Managing Events

Real Challenges, Real Outcomes

Liz Quick

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781473948099
  9781473948082
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781529737783
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Combining the practical and academic aspects of event management this text presents an industry perspective, with real-life event examples and contemporary and relevant case studies.  It provides lecturers with a useful platform to integrate key event topics into the learning environment.

The book discusses the management process throughout the 'event cycle', from the pre-event planning stage; on-site delivery to the post event stage. The book is divided into 4 distinct phases, which are: The Event cycle; Before the event; Throughout the event and Beyond the event.  Within each of these 4 sections, there are 2 or 3 separate chapters, each with their own objectives. The book discusses practical and operational elements, such as project management, marketing, sponsorship deals and risk assessment, that need to be put in place both before and during the event. The final section: Beyond the event, examines current and future event trends and issues, and discusses the various career paths that exist and the skills and qualifications required to gain employment and start a successful career in events.

 

Each chapter profiles someone currently working within the events industry, and presents a scenario of a real event challenge they have faced in their work role, relevant to the chapter. Further viewpoints from a second event practitioner and academic are included, before the final outcome is presented, showing us in each case, how real life situations develop and are resolved in practice within the events industry.

 

The feature Event Ethics explores a topical issue that should encourage lively discussion and the Did you know? section reveals an interesting and chapter-specific event fact. At the end of every chapter students can revise and extend their event knowledge with the list of Chapter Summary Questions, which help consolidate the learning outcomes. Additionally the Key Terms section explains any terminology used within the chapter. Each chapter concludes with a section called For the Classroom, featuring discussion points and activities based around the chapter content, as well as reference sources and suggested reading. Some of the forms and inserts used to contextualise the learning, will appear as weblinks for the students to download and use throughout.

Part 1 The Event Cycle

• Chapter 1: The Planning Phase
• Chapter 2: The Event Delivery Phase
• Chapter 3: The Post-Event and Evaluation Phase

A mega event is targeted at International Markets, to increase tourism, media coverage and economic impact. (Van der Wagen and White 2010)

Global media audiences have significant long-term impacts on economies and societies. (Bladen et al. 2012: 243)

Mega events have the potential to generate high economic gains but incur high costs in the staging. (Dowson and Bassett 2015: 4)

These events are so large that they affect whole economies and reverberate in the global media. (Bowdin et al. 2011: 18)

1 The Planning Phase

Chapter Overview

This chapter is designed to introduce the concepts of real events from a practical perspective, and to analyse the three distinct phases of the event process, with specific focus on the planning phase. It will also discuss the various sectors of the industry, i.e. corporate, charitable and fundraising events, private parties, weddings, exhibitions, festivals and conferences, and explore the features associated with each of these categories. The chapter will explore the structure of the industry, in terms of the role and relationship between the client or buyer, the supplier and the agency or intermediary, and will examine the progress from early events to the multinational industry it has become today. It will also examine stakeholder liaison. These issues will also be explored further throughout the book.

Chapter Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to identify and understand:

OBJECTIVE 1 The three phases of the event cycle

OBJECTIVE 2 A breakdown of the planning process

OBJECTIVE 3 The need to manage various stakeholders

OBJECTIVE 5 How different sectors have evolved and are continuing to grow

OBJECTIVE 4 The structure of the industry

OBJECTIVE 5 How different sectors have evolved and are continuing to grow

Meet Jean Joseph

Hotel Sales and Marketing Consultant

Jean has spent over 30 years working in hotel sales and marketing at property, regional and corporate level for major international hotel chains, including InterContinental Hotels, Kempinski and Kerzner International.

She now works for her own consultancy, which provides sales and marketing support to both larger hotel chains and smaller independent hotels to help them improve their performance. As a consultant, she is conscious of the importance of forward planning and being accountable for the input she provides, and of measuring the effectiveness of the projects worked on.

Real Event Challenge

In my last role at Kerzner International, I was responsible for organising a four-to-five-day road show to a number of UK cities on an annual basis every May. The event was set up for sales and marketing directors from the Kerzner International group of hotels, which consisted of 10 luxury properties. It was important to get sign-off for the budget nearly a year in advance of the event delivery.

As the sales & marketing directors would travel to the UK from international destinations, such as Asia, Dubai and South Africa, part of my remit for organising the road show would be to generate as many quality leads and arrange as many sales meetings as possible for them, whilst they were in the UK. This would be to higher end tour operators, and conference buyers in some of the UK cities, such as London, Preston, Chester and Manchester. Because of the volume of sales meetings, it could be very time-consuming and quite a challenge to set up and plan.

My initial challenge, when setting up the roadshow for the first time, was to ensure that the event justified the time and costs involved for each of the directors, in terms of new business generation, and ensuring sufficient appointments were set up for them during the day, in order to ensure continued buy-in from all 10 Kerzner resorts to attend.

Q & A

Favourite hotel chain?

I would have to go for Kerzner, for their high-end brand. It was the only chain I wanted to work for.

Career path not taken?

I thought I wanted to work in Operations, but didn’t stay in that area very long before realising it wasn’t for me and then transferring into a Sales role.

Most impressive work achievement?

Working on the launch of the Atlantis Dubai – it will always remain an iconic landmark.

Person you would most like to dine with?

That’s an easy one. John F. Kennedy, for the simple reason he was assassinated on the day I was born.

How do you like to relax?

Going to the gym sets me up for the day and helps me relax and get some balance in my life. I now try to do a class four or five times a week.

Practitioner Viewpoint

Roger Plumpton, Founder and Director of hosmarkhotels

I set up hosmarkhotels 20 years ago, to represent the smaller national hotel brands and independent hotels in the first-class and luxury sectors within the global groups and events market.

Some of the major international hotel chains concentrate their sales resources on the larger event agencies and global corporations. Hosmarkhotels work with a similar strategy, but in addition we focus on the increasing number of smaller agents and companies that still deliver significant volumes of business but are sometimes overlooked by the global giants. We are a team of 12, who all have long-term expertise in the hotel, groups and event industry. Our business model is to charge a retainer fee to the hotels we represent and, just like any sales executive working for a global brand, we have targets to achieve, which can generate a performance-based bonus.

So effectively we are viewed as the regional sales office in the UK for the wide range of hotels that we represent globally. Our portfolio is made up of properties that want to see more business and a stronger profile in the UK groups and event markets. We primarily work with agencies, but we do work with some corporate buyers direct. In addition to our initial core conference and incentive business, the company has also evolved to work with leisure groups and tour operators.

For these buyers working with us helps eliminate risk; they know we understand the market and their business. Moreover, being able to channel enquiries through a centralised UK sales office eliminates any language, cultural or time difference challenges. They can genuinely see the cost savings we can provide for them in both time and money. Our personal and dedicated approach from a team they trust has allowed us to benefit from significant loyalty from these buyers.

Events buyers are always looking for new destinations or a new slant on the more traditional destinations, such as Barcelona and Dubai, and of course, how to better the previous event and destination they used. With more hotels opening annually, this increases the pressure on hotel rates and competition for the business. Direct-flight access can open up new destinations for the UK market. A recent example would be the Mexican Caribbean. This was a tough sell in the UK, but with the arrival of direct flights to Cancun, a whole new range of opportunities for the UK events industry has opened up. Our industry is always looking for new and exciting destinations, or new venues within existing popular destinations, as most events will not return to the same destination year after year.

We operate by maintaining strong relationships with all our clients via solid sales and marketing techniques, including regular sales calls; agency presentations; hosted dinners and networking events. These are also opportunities we extend to our hotel partner sales executives who are visiting the UK. In addition, we use social media to support our sales strategies and have a strong up-to-date database, which we use to provide product updates to our clients. However, we still believe the key to success is through talking and meeting with clients and establishing long-term relationships built on trust and professionalism.

Academic Viewpoint

Julian Robinson, Associate Professor, Coventry University

Marketing is a key stage of planning any event, whether it’s a product launch, a private party, a conference or a business networking event. As well as the concept of the event, it is important to establish the aim and objectives and to keep these at the forefront when designing an effective event marketing strategy....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Meet
• Foreword
• Preface
• Go Online
• Part 1 The Event Cycle
• 1 The Planning Phase
• 2 The Event Delivery Phase
• 3 The Post-Event and Evaluation Phase
• Part 2 Before the Event
• 4 Event Research, Feasibility and Impact Analysis
• 5 Event Conception and Bidding
• Part 3 Throughout the Event
• 6 Event Operations, Logistics and Marketing
• 7 Event Finance, Online Payment Solutions and Budgeting
• 8 Event Design and Production
• Part 4 Beyond Events
• 9 Event Trends and Issues
• 10 Event Careers, Human Resources and Consultancy
• Index