Events Feasibility and Development

From Strategy to Operations

William O'Toole

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781032000930
• eBook ISBN: 9781000478228
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Events Feasibility and Development: From Strategy to Operations 2nd Edition outlines the best practice in event development and the global events sector. Tools and techniques from the first edition have been refined and expanded through their use in over 20 countries, including the USA, France, UAE, Malaysia and South Africa. These include strategy development and implementation, asset management, portfolio management, return on investment, management process mapping and the feasibility study.

Fascinating current examples illustrate these professional management techniques. The second edition elaborates on the events sector maturity model as a measurement tool for cities, regions and countries. This has been tried and successfully tested in developing economies and assisted in the rapid development and sustainability of events in Dubai and many other destinations.

Each chapter contains exhibits, questions, bullet points and clear explanations of the tools and techniques. Brand new material includes:

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• A full explanation of the maturity model including post-pandemic solutions

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• New case studies and exhibits

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• A new section on teaching and training in event management

The chapters are fully supported by further current case studies and examples on the publisher's and the author's website. Online material also includes 11 lesson plans for a semester course, containing assessment items, learning objectives and teaching tips for each topic, and event photos and author videos explaining the topics. This will be essential reading for all students of Event Management.

SECTION IStrategic feasibility and development

DOI: 10.4324/9781003172703-1

The journey starts with the big picture. In the next chapters, we examine the events sector that has grown from a multitude of disparate events scattered around the world to a thriving, interconnected industry. The themes introduced in this section come from the first edition of the textbook. They are repeated in this edition with current examples. In various forms, these have been taken up and adapted by cities and countries since the first publication. They are:

• Return on Investment: social, goodwill and commercial.
• Events programme as a portfolio of events.
• Events unit or department within a government or company.
• Events development strategy.
• Events as assets.
• Introduction of the maturity and competency model.

As a result of the application of the list above, the events sector has moved over the last 11 years.

The events sector maturity model is the overall pattern, and for this reason, we start with it. This enables countries, cities, regions and companies to examine their events portfolio and their part of the sector. The questions to ascertain the maturity level will be found on the accompanying website. All the topics listed above fit within this model. The events development strategy described in the first section is a pathway to the next phase in the model. It opens the gate.

Once the overall sector maturity model is described, the section describes the development of the events development strategy. Each country and city has moved towards a common methodology in creating and updating its events strategy. Of course, there are many places, such as in the USA, where the event strategy is not a common published document. They do follow it. From my work in the USA in assisting the development of event proposals and examining the event strategic plans of cities such as Arlington TX, Dublin OH, Des Moines IA, Memphis TN, Philadelphia PA, Greater Palm Springs CN and Grapevine TX, all the above list are found. They are often disguised by a different approach, distributed in many documents and described by different terminologies, but, hidden or obvious, they all fit the model.

The events development strategy, whether a purposely created document or spread over many departments, has a number of headings. We examine each of these in detail. This should allow a city/region or country to compare their strategy to what is described here. Each of the headings is illustrated with examples from around the world at various stages of development.

The question of feasibility is central to the decision to support events and create a full programme of events and festivals. This section considers the event and events programme feasibility from their point of view. It includes the host’s or client’s objectives, the process of support, the levels of support and the application process. As events and festivals grow in their economic visibility, these decisions are central to the economic robustness of a region or company. Exhibit 1.1 illustrates the concerns of a large annual event and is an example of an event’s growing pain. Most of the operational issues have been solved over many years of the event. The issues that come to the fore are long-term management problems such as stakeholder management and knowledge management. These are strategic issues as they affect the sustainability of the event.

EXHIBIT 1.1 Sample of the strategic issues and goals of a major event

• The event has had enormous growth and the event organisation must be able to manage this growth.
• It needs the best ‘structure’ for the organisation to ensure long-term viability.
• The event organisation must move away from the ad hoc arrangement of the past.
• Contingency staff and committee strategies, i.e. if a committee person leaves, then there should be backup as the event team loses their knowledge and experience. Every committee person has a role and looks after an area such as concert, trade sites and catering and merchandise, when they leave, their skills and knowledge go with them.
• There must be the ability to get major funding in the near future.
• The local authority’s role should be more defined in relation to the event. Their level of assistance and future support should be described and agreed upon.
• At the same time, the event should stay true to its origins and should always be memorable.
• The legal entity of the event must be decided by comparing various models, such as company, association or part of the local authority.
• One goal of the event is to become international.

Chapter 1Events sector maturity model

DOI: 10.4324/9781003172703-2

Introduction

If one were to take a snapshot of the events sector around the world, the image would be very confusing. Huge sports events and mega festivals right down to micro meetings and parties. A concert in Entebbe to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Billion dollar festivals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and street soccer game in the back streets of Jeddah. Where does it all come from? Where is it going?

This is the limitation of a snapshot view of the sector. It is static and does not show the history and development. To paraphrase Heraclitus, it assumes that a photograph of a flowing river tells you all about the river. It does not show the connections, the dynamics and the ever-changing processes.

These are only visible when the sector is examined over time and around the world.

It is the connections that create development. Understanding the connections and processes is the way to forecast the direction of the sector. Street soccer is related to the FIFA World Cup. These mega events, for which countries breathlessly compete, started as very small gatherings of people with a common interest. They didn’t suddenly appear in response to the strategic policies of a government. By observing events over time, the longitudinal view, we can see a number of patterns emerging. This book is about those patterns.

We now realise that events and festivals are an economic and social driver of many companies, cities, regions and countries. They need to be assessed for their benefits and placed in the development plans of the organisation. The only way to achieve this sensibly is to devise a framework for the development of the events sector. By understanding this development pattern or model, cities, countries, companies and regions can make informed decisions as to the next step. At this stage, in the development of the events sector, these questions need to be asked:

1. Will we introduce more standards, rules and regulations?
2. Do we need to scale and adapt these according to the types and size of events?
3. How can we develop the sector and still keep it fresh and innovative?
4. How can we be agile in response to changing situations?
5. Do our current risk management policies stifle event development?
6. How can we realistically measure the return on investment?

In any other international sector, these questions are fundamental. All of this is new to events. This textbook is an attempt to assist those responsible for events development to answer these questions and many more.

The model revealed in this chapter is based on three pillars:

1. Other sectors: The development of other professions and sectors in the modern world. These include engineering, medical, project management, software development, marketing and accounting. When viewed from above, all these and many more have followed a path.
2. Maturity model: The model of maturity originates from the US Department of Defence and the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. The CMM is set out as a prescriptive model to ensure optimisation of software development.
3. Experience: The experience of the author as a consultant and manager in events in over 40 countries. This includes each of the phases of the model in various countries. The consultancies included probing, testing and assessing the advice given as part of the work. Although a model is often removed from day-to-day operations, this was ‘heat’ tested in each of the phases in many cities and regions. Many of the ‘exhibits’ in this textbook are from the author’s frontline experience.

The overriding emerging model based on the three pillars is displayed in Table 1.1 and explained in the section below.

The phases

The phases or levels in the events sector maturity model are determined by the experience of the author combined with various published maturity models. It is called a maturity model as each phase depends on the previous phase. The previous phase creates the capacity and capability (and contradictions) to enable and drive movement along the maturity path.

Phase one

The first phase is described as ‘ad hoc’. There is no integrated events sector or standards. Events are a response to the immediate needs of business or the needs of a community as interpreted by people within the community. In other words, it is driven by big personalities. These are talented people who are willing to take risk to reap reward. There is no recognised management system. Experience and reputation are what counts. Any management files or documents are hidden as the method of creating and delivering a successful event is the competitive edge for the event company, and they do not want their competition to have it. A large part of this phase is about the reputation of the event company. It is the reputation of the company and the key ‘personality’ that is used as proof of the ability to successfully deliver the event.

Table 1.1 Events sector maturity model

	1	2	3	4	5
Maturity phase	Ad hoc	Isolated planning (Informal)	Integrated planning (Formal)	Standards	Stable with flexibility and adaptation
Characteristics	No formal plans, quick to set up and flexible. Often driven by one personality.	Single areas such as marketing and schedule use plans. Delegation is formalised. Venues are being built.	Repeatable events. Solid organisation structure. Management is seen as an asset. Each event improves the planning. Codes and guidelines are introduced. Events strategies are developed. Growth of mega events. Government subsidises large events and bids for international events. Major venues are constructed.	Mandatory standards. Codes, regulations and rules. Event specific laws. Decision hierarchy and objectives with complete accountability. Primacy of mega and major events. Small events become uneconomic.	Plans are one input to decisions. Decision-making is distributed and networked. Best practice is studied at all levels. Competency is measure of staff. Risk is also an opportunity. Events are seen as dynamic over time and not as permanent fixture. Codes, standards and other regulations are scaled to ensure stability, growth, renewal and innovation.
Limits	Cannot be repeated or sold. Unaccountable decisions.	Not fully accountable.	Good plans become the objective.	Bureaucratisation. “Box ticking”. Inflexible. Fragile, open to disasters.	There will be a higher level of ‘churn’ – new events tried out some failing and some succeeding.

The advantage of this phase is that it is competitive and anyone with a ‘name card or a website’ can organise an event. It is a bit like the law of the jungle where successful companies survive as the lesser companies disappear. The methodology of working is based on informal networks of suppliers. Reputation is the key to success. There is no need for detailed contracts as the survival of the fittest and those who are networked the most ensure a mutual understanding throughout. The competitiveness of the companies and the events kept them agile and quick to respond to opportunities.

In all countries, this has created the foundation for growing the events sector. It created suppliers such as companies specialising in supplying sound systems, lights, stages, fencing, tents, food and beverages. As well, it created the need for venues, such as the ballrooms and conference centres in large hotels, concert halls, parks used for community festivals and the roa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of exhibits
• List of case studies
• Foreword
• Section I Strategic feasibility and development
• Section 2 Management feasibility and development
• Section 3 Operation feasibility and development
• Bibliography
• Index