Introduction to

Event Management
 Introduction
• Events can help define our lives, community, nation and
our culture.
• They include:
– private or family events such as birthdays and weddings
– religious events such as christenings
– milestone events such as graduations
– music concerts and festivals
– sporting events
– community and cultural events
– corporate events
In simple words, it is described as a public assembly for the
purpose of celebration, education, marketing or reunion.
What is Event Management?
Event Management is the process of analyzing, planning,
marketing, producing and evaluating an event. It is a different
way of promoting a product, service or idea. If an event is
managed efficiently and effectively, it can be used as a very
powerful promotional tool to launch or market a product or
service. Events Management requires certain core values to be
deployed to every element, process and decision to justify
professional approach and achieve effective and efficient results
Market Research in Event Planning
• Market Research
Before organizing an event, find out whether there is a market (i.e. audience) for your intended
event or not. For e.g. you want to organize a BKK in US. If societal need is not met with
event objective, then it is not a good idea to organize such event there. The event will fail
for sure.
• Market Analysis (Understanding with general example)
If there is a market for your intended event, then do market analysis. Market Analysis means
finding information about your target audience. Find out who are your target audience i.e.
there age group, sex, qualification, profession, knowledge level, income, status, likings,
disliking, personality, customs, traditions, religion, lifestyle etc. Knowing your target
audience's customs, traditions and religion is very important so that we don’t hurt there
customs and religion unknowingly through our event. For e.g. if you organize a Hindu
wedding and serve beef there, then u will be in mortal danger as cow is considered as a
sacred animal in Hindu religion. Similarly serving pork in a Muslim function can bring havoc.
Find out where majority of your target audience live so that you can direct your marketing
efforts towards them. There is no point in advertising across US if your target audience
belongs only to New Jersey. In this way you can cut down your advertising and marketing
cost tremendously. Find out what are the desires and expectations of target audience from
your intended event. Find out when (i.e. date and time) and where (i.e. venue) they want
the intended event to take place. For this you will have to do survey. All this information
will help you in developing a better event plan.
• Competitors' Analysis
It means finding information about your competitors. Find out who are your competitors .i.e.
their age, sex, qualifications, knowledge level, experience in organizing events, turnover,
market value, PR (media and corporate contacts) and market share. Find out how they
promote and execute there events. What they do in there events? Why people come to
there events? For this you will have to attend each and every event organized by your
competitors and then create an event report. The event report will contain things like
• - seating and light arrangements
•- promotional materials used
• - blueprint of the whole venue
• - program and food menu
• - contact details of sponsors, partners, clients (for whom the event is organized)
• - Service providers like DJs, Anchors, Make up artist, Performers,
photographers,
videographers, decorator, florist etc.
Find out as much information as possible about events organized by your
competitors.
 SWOT Analysis in Event Planning
• Find
Products/Services out
Research how the company promotes its products
I are organizing a corporate event then it is necessary for you as an event manager to do research
• services
of the products/ How promoted
the company
and sold by wants to build/enhance
your corporate client. the image
associated with its product (also known as the brand
image)
• What is the market value and market share of the
company and its products? Who are the customers of
the product?

• What are the features of the product?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the

product in comparison to competitors' products?
• SWOT Analysis

It is a strategic planning tool which is used to identify and analyze the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in your project. SWOT analysis
can also be done on your organization.
Strengths:
These are the attributes of your project/organization which are helpful in achieving
project's objectives. For e.g.: experienced event team, high motivation level,
excellent PR, good market share etc.
Weaknesses:
These are those attributes of your project/organization which are harmful in
achieving project's objectives. For e.g.: social loafing, lack of funds, inexperienced
event team, low energy level, lack of media and corporate contacts etc.
Opportunities:
These are those external factors which are helpful in achieving the project's
objectives. For e.g.: little competition, favorable economic conditions, support
from the local authorities, availability of the state of the art infrastructure etc.
Threats:
These are those external factors which are harmful in achieving the project's objectives. For e.g.:
high competition, little or no support from local authorities, bad weather, poor
infrastructure, high lab our rate, unavailability of raw material etc. It is very important that
you conduct SWOT analysis before developing an event plan to develop a strategy which
maximizes the potential of strengths and opportunities of your project and at the same time,
minimizes the impact of the weaknesses and threats.
Events planning – with 5 W’s
Concept
We follow 5 'W's (i.e. Why, What, When, Where, Who) principle to create an
event plan.

•Why

'Why' means, why you want to organize the event i.e. event objective. What do
you want to get from the event? For e.g.: do you want to organize the event to
enhance your company's brand image, to increase company's sales, to promote
your client's products/services or to promote a social cause etc. Defining event
objectives at the very start of event planning is very important as it gives you
the direction in which you should proceed to accomplish your objectives.
Organizing an event without clear objectives is a huge waste of both time and
resources.
• What
'What' means what you are going to do in the event i.e. what will be the:
Event Name What will be the name of the event? For example: ‘BKK".
Food and Beverage Menu It contains the list of food items and beverages you will serve during
the event to guests and target audience
Guests Profile who will be your chief guest and other guests? Your guest list must include
organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and specially media people. Use your imagination to
create good titles to woo your guests. Like 'Guest of honor', star guest etc. Never give
special treatment to one particular guest or guests' group.
Type of Entry Decide how will be the entry. Entry will be by ticket, pass or invitation only.
Entry fees What will be the entry fees? If you are going to charge entry fees, then be prepared
to pay entertainment tax. Your entry fees should be according to your target audience's
status. If you overcharge you won’t get any audience.
Promotional Campaign How you are going to promote your event, organizers, sponsors,
partners and clients: - pre-event, at-event and post-event.
Program Menu It is the list of various activities that will occur as a part of the event.
Event Budget to determine your event budget finds out what will be the cost for producing and
marketing the event.
• When
When you are going to organize the event (i.e. date and time)? Keep following
things in mind while selecting date and time for the event:
1) Select date and time according to target audience convenience and availability.
For e.g.: don't organize events during work days, examination days or festival
times. The best time to organize events is during weekends like Saturday or
Sunday.
2) Make sure that your event's date and time, don't clash with other event's date
and time specially bigger event's date and time. For e.g.: it is not a good idea to
organize your music concert on a day when there is Bon Jovi concert.
3) Keep climatic conditions into mind while selecting date and time for your event.
It can be disastrous to organize event outdoor on a day when the weather is
stormy or heavy rain is expected. Here you can take help of your own experience
if you are familiar with the climatic conditions of the region where you intend to
organize the event or you can take the help of the meteorological department
for the weather forecast. Find out how the weather will be on the day of your
event.
• Where
Where you are going to organize the event (i.e. venue)? Check out the venue
selection tips.
• Who
Who will be your organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and target audience?
How many target audience you are expecting to visit the event and why? You
must have very good reason to this 'Why' as you will have to convince your
prospective organizers and sponsors that why particular number of people
will attend the event.
Event Venue Selection
Keep following things in mind while selecting a venue for your event:
1) Target Audience/Guest Size
This means the number of people you are expecting to attend your event. Make
sure that your venue can easily accommodate your expected target audience. Your
venue should not be too small or too large for your guests. If too small, then your
guests will feel discomfort. If it is too large then you will unnecessarily end up
paying more for the venue. Get firm indications whether guests plan to attend your
event by sending R.S.V.P clearly printed on the invitation. The term R.S.V.P is a
French acronym. Its meaning in English is 'Please Respond'. If R.S.V.P is printed on
the invitation then the invited guest is expected to tell the host whether or not
he/she is attending the event. Since many people don't understand the meaning of
this term or don't bother to reply back, it is advisable to individually call and ask
your guests about there plan to attend the event. In this way you can get quite
accurate idea of the guest size which will help you in deciding food and beverage
quantities also.
P.S: Here guest indicates to school and NGO responsible for kids who are
participating
2) Target Audience Convenience
Select venue according to target audience convenience. Your venue should not
be very far from the place where majority of your target audience live. Your
venue should have proper lighting and ventilation. It should not be in a noisy
or polluted area. It should be absolutely neat and clean and free from any
type of infestation.
3) Venue History
Before hiring a venue check out the history of the venue. Find out how many
events have been organized in the venue so far. In this way you can find out
whether or not venue and the staff there is event friendly. This will help you
immensely when you later organize event there as you will have to do less
amount of work in making the venue suitable for the event. If venue has
noise ordinance problems in the past like neighbors calling the cops to shut
down the event, then it is not a good idea to organize event there especially
outdoor event.
4) Venue Services
Before hiring a venue check out the number of services provided by the venue like:
Parking facility
Make sure venue has its own parking space. It should be big enough to accommodate your
target audience's vehicles conveniently. If parking space is not adequate then look for other
venue. Never compromise on parking space especially if you are organizing event on a large
scale.
Security Arrangements
Security of guests, service providers and target audience is a very important issue which should
never be neglected or compromised at any cost. Make sure that your venue has adequate
number of fire extinguishers, fire alarms, emergency escape routes, sprinkler system (a system
consist of overhead pipes designed to control or extinguish fires), security personals, handicap
ramps, security cameras, first aid kits and power backup (like generator, inverter, UPS). Your
venue must have separate entrance and exit gates and it should not be more than 30 minutes
away from the nearest hospital. If your venue is at a remote location then presence of doctor
and ambulance is a must. Also make sure your mobile phone properly works there. If your
mobile phone network area is weak there or doesn't exist then you must have some other
modes of communication like satellite phone. For large scale events presence of fire fighters,
fire engine, police, paramedical team with ambulance is a must.
5) Venue Fees
Ask following questions from venue manager before hiring a venue:
Q1) What is the venue fee? Does it include all other taxes? (Negotiate rental fee to ensure the best
deal.)
Q2) What is included in the venue fee? Is dance floor included in venue fee? Are table, chairs and
linens included in the venue fee? Is security and liability coverage included in the venue fees?
Q3) What is not included in the venue fee?
Q4) Is there any cost for parking? Generally parking space is provided free of the cost by the venue
but some venues may charge separately for parking facility.
Q5) What is the price range for a seated/buffet lunch and dinner?
Q6) What are the Corkage fees? i.e. fees to server liquor. Make sure that venue has the license to
serve alcohol. Check the license for expiration date.
Q7) What is the cost of sleeping rooms?
Q8) What is your cost per person and per food item? Q9) What are your bartending and bar set
up fees?
Q10) What are your fees and how do you charge for providing additional services? Such as floral
decoration, fireworks, audio-visual aids; staging, lighting, props, decor for event production etc.
Q11) What modes of payments are available?
Q12) What are your payment, refund and cancellation policies?
Event Marketing
Steps involved in creating a promotional campaign for your event Step 1:
Setup advertising objectives.
Why you want to advertise? What is your objective of advertising? What do
you want to get through advertising? For example:
- You want to advertise to create awareness about your event.
- You want to advertise to get sponsors and clients for your events

-You want to advertise to thank you your sponsors and clients.

Step 2: Decide your promotional Activities

How you are going to promote AIESEC, your organizers, your sponsors, your
clients and your partners, pre-event, at-event and post-event. Before I go any
further, let's get an idea of what is media and what is media vehicle.
Media refers to various means of communications. Broadly speaking there
are five categories of media: Print, Electronic, outdoor, Transit and
Miscellaneous media. Print media includes: newspapers, magazines, press
releases, tickets, passes, invitations, banners, posters etc. Electronic media
includes TV, Radio, Internet, Telephone, electronic signage etc. Outdoor Media
includes Hoardings, Billboards, and Balloons etc. Transit Media includes
promotion through cars, cabs, buses, trucks, trains, planes etc. Miscellaneous
media includes everything else like: events, word of mouth publicity etc.
Media vehicle is a specific medium. For e.g. if 'Internet' is media, then
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo etc. are media vehicles. If 'TV' is a
media, then specific TV program like 'Celebrity Apprentice' is a media vehicle.
Similarly if magazine is a media, then specific magazine say 'playboy' is a media
vehicle
How Print Media can be used for Promotion
1.Promote your event, sponsors and clients through newspapers ads, magazines ads, trade
journals, press releases, tickets, passes, invitations, banners and posters.
2.Imprint you sponsor/client's company name and logo on your staff's shirts and caps and on
the pens, diary, gifts, and exhibitors‘ manual and other promotional materials.
How Electronic Media can be used for Promotion
1.Promote your event, sponsors and clients through TV and Radio Commercials
2.Provide free ad space on your company's website where your sponsors and clients can
promote their products and services for particular period of time.
3.Develop an event website just to promote your upcoming event and provide a facility for
online registration. All the details regarding the event must be available on the website. For
e.g. if your event name is say 'spark2009', then come up with a website like
www.spark2009.com
4.Use electronic signage like visual display signage, Plasma Screen, LCD Screen, LED Screen,
Projection Screen, Video Walls etc to promote your sponsors and clients.
Event Evaluation
Steps Involved in Writing the Evaluation of an Event
Event evaluation is necessary to make you and your team more efficient and effective, the next
time you organize an event. It is all about finding your mistakes and learning from them. Event
evaluation should be done immediately after the event is over or the next day. Conduct a
meeting with your team members to evaluate your event.
Step 1: Determine the extent to which event and advertising objectives have been
achieved.
If you are not able to achieve your event and advertising objectives through your event, then no
matter how much people enjoyed the event or how much popularity your event got, it is a
complete failure on a commercial level.
Step 2: Get feedback from your clients and target audience.
One good way of getting feedback is through feedback form. To make sure that your clients
give you feedback, make the feedback form part of your Exit pass form. The exit pass form is
required to get exit pass for security clearance, to remove exhibits from the facility. To get
feedback from target audience/ guests, make feedback form part of your gift voucher. A guest
can redeem the gift voucher only when he/she fills the feedback form and give it back to an
attendant. These tactics are required to get feedback, as people are generally reluctant to give
any feedback in writing.
Feedback
You can ask following questions in your feedback form:
Q1) Did you enjoy the event? If no, then please state the reason. Q2) what do you like
most in the event?
Q3) what do you like least in the event?
Q4) what are the problems you faced during the event? Q5) what could have been done
to make this event better?
Q6) How do you rate the various services provided by us (please check one of the option)
Hospitality: Excellent, good, average, poor

Catering: Excellent, good, average, poor Transportation: Excellent, good, average, poor
Management staff behavior: Excellent, good, average, poor Management staff services:
Excellent, good, average, poor:
Q7) would you like to participate in our next event?

Note: Your questionnaire should not have more than 10 questions. You don't want to
irritate your guests. Ask only relevant questions and keep the questionnaire short to 5-6
questions. Of course the type of questions you will ask may change from event to event.
And don't forget to mention the following line in you feedback form: "Thank you for
taking the time to complete this feedback form".
The need for event management

• Events are increasing in scope, size and complexity.

• Event management:
– is the way to plan, organise and manage resources in a
systematic manner to create successful events
– reduces risk and uncertainty associated with the running of
events
– helps to ensure that potential benefits are realised
– facilitates the continuous improvement of events.
The economic significance of
events
• Events can have major economic impacts in the
short and long term
– Short term economic impacts
• the direct impact of the event itself
• the multiplier effect
• increased tourism before and after the event
– Long term economic impact
• increase in the profile of the host cities as a tourist destinations
• attract overseas investment
• increase in infrastructure in host cities e.g.: venues and
transport.
The cultural significance of
events
• Events can have direct and indirect cultural
impacts
– Direct cultural impacts
• Celebrations of cultural diversity and enrichment eg.: New
Year celebrations, Parsi New year
Indirect cultural impacts
• Crossing cultural boundaries e.g.: Olympics
• Bringing generations together e.g.: Woodstock.
The strategic significance of
events
• Events can be utilised by government and by the
private sector to support a range of strategic
initiatives
– Government strategic initiatives
• community event at a local level
• tourism promotion at a state and federal level
– Private sector strategic initiatives
• Corporate conferences to develop networks and stimulate
innovation
• Exhibitions, sales promotions and trade shows to stimulate
business
• Meetings and conventions to share state of the art information
The nature and scope of events

• Event size
– Mega events
• Worldwide audience and exposure
• Considered ‘must-see’ events
• Significant economic and social effects
• Example: Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, USA NFL Super
Bowl
– Hallmark events
• Held in same location every time
• Become synonymous with the location
• Example: Tamworth Country Music Festival, Sydney Gay
Mardi Gras
The nature and scope of events

• Event size
-Major events
• Can attract relatively large amounts of media coverage,
economic benefits and visitors
• Generally ‘boutique’ style events with limited following
• Not ‘must-see’ events for all people
• Example: Goodwill Games, AFL Grand Final
– Minor events
• Often community events generated by local government
• Usually have social, cultural or entertainment objectives
Event types

• Events may be categorised as:

– Sporting events
– Entertainment and music festivals
– Arts and cultural festivals
– Family events
– Fundraising events
– Corporate events
• Each type of event brings with it quite different event
management problems, opportunities and
challenges
Local, national or global?

• Over the past few decades, events have become

more global and have gained greater media
exposure and huge virtual audiences
– Potential for strengthening international links
– Potential impact on the profile and exposure of various host
cities
– Potential marketing impact for sponsors
• Even local events may have a global impact and
may be effected by global issues
– Impact of social media
Jobs and careers in event
management
• Role of Event Manager
– Responsible for design, planning, organisation and
coordination of events.
– Involved in every aspect of the event
• Design/signage/displays
• Marketing/promotion
• Catering
• AV/technical
• Entertainment/performers/presenters
• Finances/sponsorship
Jobs and careers in event
management
• Skills required for working in events

1. Organisational/planning skills 7. Marketing skills

2. General communication skills
3. Team skills
4. Customer service skills
5. Computer skills
6. Relationship-building skills
8. Leadership skills
9. Oral communication skills
10.Administration skills
11.Written communication skills
12.Sales skills
Concepts related to events

• Event Organisation – stage particular events.

• Event Management Companies – organise events
on behalf of clients on a contractual basis.
• Event Suppliers – provide services such as
catering, entertainment and security. Some offer
several services as a ‘one-stop shop’.
• Event Venues – emerging to facilitate events.
Triple bottom line reporting (TBL)

• Measures the financial, environmental and social

bottom lines of an event.
• Reflects public attitude that finance is not the only
consideration.
• Creates a balanced view of performance.
• Performance indicators could include:
– Economic – increased employment, tourism
– Social – volunteering legacy, interest in sport
– Environmental – waste minimisation, tree planting.
Accessing information on event
management
• Accessing relevant information has become more
important as:
– The events industry continues to grow
– Pressures increase for events to be conducted efficiently
and effectively
– The need for innovation and continuous improvement
increases
– Events play an increasingly strategic role in both the public
and private sector.
• This is even more important in a rapidly changing
social and technological environment.
Accessing information on event
management
• Event management information can be accessed
via:
– Event management industry magazines
– Academic journals in event management
– Event industry associations
– Tourism and convention bureaux
– Australian and overseas event management internet sites
– Federal, state and local government departments
– Social media