The PFAU Competition - Justification of the Sports Event Activities through Theory and Practice - Example

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Word count: 3,998 words Table of Contents 1.0Event Description and Project Proposal 1 1.1 Nature and Scope of the Event 1 Background of the Event 1 Name and location of event 1 Name and location of the event organizers 2 Event date 3 Event purpose 3 Participants 4 Entrance Tickets 4 Management structure 6 Publicity 6 Stakeholders and sponsors 6 1.2 SMART Objectives 7 2.0 Project Plan 7 Field and Transport Management Section 7 Accommodation, Catering and Entertainment Section 8 Security and safety section 9 Game preparation and management section 10 3.0 Justification of Activities through Theory and Practice 11 Field and Transport Management Section 11 Accommodation, Catering and Entertainment Section 11 Security and safety section 11 Game preparation and management section 12 Conclusion 12 Reference: 13 1.0 Event Description and Project Proposal 1.1 Nature and Scope of the Event Background of the Event The document details the event management plan of football competition for Australian universities termed Prime Football for Australian Universities (PFAU). The choice to hold a football competition aimed at recognizing and celebrating talent among university students. The ultimate goal achieved is creation of cohesive society through social linkage which is usually associated with sporting activities. According to previous studies football has been associated with four major merits. First, planning skills is crucial for any football game since team need to devise strategies that will give them advantage over their opponents. This ensures that student nurture their planning skills which is crucial in their future career. Secondly, teamwork spirit is natured through football where members learn to work for common purpose of winning. The major characteristic of organization is working for a common goal starting from lower to top management. Therefore, football inculcates students with teamwork skills that are helpful to students in developing right organization behavior. Thirdly, football enables student overcome adversity where teams do not focus more on how they started the game but how they will finish. The determination can be transferred both in students’ academics and career related activities. Fourthly, students develop work ethic. Ethic in our case is the student ability to discern from right and wrong. The members of a team showing commitment by attending training is one way that students realize this goal. The failure to do according to the rules set by the coach or head of the team might lead to the whole team losing is core (Silverman, 2014). This translates directly to students’ career field since failure by one member in an organization leads to failure of the whole organization since one act as a representative of the whole organization but not of him/herself. Name and location of event The competition will be held in ANZ Stadium, one of our sponsors for the 2015 competition. The choice of the ANZ Stadium was arrived at after receiving acceptance letter, prior which we had wrote to the management of the stadium to consider hosting our competition and providing sponsorship. ANZ Stadium is located in Sydney, the stadium is managed by Stadium Australia Trust (SAT). The stadium is located in a strategic location which will ease the mobility of the participating teams and funs attending the events. The stadium is 40 minutes walk from Olympic Stadium. The modes of transport that will necessitate mobility include; Train service: The train service operates from Lidcombe station where individuals attending the event can easily access the stadium. Lidcombe station is located in Olympic Park. The train operates both weekdays and weekend with average operation time of 10 to 20 minutes on weekdays and 10 minutes on weekend since most events are carried out during weekend. According to ANZ management, it will be possible to organize with the train service management to include transport cost with the ticket which will be convenient for participants of this major event. The group considered the need to add more train service when finals will be held on weekend which involves approaching Central and Blacktown Stations. Bus: There are a number of routes that buses takes to the stadium or train station. The parking for buses will be provided by Sydney Olympic Park but it requires booking, five working days prior. The available bus services include 401, 525 and 526. The 401 bus service links Lidcombe station with Olympic park station via Home Bush Bay. 401 is the only bus service that provides day-time service alone from Monday to Saturday. Where, 525 and 526 bus services cover a number of routes that links Parramatta Station with Burwood station. The routes include Rydalmere, UWS Parramatta Campus, Olympic Park Station and Newington Strathfield Station. The bus service to the Stadium will be efficient and cheapest means of transport for the participants since it links various universities within the locality. Car: The stadium allows personal cars but it is important for one to book early that is 10 days prior. The parking space is limited thus important to book early in order to secure a place and avoid inconveniences. The ANZ management advices individuals who have not booked for space to arrive early. They are required to give provisional time to be used in driving around to secure space. The other modes of transport available are taxi which will compliment in easing mobility of the members during the event. The transport system is crucial for any event to be successful i.e. ensuring participants arrive in time, reduce waiting time and reduce other any inconveniences that are associated to transport. Name and location of the event organizers The Prime Football for Australian Universities (PFAU) is organized by Event Planet Company. The company has won various awards due to impressive services delivered to the clients. The high satisfaction level is achieved through professionalism and creativeness of the team. The company was incorporated in Sydney and geographical position is Suite 1A, Level 2 156 Edgecliff Road Woollahra NSW 2025 AUSTRALIA. The company has great reputation in organizing events for big corporations such as PWC, Commonwealth Bank and Microsoft etc (Eventplanet.com.au, n.d.). The company will be involved in planning of the event from the initial stage in order to eliminate any confusion between originators of the idea and event organizers which has been the case for various events with other event organizing companies. Event date The PFAU competition will start from 1st October to 7th October, 2015. The team will undergo four stages this includes group stages, knockouts, semi-finals and finals. The table below elaborates summary of the competition; Date Stage Details 1st October, 2015 Opening -Official opening of competition by Alan SULLIVAN, ethic committee deputy chairman -Entertainment -Opening matches and familiarization of the teams 2nd to 3rd October Group stages -The participating teams will be grouped in groups of five. -The teams will compete for position one and two in each group 4th to 5th October Knockouts stages -The number one and two teams from each group will meet in knockouts. -The number one and two from different groups will play and the winning team qualify for semi-finals i.e. number one team in group A will meet number two of group B and vice versa. 6th October Semi-final stage -Finals will compose of teams that win in the knockouts. -The teams will be pooled in two groups where they will compete for number one 7h October Finals -The teams that will qualify to number one in each group will meet for the finals. -The winning team awarded the trophy and cash Event purpose The event is organized by Australian university council in collaboration with coca-cola company as part of corporate social responsibility. The event aims at creating good public relation of the company in the eye of university students and community. The University student organizing event has high expectation on what the event should meet. These purposes are derived from the major merits of sports for university students elaborated above. These merits include; Increasing cohesiveness within universities and country Recognition and celebration of talent Inculcating work ethics Improving students’ planning skills Developing team spirit among students Molding students to overcome adversity in academics and in their professional life. According to the above targeted purpose, it is evident that the merit derived from the event is mutual. The coca-cola company benefits by gaining good public reputation while students gain qualities that will enable them study well, have successful career and be responsible citizens. Participants The participants will comprise of over 20 universities converging to ANZ where the main match will be held. The participants are required to pay participation fee of $10,000 which will aid in organizing the events and awards. The accommodation of the participating team will be booked by organizers of the event, Event Planet Company. The list below shows the universities that will participate in 2015 Prime Football for Australian Universities (PFAU). University State Attendance Confirmation Victoria University VIC University of the Sunshine Coast QLD X Australian Catholic University MULTI Australian National University ACT Charles Darwin University QLD Deakin University VIC Edith Cowan University WA Bond University QLD Curtin University WA Flinders University SA Charles Sturt University WA Griffith University QLD James Cook University QLD La Trobe University VIC Macquarie University NSW Monash University VIC X Murdoch University WA Queensland University QLD RMIT University VIC Southern Cross University QLD Swinburne University of Technology VLC University of New England NSW Attending X Not-Attending The universities that have confirmed attendance to the event are 20 and two have confirmed that they will not attend. There is a provision of 10 universities in case of any last minute decision to participate since all the universities across Australia were invited to attend the event. Entrance Tickets The tickets will be categorized into four that is Non-student Adults, Student, VIP and Kids. The prices for every category as follows; Non-student Adults: The ticket will cost $150 in advance and $200 at the gate. Student: The ticket will cost $70 in advance and $90 at the gate. VIP: The ticket will cost $400 in advance and $450 at the gate. Kids: The ticket will cost $20 in advance and $50 at the gate. The tickets will be sold in major Coca-Cola distributors, universities participating and ANZ stadium. The harmonization of ticket sold will be done by the organizing company where every sales point will report to the company. The participants will not be required to pay any ticket fee but provide authorization card to ease movement in and out of the stadium. The tickets will be unique to prevent issue of fake tickets. Management structure The management structure of the event will resemble the structure below; Publicity The organizing company will organize for the media coverage of the event. The presence of media will allow those who did not make it to the event follow the competition. On the other hand, Coca Cola and other sponsors will receive publicity which is one of the major aims of sponsoring the event. Event Planet will invite members of press to cover the event from the start. ABC has accepted to air the opening ceremony, finals and closing ceremony. The airing of the event will ensure that the event receives enough publicity. The event organizers have written to the print media and radio stations. The team will be created which will be tasked with publicizing the event and reacting to the questions from members of public. The group will need to use social media such as facebook, instagram and twitter etc. Stakeholders and sponsors The event will be sponsored by four major corporations from different industries. These corporations include Coca-Cola our major sponsor, ANZ Stadium, Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) and Event Planet Company. The participating sponsors accepted the request from originators of the idea since it provided corporation with a good way to gain good public relation and nature future employees (student). The sponsors gathered for the cost that will be incurred in organizing for the event. The stakeholders to event include universities administration and students, community within and outside Olympia Stadium, transport service providers, hotels and security personnel. The harmonization of the functions and responsibilities is crucial in the realization of success in the whole event. 1.2 SMART Objectives Finish the event within the required 42 days starting 28th July- 7th September, 2015 Achieve attendance of more than 20 Australian universities. Achieve sponsors expectation of holding 100,000 people attending the event as participants or fans. Receive 98% satisfaction from individual that will attend the event. Achieve 0% biasness in match fixtures and during the match. Respond to questions from public through social media within 15 minutes at any given time. Achieve 96% ticket in overall sales of tickets. Host more than 10 media press i.e. television, radio and newspaper. 2.0 Project Plan The task where divided into four section and assigned to each member of the organizing committee. The following are breakdown of each functional group; Field and Transport Management Section The group was tasked with arranging means of transportation of the participants and funs to and fro the stadium. Also, they were tasked to write to the stadium management requesting for the use of the stadium and other related issues as shown below; Task Name Duration Start Finish % Work Complete % Complete Field and Transport mgt 31 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 9/8/15 65% 1. Start 0 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 100% 100% 2. Plan 2 days Tue 7/28/15 Wed 7/29/15 100% 100% 3. Writing to stadium mgt 1 day Thu 7/30/15 Thu 7/30/15 100% 100% 4. Inspecting Stadium 2 days Fri 7/31/15 Mon 8/3/15 100% 100% 5. Field status report 1 day Wed 8/5/15 Wed 8/5/15 100% 100% 6. Transport 2 days Fri 8/7/15 Mon 8/10/15 100% 100% 7. Transport report 1 day Mon 8/10/15 Mon 8/10/15 100% 100% 8. Approximation of attendance 1 day Thu 8/13/15 Thu 8/13/15 100% 100% 9. Parking arrangement 1 day Fri 8/14/15 Fri 8/14/15 100% 100% 10. Labels and Structure of sitting arrangement 2 days Wed 8/26/15 Thu 8/27/15 100% 100% 11. Sitting arrangement directives 7 days Mon 8/31/15 Tue 9/8/15 0% 0% The field and transport management group dealt with ten activities as shown above. The group provided a good record since one activity has not been accomplished. The group project will take approximate of 20days to finish its work compared to the overall period of 42 days from the start up to the end of the event. The group requires five human resource personnel who are engaged on preparation and holding meetings with relevant bodies. The group is allocated with $600,000 to help in movement and holding meetings with stakeholders. The critical path follows the sitting arrangement directive which will take place for seven days of the sports’ event. The activities are displayed in the Gant chart below showing late projects, critical path and other aspects of the project. Accommodation, Catering and Entertainment Section The section was tasked with ensuring that the participants obtain accommodation, catering and entertainment during the event. The activities that the section performed are as shown below; Task Name Duration Start Finish % Work Complete Start 0 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 100% Planning 2 days Tue 7/28/15 Wed 7/29/15 95% Writing to major artist 1 day Mon 8/3/15 Mon 8/3/15 100% Organizing public address 2 days Thu 8/6/15 Fri 8/7/15 100% Estimation of participants 1 day Fri 8/7/15 Fri 8/7/15 90% Catering&Accommodation Arrangement 3 days Tue 8/11/15 Thu 8/13/15 70% Artist performance Schedule 1 day Fri 8/14/15 Fri 8/14/15 100% Allocation of accommodation space 2 days Thu 8/20/15 Fri 8/21/15 95% Logistics 2 days Mon 8/24/15 Tue 8/25/15 95% Harmonization of records 1 day Thu 8/27/15 Thu 8/27/15 0% Supervision 8 days Sat 8/29/15 Tue 9/8/15 0% The section programs will run its activities for 23 days this gives it enough time to complete before the overall period of 42 days. The section has completed four activities out of ten since most of the events will be during the time of the competition i.e. the last 7 days of the event. The critical path of the project will follow supervision since it has the highest number of days compared to other activities. The section will be allocated $3,000,000 which will be used for transportation, booking of accommodation, paying artist and other miscellaneous expenses. The activities will be supervised by three members who will ensure that the programs in the section run smoothly. The Gant chart below elaborates the nature of the activities and critical path. Security and safety section The section is crucial in the whole event this is as shown in the management structure above. The section is tasked to ensure that the personnel and equipment on security and safety matters matches the people attending the event. The move targets at minimizing casualties and rampage during the matches. Task Name Duration Start Finish % Work Complete Start 0 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 100% Planning 1 day Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 95% Writing to security and safety bodies 1 day Tue 8/4/15 Tue 8/4/15 100% Meeting ANZ security and safety bodies 2 days Fri 8/7/15 Mon 8/10/15 100% Meeting external security and safety bodies 1 day Mon 8/10/15 Mon 8/10/15 100% Inspection of the stadium 1 day Thu 8/13/15 Thu 8/13/15 100% Security and safety drill 3 days Mon 8/17/15 Wed 8/19/15 100% Security Audit 2 days Thu 8/20/15 Fri 8/21/15 100% Joint meeting 1 day Mon 8/24/15 Mon 8/24/15 100% Security and safety Report 2 days Tue 8/25/15 Wed 8/26/15 50% Supervision of security and safety 8 days Sun 8/30/15 Tue 9/8/15 0% The activities in the whole event will be carried out in approximately 22 days earlier than the period of the whole event that is 42 starting 28th July, 2015. The group has not finalized on three activities that is planning, security and safety report, and supervision during the event. The section requires five representatives who will engage the experts on various functions such as audit, drill and inspection. The section is allocated $1, 000,000 that will be used in mobility of members, hiring experts and other miscellaneous expenses. The Gant chart below elaborates the nature of the activities and critical path. Game preparation and management section The game preparation and management is the second technical section that the organizing committee had to work on. The activities involved engaging relevant stakeholders in order to work out the program on how the match will be conducted. The table below shows a summary of what the section performed. Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors % Work Complete Start 0 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 100% Planning 2 days Tue 7/28/15 Tue 7/28/15 100% Writing to FIFA 1 day Tue 8/11/15 Tue 8/11/15 100% Meeting Referees 1 day Wed 8/12/15 Wed 8/12/15 100% Meeting Coaches 1 day Thu 8/13/15 Thu 8/13/15 100% Meeting Team captains 1 day Mon 8/17/15 Mon 8/17/15 100% Game structure 1 day Wed 8/19/15 Wed 8/19/15 90% Field Pre-visit 1 day Fri 8/21/15 Fri 8/21/15 100% Game Allocation 1 day Mon 8/24/15 Mon 8/24/15 100% Logistics 1 day Thu 8/27/15 Thu 8/27/15 50% Game supervision 7 days Wed 9/30/15 Thu 10/8/15 0% According to the table above, we are able to note that the section has not finished three activities due to slack. The section will take approximately 17 days to finish their work out of the 42 days available for to finish the whole project. The section will be allocated $3,000,000 since the section appears to be the major section of the event. The amount will ensure the official who will officiate the team are paid and their expenses gathered for. Also, the mobility and expenses of the organizing team are met within the same budget. The section will be allocated six members from the event organizers company who will assist in ensuring that the activities run smoothly by holding meetings and coordinating activities with the experts i.e. referees. 3.0 Justification of Activities through Theory and Practice Field and Transport Management Section The section has taken 20days to accomplish 65% of entire activities that the section was allocated. The total time period is 42 days within which the section program needs to have completed 100% of the whole program allocated. The critical activity in the section involved sitting arrangement directives where the section had not done any work (0%). The activity has not been performed due to the fact that the function is carried out during the match. Therefore, it cannot be accomplished before the match. The activity is expected to take seven days without slack period thus section is expected to plan well for the activity to avoid technical hitches that might ruin the event. The section has fairly performed well since it only has one activity that has not been completed. The critical path shows the shortest or minimum time required to accomplish certain event. On the other hand, slack period is the time that an activity can be delayed without affecting the overall time required to finish the project (Heerkens, 2002, p.77). The section have slack period that would have been used if activities were incomplete. The human resource where shared during technical activities such as attendance approximation and field inspection. The amount of money allocated might not be enough therefore, need to increase the allocation prior the major event that will run for the 7 day period. Accommodation, Catering and Entertainment Section The accommodation, catering and entertainment section will spend approximately 23 days out of the available 42 days of the overall project. The activities will have approximately 12 days slack period within which the first eight activities can be delayed without affecting the time to finish the project. The remaining two activities do not have slack period since it will be carried concurrently with the sporting activities i.e. supervision that the participants do not have any complaints on the relating the section during the sporting period. The attendance records have not been harmonized (0%) due to response delays from some of the universities. Therefore, other activities which depends on the record has not been concluded this activities include planning (95%), estimation of participants (90%), Accommodation and catering arrangement (70%) and allocation of accommodation space (95). The supervision activity forms the critical path in which other activities can be carried out within the same period given that there are enough resources. The human resource was shared within other section due to underutilization of the staff in the section. Security and safety section The security and safety section is crucial since any casualty can bring the event to a halt. The section would use 22 days without slack period to finish its activities out of the available time of 42 days. Therefore, with slack period the activities can be delayed for 13 days taking care of the 7 days during which the event will be going on. The supervision of the security and safety during the match forms the critical path since it comprises of 8days which other activities can be carried out concurrently given that there are enough resources i.e. finance and human resource. The critical path of the activities is supervision since the section requires 8days which represent the period in which the event will be going on. Game preparation and management section The game preparation and management section is very important for the event. The sporting to be successful, there is need to ensure that there are working and well coordinated structures. The section can finish the project in approximately 17 days without slacks. The only activities that have not been completed is game structure (90%), logistics (50%) and game supervision (0%). The critical path of the overall activities is game supervision as shown in the Gant chart. The activity is expected to take approximately 8 days of the total 17 days expected to finish section program. Conclusion The harmonization of the four sections is very important in ensuring success since failure in one section will automatically affect the other sections. Also, it is important to engage expertise in organizing the event to avoid rely more on less important events and overlooking crucial activities. Lastly, the sharing of resources is important to ensure economy of the scarce resources and finishing huge activities within a short period of time to avoid delays or shoddy work (Randolph, 2014, p.76). The success of any event emanates from the clarity and preciseness of the project management plan formulated. Reference: Eventplanet.com.au,. Event Services - Conference, Meeting and Event Management | Event Planet. Eventplanet.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2015, from http://www.eventplanet.com.au/services/ HARRIS, V. (2004). MANAGEMENT PRACTICE EVENT MANAGEMENT: A NEW PROFESSION?. Event Management, 9(1), 103-109. doi:10.3727/1525995042781039 Heerkens, G. (2002). Project management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Randolph, S. (2014). Maximizing Project Value: A Project Manager's Guide. Project Management Journal, 45(2), e2-e2. doi:10.1002/pmj.21399 Silverman, S. (2014). What Are the Benefits of Football? | LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved 26 August 2015, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/438242-what-are-the-benefits-of-football/ Read More