Chapter 1: An Introduction to Event Management

1. Introduction
There are various companies hosting and organizing events on a usual basis. These range
from the small time private events to the large-scale international events. Although, the large
scales one do happen far rarer, but then the amount of returns they turn out is far beyond
expectations. Though, in the past there have been events that have also resulted in losses to
the hosts and sponsors for varied reasons. But then, all said and done, event management is
concerning organization and execution, and that is precisely where the money lies. Those in
the field are paid for their services.

1.1. Event – Definition, Need and Importance

1.1.1 Definition
 Event can refer to a phenomenon, any observable occurrence, or an extraordinary
occurrence.
 Marketing Guru, Philip Kotler, defines events as occurrences designed to communicate
particular messages to target audiences.
 Suresh Pillai, Managing Director, Event Management, considers events as an additional
media whereby two-way or active communication is possible.

1.1.2. Need and Importance of Events

The purpose of the event should drive all the planning.

 To facilitate an exchange of information, bringing participants up-to-date with the latest

changes in financial planning software products.
 To achieve a memorable out-of-body experience for financial planners in order to develop a
positive association with a new software product.
To achieve the first purpose would be quite straight forward as this would require a fairly
standard meeting or convention. Fulfilling the second purpose however would be more
difficult. For this unforgettable experience you would need a unique venue and carefully
planned activities that the participants would enjoy. At the same time the product would need
to be reinforced constantly so that attendees would leave with an inescapable association with
it. To have fun without the positive association would defeat the purpose. The focus of the first
of these purposes. There may be a number of reasons for conducting an event such as:

 To inform and educate the community about a cause

 To obtain media coverage for an activity or organization
 To raise funds
 To celebrate a community’s strength and cohesiveness
 An awards or presentation ceremony

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1.2 Event Management
The term management of events therefore carries a totally different connotation / meaning
when used in the context of events. Management theory would suggest that marketing is also
a part of management. Management of an event encompasses all activities involved in
planning, organizing, staffing, leading and evaluation of an event. All operational task for an
event such as the ground work, viz., venue selection and stage design, arranging the
infrastructural facilities required, liaison with artists/ performers and networking with other
activities such as advertising, PR, ticket sales, etc., fall under the purview of event
management.

1.2.1. Event Management Procedures

Event managers must ensure that event management procedures cover a full range of
emergencies including major injury or illness of players or spectators, fire, bomb threat,
crowd disturbances and climatic conditions such as lightning, torrential rain, flooding, etc.

Event management procedures should also assist event personnel to effectively do their job.
Although the most important procedures will be about safety, there should be other
procedures that lessen risks to the event profitability and the organization’s reputation.
These procedures might include:
 Cash management
 Food serving and hygiene
 Waste collection
 Marshaling of competitors
 Restriction of access to certain areas
 Arrival and greeting of visiting dignitaries
 Loudspeaker announcements during the event
 Giveaways of merchandising or free food and drink
 Raffles and fundraising
 Interviewing Event Staff

The provision of training to event staff (and volunteers) is a critical element in risk
management. It is a dangerous situation to presume that procedures have been read and that
people will know what to do in an emergency. Ultimately the buck stops with the Event
Manager and therefore it is a reasonable use of the Event Manager’s time to have meetings
with Event Staff, either individually or in groups, to determine their knowledge of
procedure. Event management is the planning and management of an event, project or activity.
It is important when staging an event to be clear about WHY the event is being held:
 To inform and educate the community about a cause;
 To obtain media coverage for an activity;
 To raise funds; and
 To celebrate a community’s strength and cohesiveness.
Organizers should also clarify WHO the event is for. Most events will cater for a variety of
interest groups:

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  The local community;
 Members;
 Sponsors;
 Media; and
 Potential members.
Regardless of the nature of the event, your target audience or the event’s objectives, some
key steps should be followed to help ensure a successful event.

Today, there a number of people, who have entered the field because they realize the
potential of the market where demand and supply is concerned. In fact, the most profitable
aspect of this field is the need for creativity. And that is how and where one earns. Event
management generally means conceptualizing, meticulous planning, organizing and finally
executing an event. It is a set plan involving networking of a multimedia package, thereby
achieving the client’s objectives and justifying their needs for associating with events.

1.3 Event Management – Concept

The concept of Event management is all about applying project management to the creation
and development of festivals, events and conferences. It focuses on studying the intricacies of
the brand, recognizing the target audience, developing the event concept, planning the
logistics and coordinating the technical aspects prior to actually executing the modalities of
the proposed event.
1.3.1 Activities in Event Management
In event, activities usually vary with the category of event being organized. Once marketing
has managed to convert an enquiry into a firm order, the hands-on work of event
management begins. The following is a sequential flow of how management actually happens,
i.e. How planning, organizing, staffing, etc., get together for an event.

The flow is divided into three sections:

 The first deals with the pre-event activities,

 The second with the during-event activities and
 The last details the post-event activities involved.
This theory states that the functions of management can be classified into planning,
organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.

1. Planning: The planning function is involved in micro-level event coordination

activities such as liaison with the creative team discussing, facilitating and arranging
for the technical specifications viz., sound, light, stages and sets.
2. Organizing: Organizing in the context of event management essentially involves the
description of the activities required for an event, identifying individual and team
tasks and distribution of responsibilities to coordinators. Such as exercises helps in
creating an intentional structure for clarity or roles and positions.
3. Staffing: Functional responsibilities in a project type organization structure define
event management staffing requirements. The importance of team structure,

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 experience, background and expertise of team members plays a crucial role in event
management.
4. Leading and coordination: The sum and substance of events as a whole revolves
around interpersonal skills. The need for achieving synergy among individual efforts
so that the team goal is reached is the main aim of coordination. The overall
coordinators need to be leaders with fantastic people skills. The leadership qualities
desired of an event manager include the ability to spot a deal and think on one’s feet.
5. Controlling: Evaluation and correction of deviations in the event plans to ensure
conformity with original plans is the gist of controlling. Evaluation is an activity that
seeks to understand and measure the extent to which an event has succeeded in
achieving its purpose. The purpose of an event will differ with respect to the category
and variation of event. However, to provide reach and interaction would be a generic
purpose that events satisfy.
The basic evaluation process in events involves three steps viz.
 Establishing tangible objectives
 Incorporating sensitivity in evaluation; measuring the performance before, during and
after the event a lastly correcting deviations from plans.
1.3.2 Sustainable-event Management
Environmental sensitivity is important for two major reasons.
First, it is the right thing to do. When allocating scarce resources for an event, remember that
no resource is as scarce as the environment in which we live, work, and play. Second, clients
are increasingly requesting that every event meet or exceed certain environmental standards.
Major corporations have been criticized by their customers for not demonstrating enough
sensitivity to the environment. Therefore, when these corporations retain you to manage an
event, they want you to reflect their renewed commitment to environmental concerns. The
best way to accomplish this is to clearly define the organization’s environmental policy and
then incorporate these policies into your event environment design and operations.

Event sponsors who practice recycling in all likelihood will want recycling bins at an event
they sponsor. Event sponsors who do not use foam products for disposable serving utensils
will not want you to specify these items in your catering orders. Meet with the key
environmental policy person for the organization sponsoring your event and determine with
his or her help how to incorporate such policies within the event environment.

 Recycle your Success

In the exposition event field a growing trend is the recycling to local schools of leftover
materials such as paper, pens, pencils, and other reusable supplies. Usually, these items end
up in the dumpster when only a few blocks from the venue there may be a school with
children who cannot afford these basic supplies. You may wish to incorporate this program in
your agreements to inform your sponsor of your policy of recycling your success to help
others.
Many event sponsors recycle leftover food products to local homeless shelters or food
distribution agencies. This assures your guests that you are committed to sharing the success

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 of your banquet with those less fortunate. Some venues require the recipients to sign a hold-
harmless form; however, regardless of the legal technicality, this opportunity to feed others
should be seized for every event.
 Inspiration and Perspiration
Although the design phase provides inspiration, it also expands and tests the limits of
research. At the conclusion of the design phase the event manager should have a clear idea of
the needs and desires of event stakeholders. The goals and objectives that were identified in
the research phase represent the skeletal structure in the anatomy of an event, and the flexible
elements identified in the design phase represent the musculature needed to move event
research forward.

1.4 Conceptualizing – Creating and Developing Events

While creating and developing events, one should always consider the five basic promotion
techniques. There are five typical or traditional techniques used to promote events. These
techniques include advertising, public relations, cross promotions, street promotions, and
stunts. Some events use only one of these techniques; others may use all of them to ensure
that their message is received and acted upon by their target market.

1.4.1 Advertising
Advertising includes print and electronic media, transportation media (such as bus and rail),
advertising specialties (calendars, key rings, coffee mugs, and other products), and outdoor
media (billboards). Larger events may use many of these media resources, while smaller
events may carefully target their message to one or two media. Print advertising is not limited
to magazines and newspapers. It may also include membership directories, inserts in local
newspapers, flyers (sometimes called one sheets), posters, church and synagogue newsletters,
brochures, and virtually any printed media.

When analyzing your print advertising needs, make certain that you test your advertising
product in advance with a small distribution to test its effectiveness. Specialists in direct mail
recommend that you use a split test approach. This requires that you mail one type of
advertising printed matter to one group and a different type to another to test the best
response from both types. Varying items such as the color of the ink, copy, type and weight
of the paper, or other decisions may produce different results.

1.4.2 Public Relations

Public relations involve informing the media and your target market about your event and
persuading them to support your programs. Public relations activities for your event may
include designing, printing, and distributing media kits, producing public service
announcements for radio and television, producing and distributing audio and video news
releases, or even producing events. In fact, according to many public relations professions,
events are the fastest- growing segment of the public relations strategy. Finally, events
themselves often become major public relations vehicles. This event-within-an- event serves
to further position you firmly in the minds of those in the target audience.

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NB: the two chief goals of public relations are to inform and persuade. Therefore, using
collateral materials, public service announcements, and audio and video news releases as well
as smaller events are excellent ways to accomplish these two important goals of an overall
marketing campaign.

1.4.3 Stunts
A stunt involves an activity designed to generate media coverage and attendance by
spectators to promote a specific event or series of events. Radio stations continue to rely
heavily on stunts and will often provide remote broadcasts to cover stunts involving their
on-air personalities. Stunts can be tied to charitable endeavors such as locking up prominent
officials until enough donations are raised to cover their release.

Other stunts may involve creating the world’s largest pizza, cake, sandwich, or other product.
Before you incorporate a stunt in an event marketing program, it is important to analyze how
the stunt will further your marketing objectives and to determine all associated costs. Finally,
make certain that you chronicle all media coverage that results from the stunt, distribute
bounce- back coupons to attendees, and track all responses resulting from the stunt.

1.4.4 Invitation
Whether your invitation is a print or electronic advertisement, a flyer, or a formal engraved
document, the copy that is composed, art that is created or selected, and paper that is chosen
will greatly influence the response. The central components of all effective invitations are:

 Name of host or event organizer

 Date, time, and location
 Dress requirements
 Parking
 RSVP
Additional components may include:
 Purpose of the event
 Names of honorary board or committee
 Names of prominent speakers
 Frequency or historic nature of the event (first annual, 100th anniversary
celebration, or biannual event)
 Limited supply of tickets and VIP status
Remember that an invitation is an official offer to the consumer or guest to participate in
your event. Therefore, from a legal perspective it is important that you choose your words
carefully to reflect the actual event you are promoting. Each of these components is designed
to generate a specific response from the recipient. The most important response is to build
anticipation toward acceptance followed by actual attendance.

1.4.5 Marketing Thrust/drive

The purpose of your event marketing campaign is to ensure that every decision you make
provides greater value for the overall event outcome. To do this you must carefully match the
objectives to the strategies, test all ideas using feedback from actual event consumers, and

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 perhaps most important, use creativity and innovation to differentiate your event product as a
unique and valuable investment. By integrating marketing activities such as advertising,
public relations, cross promotions, street promotions, and stunts you will be able to build a
strong campaign that will effectively promote your event to your target audience.

1.4.6 Miscellaneous
Order of Proceedings/Schedule of Events/Timeline

For most of the events, a detailed order of proceedings, or schedule of events/timeline, should
be prepared and distributed to all people involved in the event (i.e. anyone involved in the
organization of the event, the host, the speaker, relevant senior officers.

An order of proceedings should provide a timeline/schedule for the actual event, highlighting
key activities in the day/ evening for individuals with an official or formal role. It is also
useful to include phone contact details for any key people involved in the organization of the
event as well as phone numbers for key guests and security. The order of proceedings should
also include arrival and departure arrangements for VIPs and describe how formal
introductions will be handled.

 Speakers :- Be sure to confirm the following details in writing with the speaker:
 Event date/s, times and venue (and whether parking is available on-site)
 Style
 Type and duration of presentation Speaker/s special requirements (e.g. audio/visual,
dietary)
 Details of payments if appropriate
 Specify in what form payment will be made and when, particularly for interstate and
overseas visitors
 Details of anticipated audience
 Other participants in the event including chairpersons and VIPs likely to be in
attendance A complete guest list, including VIPs if appropriate and a running order
for the event
 Any other activities in which the person might like to participate while visiting and/or
functions to which they are invited
 Ensure that speakers are formally introduced at the event.
 An appropriate staff member (the host/MC) should introduce the speaker
 Request adequate background information from the speaker at least two weeks prior
to the event in order to adequately introduce the speaker
 IT Services

Consider any special audio or visual requirements for the event, such as microphones and
PowerPoint. You may also wish to audio or video tape the proceedings (with permission of
the speaker/s). Never assume that the venue has the equipment required, always check. Also,
conduct a mock run through of all technical equipment for the event beforehand to ensure
that all will run smoothly.

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1.5 Size of Events

1.5.1 Stretching the Limits of the Event

Whenever research is either inductive or deductive in form and often proceeds in a linear
fashion, the design phase is web-like and often kaleidoscopic. Just as the Internet provides
you with literally millions of resources for event design, your own mental process must
mirror this technology. During the design process the professional event manager considers
every possibility and challenges every assumption determined during the research phase. This
pushing of the research envelope is essential if you are to produce innovative, highly creative,
unique special events that will exceed the expectations of guests.

If you are to steadily increase the value of your work as an event researcher, designer, planner,
coordinator, and evaluator, you must strive continually to collect the best information and
resources to produce a solid plan that satisfies the needs, wants, desires, and ultimately,
expectations of event guests.

1.5.2 How to Determine the Size of Your Event?

After deciding to host a live event to build your business. Now you must decide on the size of
your event:

 Will it be large or small?

 Should you have several small events throughout the year, or one large event?
 The scale of your seminar will depend on several factors. What type of event are you
planning?
 For more hands-on workshops, there may be a higher cost per person and therefore
you may need to have less people at a single event.
 In order to create a more intimate learning environment, you will need to have a
smaller scale event. If the topic of your event lends itself to a larger crowd, then by all
means fill as many seats as possible. The more eyes and ears in that room, the more
exposure and the more profits your event will generate.
 However, consider the purpose of your event. If one goal of your event is to get to
know your clients on a more personal level then having a smaller group may be the
best option. It will allow you to spend individual time with more people.
 You do not want to have such a large event that your clients do not get that personal
experience they expect.
 Some promoters choose to hold several small events throughout the year along with
one or two larger events.
 The large events cover broad, more widespread topics that apply to most everyone
while the smaller events will be designated for more niche-specific topics and hands-
on training.
 If you are just starting out with events, try to have a couple events in a year.
 You will come to find out what works best for you and your business.
 Hiring a skilled event coordinator who specializes in information marketing will make
your experience much easier.

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 1.6 Types of Events
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, expo.
 Broadly speaking following are the categories of events:
1. Corporate event is another field which includes in-house events as well as larger ones for
promotion of products or services. Such fields become meeting point of corporate people of
same field.
2. Trade fairs are a great opportunity to present your latest products to customers and business
partners.
3. Trade shows are exhibitions where companies can present and demonstrate their latest
products. A professional presentation is crucial.
4. Meetings are common business events in large companies, perfect to discuss operational and
financial strategies.
5. Seminars are educational events for the training of managers and employees. Most seminars
are not comparable with boring lectures. Interactivity is core.
6. Conferences are popular and important business events. Everything about the event
management of academic, medical and business conferences.
7. Grand events include prospects like weather, security, celebrities and companies etc.
Generally big budgets are involved in them.
8. Small events like little shows for children, small office parties need to need the purpose and
target audience.
9. Sporting events: There are these sports events which may be at inter school level or intra
school level or in colleges or even at state levels. Sports events are not one day events, it
needs extensive planning right from the day it starts till the finale. On a larger level, national
and international sports events are planned by a bug group of event mangers working together.
10. There are musical events, where in audience has to be taken care of along with issues like
ticketing and managing availability of seats etc. accommodation of the artist and co- workers
is another deal.
11. Networking events are personal marketing galas. Such events are great opportunities for
contact establishment and personal marketing.
12. Opening ceremonies are held to start conventions, annual meetings and other events that last
for two or more days. Find everything about opening events.
13. Theme Parties are events that devote to a special topic. Popular events are casino nights or
Halloween parties. Ideas and planning tips.
14. Golf events are golf tournaments or retreats. Those events aim to acquire new customers, to
increase customer loyalty or to motivate employees.
15. Award ceremonies are great events to honor and motivate key staff or to acquire and retain
customers. Event planners are able to organize events to remember.
16. Board meetings focus on strategic goals and visions. The event venue and the planning
process should reflect the prestigious nature of these meetings.

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17. Team building events plays a key to develop and motivate teams in companies and divisions.
18. Business dinner is a long-standing corporate tradition to conclude fiscal years, celebrate new
milestones or to get in contact with key customers.
19. Press conference is a perfect business events to promote new products, launch marketing
campaigns or to inform the shareholders and public about financial issues.
20. Incentive travel is perfect to reward and to motivate employees or to increase customer
loyalty and retention.
21. Product launch are critical for the successful market introduction of some products. A
perfect product presentation might also increase the media coverage.
22. VIP events are used to increase customer loyalty. Professional planners organizing VIP
events that ultimately increase your revenues.
23. Shareholder’s meeting is yearly and obligatory events to inform a corporation’s
shareholders about company issues and to elect the Board of Directors.
24. Incentive events motivate employees or close the ties to customers. Event managers are
planning events that help to enhance customer loyalty.
25. Executive retreats escapes from stressful work schedules and the day-to-day business. Learn
how they should stimulate free thinking and creativity.
26. Wedding should be the most important days in the life of brides, grooms and their families.
Professional event managers help to plan the events.
27. Wedding Anniversaries celebrate milestones in a couple’s life together. Ideas and hints that
help you to plan those events or find professional even managers.
28. Birthday requires seldom a professional event manager, but there are exceptions. Find out
how event managers can help you to make your party a success.
29. Family events are great opportunities to assemble whole families. We offer hints and ideas to
plan perfect family events like birthdays, weddings, etc.
30. Convention: Convention is a formal meeting of members, representatives, or delegates, as of
a political party, fraternal society, profession, or industry.
31. Festivals: Festivals which are mostly arranged in open spaces are at a greater risk. There will
be huge area undertaken for this purpose. It is during this time, that people get crowded and
there are already problems around. When in such a situation, the weather goes bad; it
becomes hard for the merchants and the crowd to move themselves and their belongings to
safety.
32. Family functions for example, a wedding ceremony like a garden wedding which requires
only a small space in the garden, can be a success only when the weather is fine and clear.
33. Star events music and dance performances given by famous celebrities and performers
usually prefer open air theatre which can again be at the risk when it comes to weather.
1.6.1 Event Organizer
Hosting a party or a conference can be pretty hard especially when you are going to be a part.
There are quite a lot of benefits when it comes to hiring an event organizer to help you with
your event. An event organizer can give you good tips on how to manage the crowd and will
give your ideas on your existing plans on how to make the event a huge success. Organizing a
seminar or a conference while being a part of it is a pretty tedious task. Following are the
different types of events:

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  Birthday Party Organizers and Exhibitions & Trade Fairs
 Celebrity/Artiste Management and fashion Shows
 Conference/Seminar Organizers and Game Shows
 Corporate Event Organizers and Magicians
 Party and Wedding Organizers
 Party Organizers, Product Launches, Road shows and Stage Shows
 Birthday parties are that one time of the year when you can make even an 80 year old, party
like a toddler. Make them feel special by organizing the best bash ever. Invite your guests; let
the birthday party organizers will do the rest.
 Celebrity and artiste management is no easy task, and dealing with celebrities can be really
hard. Why do you want to run around finding a suitable celebrity or model to help you out
with your event when you can get the pros handle it?
 Corporate Event Organizers:-Why waste time on organizing a party yourself when you can
get professional event organizers to help you out and make your event a grand success.
 Exhibitions and Trade Fairs: - Hosting Exhibitions or Trade Fairs involves a lot of work
and very tiring. Hosting a fashion show is not easy and there are many factors that have to be
taken into consideration before you can start up such as decoration, and preparation of dais
etc. Why bother with all that when you can get professional event organizers to help you out?
The fashion show event organizers will take care of the rest while you sit back and enjoy.
 Fashion Shows: - Hosting a fashion show is not easy and there are many factors that have to
be taken into consideration before you can start up such as decoration, and preparation of dais
etc. Why bother with all that when you can get professional event organizers to help you out?
The fashion show event organizers will take care of the rest while you sit back and enjoy.
 Game Shows: - Hosting a game show during a party is not easy. And there are a lot of other
factors such as crowd control that could make hosting a game show even harder. The best
option would be to hire a game show organizer to help you out. These game show organizers
can help you with everything from hosting, planning and giving out the gifts.
 Magicians: - Why learn to perform a few gimmicks off the internet when you can get
magicians to perform for you, and make your event a memorable one.
 Party and Wedding Organizers: Hosting a wedding is a tedious task and if you do it
yourself there would hardly be any time for you to have fun. Let the wedding organizers take
care of all the work, while you have fun!
 Party Organizers Planning and organizing house parties can be a pretty tough job, especially
when you want to get a bit of the action too. Call in the pros and let the party organizers take
care of everything needed while you enjoy your party.
 Product Launches- When you are launching a product for the first time in front of spectators
you should pay more attention to the launch and not the logistics. Let organizers help you
organize your event and help make your launch a big success.
 Road shows: - Hosting road shows aren’t an easy task especially if you are going to play a
vital part of it. So why bother with the trouble of organizing road shows when you can get
professionals to help you out?
 Stage Shows: -- Stage shows are harder to organize than most films. Let the professionals
handle it. There are almost countless types of events, some are demanded frequently by

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customers, and others seldom find in-depth information about the most important types of
events. Eventmanagement.com presents and describes the diversity of the event planning
industry.

1.6.2 Types of Sports Events

The organization of events is perhaps the primary activity of sport and recreation
organizations. Workers in the sport and recreation industry, salaried and voluntary, are
essentially organizers of people whether they be event directors, coaches, referees, instructors
or facility supervisors. This organization of people is manifest by what we see and call an
“event”. The term “event” in the sport and recreation industry usually refers to a situation
where participants, facilities, equipment and other resources are coordinated to enable a form
of sport.
 The events conducted by Sport/Recreation organizations include:
 Competitive or non-competitive sport and recreation events
 Courses
 Promotional events
 Conferences
 Fundraising events
Competitive events may range from the Olympic Games to a small local under 7’s soccer
match and anything in between. The scope of the events therefore depends upon the purpose
of the event, the extent of participation, the facilities and equipment required, and the
importance of the event in terms of community interest.

The organization of courses to assist participants learn more about playing, coaching and
officiating are a fundamental part of the work carried out by recreation organizations. Such
events must be carried out to ensure the continuance of the sport or recreation activity.

Promotional events are not primarily organized for the benefit of the player or participant.
They are organized to promote the sport or form of recreation activity to a target market with
the underlying objective to increase participation. They may also have a second objective to
promote the sponsor to the target market as well.

Conferences have many objectives. They may be organized gatherings of participants and/or
members to carry out planning, to review progress, discuss important issues, circulate new
information, select committee personnel, examine the position of the organization and to
impart new knowledge about the sport or recreation activity.

Fundraising events include dinner functions, special entertainment functions, bingo or card
nights, charity auctions and awards evenings.

Irrespective of the type of event, the skills required to manage an event are much the same
and only the magnitude and complexity differs. Persons who are called upon to manage an
event may acquire many titles but in this text for the sake of simplicity they will be called the
event Director.

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Trade Fair and Shows

Business can achieve success only when it is promoted well in public. Trade fair and shows
are means of promotion when person(s) can put forward their brand and let public know more
about it. This brings them in to recognition in market then show can be related to anything
like food, clothing, automotive, textile, jewelers, gifts, etc. They can easily gain new
customers by providing them with some good deals. In a trade fair and shows within limited
budget, they can organize best stuff for themselves with bigger space and proper arrangement.

Following are some of the things which allow to successfully organizing trade fair and
shows:

1. Building quality team work: Success can be handled by single person, but it comes only
when there are efforts of different people. In order to welcome success by means of trade
shows you need to carry out proper team work. Organizing such shows require you to
understand the market scenario and making proper utilization of area for trade show. Allot
work to people of different department and take proper follow up.

2. Managing staff: Managing work allotted to staff members is not an easy task. You need to
first make them understand the work they need to carry out and then examine the work done
by them. See to it that internal conflicts between staff members if any do not affect the result
of your work. Give instructions to them related to display of your product and see to it that
they make proper arrangements. Also arrange proper food and beverages for staff members
so that they can work properly.

3. Good networking: Get in touch with different members participating in the course of trade
fair and shows. Understand their way of dealing such shows to achieve success. Build your
networking skills in such shows in order to develop business. Also get in touch with previous
year members and try to understand the negative and positive aspects of show.

4. Sending proper invitation: Invite your members, clients, relative by mailing them
invitation card and also by messaging them. If required also send reminders so that date of
show does not get skipped from their mind. Send special invitation to important clients in
order to fetch more business.

5. Understanding competitors move: If you have competitors in the same show displaying
same products like you then keep a tab on their every move. You have to come out as
successful person after the trade show and for this you need to beat the strategies adopted by
business rival. You can enter market when you prove yourself different from others
successfully and for this it is essential to make out the next move of competitors.

6. Visiting different trade fair and shows: There are many trade fairs and shows organized
by different countries, if possible try to visit such shows and notice the way they display their
product. Via internet you can get information about such shows. If you can’t personally visit
such shows then get information by online means.

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 7. Plan strategies to enhance sales: The aim of such shows is to enhance sales and this can
be done by proper planning of trade fair and shows. Single person cannot bring success with
trade shows and so it is essential to plan strategies with proper team work.

Planned Special Events: Characteristics

Five (5) categories of planned special events are as follows:

1. Discrete/Recurring Event at a Permanent Venue
Characteristics
 Predictable starting and ending times
 Known venue capacity
 Anticipated demand typically known
 Advance ticket sales
 Concentrated arrival and departure demands

Effect on Community
 Need to give special attention to weekday events due to their potential impacts on commuter
traffic, transit operations, businesses and residents.
 Need to minimize impacts on access to businesses and residents due to concentrated arrival
and departure demands.
 Need to identify ways to minimize community impacts and improve transportation system
operations during future venue events.
 Need to consider parking restrictions or issuance of residence parking stickers so that event
patrons do not impact residences by parking on residential streets in the vicinity of the venue.
2. Continuous Event
Characteristics
 Occurrence often over multiple days
 Patrons arrive and depart during the event day
 Less reliance on advance ticket sales
 Capacity of venue not always known
 Occurrence sometimes at temporary venues
 Parking availability varies
Effect on Community
 Need to assure that the significant level of personnel required over the multiple days
of operation can be provided to minimize impacts to the community.
 Need to apply changes made in the traffic management plan to minimize community
impacts for future continuous events.

3. Street Use Event

Characteristics
 Occurrence on roadway requiring closure
 Specific starting and predictable ending times
 Capacity of spectator viewing area not known

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  Spectators typically not charged or ticketed
 Parking availability varies
 Impact on emergency access and local services

Effect on Community
 Need to consider effect on access and parking of residents and businesses of a street
along which the event will be held.
 Need to consider communicating with and involving the participation of businesses
and residents on the street that will be closed for the event.
 Need to assure that bus transit stop relocations during the event are communicated in
advance to residents and businesses.
 Need to require adequate sidewalk passage area and fire lanes at all times to permit
access of emergency vehicles to adjacent residents and businesses along the streets
utilized by the street use event.
 Need to notify all businesses and residents located on the street to be used or closed of
the event dates and times.
4. Regional/Multi-Venue Event

Characteristics
 Occurrence of events at multiple venues at or near same time
 Ingress and egress operations for concurrent events may occur at same time
 Parking areas may service demand from different events over day

Effect on Community
 Need to coordinate activities of the events in order to minimize traffic impact on the
community.
 Need to offset occurrence of ingress and egress times to minimize effect on traffic,
parking, resources and the community.
 Need to examine event scheduling to avoid departing traffic from one event
coinciding with arriving traffic from another event to minimize effect on traffic,
parking, resources, and the community.

5. Rural Event
Characteristics
 Rural area and possible tourist destination
 High attendance events attracting event patrons from a regional area
 Limited roadway capacity
 Area lacking regular transit service

Effect on Community
 Need to meet with residents and businesses to minimize effect on adjacent roadways.
 Need to use public surveys to assess all community effect and incorporate successful
lessons learned to apply to the next event.

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1.7 Events Team

Teams are made up of individuals who have different outlooks and abilities, and are at
different stages of their careers. Some may find that the tasks you’ve allocated to them are
challenging, and they may need support. Others may be “old hands” at what they’re doing,
and may be looking for opportunities to stretch their skills. Either way, your responsibility as
a manager is to develop all of your people.

The most effective way of developing your people is ensuring that you give regular feedback
to members of your team on their work. Many of us are nervous of giving feedback,
especially when it has to be negative. However, if you give and receive feedback regularly,
everyone will come to benefit from improved performance.

1.7.1 Team Management

Team management refers to techniques, processes and tools for organizing and coordinating a
group of individuals working towards a common goal i.e. a team.

Several well-known approaches to team management have come out of academic work.
Examples include the Belbin Team Inventory by Meredith Belbin, a method to identify the
different types of personalities within teams, and Ken Blanchard’s description of “High
Performing Teams”.

The ‘Team Development Model’, identified by Bruce Tuckman, offers a foundational

definition of the stages teams go through during their lifecycle. Those stages are labeled
Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

Teams can also be developed through team building activities - which can also be used
simply to build relationships where team members lack cohesion due to organizational
structure or physical distance. Project managers may approach team management with a
focus on structure, communications and standardized practices.

1.7.2 Team Management Skills

Different people have different needs when it comes to motivation. Some individuals are
highly self-motivated, while others will under-perform without managerial input.

Communicating and Working with Your Team and with others

Communication skills are essential for success in almost any role, but there are particular
skills and techniques that you’ll use more as a manager than you did as a regular worker.
These falls under two headings: communicating with team members, and communicating
with people outside your team.

Communicating With People in Your Team

As a team manager, you’re likely to be chairing regular sessions as well as one-off meetings.
Meeting of all kinds and regular ones in particular, are notorious for their capacity to waste
people’s time, so it’s well worth mastering the skill of running effective meetings. Many

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meetings include brainstorming sessions, and as team manager, you’ll often have to facilitate
these, so you’ll need to be comfortable with how to do this.

Active listening is another important skill for managers – and others – to master. When
you’re in charge, it can be easy to think that you know what others are going to say, or that
listening is less important because you’ve thought of a solution anyway. Most good managers
are active listeners: it helps them detect problems early (while they’re still easy to deal with),
avoid costly misunderstandings, and build trust within their teams.

Communicating with People outside your Team

Your boss is probably the most important person you need to communicate with. Take time
to understand fully what your boss wants from you and your team – if you know exactly what
she likes, and how she prefers it to be delivered, you’ll be better able to meet with her
approval. Another part of your job is to manage the way your team interacts with other
groups. Use stakeholder analysis to identify the groups you need to deal with. Then talk to
these people to find out what they want from you and what they can do to help you.

1.7.4 Challenges of Teamwork

The most frequent problems that event managers face when developing teams are:

Communications
Excellent event coordination is the result of continuous, consistent, high-quality
communications between the event stakeholders. The event manager is responsible for
developing and sustaining the event communications to ensure that all stakeholders are
informed, in touch, and involved in each of the phases of managing the event.

The following are several methods that you may use to establish and/or improve a high-
quality communications network for your event.

1. Conduct a communications audit and find out how your event stakeholders best send and
receive information.
2. Avoid communications that are blocked by noise, visual distraction, or other interference.
3. Include an “Action required” statement on all written communications to confirm that
communications have been received and understood.
4. Use nontraditional communications such as audio and video tapes to increase impact,
retention, and action.
5. Use written change orders to record changes during your event. Make certain the client or
other responsible person signs the change order to authorize the addition, deletion, or
substitution of services or products.

1.8 Event Team Management

You need a team to organize an event. You can’t do everything by yourself. So I don’t need
to tell you further, how important a team is for your event. Event mismanagement is mostly
about team mismanagement.
Do the following things for effective team management:

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 Know Your Team
Just knowing the names, faces and job profile of your team members is not enough. You must
have good knowledge of their personality, life style, likings, disliking, family background,
status, educational qualification, knowledge level, customs, religion and especially their
needs and wants. By needs and wants I mean there physiological needs, safety needs, social
needs, esteem needs, cognitive needs and self-actualization needs.
Every person has different needs and different priority to fulfill them. While for some getting
recognition is more important than job security. For others job security is more important.
Determine the needs of your team members and fulfill them in order to get optimum results
from them.

 Physiological Needs
The need to have food, water, warmth, shelter and other things necessary for survival.

Your team members will not feel anything, if these needs are met but can cause them
discomfort, sickness and pain if these needs are not full filled. So as an event manager it is
your job to make sure that all the physiological needs of your team are met from time to time.
Just imagine how a team member who hasn’t eaten anything all day will perform his duty in
the evening and you will get my point.

 Safety Needs
It includes need to be safe from physical and psychological harm. It also includes job security
and financial security.

As an event manger you have to ensure safety of your team especially women. A person can’t
give his best in an unsafe environment.

To protect your team from psychological harm, make sure there are no internal conflicts (like
ego clashes, altercations, conflict of interest etc) among team members. If there are conflicts,
then resolve them judiciously.

Providing job security to your team is also very important. At no point any team member
should feel that his job is under threat either by your actions or by someone else actions. Take
care of your team beyond the work place. If any team member is facing a financial problem,
then help him as much as you can.

 Social Needs
It is the need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance. Need to love and be loved by
friends, intimate partner, family and social groups like your team.

To fulfill this need, there must be cordial relationship between you and the team and among
the team members. A team member will not perform his best if he has considerable family
problems. Try whatever you can to reduce his family problems. If you can’t do much at least
accept his problems and empathize with him. Try to reduce his stress by giving him a day off
or engaging him in the sport he likes the most. Ask you team members to be as supportive to
him as possible. All this will help.

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 People who have strong social needs should not be placed in a job where they have minimum
interaction with people. They are the best for marketing or PR type jobs.

 Esteem Needs
It is the need to get respect, recognition, fame and status.

Some people have stronger esteem needs than the other. You will have to identify those team
members who have strong esteem needs and then find ways to fulfill those needs. For e.g. if a
person is working very hard to get recognition among the team members and you are not
giving him the recognition he deserves (by openly praising him or giving him promotion)
then sooner or later his motivation level will go down and he will not give optimum results or
worst will not perform and quit.

 Cognitive Needs
It is the need to understand, learn, discover and explore.

People who have strong cognitive needs should not be placed in a job which is monotonous
and which doesn’t offer any possibility of intellectual growth. Frankly speaking, people with
strong cognitive needs are not suitable for event management jobs.

 Self-Actualization Need
It is the need to be the best. It is the need to become everything, one is capable of becoming.

Very few people have such type of need. If you have someone in your team with this need,
then you have both advantage and disadvantage. The advantage is that you can always expect
optimum results from him. The disadvantage is that he will tirelessly seek for the position of
leadership and if he didn’t get it, then he will leave you soon and may even become your
competitor.

1.9 Event Management Information System

A basic Event Management Information System (EMIS) needs to contain information
concerning the following:

 General Event Information: Event Category ID, Event Variation ID, Name, Type ID,
Status, Location, the start date/time, end date/time, Required staffing, confirmations,
available spaces, event description in brief and the employee ID of the event
managers.
 Event Attendees: Attendee ID, First/Last Name, Title, Company Name, Address,
Phone/ Fax/E-Mail, Website URL.
 Event Registration: Registration ID, Attendee ID, Employee ID, Event Category ID,
Event variation ID, Registration date/time, Sales tax rates, Fee schedule ID,
Registration fee.
 Event Category: Event Category ID, Event Variation ID.
 Employees and staff assigned to the Event: Employee ID, Name, Title, Phone/Fax/ E-
Mail.
 Event Pricing: Fee schedule ID, Event ID, Fee Description Fee.

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  Event Management Company Information: Setup ID, Sales Tax Rate, Company Name,
Address, Phone/Fax/E-Mail, Default Payment Terms, Default invoice Description.
 Payment Records: Payment ID, Registration ID, Payment Amount/Date, Payment
mode (credit card – name/expiry date/cheque/cash), Payment method ID.
 Payment Methods: Payment Method ID, Payment Method, Debit/ATM card and
Credit card.

1.10 Code of Ethics

Code of ethics promote and encourage the highest level of ethics within the profession of the
special events industry while maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct.
Strive for excellence in all aspects of our profession by performing consistently at or above
acceptable industry standards.
 Use only legal and ethical means in all industry negotiations and activities.
 Protect the public against fraud and unfair practices, and promote all practices which
bring respect and credit to the profession.
 Provide truthful and accurate information with respect to the performance of duties.
Use a written contract clearly stating all charges, services, products, performance
expectations and other essential information.
 Maintain industry-accepted standards of safety and sanitation.
 Maintain adequate and appropriate insurance coverage for all business activities.
 Commit to increase professional growth and knowledge, to attend educational
programs and to personally contribute expertise to meetings and journals.
 Strive to cooperate with colleagues, suppliers, employees, employers and all persons
supervised, in order to provide the highest quality service at every level.
 Lacking ethics in business is at an all-time high. In the event planning industry,
business ethics are crossed frequently — sometimes inadvertently and other times
with deliberate intent. Event planners today are navigating a mine-field of potentially
sticky situations that can easily blow up in their face. Without a personal, professional
and company code of ethics, lines of acceptable behavior are easily crossed.
 Ethical employers want to ensure that their employees are above reproach, and that
their decisions are not swayed by having received personal perks and favors. And
employees want to ensure that they are not being perceived as having allegiances that
can be purchased by a lunch, a gift or a getaway weekend. If a destination is selected,
it is not payback for being invited on a farm trip or having had a personal vacation
hosted, but because it is the right destination for the client. The same applies to the
selection of a venue, hotel and airline, and the contracting of other industry suppliers
such as caterers, decor companies, entertainers, photographers and rental companies.

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