigators finished, the story was not only about what structurally failed. Thornton Tomasetti, engaged by the State of Indiana and the Indiana State Fair Commission, found the ballast system holding that roof had grossly inadequate capacity to resist both the code-specified wind speed and the wind that actually arrived. The applicable standard contemplated gusts of 68 miles per hour. The structure came down at an estimated 59.
But the more remarkable findings were about the failure of leadership, and those came from the Witt Report, the independent assessment commissioned by the State of Indiana and conducted by Witt Associates. It examined the decisions rather than the structure. It found it was not clear who or what organization had leading authority for public safety that evening. There was no agreed emergency management protocol governing the weather decision. Authority was ambiguous. The multiple stakeholders weighing whether to hold the show were not aligned, nor did they share the same goals, and each assumed someone else had the final call. The wind was simply the trigger.
When I lecture about this seminal moment, I ask: what caused people to die in Indiana? Many say the wind, or the stage collapsing. Both are true. But what actually caused people to die was the lack of an actionable plan and coordinated leadership. Thankfully this is fixable. The weather is not.
In the wake of this tragedy, the live events industry rose to the occasion and began to act. A group of concerned industry professionals, among them production managers, tour managers, engineers, promoters, insurers, and meteorologists, began meeting routinely, in search of how our systems could change to keep these mistakes from happening again. That group ultimately became the Event Safety Alliance. The ESA authored North America’s first Event Safety Guide, and from it came a growing body of ANSI-accredited standards. Fifteen years on, you will find its fingerprints at nearly every show: weather action plans, wind speed guidance, engineering reports, closer scrutiny of load calculations. That work is real, and it proves that in the wake of this tragedy, we did learn and we did improve. But there is still much to be done.
Who’s Qualified to Lead?
While the guidance and standards largely addressed the systems and structural areas of concern, the work did not address the qualification gap for those who lead live events.
Many of the industry’s most familiar names learned their leadership skills the only way available: on the job, modeling their behaviors after those who came before them. On-the-job training has been, and still is, the accepted curriculum of this industry since its inception. We learned the work by doing the work, on the bus, in the warehouse, in the production office, at lobby call. That system produced extraordinary delivery-capable leaders and built this industry into what it is today. They are the reason we got here. But it is also no longer enough.
The scale has changed significantly since 2011. Last year the top 100 tours sold 67.3 million tickets and grossed $8.9 billion. More telling than the totals is the density. The average show now draws 19,104 people, an all-time high, up from 13,397 in 2019. Stadium shows average 56,272, an eleven percent jump in a single year. More people are standing in front of each stage than at any point in this industry’s history.
What people expect of their leaders has changed as well. While the industry is safer now, the rising complexity and growing number of tours mean the stakes are higher than ever. We need more dedicated professionals equipped with wide-ranging capabilities to lead and own the responsibility for the outcomes.
Consider the enormous responsibility of those roles. A production manager, tour manager, promoter rep, or festival director builds the plan, sets the schedule and the budget, hires and coordinates the staff, integrates every trade from rigging to catering, negotiates with venues, promoters, and local authorities, and carries the legal duty of care for those in their charge. On show day, they accept that the structure is fit for purpose, execute the weather plan, manage the crowd, and determine whether the doors open to the public. In the end, they decide what is safe. And still, to this day, to hold that job, the industry requires no proof of competency. No agreed standard. No shared learning pathway. No credential, no measure. Period.
Addressing the Leadership Gap in Live Events
So how do we continue to develop competent leaders and arm them with the right, meaningful qualifications to succeed?
The trades around us have recognized industry certifications that help them demonstrate their competency. Riggers and electricians can hold ETCP certification. Anyone serious about jobsite safety can take OSHA 30. Safety leadership has the Certified Safety Professional. There is incident command training, mental health first aid, and role-specific education across the trade disciplines.
But for the person charged with integrating all of it, the industry requires nothing and points to no expected standard of competence. People who want to improve are left to figure it out on their own.
This is where the already established discipline of project management fits nearly perfectly. For more than fifty years, the Project Management Institute has been working to support high-risk and complex project environments like construction, aerospace, energy, government, and healthcare. Project management standards and training align closely with the work live event leaders are already doing. What makes our industry different is the pressure of immovable door times, compressed timelines, and rebuilding the infrastructure show after show, city after city. Our job is project management.
Since becoming a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), I have lived it firsthand. That learning has improved the way I work, lending greater structure and a consistent language of leadership. It doesn’t replace the judgment, humility, or care for the people doing the work — it anchors those skills in service of the team. Those qualities come from experience and shared lessons. Improving how we pass those lessons on and providing access to the proven systems of project management training should be a priority for the future leaders of live events and those who control the money.
Indiana proved that this industry will respond when the need is undeniable. The next step is clear: inspire existing and future leaders to recognize that project management is their craft, those skills and systems are being taught as you read this. We also need the industry to recognize and value demonstrable, qualified leadership as the path forward — and to finally require proof of it.
Sources: Thornton Tomasetti, investigation report on the Indiana State Fair collapse, presented to the Indiana State Fair Commission, April 2012.
Witt Associates, “An Independent Assessment of the August 13, 2011 Indiana State Fair Collapse Incident,” April 2012.
Touring figures: Pollstar 2025 and 2019 Year-End Business Analyses.