The Significance of the Events Industry - Literature review Example

The Significance of the Events Industry Introduction There were many events earlier on in history, but the most common are the political meetings that called for a lot of preparation i.e. Marc Anthony meeting with Cleopatra who used a lot of decorations and perfumes. Significantly, in other events, people were required to dress in certain ways as a sign of respect and honour to the leaders; significantly, during this time, this was just like any other event but today it is among the themed events (Uyen, 2010, p.5). Moreover, most of the meetings held by leaders from different parts led to a party where the guests were entertained and enjoyed different delicacies; normally, this involved dances and songs. Evidently, these events from the past required just as much planning as those that are there today, the only difference is the developments in information and other aspects that change the way things happen today. Today, planning of weddings takes over six months and in the past, everyone recalls of the royal weddings mentioned in political and religious history; definitely, they also took some preparation as they were among the scope of most significant events. Additionally, there were the civic festivals that entailed large populations and religious celebrations (some of which are mentioned in the Bible and other religious books); nevertheless, the religious festivals are not that common but one can trace the profane events thousands of years back. Today, there are many changes in relation to preparation and holding of events, nobody from the early days would have imagined the Events Industry flourishing; nonetheless, no one can argue that it has influences on economic, societal and political grounds with the vast and prompt developments (Entrepreneur, 2014, p.12). Decisively, this essay focuses on exploring the nature and profile of the event industry by using its history as a basis for the evaluation of current trends and issues; moreover, it identifies the purpose that events serve through exploring the categorisation of events and different event typologies. The comparison of events utilization is inclusive especially by the different industry sectors; finally, the types of impacts events can generate are part of the discussion. History and Rise of the Events Industry Over the years, the number of types of events has increased as part of industrialized development that also covers the economy, self-governments and equality; typically, people can now travel to different parts of the world to attend different events. Affordability and the different channels of travelling facilitate this; however, in the past, some people still practiced this, but only very few. States such as Britain and French had no difficulties attending regional events and meetings because of the rail lines and the steamships; reflectively, the first international meeting held early in the nineteen century acted as a foundation for the many that followed. Despite the first meeting being a political event, the next one was a trade fair that was even greater attracting more participants; however, the events success depended on significant development factors. The improvement and development of conveyance modes such as roads facilitated the wide scope of events that entailed local meetings and conferences that operated on an intercontinental level (Uyen, 2010, p.7). For instance, the increase in slave trade led to conventions campaigning against slavery and the first had over forty-five participants. After the early 1840s, there were events with different agendas, some were local, regional and the biggest events were the international ones that required a lot of preparation and for long time before the D-day. Due to the developments in the economy and society, the popular merchants became millionaires and frequently, they held celebration parties though the most praised were their weddings and birthdays. Early the twentieth century, weddings increased but instead of the fancy and large weddings, most people opted for the home and church-based weddings that could only hold a few guests. However, after a few years, experienced people posed as event managers and organizers with most of the couples hiring them to plan their weddings; firmly, this was also among the major developments in the Events Industry. The professional event managers collaborated with photographers and chefs among others to make all the events perfect; however, for a certain period, people hired the event organizers only for weddings. Unfortunately, meeting and other events took up to late 1980s to get an urge for professional planners; however, agreements and respites planning were by professional staff from the beginning but due to their scarcity, nobody took that up as a career. This was also similar for industrial fairs though political agencies took charge of the planning and overall management with different workers doing all the heavy lifting. Up to now, some of the expert corporations use volunteers as their event planners and involve most of their staff too. Considerably, the twentieth century wedding planners laid a foundation for the Events Industry that is currently developing and making a great impact in the international economy; the number of event planners is growing every day and as of 2014 hundred thousands have this as their career (Entrepreneur, 2014, p.13). Resolutely, with so much focus on the events industry, there are many trends and issues affecting it. Current Trends and Issues in the Events Industry Fundamentally, it is a key requirement that Event Planners and Managers have a wider context and understanding of the different aspects, from the stakeholders to the preferences or generally, ways to make an event interesting for the participants. Resultantly, one of the core facilitators of the Events Industry development is the many trends that the planners integrate in the different occasions or rather, to make their parties worthy of the attendance. Today, most of the event managers incorporate conferences and promotional initiatives prior to the event as a way of marketing to the participants and others who might be interested. This acts as an advantage to the event hosts as they get more traffic, which will obviously affect the participation levels (Solaris, 2014, p.1). Some of the common ways of marketing is setting up billboards and giving out flyers on the event; however, today people are collaborating with companies where they use their products to advertise the events. In the past, during the day of the event, the organizers asked the participants to check their names on the guest’s list, and due to this, the attenders had to communicate of their appearance before the day of the event. Today, the integration of technology makes everything easier with most of the event planners using software implements to address most of these common activities i.e. registration, booking and determine the people to attend. Most people focus on the trends that directly involve event planning, but as a part of the Events Industry, one cannot fail to acknowledge that the education part of it is trending. Most of the universities and colleges have increased the variety of courses they offer in relation to event management and planning; it is not restricted to higher learning institutions as even some tourism agencies and societies offer the same. This has been the basis of more knowledge on additional skills, advertising, budgeting and best ways of associating with people. Significantly, many of the event organizers incorporate the media, as way of reaching out to the target participants and it is through this that one can be sure of getting the attention of thousands, if not millions of people. Today, the social media has found its way into the industry, being among the facilitators of its development. Many of the organizers are using blogs that focus on events as their core way of advertising; however, the common social media such as Facebook, twitter and IG also apply especially to reach out to the youth (Solaris, 2014, p.1). Vitally, this is just the tip of the iceberg; the event specialists predict the incorporation to grow with time as the technology also develops; furthermore, people agree that the use of social media is effectual as almost everyone has accepted it as a core mode of communication through exposition, publication and connotation. For instance, Google recently set out an initiative to help events planners and others in the event industry use its different features for development and advertising events. All the same, despite the adverse development, the industry also has multiple challenges that need addressing for consistence and sustainability of the events and shows. Unfortunately, most of the events directors waste most time convincing people on the benefits of an event such as revenue and using many resources to make them successful; despite this being important, the gains do not match the energy and time put into the events. Considerably, most of the events organized by city authorities attract the attention of many people but the cause requires consideration especially when the events are only for promotion and not profitability. Secondly, most of the event organizers receive criticisms and complaints from people living near the venue of events, most of them entail noise complaints and evading their privacy. In the past, suffering citizens of regions that hold international events such as the Olympics or world cup complain only of the negativity of the events that cause protests leading to violence and destruction of property. As a result, the event organizers have limited space and areas for utilization; furthermore, some of the events fail due to poor selection of venues because this forces them to make do of what is available. Purpose Events and Different Event Typologies In the modern world, there is a wide range of events, from the local ones to national events, to trademark events to the international events; all the same, the classification of these events focuses on the audience or participants, potential cost or benefits and the type of media they are covered (Dale, 2012, p. 270). Additionally, the event hosts or organizers can apply in the classification together with other factors such as the venues that the event occupies. In events that use many venues such tasks as evaluation and analysis of the participants is hard with there being no approved way of measuring or determining such factors. Generally, there are multiple ways to categorise events making the types of events vary in number; all the same, there are the common events that most people know. These include team development and motivation events, trade fairs, media conferences, schmoosing events, theme parties, product launches, dignitary events, weddings, birthdays, family events, wedding anniversaries etc. The corporate events include corporate dinners, conventions, annual meetings, shareholder meetings, board meetings, executive retreats, award ceremonies and incentive events. Assertively, the growth of the events industry has produced uncountable events especially with the event planners or organizers being innovative as a way of leading the competition; moreover, people around the world have depicted significant interest in holding or sponsoring events some for financial gains and others for promotional purposes (Dale, 2011, p. 109). Nonetheless, the common events such as the weddings and birthdays still hold a lot of respect with people in the events industry coming up with different ways to make them unique and interesting. Types of Impact Events Can Generate Different events have varying objectives but most people fail to consider the fact that they play important roles and have significance impact on the destinations, countries and global levels (Mules, 2012, p.8). The most common impact is the development on aspects of the economy, society and politics; however, most of these events create a base for constructive stream of income into a region but the current trends insist that the apparent success of an event does not necessarily have to be on a financial basis. However, some events produce a negative impact harming the reputation of the event and the event’s director, which is the worst nightmare for event organizers in the industry; additionally, the negative effects that an event has on the environment are the most crucial as this marks its dire end (Hornsby, 2007, p.28). Some of the events poorly managed might cause calamities such as fires or even protests leading to violence, it is likely for people not even involved in the event to get hurt. Nonetheless, the affirmative influences counter the negative impacts in the event organizers and hosts do their jobs well. For instance, some of the inter-regional and international events promote tourism in the venue destinations, which is good for the economy of a country through income and provision of occupation openings (Mules, 2012, p.10). Moreover, during international conferences and conventions political leaders get to interact creating bonds between countries and in required cases, those in disagreement get to reconcile through assistance from other transnational leaders. Decisively, the events industry has made significant development over a short period, which has prompted its recognition in the global market i.e. the United Kingdom government produced a national 2013 events industry report showing that it is worth over fifty billion pounds. Remarkably, this is much bigger than other essential industries such as agriculture being a clear indication of the depth and capabilities of the events industry. Bibliography/ References Dale, C. 2011, ‘Toward a typology of events venues’: International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Vol. 2, no. 2: pp.106 – 116, http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/17582951111136540 Dale, C. 2012, ‘Product Innovation in Events Venues- Directions, Processes and Evaluation: Journal of Facilities Management, Vol.10, no.4: pp. 266-286 Entrepreneur, 2014, ‘Why People Hire Event Planners’: The Event Planning Industry, Vol.1, no.1, pp.11-23, http://www.entrepreneur.com/downloads/guides/1313_Event_Planning_ch1.pdf Event Industry News, 2014, ‘Historical Promotions and Event Management’: Directory, Event Industry News. Viewed 31 October 2014, from http://www.eventindustrynews.co.uk/directory/historical-promotions-and-event-management/ Hornsby, G. 2007, ‘Social Responsibility in Events- Reducing and Removing the Negative Effects of the Industry’: Oklahoma State University, vol.8, pp.23-37, http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1131&context=gradconf_hospitality Mules, T. 2012, ‘Estimating the Economic Impact of Festivals and Events: National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication Data, Vol.35, no.2, pp. 4-11, http://www.crctourism.com.au/wms/upload/resources/bookshop/Estimate%20Econ%20Impacts%20Festivals-Events.pdf Solaris, J. 2014, ‘Ten Trends for 2014’: Event Blog Manager. Viewed 31 October 2014, http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-event-trends-2014 Uyen, H. 2010, ‘Analysing the Rise of the Event Industry and Event Tourism’: Introduction to Events, Scribd, Vol.1, pp. 3-8, http://www.scribd.com/doc/30291497/event-industry-in-the-society Read More