Event Management Issues - Literature review Example

Event Management Can event management education in the UK successfully prepare for industry professionals of thefuture? Introduction to Event Management According to Carlson J (1995) in UK there has been a huge leap of interest in events management as an academic subject area at undergraduate level as more and more universities either run specialist events courses or include events as part of their curriculum. The study of events or event management is being considered while others may question whether events management is emerging or indeed niche. Emerging or niche what is abundantly clear is that there is a momentum to the academic development of events management and there is now an understanding if not a total acceptance that there are a set of knowledge and skills that comprise event management. . Types of event management: McDonnell I (1999) says that in order to be successful in the field of event management, no matter what department of specialization one needs certain qualities which are as follows: Negotiating skills. Creative skills. Convincing skills. Coordinating skills. Planning skills. Executing and implementing skills. According to Royal C (1998) there is a list of the varied events that are organized by the cross section of event companies: Business events, Corporate events. Cause related events, Coordinating skills, Fundraising events, Exhibitions, Trade fairs, The Structure of the events industry: Foley P (1996) says that the rapid growth of events in the past decade led to the formation of an identifiable event industry with its own practitioners, suppliers and professional associations. The emergence of the industry has involved the identification and refinement of a discrete body of knowledge of the industry’s best practice accompanied by a period of rapid globalization of markets and communication which has affected the nature of and trends within the industry. Further it has been accompanied by an era of increasing government regulation, which has resulted in a complex and demanding operational environment. The following section describes the key components of the event industry. Begrudge G (2006) says that the events are often staged or hosted by event organizations which may be event specific bodies such as the Harrogate International Festival or the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts. Other events are run by special teams within larger organizations such as BBC Good Food Show organized by BBC Haymarket Exhibitions or ITMA 2003 which was organized by a team within the NEC Group. Corporate Events are often organized by in-house event teams or by project teams within the companies that are putting on the event. Event management education and Training: According to Walters P (2008) as the size and the needs of the event industry have grown event management training has started to emerge as a discrete discipline. In the early years of the industry the field was characterized by a large number of volunteers. Those event managers who obtained paid positions came from a variety of related disciplines, drawing on their knowledge gained form that discipline and skills learnt on the job. As industry has grown a lot and government is allocating funds for event management industry, this leads a high demand of professional and educated event managers. Event management seems to be an easy job but without having a professional degree, sometimes it becomes really tough to defend the situation. Students have great opportunities after achieving event management degree. Client comes in a company with raw ideas, only a professional event manager can understand their ideas correctly. There is a process that needs to be followed by event managers for confirming the requirements of the client. Students achieving degree of event management has great opportunities in market as event management is becoming a bright career for them. Now it becomes possible by the event managers to change client dream in reality about their events i.e. concert, wedding, parties, birthday celebrations etc. With the growth of industry, there is a huge room for employability of students’ achieving event management’s degrees. Success depends on one’s skills, hard work and abilities. Identifying the knowledge and skills required by event managers: Shone A (2001) says that the Research for the Institute of Management identified the qualities that future managers should possess. These included the ability to communicate, flexibility, adaptability a broad perspective on organization goals, a balanced perspective overall and an understanding of the business environment. According to Wagon L (2002) the research has identified that the qualities possessed by effective managers which were grouped under the headings of technical competence, social and human skills and conceptual ability. As manager’s progress within an organization more emphasis will be placed on conceptual ability and less on technical competence. In addition to generic management skills, some authors specify the following event specific areas of knowledge as appropriate for inclusion in event management training: History and meanings of festivals, celebrations, rituals and other events. Historical evolution: types of events. Trends in demand and supply. Motivations and benefits sought from actions. According to Silvers J (2003) limited research has been conducted within the events industry to identify the skills, qualities and attributes of successful event managers, particularly in the UK. The Business Tourism Forum and the Business Tourism Advisory Committee found that the conference and event industries required enhanced negotiation skills, higher client management skills, and a detailed knowledge of specific venues. In addition the industry requires people with an informed understanding of and ability to anticipate, client needs and to suggest solutions to problems and improvements to plans. Barlow P (2002) says that further research conducted in Canada and Australia provides a useful insight into the attributes and knowledge required specifically by event managers. Despite occasional differing emphasis and nuances the field is beginning to agree on the specific body of knowledge of best practice appropriate to the training of professional event managers. Norton P (2005) says that the People will select the Sector Skills and Council covering hospitality, tourism, leisure and related industries was established in 2004 to replace the Travel Tourism Services and Events National Training Organizations and the Hospitality Training Foundation (HTF) in order to help support the industry and to further the agenda toward a fully trained workforce. Their remit includes producing industry research and labor market data and encouraging communication between education providers, employers and industry associations. There are lots of people working in this field without acquiring professional knowledge and are working great but as it has been noticed that there is a high rate of projects failure by them. They work hard and own experience of delivering quality work and know how to manage things but due to lack of knowledge and training sometime they mis-interperate client’s requirements. Often, it happens that due to lack of training they need to redesign the events or sometimes clients get agree on their designed structure but do not feel completely satisfied. Education and training helps a lot in identifying the basics and pillars of event management. Event management is not just arranging things beautifully it also involves proper management of things and budget. Creativity also implies here, if we compare a skilled event manager with a professional event manager we will find a difference between both of them. Skilled Manager may design events beautifully but there is a huge possibility of rework due to misunderstanding of requirements. It has been noticed that experienced but uneducated event managers do not plan out things prior to going in development phase while on the other hand, educated event managers spend a lot of time in planning phase, they take time in beginning and finalize things on paper. They usually get a signed designed from a customer once he gets agreed on prototype. This minimizes the chances of rework and also helps in mainting budget. Customers always prefer to get the best in affordable budget. This is the key to bring success and more clients. Universities and Colleges: Wager L (2006) says that the Universities and colleges have become involved in event education, with many offering events management or marketing subjects as part of tourism, hospitality, leisure, recreation or sport management courses. The George Washington University in Washington DC was an early pioneer in offering a concentration in event management within a graduate programme; in 1994 it commenced a complete certification programme in event management. Dedicated or combined courses in events management are being delivered at colleges and universities across the UK at foundation degree, diploma, and degree and masters level. These courses focus on providing education and training for future event professionals. Generally built around a management core they cover areas such as and management, marketing, human resource management, finance and operations together with event specific modules such as event planning, production and risk management. According to Bowdin A J (2006) in order to recognize these developments, AEME was formed in 2004 in order to further develop events education and best practice and to act as the events management subject association particularly within the UK. Featuring many of the UK providers of events education together with trainers, associations and educators from Ireland, US, Australia and elsewhere among its members, AEME hosts an annual Events Management Educators Forum to further the associations aims. Industry associations: According to Levin P (2004) the major event industry associations have all been involved in the delivery of training and certification programmes and are beginning to recognize the benefits that these together with the developments in formal education can have to address the shortfall in qualified professionals that some areas of the industry are experiencing. Association Event management industry and students perceptions According to Allen J (2010) event management companies are professional groups or individuals that organize events on a contract basis on behalf of their clients. The BBC for example, may contract an event management company to stage an event or organize in-house through for example, BBC Worldwide or the Microsoft Corporation may contract an event manager to stage the launch of a new product. The specialist companies often organize a number of events concurrently and develop long term relationships with their clients and suppliers. Training is offered by event management companies too. There is a lot of misconceptions in event management students regarding their courses, degrees and industry. Understanding student’s perceptions is critical and important while designing new courses. In this domain, students can play a vital role in designing new courses, or syllabus for event management; they can provide their input and can intemperate their expectations regarding the course. Courses should be designed by keeping an eye on industry demands and changes. Student perception will surely help educators in designing the books and course as per their requirements and the market demand. The aim of event management degrees is to produce highly skilled and professional in the market, in order to achieve this goals, educators need to incorporate student perceptions and market demands together. The event management courses intend to serve the industry should be designed by keeping an eye on demographic and environmental changes of the industry. Students have their own perceptions regarding the degree and the industry. Many students think that there is a lot of space in industry for them and once they achieve the degree, it will automatically open the doors of success for them. It sounds good but it’s not true, there is a lot of competition in the market. A number of event managers are already working in the market so beginners need to prove their skills and hard work for getting good and genuine clients. Career opportunities for Event Management Students: Shone A (2004) says that as demonstrated above events is an expanding industry providing new and challenging job opportunities for people entering the field. A successful career in events depend son applicants identifying their own skills and interests, and then matching these carefully with the needs of prospective employers. Areas of expanding activity such as corporate events, conferences, local government and tourism may be fruitful areas to examine. Employers often look for a mix of qualifications and experience so intending job seekers may be advised to consider taking entry level positions to take that important first step towards a satisfying and rewarding career. Although to date limited information has been developed about careers in events this is to beginning to change with the Associations of Graduate Career Advisory Services (AGCAS) associations and other organizations producing career information with much more likely to be produced in the near future. Baum T (2009) says that the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is one of the leading industry associations worldwide with around 20000 members have developed career pathways for meeting professionals as MPI Professional Pathways. Neither only a degree is enough for proving one as a best event manager nor is an experience enough to prove it. Studies show that both degree and experience can produce a good event manager to the industry. There is a need to understand that is it really necessary to have a degree or only an experience is enough for getting established in the market. Both factors are indispensible to each other, only degree with flying colors cannot prove one a best event manager and only experience cannot prove one the best. Both play an important role in producing a good event manager itself. It has been observed in current market that sometimes an experienced but without degree professional gets preference over an educated but inexperienced event manager. This trend must be discouraged in order to provide chance to the new event managers. For most of the clients, budget is really important and they want best in limited budget, and usually think that a new manager will consume lots of time and budget in going through unnecessary planning and designing phases while on the other hand an experienced but uneducated manager will directly start working. This trend should be discouraged as it led towards high failure rate. Conclusion: With increasing demand in the event management industry, it can be concluded that event management education has become an important career option for students. From the study, it is understood that event management education in UK is worth the cost and the universities prepare students successfully by making them as professionals suited for all forms of work environment in future. REFERENCES Carlson J (1995), Gathering information: meetings and convention in Australia', Journal of Tourism Studies, Australia. McDonnell I (1999), Festival and Special Event Management, John Wiley and Sons, Brisbane. Royal C (1998), The Special Events Practitioners': Is it Essential, Victoria University of Technology, Victoria. Foley P (1996), 'Events management: an emerging challenge in higher education', Festival Management Tourism, Australia. Begrudge G (2006), Event Design and Experience, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Allen J (2010), Events Management, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Monroe J (2005), Complete Guide to Designing and Decorating Special Events, John & Wiley Sons, New York. Walters P (2008), Events Management: Practical and an Integrated Approach, Sage, London. Shone A (2001), Successful Event Management, Continuum, London. Wagon L (2002), Event Management for Tourism and Business Events, Hospitality Press, Melbourne. Silvers J (2003), Professional Event Coordination, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Barlow P (2002), Event Risk Management and Safety, John Wiley & Sons, New York Wood E (2005), Strategies for the Events Industry, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Skinner B (2002), The Event Sponsorship, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Norton P (2005), Management of Event Operations, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Levin P (2004), Successful teamwork For Undergraduates and Postgraduates, Open University Press, London. Wager L (2006), Human Resource Management for Events, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Bowdin A J (2006), Events management, John Wiley & Sons, Australia. Shone A (2004), Successful Event Management, Thomson Learning, London. Baum T (2009), People and work in events and conventions, Library of Congress, UK. Read More