EVENT MANAGEMENT

Event Management is an exciting and growing industry as well as unique career opportunity for everyone with a passion of planning and organizing the events. It is an upcoming branch of the proper designing of the event from the venue of the event to the actual day of the event. This kind of management is very handy for organizing big events like The Oscar Awards, The Premiere of Any Movie, and Olympics etc. Also, it is used for celebrating festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Republic Day, Independence Day, Navratri etc. Event management comes very handy in a common man’s life may it be a birthday party, marriage function, Celebrating the 100^th century of Sachin Tendulkar, Celebrating the completion of 125 years of Faculty of Performing Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, Vadodara.

What is Event Management?

Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences.

Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually executing the modalities of the proposed event. Post-event analysis and ensuring a return on investment have become significant drivers for the event industry.^[1]

The recent growth of festivals and events as an industry around the world means that the management can no longer be ad hoc. Events and festivals, such as the Asian Games, have a large impact on their communities and, in some cases, the whole country.

The industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to a breakfast meeting for ten business people. Many industries, charitable organizations, and interest groups will hold events of some size in order to market themselves, build business relationships, raise money or celebrate.

What is Event Management?

Event Management is the application of the management science of project management to the creation and development of festivals and events. It involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept, planning the logistics, coordinating the technical aspects before getting down to actually executing the proposed event.

Steps for Planning a Seminar

1)      Decide on our goals

2)     Organize the key players

3)     Decide on the venue of the Seminar

4)     Create a list of potential participants

5)     Determine logistics

6)     Create our promotion strategy

To understand the step for the planning of a seminar Let’s take a simple example.

Goal- School want to organize a Seminar for 12^th Science students which will help them to focus on their career. 

Key players for such a seminar are

a)          Audience-12^th Science Students and school teachers

b)          Speakers- Delegates from different kinds of Engineering like metallurgy, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biotechnology, Architecture, Pharmacy, Civil Engineering, Textile Engineering etc from the most renowned universities in Gujarat, The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, Gujarat University and Saurashtra University and many more.

c)      The hotel staff.

Determination of the Venue of the Seminar: Let’s say there are about 5 Government Universities and other 5 private ones. Hence for such a large group of delegates, the venue has to be at a public place for example the Gateway Hotel, Vadodara, which has a large hall in the basement along with the facilities of conducting lectures to promote each and every branch of the Engineering Colleges along with the basic facilities.

Now, to create a list of potential participants, the School Teachers deicide for these universities the best delegates to hold the seminars for the best of the students in the school.

Determine Logistics: Some professional, guest or seminar speaker require PowerPoint, and others don't. It is best to equip each room just in case. Standard set up are microphones (lapel, handheld and/or podium), power point projector, computer, screen. Will they have internet access for presentations? Well the School Teachers may need to hire an AV technician Company.

Remember food and beverage and room set up. 

Convention Industry Council has established a series of tools that should be viewed as an excellent source of best practices.  

Create a promotional strategy: Hence the creation of the promotion strategy is what all delegates aim at to get the maximum amount of students in their college.

Diwali party’s event management

Diwali is surely a time to plan parties and get-togethers with our family and close relatives and have the time of our lives to our near and dear ones. Hence, we have to be sure that we don't miss out even on the minor details when it comes to Diwali preparations because it comes only once every year and so it has to be perfect! 

Diwali party preparations include a lot of planning that should be done well before time so that nothing goes wrong on that perfect day. A lot of details are required especially if we are planning to have a big get-together. 

There are many things which must be kept in mind like preparing good food, making a guest list. Make sure that we don't forget or miss out on any relative! Also decide whatever we have to make before time so that we can have everything to prepare the dishes. Then we can give out party invitations so that our relatives don't make any other plans. 

The best thing about Diwali is decoration! It is the best time of the year when we can get all our family members to clean up our houses starting from cleaning the cobwebs, washing the floors, trimming and pruning the trees and the lawn, getting everything perfect to welcome Lord Rama in our homes.

For the Lord’s welcome, we light the whole house and put small clay diyas everywhere in the compound, in the garden. We do the rangoli at our entrances, decorate the entrance with fresh flower arrangements and garland the lintel level of the main entrance. And one of the main things is we make a lot of snacks like chakri, mathiya, sev, choraphali, chevdaa, papad, papdi, bhakharwadi, samosa, khaman, etc. And sweets like mohanthaal, magaz, gulab jamun, ras malai, baasundi etc and ofcourse dryfruit tray! And the main is to burn firecrackers and make a lot of noise.

These are some of the things that we can do in order to throw a great party and all this doesn't even require the wastage of excess money. We can have a simple and fun filled Diwali with our loved ones at our home, nothing fancy. We can plan many games that we all enjoy playing together can play and have loads of fun. We can serve drinks, crackers, cookies and simple delightful food that is liked by everyone.

Why spend more than required on Diwali and then worry ourselves as there would be no savings left fort the New Year. We can even get pre-cooked food and keep it in our fridge so that we don't have to worry about cooking on that day and we can spend more time having fun in with our family then in the kitchen cooking for everyone. 

We should get all the decoration like shimmer, hangings and colorful lightings for our Diwali preparations.

So the main thing in your list should be to have a great time with your family and take off your mind from all the other worries...

Who is a successful event manager?

The people who have a lot of qualities like

Co-ordination skill- to co-ordinate the lighting man with the man doing the stage for a marriage. Where will the musicians stand. How will the guests enter and head towards the marriage mandap or the reception stage, how the different cuisines will be displayed, the designing of the reception stage, where will the camera men stand etc.

Perseverance skill- First perseves the whole event and then eventually designs the goals and how they are to be completed to perfection.

Time Management Skill- The marriage venue should be ready at least 2 hours before the commencement of the marriage ceremony. Up till what time the design of the reception stage should be complete, up till what time the dinner tables have to be ready, up till what time the starts, soups, chaat, main course, ice-cream, water, drinks have to be ready.

Leadership quality: The event manager should lead all the groups of stage decoraters, main entrance decoraters, chefs, waiters.

Assertiveness: The event manager should be bold enough and has to get work out the different agencies as per her designs with the flexibility of letting things go as per the time or other constraints.

Authoritive nature:

Have a lot of Self Confidence, Self Esteem

Designer: The event manager should be able to design the main entrance, the reception stage, the display of various food cuisines etc.

Optimistic and Proactive: The event manager should be full of energy from dawn to dusk encouraging not only himself but keeping up the spirit of his team workers and should be practical towards the problems they face during this whole melodrama. He should practically solve the problems faced by his teammates and be on his toes to know that each and every minute detail is detailed out to perfection, hence has to be a Practical and Perfectionist in himself.

The event manager may become involved at the early initiation stages of the event. If the event manager has budget responsibilities at this early stage they may be termed an event or production executive. The early stages include:

    

 Site surveying

      Client Service

      Brief clarification

      Budget drafting

      Cash flow management

      Supply chain identification

      Procurement

      Scheduling

      Site design

      Technical design

      Health & Safety

An event manager who becomes involved closer to the event will often have a more limited brief. The key disciplines closer to the event are:

     

  Health & Safety including crowd management,

       Logistics

       Rigging

       Sound

       Light

       Video

       Detailed scheduling

       Security

Event Greening

Sustainable event management (also known as event greening) is the process used to produce an event with particular concern for environmental, economic and social issues. Sustainability in event management incorporates socially and environmentally responsible decision making into the planning, organization and implementation of, and participation in, an event. It involves including sustainable development principles and practices in all levels of event organization, and aims to ensure that an event is hosted responsibly. It represents the total package of interventions at an event, and needs to be done in an integrated manner. Event greening should start at the inception of the project, and should involve all the key role players, such as clients, organisers, venues, sub-contractors and suppliers.

Education

There are an increasing number of universities which offer courses in event management, including diplomas and graduate degrees. In addition to these academic courses, there are many associations and societies that provide courses on the various aspects of the industry. Study includes organizational skills, technical knowledge, P.R., marketing, advertising, catering, logistics, decor, glamour identity, human relations, study of law and licenses, risk management, budgeting, study of allied industries like television, other media and several other areas. Certification can be acquired from various sources to obtain designations such as Certified Trade Show Marketer (CTSM), Certified Manager of Exhibits (CME), and Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM), Global Certification in Meeting Management (CMM), Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and the Certified Special Event Professional (CSEP).

       Career opportunities are in the following Industries :

1)      Event Management

2)     Event Management Consultancy

3)     Hotel, travel and hospitality Industries

4)     Advertising Agencies

5)     Public Relations Firms

6)     Corporations

7)     News Media

8)     Non-profit organization

9)     Integrated Marketing & Communications

10)  Event Budgeting and Accounting

Events can be classified into four broad categories based on their purpose and objective:

1)      Leisure events e.g. leisure sport, music, recreation.

2)     Cultural events e.g. ceremonial, religious, art, heritage, and folklore.

3)     Personal events e.g. weddings, birthdays, anniversaries.

4)     Organizational events e.g. commercial, political, charitable, sales, product launch, exposition.

Conclusion

Event management is considered one of the strategic marketing and communication tools by companies of all sizes. From product launches to press conferences, companies create promotional events to help them communicate with clients and potential clients. They might target their audience by using the news media, hoping to generate media coverage which will reach thousands or millions of people. They can also invite their audience to their events and reach them at the actual event.