Event Analysis of the Festival of Chocolate - Case Study Example

CRITICAL EVENT ANALYSIS Students Name Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date An event is an occasion that is set to take place during a specific period at a certain venue and usually involves prior planning and preparations (Reid, 2008). It also has participants that form the audience whose expectations have to be met. Different events involve varied logistics depending on their size, duration, number of participants, the purpose of the event and other circumstances surrounding the organization and the execution of the entire events (Reid, 2008). . The festival of chocolate held in Rocks was a unique event that was well prepared to meet the anticipations of the audience1(Tum et al. 2008). Being a food-related event, catering is a key logistic that needed to be involved in every step of the event. It was crucial for the organizers to ensure quality preparations to make the event successful (Tum et al. 2008). While in the event, I made close observation to various aspects of the event including: the theme of the event, the programming as well as the design of the entire event, the choice of the venue and what might have been considered before coming up with the place to locate the event, the lighting, sound system, catering services provided in the event among others. However, this analysis will focus on the venue of the event and the catering services of the event (Frey 2006). This analysis is also important because it evaluates the content of the event in totality and enables one to be keen in understanding finer details of the event. It exposes many elements of staging although it does not give a detailed explanation about all of them. However, few staging elements are covered in the event which the writer found important to be used in this analysis. These staging elements include the choice of venue and catering. A rigorous evaluation of these elements help people to understand them easily and can perform them better when. In addition, the event helped bring into action some staging actions that most students were not aware of before the event (Tum et al. 2008). This analysis aims to evaluate the key purpose of the event and who were involved in the event and how the event benefited the participants individually and collectively and its general impact on the immediate community as well as the society in general. Does it seek to evaluate conditions underlying identification of the venue that would provide a conducive environment for accomplishing the theme2(Morgan 2009). Purpose of the Festival The main purpose of holding the Smooth Festival of Chocolate was to parade the various combinations and indulgence of chocolate. This was a better platform for enabling transformation and empowerment of the public about chocolate. It aimed to collect all innovations by people in order to celebrate them (Reid, 2008). This festival aimed to educate, entertain as well as celebrate the abilities of everyone in attendance. This event aimed to celebrate the heritage of the participants through capitalizing on the skills of presenters in order to enhance their performance in this field (Frey 2006). The audience of this festival event was the general public, people with interest and involved in catering and those who wanted to celebrate their heritage. Although it was a chocolate event, other types of foods were also available such as beer and wine (Frey 2006).The overall concept of the event was all about celebrating one's heritage in all spheres of life and more so on catering (Frey 2006). The programming of this event was in such a way that it fostered the interaction of participants from the general public and therefore exposing each other’s competent skills in catering and hospitality to various employers during the exchange. It was also a platform for other people in the same industry to learn from the presentation at the event.3Since it was an event that was centralised and basically from one common point, there were charges for attending hence this catered for some expenses used by the organizers in planning for this event hence ensuring there are extra benefits in terms of income available for them to meet the objectives of the event (Silvers, 2009). Since this event was a chocolate festival, the programming of the event had to meet the expectations of the audience. One of the expectations is to be empowered with explicit knowledge and understanding of all aspects of chocolate as well as all the foods that use chocolate as their components. They also expected to understand the nutrients entangled in chocolate as well as detailed procedures to follow in order to prepare best blends of chocolate (Tum et al. 2008). They also needed complete knowledge to come up with best foods related to chocolate such as cakes, snacks, etc. as well as enhance their innovation about the chocolate as a flavor and as food on its own. The idea was to make exclusive cover about anything related to chocolate in order to at least meet what the audience was anticipating (Frey 2006). The concept of this event was well organized and made use of a group that has expertise in preparation of chocolate and who specialize and catering services (Silvers, 2009). The caterers were well trained to facilitate excellent performance during the event itself.However, there were some staging elements that I observed and experienced; this analysis focuses on only two staging elements which include the venue of the event and the catering services provided by the catering sector during the festival (Frey 2006). Venue Choice The venue of the event is one of the most crucial factors to put into consideration when organizing for an event. In some cases, the venue is assumed to have the theme derived from it (Silvers, 2009). The venue of the chocolate festival is well designed with a lot of flexibility that fit most participants who may want to travel to the place. Rocks cover a vast piece of land and therefore has enough space to hold such a festival. The festival of chocolate was a big event which attracted participants from all over the place. This therefore created need for a spacious environment to facilitate it (Morgan 2009). Rocks were appropriate for the venue of the festival of chocolate because it possesses enough catering equipment to be used in various exhibits concerning the chocolate (Reid, 2008). In addition, Rocks has enough furniture to be used by the participants of the conference hence enhancing their comfort during the event. The event was held during the day, so there were not many concerns about light, but there was enough power to facilitate the sound system to make the event colorful (Silvers, 2009). The organizers also ensured there was a backup generator in case there was a power failure and also ready tents in case of weather changes. There were sufficient facilities for communication including mobile phones and radio phones to facilitate communication. This was there to ensure a strong communication system is there to ensure everything is set both inside the event and surveillance of the security of those present in the event and those on the way towards the venue (Daniels et al. 2009). In addition, the venue had their preferred catering team that was trained and booked for the event to ensure the participants got catering services at their pleasure and this made the event more celebrant as everyone was allowed to request for any order that would suit their celebration. This enhanced the celebration even more as there was the availability of facilities that served everyone’s purpose to make sure they were comfortable. There was a Lint Lounge bar that met the needs of participants who took wine (O’Neill, 2010). The venue of the event was set in the outside environment that made it so unique from other events since there was a free flow of air considering a large number of people in attendance. This was done because there is flexibility out doors and to enhance the perception of celebration in order to make everyone feel free (Reid, 2008). Temporary structures also ensure that the audience focuses on a raised stage outside with sufficient light to make the event clear. This enables participants to grasp everything and understand it to the best of their ability. There is a better chance of understanding when the environment is unstructured for instance when the venue is in the open field (Morgan 2009). Unstructured environmentappears to be unique regarding arrangement and structure which may make the event memorable. Also all events need to have appropriate entry and exit point in order to avoid congestion although the chocolate festival was free from structured entry and exit points. This enables the organizers as well as the ushers to treat the participants as guests in order to make them comfortable and make sure they enjoy their time in the event (O’Neill, 2010). Any event venue needs to have proper sanitation considering a large number of people in attendance. Therefore to facilitate this, there is need to have proper and sufficient toilets that can serve all categories of people including ladies, gentlemen, VIPs, VVIPs and also people with disability in order to keep everyone comfortable in the event (Tum et al. 2008). The venue is also used might be selected because of its fame or reputation that it has in the locality, and this may contribute to a high attendance of the event since the public can locate and access the venue with ease. Rocks are one of the most popular venues in the country. This increased the attendance of the event. Its location also was strategic since it had access to almost all types of transportation means including road, ferry, and train or even by plane (Daniels et al. 2009). The presence of good furniture that is movable is good for an event that involves a large number of people. Rock was a venue with a lot of flexibility as some facilities had fixed seats while others had movable seats. This offered alternatives to the participants and facilitators of the event to use either depending on the one that suits their purpose and the nature of the activity and the number of participants involved (Reid, 2008). Catering Every event needs proper catering for its success in terms of giving the best service to the attendees as well as participants of the event in general (O’Neill, 2010). Catering is an integral part of any event. The event organizers have options whether to make outside arrangements of all catering they want and ensure it is supplied any time it is in shortage in the event or may have catering done by inside caterers who have undergone rigorous and up to date training in order to deal with any emerging issue appropriately. Most structured events and venues have organized ready catering for their audience (O’Neill, 2010). However, the chocolate festival was a unique outside-placed event that specialized and made use of special catering group booked for that event alone. Besides, the caterers were trained in is a field they had specialized and had experience in them and the performance was meant for this event. This increased their performance in the task and enhanced the satisfaction of the participants (Tum et al. 2008). The catering of this event was unique in the sense that it made use of local foods such as locally made beer to suits the need of the locals. This made it more colorful and celebrated as most people take wine as a sign of celebration (O'Neill, 2010). In any event, the catering staff has to be well supervised and selected based on their competence. This was done in the chocolate festival since their caterers were well trained and supervised with an aim to empower them (Morgan 2009). Catering is critical in accomplishing the purpose of the event because it ensured people have the energy to follow the program of the event. In addition, the caterers were competent enough to give the best of chocolate foods to enhance the theme (Silvers, 2009). It also included some traditional wine provided for those who love it to enjoy alongside other foods like Callebaut Belgian chocolate (Kathrine, 2017). List of references Daniels, M. J., & Norman, W. C. 2009. Estimating the economicimpacts of seven regular sport tourism events. Journalof Sport Tourism, 8(3), 214–222. Kathrine Holland. 2017. The Smooth Festival of Chocolate in the Rocks: Retrieved from htts://www.smooth.com.au Morgan, Michael (2009): “What Makes a Good Festival? Understanding the Event Experience”,Event Management, 12:2, 81–93. O’Neill, J. W.2010. “Effective Municipal Tourism and Convention Operationsand Marketing Strategies: The Cases of Boston, San Antonio and San Francisco.” Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 7 (3): 95-125. Reid, F.2008.Staging handbook, 2nd end, A&C Black, London Silvers, JR 2009, Professional event coordination, John Wiley & Sons, New York Tum, J, Norton, P & Wright, JN. 2008. Management of event operations, Elsevier Event Management Series, London. Read More