Events Management: Principles & Practice - Essay Example

?Events Management: Principles & Practice Table of Contents Introduction 3 Objectives 3 The Marketing Plan 4 The Finance Plan 8 The Human Resource Plan 12 Appendix 15 Conclusion 18 References 19 Bibliography 23 Introduction The method through which an organisation manages various events is referred as event management. It includes the organisation’s motive for managing events, assigned roles and responsibilities, ownership of tools and processes, critical success factors, standards and event handling procedures among others. In lieu of this, the communication between the various departments is required to handle the events and the flow of information between them is the ultimate focus of event management (Bhe & Et. Al., 2004). ‘Music event management’ is an exciting and rewarding area related with the music industry that requires a great deal of hard work. The various factors that influence a music event management include safety legislation, safe working exercises, promotional activities, teamwork development, time & people management, allocation of various respective functions and keeping financial records among others (BTEC National, 2010). Objectives The aim or objective of this paper is to produce an event proposal especially for the music industry management students who are planning to conduct a series of music events. The paper demonstrates various skills and knowledge which are needed to manage the music events. An event proposal will be prepared which will take into consideration the marketing plan, the finance plan including a planned budget for the series of events and the human resource plan. The Marketing Plan The first step of organising and managing a particular event is formulating a marketing plan. In general, a marketing plan provides direction for executing marketing activities. The marketing plan details about the functioning of the marketing strategies and ultimately helps to attain the desired objectives. The marketing plan is one of the key components in obtaining appropriate funding in order to pursue new initiatives (Westwood, 2002). Essentially, there are ‘4P’s’ of event management marketing. They are product, place, promotion and price. In order to conduct a series of music events, it is very much essential to lay emphasis upon this 4P’s. The marketing plan is one of the major components for conduction of various events such as conducting a series of music events. Initially, in connection with 4P’s, the major focus will be in the product. From this perspective, the product is all about conducting a series of musical events. In lieu of this, a severe emphasis will also be given towards analysing the market’s ability to pay in order to fix the target audiences (Hoyle, 2002). Moreover, due importance will also be given on the target markets which consist primarily of global thinkers and supporters of the particular music artists those would be participating in the series of music events along with the audiences of all ethnic groups, socio-economic and age backgrounds (Atlanta International Music Festival, 2011). Apart from focusing upon the product, stress will be given upon the location or venue of the events. The location or venue of the event not only dictates the attendance but it also reflects the character and personality of the event as well. Also a major worry lies regarding the venue of the event that can cope up with prevailing cultural diversity conditions like health and safety considerations along with parking areas for both audience and staffs and avail the necessary transport systems from the audience’s point of view among others (Hoyle, 2002). Moreover, certain importance will also be given upon the promotion of the event through effective means of support by advertising, public relations and media among others. In this connection, the pricing issue is also a critical concern in order to run the music event smoothly along with following a market research which will help to determine the ability and the willingness of audiences to compensate with the ticket prices for the music event at various levels (Hoyle, 2002). In lieu of this, it is recommended that the segregation of the event’s ticket pricing is definitely needed according to the status, age and other comparing factors from the pricing policies point of view. The ticket pricing can be categorised into school students, college students, university students, business executives and high officials among others. Apart from the ‘4P’s of general marketing plan point of view, certain other marketing mechanisms also will be followed for smooth running of the music events like the mechanism of sponsorships which can be one of the crucial marketing plans relating to the events. Sponsorship is one kind of activity or a technique which consists of heavy investments in order to create and support a particular event (Lardinoit & Derbaix, 2001). While conducting the series of music events, more emphasis will be given in order to arrange or gather sponsorships as much as possible by highlighting the main features of the event such as the participating artists among other quality features to attract the audience towards the events. It is obvious to the fact that more quality of performance artists means greater sponsorship (Lardinoit & Derbaix, 2001). Apart from sponsorship, special importance will be given on the merchandising part for the promotion of the music events. The visual display of the music events would be formatted in such a way that it will attract the customers or audiences to a large extent. The merchandising can be done either through providing colourful or attractive posters, hoardings, leaflets, banners and television ads among others (Segel, 2009). In order to reach the prospective attendees and audiences, certain initiatives will be taken in order to advertise the music events through different mediums like television, radio, magazines and website promotions among others. From the marketing plan’s point of view, particularly the television ads should include paid commercials in order to promote the music event along with other promotional exposures through participating in talk shows and interviews among others on different programs (Atlanta International Music Festival, 2011). Also the radio promotions should include paid commercials and other promotional exposures through the means of community service announcements on community based stations which would be beneficial in order to market or promote the series of music events (Atlanta International Music Festival, 2011). The other significant marketing plan constitutes acquiring funds from the university itself which can be regarded as one of the major sources of fundraising from marketing point of view. Many universities are allocated with certain amount of funds for student activities. This evidence will be severely focused upon the fact regarding the university’s eligibility of providing those funds which would be quite helpful in order to raise funds for better execution of the musical events from marketing plan’s viewpoint (Volunteer International, n.d.). Moreover, the different media outlets can also be a potential fundraising source for the music events from marketing plan point of view. A good article in a local newspaper or an appearance on a local radio show can go a long way in order to generate financial support. In lieu of this, a simple press release will be published and sent to all newspapers, magazines, radio & TV stations in the local area in order to attain better mileage for raising funds (Volunteer International, n.d.). In this connection, the other common way to avail money is through ‘grant proposals’ from marketing plan’s point of view. Certain major initiatives will be taken in order to avail money for smooth functioning of the series of music events. Though a “grant proposal” is very easy to mark but receiving it is not that easy (Volunteer International, n.d.). In order to avail this ‘grant proposal’ facility from the marketing perspective, there must lay an assurance of having the approval of the university when accumulating grants on behalf of university programs. By implementing this grant proposal factor, certain amount of financial support can be acquired which would definitely help to a certain extent while carrying out series of musical events (Volunteer International, n.d.). Therefore, these are certain recommended marketing plans that the event manager should execute while conducting series of music events. The Finance Plan According to Medina, Finance can be defined as “an administrative area or set of administrative functions in an organisation which has something to do with the management of the flow of cash so that the organisation will have the means to carry out its objectives” (Medina, 1988). Finance is one of the major, crucial and important factors for executing a smooth series of music events. The success or failure of the series of music events is highly depending upon this vital component. Here, in this context the duties and the responsibilities are much higher and increases rapidly after formulating the marketing plan in order to execute the series of his/her music events. In this connection, certain important and significant decisions regarding the financial concern of the music event will be taken into consideration (Civicus, n.d.). Moreover in the finance plan, the top most priority will be given towards the process of budget. Budget, as observed by CIVICUS, relates to “a kind of document that translates plans into money that will need to spend in order to achieve the planned activities along with covering the costs of getting the work done. It is estimated in terms of money in order to carry out some particular activities or functions” (Civicus, n.d.). Initially, while conducting the series of music events the budgeting process lies in establishing the current status of the economic environment. A proper survey is needed to fix the venue where the music events will take place in order to find out whether the customers or the audiences could afford to visit or buy tickets for the music events. In this connection, after properly surveying the economic environment, the budget will be prepared for smoothly executing the series of music events (Asian Development Bank, n.d.). After acquiring a broad idea about the economic environment, the estimate will be prepared with regards to the cost to conduct the series of music events. This estimation is very much crucial for proper and smooth conducting of his events. The various costs that are needed to estimate can be segregated into various categories (Civicus, n.d.). Initially, it is needed to estimate various operational costs or the direct costs that are related with the event such as cost of hiring the venue, printing and stationary costs, promotional or publicity costs, materials and equipment costs, transport services, sound systems, overall decoration costs among others (Bahar, 2010). In this connection, it is also needed to estimate the organisational costs or expenses like insurance costs, maintenance costs, expenses related while conducting human resource volunteer teams, recruitment costs, lighting & power costs and water expenses among others (Bahar, 2010). Apart from estimating the operational and organisational costs, the various other miscellaneous costs like artist’s fees costs both local or outside, artist’s musical ensembles’ fees, overall catering costs and volunteer’s fooding costs will also be estimated (Bahar, 2010). After identifying the estimated cost areas, it is required to recognize the revenue sources criteria. The revenue sources are most important areas in which the overall success of the events depend upon. There are different categories available that can be included in the income budget. From the marketing plan’s point of view, the revenues sources from sponsorships, ticket selling, merchandising, different means of advertising, availability of grants and fundraising among others will be easily availed. This revenue sources will have to incur the various expenses or meet the various costs within the availability of this revenue income sources for executing the series of music events (Bahar, 2010). The financial budget provides the basis for monitoring the event’s financial activities. A proper outlined report will be provided to his sub-ordinates periodically about the financial structure of the budget along with maintaining the cash flow projections relating with the event and ultimately make proper financial decisions. In addition, the comparison of actual income and expenditures against the budgeted income and expenditure will also be conducted regularly. These results will help to prepare a variance report about ‘over spending’ and ‘under spending’ of financial transactions (Civicus, n.d.). Moreover, the variance report statement which would be prepared ultimately compares the expected income and expected expenditure with the actual income and expenditure. This variance statement shows whether there lie any trends or reforms that have to be developed in financial performances in lieu of the budget. Also the variance statement enables to take necessary actions in order to correct the problems that may occur while conducting the series of music events from financial planning point of view (Civicus, n.d.). The final stage of the budget plan of the events is to conduct the ‘audit’ process after initiating or executing the budget plan. In general, an ‘audit’ is a systematic process of objectively attaining and estimating various facts regarding declarations about economic proceedings and events. Moreover, an ‘audit’ is a management tool that is used to evaluate, confirm or verify different activities related to any organisation or any event (O’Reilly & Et. Al., 1999). The audit process will be undergone periodically after formulating the budget processes or policies for the music events. For better evaluation of various initiatives taken in order to carry out the finance plan, the summarised budget plan model will be taken into consideration in order to execute proper and smooth functioning of the series of music events. A Budget Plan (Per Series of Music Events) Source: (Imperial College, 2006). The Human Resource Plan After formulating the marketing as well as the finance plan, the extreme focus will be shifted on human resource management for conducting or initiating the series of musical events. ‘Human Resource Management (HRM)’ is a business operative function that is mainly concerned with managing relations between various groups of people in their capacity as employees, employers and managers (Rose, 2007). Moreover, certain human resource management functions will be performed while conducting the series of music events. The functions can be of different aspects like technological, cultural, environmental, political, social and legal among others. It includes proper HR development, proper compensation & incentives, disaster & recovery planning and compliance with different cultures and diversities among others (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). In order to formulate the human resource planning, initially the establishment of an event committee is necessary according to the basis of their skills and experiences in order to co-ordinate the series of musical event. Also certain necessary measures will be taken regarding the full commitment from the committee in order to remain associated with the events. Soon after the appointment of the ’Event Coordinator’, a ‘Volunteer Coordinator’ will be appointed by the event manager in order to develop and implement various ‘HRM’ plans for the series of music events (Cuskelly & Auld, 2000). Relationship between the Volunteer Coordinator and the Event Coordinator The ‘Volunteer Coordinator’ does not essentially supervise or manage volunteers directly, but eventually manages the volunteer program and volunteer policies for the duration of the music event. Whereas the ‘Event Coordinator’, through the ‘Event Committee’, works to ensure that the series of music events are successful and the overall strategic decisions are made in conjunction with the event committee. The ‘Event Coordinator’ has got overall administrative responsibilities for event volunteers and also reacts with the ‘Volunteer Coordinator’ in order to ensure that the ‘HRM’ plan closely matches with the needs of the music events (Cuskelly & Auld, 2000). In the context of music event management, the human resource plan is mainly concerned with demand and supply of labours. For this, the event management team should recruit and select the available labours according to their needs with proper supervision and control. The purpose of the ‘human resource management’ planning is to ensure that certain desired number of persons with their correct skills is obtainable at a specified moment in the future (Cuskelly & Auld, 2000). In this connection, there also arise certain human resource risks like inappropriate conduct, inexperience, incorrect scheduling, negligence of employment laws, insufficient number of personnel, insufficient or ineffective training, labour union restrictions or disputes, lack of improper use of expertise, job descriptions, policies, recognitions and supervision among others. In order to cope up or tackle with these human resource issues or problems, some remedial effective measures will be taken in a very calm and systematic manner (Bowdin, 2010). Moreover, the human resource plan also ensures that the required number of volunteers needed to establish the various “sub-committees” responsible for managing the key areas of event coordination like catering, finance, marketing, support services and transport services among others are available (Cuskelly & Auld, 2000). Before initialising the ‘HRM’ plan, the ‘Volunteer Coordinator’, ‘Event Coordinator’ along with human resource ‘sub-committees’ will familiarise themselves with the content in the “Volunteer Management Program” modules. This will be followed at a significant level in order to conduct smooth flow that might be helpful for the series of music events in the future (Cuskelly & Auld, 2000). In this connection, by following the sanctioned human resource plan before the recruitment process, some specific job descriptions will be provided for the volunteers. In general, as observed by Dale, “recruitment is the process of acquiring suitably qualified and motivated volunteers to take on the events which are very much essential for the event manager in order to make his/her series of music events successful” (Dale, 2004). By formulating or implementing the above discussed human resource planning processes, the series of music events might get successful while conducting the series of music events apart from the point of view of marketing and finance plan. Appendix In this event proposal, the different management principles that have been applied constitute the marketing, finance and human resource management plans and by following or emphasising these principals, a significant success can attain while conducting his/her series of music events. From the marketing management principles’ perspective, particularly the ‘4P’s of event management principles have been applied. This 4P’s have been related with the price, place, promotion and product that lay emphasis upon the marketing plan’s point of view. Here the product is referred to as music event management. The factors like the location of the event to take place, tickets pricing along with the promotion of the events in various ways and also focusing upon the target audience segments have been applied in the event proposal for smooth executing of the series of music events. Moreover, in this event proposal, apart from the 4P’s, the marketing techniques in order to promote the event into the market through paid commercial television advertisements and public service announcements particularly through the radio have also been prescribed. Aside from the managerial principles and practices of marketing plan perspective, finance plan has also been formulated in the event proposal. The main priority was given to the process of ‘budgeting’. It constitutes the economic environment in which the series of music events will take place along with identifying various estimated cost areas like organisational, operational and other miscellaneous costs. Except the estimation of the cost factors, the various revenue sources of incomes like sponsorships, ticket selling, merchandising, grants and fundraising has been recommended in the event proposal for successful running of the series of music events. Also a budget model is provided for better understanding and conducting the series of the music events. In addition, the audit process is also applied for proper execution of the “budget’ process which might be favourable for conducting the events. With the applied theory of marketing and finance plans in the event proposal, another management principle and practice has been recommended regarding human resource management. On this behalf, the priority of human resource management has been focused for smooth and proper execution of the series of music events. In the event proposal, various human resource risks are stated along with the human resource management process. Also the functions, roles and responsibilities in various aspects as a human resource manager have also been applied in this event proposal. With properly maintaining and implementing the specified roles and functions, the series of music events can be conducted smoothly and easily. In addition, the relationship and coordination with the ‘Volunteer Coordinator’ and ‘Event Coordinator’ along with different ‘sub-committees’ personnel have also been taken into consideration in the event proposal. Moreover, the recruitment as well as the selection process of responsible personnel in order to carry out the task of managing the event successfully, has been prescribed in the event proposal. Conclusion With the advent in increased technology and competition while conducting specialised events such as conducting the series of musical events, the overall success factors have to be very much innovative, up-to-date and dedicated in order to carry out the series of music events adequately. The event proposal is formulated with different management practice standards that can be fruitful as well as tend to be successful to attain the desired results of the objectives. Moreover, the event management team is acquainted with different plans and policies or procedures in order to conduct the series of music events in a very systematic manner. Some necessary factors is also provided like marketing, finance and human resource management functions or plans which eventually may prove to be critical success factors while initialising the series of music events. The various business management procedures along with different event management techniques that have been applied into this event proposal would provide beneficial outcome while executing the series of music events. References Asian Development Bank, No Date. The Macroeconomic and Policy Context. The Budget Preparation Process. 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Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. Cengage Learning. Read More