Events Project Management

Georgiana Els, Ian Reed, Vanessa Mawer, Hanya Pielichaty

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317565369
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

This book provides events management students with an accessible and essential introduction to project management.

Written by both academics and industry experts, Events Project Management offers a unique blend of theory and practice to encourage and contextualise project management requirements within events settings. Key questions include: What is project management? How does it connect to events management? What is effective project management within the events sector? How does academic theory connect to practice? The book is coherently structured into 12 chapters covering crucial event management topics such as stakeholders, supply chain management, project management tools and techniques, and financial and legal issues. Guides, templates, case study examples, industry tips and activity tasks are integrated in the text and online to show practice and aid knowledge.

Written in an engaging style, this text offers the reader a thorough understanding of how to successfully project manage an event from the creative idea to the concrete product. It is essential reading for all events management students.

Chapter 1
Project management for events

1.1 Introduction

There has been a rapid growth in the number of events and festivals delivered since the 1980s (Brown, 2014) and in relation to this an increase in the number of institutions offering events management programmes to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The academic research connecting to events, however, has not developed at the same pace and there are gaps in some areas of academic event theory. This book seeks to address the paucity of literature available to students studying events-management-based degrees specifically in connectivity to project management. The aim of this book is to provide students with an understanding of project management theory and practice within a global events setting. The authors of this book offer expertise from both an academic and events industry perspective.

Key questions that this book seeks to address include:

● What is project management?

● How does project management connect to events management?

● What does an effective project management set-up look like within the events sector?

● How does academic theory around project management connect to practice?

This book is divided into 12 chapters and is presented in a specific order which mirrors the way a practitioner may structure the organisation of an event in industry. The book begins with an exploration of the relationship between events and projects and then develops to look at key stakeholders, structures and teams, and supply chain management. The middle third of the book provides the practical project management tools and techniques necessary to strategically manage client, community and organisational event objectives within a legal setting. Finally the book addresses the financial, legal and contemporary issues regarding event projects and project close. Students will be able to follow the textbook from start to finish in a logical sequence or read the chapter linked to their module content as a standalone resource. Each chapter ends with a case-study example in order to help students connect theory with practice and provide inspiration for assignment ideas.

1.2 Events, projects and characteristics

From ancient through to contemporary times events have been part of society, defining different beliefs, preferences, and fashions across a variety of cultures. Events can range from small family gatherings such as birthday celebrations to mega-events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It must be noted that not all events have an appointed event organiser; instead traditions and local rituals may pave the way for unorganised or spontaneous events. Examples of these include gatherings in public spaces at New Year’s Eve and end-of-war celebrations. This makes events a very interesting and innovative subject area to both study and work in and it also means it is difficult to provide one single definition of events. According to Smith (2012, 1) public events are ‘themed occasions that take place at a stipulated time’; arguably, they are designed in a unique way, as each one offers a synergy between location, the range of people involved and the culture/rituals in place. It is thought that one must experience an event in order to fully understand it. Typically, ‘an event is generally a complex social endeavour characterized by sophisticated planning with a fixed deadline, often involving numerous stakeholders’ (Van Der Wagen and White, 2015, 5). This is a useful definition as it strongly connects to project management influences linking events to planning, timelines and stakeholders. For the purposes of this book, events can be understood as social occasions that are limited in time, involve an audience and fulfil complex and varied objectives dependent on the stakeholders involved. Event management pulls together the practical tools, resources and expertise needed to bring an event to fruition.

Similarly to the definition of events, the relationship between projects and events can be multiple and changing. This chapter will help to define and pinpoint the meaning of a project and, in turn, how this relates to events and event management. Bladen, Kennell, Abson and Wilde, (2012, 23) state that ‘projects are distinct from the day-to-day processes of an organisation’. They argue that events are projects because they share many similar characteristics. These similar characteristics and traits include life cycle, budget, leadership, teams, one-time tasks and cross-functionality. The listed descriptors are all appropriate and logical but perhaps do not fully encapsulate the entire relationship between events and projects.

Bowdin, Allen, O’Toole, Harris and McDonnell, (2011, 257) simply state that ‘the production of a festival or event is a project’, and they endorse the use of project management tools to ensure the successful completion of the event. This definition emphasises the production and implementation side of event management as being project-led rather than the entire process. The initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and shut-down stages are described by Bowdin et al. (2011) as key elements of project management linked to events. Cserháti and Szabó (2014), however, do not separate the two fields and refer to them instead as event projects in their study exploring World and European Championships from a project management perspective. They acknowledge that ‘organisational event projects have well-confined parameters, such as fixed deadlines, strict competition rules, numerous stakeholders and environmental aspects’ (Cserháti and Szabó, 2014, 613). This view can be encapsulated by understanding events as the setting in which project management processes and values are being utilised. This connects to the core aim of this book, which involves exploring and mastering the use of project management theory and skills against an events management backdrop. The phrases ‘event projects’ and ‘events project manager’, therefore, will be used frequently in this book to refer to the amalgamation of events with project management techniques and processes.

Rowe (2007) defines project management as being both an art and a science. The art of project management implies the coordination of technical and business resources, the team and the client and all the stakeholders involved. The science of project management is based on processes and techniques. To be an artist in project management means to be proficient in the science of project management. This notion of project management adheres very well to the events industry, which is a fusion of art and technical application. The use of project management skills and theory is necessary in the events sector because it provides useful processes and project tools and the framework for defining the event scope and associated objectives. Furthermore, as for events, the project manager directs the team to focus on tasks and helps with the management of time scales and resources.

In essence, a project is an idea that is implemented into action until completed. Project management involves the careful monitoring and management of each project stage to ensure that it is completed efficiently, professionally and to brief. The simple stages of the project management cycle can be viewed in Figure 1.1. The event concept or idea is the initial stage of the process which in order to be agreed upon by key stakeholders must also have the appropriate financial backing. An event organiser presenting their particular event project to a panel of Safety Advisory Group (SAG) members is unlikely to reassure the SAG of their event safety if the correct finances and legalities are not in place.

An initial feasibility study of the event project along with an internal and external analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) connected to the event idea is needed. Only then is it encouraged to progress to the project planning and implementation (doing) stages. These stages of project management align directly with event planning, and the final stage of this involves completion, shut-down and review, which will be discussed in greater detail in the final chapter of this book.

Figure 1.1 The project management cycle

1.2.1 The connection between events and projects

As already introduced, the relationship and connection between events and projects can be difficult to understand and apply. The characteristics of projects are listed below and the processes by which they are developed and implemented are of interest to event managers:

● They are time based: every aspect of a project has a time constraint.

● They are unique and involve either using new resources or using standard resources in a new combination.

● They have start and finish dates.

● They involve considerable unfamiliarity and the possibility of unforeseen risks.

● The level of activity varies over the duration of the project.

● They constitute a dynamic system subject to change from internal and external sources.

Source: O’Toole and Mikolaitis (2002, 21)

The constrained element of time within events and projects is undeniable, both of which have deadlines at the micro and macro level. Due to the fast-paced nature of the events industry it is always necessary to search for new resources and methods of planning and managing an event. Inevitably, there may be unforeseen risks and unexpected occurrences may take place. It is the role of the project manager, however, to eliminate all reasonabl...