The Process of Event Evaluation for Event Managers - Coursework Example

THE IMPORTANCE OF EVENT EVALUATION FOR EVENT MANAGERS AND THE PROCESS OF EVENT EVALUATION Introduction There has been a growth trend in the world where we want to feel the impact of what were are doing. Therefore we try to use any measure at our disposal in order to evaluate what we are doing. We want to know the perception of other people about our event. We want to gauge what we are doing with what others are doing in order to know the standard of our events. Therefore event evaluation is an important tool that can be sued to help us understand the impact of our events on in the initial planning it will help us to know the viability of our events. Event evaluation helps us to know if our events met the requirements that we had set before. It is like a way of assessing the goals and objectives that we had set before. We undertake event evaluation at the end of an event in order to understand if we have achieved what we wanted. Evaluation of an even can also be used as a strategic planning tool that can help us to understanding the correct method or the correct procedure that we should use in order to achieve the desired goals and objectives. It is a fundamental process that helps us to discern the viability and sustainable of an event by assessing the best process that can be used to take us where we want to be. The evaluation of an event should take a holistic approach. In this regard, it should not be leaned on one side alone but it should be aimed at looking at all corners of the event. Evaluating an event as a whole is important as it helps us to understand it in all its dimensions. If an evaluation is carried on one side alone, there may be a probability of constrain from other areas that were not evaluated before which may be a possible failure of the event. By taking a holistic approach we mean that we have to focus on all areas. Most evaluation of an event tends to lean on the economic viability of an event and gives little attention to the areas of the event. Therefore we have to consider dimensions like the social aspect of he event, the environment aspect of the event, if it is a business event we have to asses the business leveraging, and also we have to evaluate the branding of the event and the impact that it has created. It is also very important to evaluate an event regularly in the sense that it has to be consistent throughout the whole process of its implementation. This means that we have to evaluate an event right from the start of the event, when it is being implemented and after it is implemented. There must also be a common base under which an event will be evaluation on. In this regard, there has to be a kind of a bench mark for evaluation which can be based on the exiting data or based on the expectations from the event. (Henderson 2002, P. 19) The main aim of evaluation of an event is to understand the whole process, asses its impact or the constrains that are likely to be encountered on the way and therefore come up with a proper mechanism that can be used in the future or that can be used to carry out the specific event. As we have said an even has to be evaluated continuously throughout its planning and implementation. This is usually an important approach as it helps those who are undertaking the event to make the necessary changes in the process before the event comes to an advanced stage or when it is too late to implement a change on the process. Let us look at the procedure that can be used to evaluate an event. Pre-event evaluation Pre-event evaluation is the process of looking into detail of the impending event. In this regard it involves assessing the ground for the implementation of the event in order to look at the viability of the event. Pre-event evaluation is important as it provides the guidelines that will help an event manager to judge whether the event is useful and if it will meet the expectations of the organizers. Pre-event evaluation involves a feasibility study that tends to look at the way in which the event will be implemented. In this case the feasibility study is mainly carried out to assess the viability of the process. It helps to make a decision whether the event will be carried out or not. A feasibility study mainly looks at various components of the process and evaluates the way which these components can be met. A feasibility study tries to assess all the dimension of the event and evaluate whether the resource that are available will be able to meet the requirements of the event. Hence it mainly assesses the event and all the resources that need to be used in the implementation. It will assess the recruitments in terms of human resources, economic resource, environment resources and others in order to evaluate whether these resources can be met within the framework of its implementation. What are the importances of the feasibility study for an event? There are man advantages why we carry out feasibility studies in planning for an event. Feasibility is study is a useful tool to event managers as it gives them an idea of all the requirements for the event. It helps them to asses all the resources that are needed for the event and therefore compare the needed resources with the available resources. Therefore its acts as a road map for an event manager. Feasibility study is possible on any event. An event manager just need to have a knowledge of the exact kind of event that is to be carried out in order to estimate the number of those who are likely to attend and therefore gauge all the requirements. In pre-event evaluation there is also setting of targets that are to be achieved by the event. For example, if it is wedding event, an event manager must be able to plan in advance the number of expected guests and therefore the number of those who will need to be attended. This is very important since it will be the base of planning for the event. The number of those who will be attending the event will be the base for the budget for the event. Therefore in the pre-event evaluation, it is good to understand to set the targets of what will be achieved. In setting the targets, there should also be setting of other bench marks under which the event will be evaluated in the process of implementation and at the end. In this regard, the standards can be obtained from an existing data or they can be set on the targets that are to be achieved. In setting an existing standard, a manager will always use targets that were achieved in the earlier events that have been implemented. In this case it will involve forecasting in reference to past performance. (Manoukian 2002, P. 61) Once we set the targets and standards that are to be achieved, the next important step in pre-planning is setting of the budget of the the event. This will be based on the feasibility study which will give an idea of the resource that will be needed. The budget for the event also needs to take a holistic approach in the sense that it will need to take account of all the costs of the event with no assumption. It is also necessary to factor in contingency which is mostly set at 10 percent of the total cost. The contingency factor is very important as it helps to meet that extra cost that may arise in the course of implementation of the event. In budget for the event the manager must consider the cost that those who will be coming will have to meet and the cost that will be met by the organizers of the event. If it is a business event, the cost of that will be charged on those who will attend must be able to meet all cost of the event and meet the profit margin that is desired by the organizers. Therefore there should be not assumptions that should be made on the cost. In the pre-event evaluation, the most important things to look at is basically the feasibility study that looks into all the resources that will be required in the implementation of the event. The feasibility study will therefore help to determine the target that will be set for the event and also the budge of the event. The main purpose for carrying out the pre-event evaluation is to determine the viability of the event in light of the resources that are available and also to set standards that will be expected to be met by the event. During the implementation phase of the event This is seen as more a monitoring role that an actual evaluation. In this phase the event manager will be monitoring how the event is going on and therefore know if it is meeting the expectation of the event organizers. Therefore this phase involved looking the events as they are unfolding in the event and comparing them with the standards that had been ser before. This is seen as one of important phase in the evaluation of the event since it serves the purpose of looking into how the event is going on. It is the interactive phase of the event and provides a chance the can be used to evaluate the event is going on. This phase serves the following purposes. First is helps the manager to assess how the event is going on. In this regard it is the immediate assessment that can be used to assess whether the participants are meeting their expectation in the event. As we have mentioned it is the interactive phase that helps the organizer to assess the impact of the event on the participants. An event manager can draw a lot of conclusions on the impact that the event will have on the participants at this phase. In this regard it helps the manager to where the event is performing as earlier planned and where it is performing as it was not planned. (Jago 2007, p. 3) Second it helps an event manager to implement changes in the event before it is too late. In this phase, the manager can assess areas which need to be changed and consequently look at the ways in which it can be changed. In this regard the event manager will have to be very attentive to the flow of activities in the event in order to detect where they need to be changed. The changes that are to be made at this phase are mainly those which can be attended to immediately and which will help the event to go on as planned. At this phase also the event manager can use the chance of getting the response from those attending on what need to be changed at that particularly moment. In this regard an even manage will get a chance to get a first hand report from the participants themselves on the event in order to understand whether it has satisfied them or not. The manager can get even the feeling of the participants which is likely to tell him or her more about the way the event has been conducted. Therefore the most important this at phase is for the manager to interact with the participants and try to get their views. This can also be the chance when the attendee’s questionnaire can be issued since they will have the chance to fill the questionnaire depending on the experience that they are having at that particular moment. This is also the time when the media is likely to be covering the event. Therefore the media can also provide an important evaluation tool depending on what they collect from the event. The media can be used to get the views of those attending on how they fell about the event. In this regard the media will give additional information that can be used to evaluate if the event has met the objectives that had been set in the pre-event evaluation. However the importance of evaluation at this phase is to assess whether the event is happening as it was planned at to make the necessary changes that are required. For example if we take and example of the end year party event for a company, this phase will involve evaluation how the guest are being served with foods. It will also asses how the guest are being ushered in the event and how they are welcomed and taken to their respective seats. It will also assess the sound system used whether the guests are getting it clear or if it is annoying to the ears. The phase wills also assess whether the number of guests who are attending is the actual number as was planned before. If the number of guest is more than had been planned then the manager will make an arrangement of getting more seats and more foods and drinks. The manager can also take this chance to interact with the guest in the event in order to understand if they are satisfied with the services and give them questionnaire to fill. At the end the event the manger will have made the necessary changes to the flow of activities according to the proposition of the guest who are attending. After the event evaluation This is the most common kind of evaluation that takes place in an event. In this regard the evaluation is carried at the end of an event ad it is expected to capture the feeling of the participants about the event. It is usually carried out among those who participated in the event. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the impact that the event had on the participants. Therefore it is used to evaluate how the participants felt about the event and to asses whether the event actually met the laid down objectives. This evaluation is carried out on the bases of comparisons between the event as it unfolded and the expectations that had been put on the event. This evaluation helps the manager to understand if the event actually met the set objectives. It is used to assess whether the event met the expectations of the participants and the organizers. Getting the feedback from the attendees is the most important way that can be used to evaluate the impact of the event. There should be not much reliance on the data the has been collected for example from the number of people who attended the event against the number that was expected because there can be a rhyming number of the expected participants with the number that actually attended but the quality of services that was given to the participants was perhaps not the expected. Therefore it is important in this kind of evaluation to rely on the actual feedback from the attendees. This evaluation also acts ad the final process of assessing the whole event. Therefore it has to be as holistic as possible. It should evaluate the event on all dimensions. Therefore is should not only look at the feedback of the attendees but it should also look at the expectations o f the organizers and the way in which the event was able to operated according to the initial planning. (Bowie 2004, P. 76) Therefore it should look at the way the event was able to operate within the planned budget or the amount of resources that were needed to cover deficiency according to the initial plan. In this case the manager will get an idea on how a future event of the same magnitude and nature can be planned and implemented. Therefore this final evaluation plays other major roles apart from assessing the impact of the event. It is a source of experience to manager as they are able to get an idea of how they can plan their future events. For example if one if evaluating the impact of a wedding party one will have to evaluate many things at in the end event evaluations. In the firs place the manager will need to evaluate whether the wedding party was actually able to operate within the initially planed budget. In this case the manager evaluates how the resources were used and whether they were able to meet the demands of the guest who attended without a strain. The manager will also assess the response of the guests who attended the event in knowing whether it met their expectations. The manager will need to asses whether the food was enough, whether the space was tightly packed, where the entertainment was okay, and other many areas. From this event the manager will have gained a valuable experience that can be used in the future events. Bibliography Bowie, P 2004, Significant event analysis, BMJ Learning Materials Henderson, E 2002, Tips for even analysis, Oxford University Jago, L 2007, Event Evaluation: A standard Approach, TTF National major events forum Manoukian, V 2002, Participatory monitoring and evaluation of an event, In-Pact Group, Ottawa Read More