EVENTS

Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of large scale events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. It involves studying the brand, identifying its target audience, devising the event concept, and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event.

The process of planning and coordinating the event is usually referred to as event planning and which can include budgeting, scheduling, site selection, acquiring necessary permits, coordinating transportation and parking, arranging for speakers or entertainers, arranging decor, event security, catering, coordinating with third party vendors, and emergency plans.

The events industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to business breakfast meetings. Many industries, charitable organizations, and interest groups hold events in order to market themselves, build business relationships, raise money, or celebrate achievement.

Marketing tool

Event management might be a tool for strategic marketing and communication, used by companies of every size. Companies can benefit from promotional events as a way to communicate with current and potential customers. For instance, these advertising-focused events can occur as press conferences, promotional events, or product launches.

Event managers may also use traditional news media in order to target their audience, 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.

Event manager

The event manager is the person who plans and executes the event, taking responsibility for the creative, technical, and logistical elements. This includes overall event design, brand building, marketing and communication strategy, audio-visual production, script writing, logistics, budgeting, negotiation, and client service.

Event venue

An event venue may be an onsite or offsite location. The event manager is usually not responsible for operations at rented event or entertainment venues, but will monitor all aspects of the event on site. Some of the tasks listed in the introduction may pass to the venue, but usually at a cost.

Corporate event managers book event venues to host corporate meetings, conferences, networking events, trade shows, product launches, team building retreats or training sessions in a more tailored environment.

Sustainability

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, organizers, venues, sub-contractors, and suppliers.

Technology

Event management software companies provide event planners with software tools to handle many common activities such as delegate registration, hotel booking, travel booking, or allocation of exhibition floor space.

A recent trend in event technology is the use of mobile apps for events. Event mobile apps have a range of uses. They can be used to hold relatively static information such as the agenda, speaker biographies, and general FAQs. They can also encourage audience participation and engagement through interactive tools such as live voting/polling, submitting questions to speakers during Q&A, or building live interactive “word clouds”. Mobile event apps can also be used by event organisers as a means of communication. Organisers can communicate with participants through the use of alerts, notifications, and push messages. They can also be used to collect feedback from the participants through the use of surveys in app. Going a step further, some mobile event apps can also help participants to engage with each other, with sponsors, and with the organisers with built-in networking functionality.

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, public relations, marketing, advertising, catering, logistics, decor, glamor identity, human relations, study of law and licenses, risk management, budgeting, and the 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), Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM), Global Certification in Meeting Management (CMM), Certified Meeting Professional (CMP), Global Certificate in Event Design (EDC), Certified Special Event Professional (CSEP), and Certified Quality Event Planner (CQEP).

Event Scheduling

Event scheduling is the activity of finding a suitable time for an event such as meeting, conference, trip, etc. It is an important part of event planning that is usually carried out at its beginning stage.

In general, event scheduling must take into account what impact particular dates of the event could have on the success of the event. When organizing a scientific conference, for example, organizers might take into account the knowledge in which periods classes are held at universities, since it is expected that many potential participants are university professors. They should also try to check that no other similar conferences are held at the same time, because overlapping would make a problem for those participants who are interested in attending all conferences.

When it is well known who is expected to attend the event (e.g. in the case of a project meeting), organizers usually try to synchronize the time of the event with planned schedules of all participants. This is a difficult task when there are many participants or when the participants are located at distant places. In such cases, the organizers should first define a set of suggested dates and address a query about suitable dates to potential participants. After response is obtained from all participants, the event time suitable for most of participants is selected. This procedure can be alleviated by internet tools.

Event Management Software

Event management software is the generic term for a wide range of software products that are used in the management of professional and academic conferences, trade exhibitions, conventions and smaller events such as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) meetings.

The most common event management applications are:

• Event schedule planning

• Customized event website creation

• Online registration and delegate management including online payment

• Venue selection

• Procurement, sourcing and RFPs

• Content management including abstract and/or paper management, reviewing, programme development and publishing

• Exhibition management including floor planning, booking and billing

• On-site operations including registration, badges and networking

• Audience response solutions, live slide sharing and second screen tools as live polls, Q+A, etc.