Holst Memorial Lecture and Thredbo Jazz Festival - Essay Example

Event Management Events are increasingly becoming an important sector in the global arena and are considered as having major economic, social and environmental impacts on communities. Events play a major role in revitalizing local economies mostly in rural areas. These areas have been prevalently dominated by traditional industries like farming, but with the advent of events and festivals, many people are attracted to these regions. Since an event occurs for a fixed number of days, it attracts people to regions which would otherwise remain unpopular among foreigners (Janeczko, et al, 2002, p.1). One example can be Thredbo Jazz Festival which continues for three days. This community festival entertains people with popular Australian jazz music, good food and wine. This festival helps to bring extra revenue in the region (Thredbo Jazz Festival, n.d.). One example of an academic event in Netherlands is the Holst Memorial Lecture held on 29 November 2012. It was organized by Philips Research and the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. The social purpose of the event was to bring together scientists, research students and professionals from different institutions (Holst Memorial Lecture 2012, n.d.). In small towns, events and festivals help to develop the economy as major part of local revenue is garnered from the employment and tourists that are part of such events. The Peter Anderson Arts Festival which was first started over 30 years ago has been a huge source of income for downtown Ocean Springs. This festival attracts 100,000 people annually in a community which has only over 18,000 residents (Carter & Zieren, 2012). Events can have social impacts on communities as they offer people outlets for various activities. Events and festivals are reflections of the ideological values of the community and this helps in establishing the image of the local community. Through such events people of a community find opportunities to strengthen relationships with one another (Tassiopoulos & Johnson, 2009, pp.76-77). The environmental impacts of events can be both positive and negative. Events can create environmental awareness in the community. The transport and communication system gets improved as a result of events and this leads to urban transformation. But, events can also pollute the air and water by littering and carbon dioxide emissions from excessive travelling. Also, events use considerable resources like water and lights thus putting pressure on the local resources (Heitmann & David, 2010, p.187). The triple bottom line (TBL) which is also known as people, planet and profit is an approach by which both business organizations and non-profit organizations like events and festivals report upon their economic, environmental and social impacts. TBL model is a common approach towards conducting an event evaluation. “People” refers to the social responsibility of an event, “planet” refers to the environmental impacts of an event while “profit” refers to the economic impact of the event on the community (Cavagnaro, et al, 2012, p.200). TBL concept claims that an event’s responsibility has to be borne by the stakeholders. Any organization or people who have a personal and compelling interest in an event can be considered as stakeholders of that event. Stakeholders are generally those who are benefited by the success of the event. Stakeholders in case of an association can include “board and committee members, staff, event attendees and exhibitors.” There are other stakeholders who have interest in the marketing and publicity of an event. Such stakeholders include suppliers like “event facilities, caterers, transportation companies, exhibit designers and decorators, speakers, entertainers and security companies.” Then there are also other stakeholders like local merchants and the chamber of commerce who are benefited from an event that has high attendance (Hoyle, 2002, p.103). Stakeholder management of an event includes the most important feature that is analyzing the stakeholders. This is critical for the success of the event. Event management companies need to recognise the stakeholders and to assess their requirements and expectations, and accordingly make strategies for execution of the event. Thus, stakeholder management can be divided into two parts. The first part includes identification of stakeholders by the event manager and the second part is to duly communicate with the stakeholders (Smit, 2012, p.258). Further, there are three principles for an efficient stakeholder management. The first one is a supportive culture by which interests of primary and secondary stakeholders are integrated. The interests of the secondary stakeholders like the tourism and local communities are included in strategy making process. The second principle is technical knowledge of how to integrate the interests of different stakeholders. For this experience of marketing manager and other staff is important. When negotiating for sponsorships, it is needed to sort the common and different requirements of the stakeholders. The third principle is branding or values that can be used to unify stakeholders. The goodwill of an event can create a sense of virtue that can ultimately unite all the stakeholders (Merrilees, et al, 2005, pp.1074-1075) Stakeholders of an event are responsible for the planning and management of the event for its eventual success. Stakeholders who are responsible for making travel plans for special events must assess the impact of the event on the traffic. They must gauge whether the event will impede the normal flow of traffic. Based on these investigations, the transport management plan will be designed to reduce the event-induced impacts on travel. The stakeholders need to do advance planning for travel management on the day of the event (See appendix). Special events that have been pre-planned still take place even of it is assumed that the effect of traffic will be high. In such cases elected officials see that the economic and social benefits of the event will have the potential to surpass the negative impacts. In such a case it becomes even more important for stakeholders to manage the transportation demand (Event Impacts and Stakeholders, 2009). In any event it is required to implement counter-terrorism (CT) measures for smooth running and success of the event. Efficiency of CT measures depends upon the commitment of the stakeholders towards safety of the event. The stakeholders should be able to convince the management board since CT plans are designed by the event stakeholders (Paraskevas, 2008, p.289). Thus stakeholders play an important role in the Event Management Process. Event Management Process (EMP) begins with defining the beginning and end of an event. Unlike any typical job that requires doing same thing everyday, the tasks and responsibilities of event manager varies with each day of the event, and also is different for each event. The structure of EMP depends on the size, range and complexity of the event. Each event is “complex, diverse, and filled with unique characteristics.” An event manager may have to perform various activities that range from booking dates and venues, consulting with suppliers, arranging catering and publicity to gathering volunteers, sticking labels and shipping boxes (Kilkenny, 2006, pp.36-37) Conclusion An event can act as a substantial driving force for the economic and social development of a community. The efficient running of an event and its ultimate success depends on many complex factors. An event can be considered as successful when it manages to establish its social and economic objectives within a community. The success of an event depends upon the framework of the complex communications between those who conceptualized the event and its stakeholders (Presenza & Iocca, 2012, p.25). The event management timeline has to be considered for fluent execution of an event. Based on the timeline suggestions, event related activities need to be planned many months in advance. References 1. Carter, R.D. & J.W. Zieren (27 June 2012), Measuring the Economic Impacts of Special Events, preservationnation, available at: http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/story-of-the-week/2012/120627festivals/measuring-the-economic-impact.html (accessed on February 14, 2013) 2. Cavagnaro, E., Postma, A. & T. Neese. (2012), Sustainability and Events Industry, pp.199-213, In Ferdinand, N. & P.J. Kitchin (eds) Events Management: An International Approach, SAGE Publications 3. Event Impacts and Stakeholders, (30 March 2009) FHWA, available at: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop07108/event_impacts.htm (accessed on February 14, 2013) 4. Heitmann, S. & L. David. (2010), Sustainability and Events Management, pp.181-200, In Robinson, P. Wale, D. & G. Dickson (eds) Events Management, CABI 5. Holst Memorial Lecture 2012, (n.d.) TUE, available at: http://www.tue.nl/en/university/about-the-university/academic-events/holst-memorial-lecture/holst-memorial-lecture-2012/ (accessed on February 14, 2013) 6. Hoyle, L.H. (2002). Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions. New York: John Wiley & Sons 7. Janeczko, B., Mules, T. & B. Ritchie (2002), Estimating The Economic Impacts Of Festivals And Events: A Research Guide, crctourism, available at: http://www.crctourism.com.au/wms/upload/images/disc%20of%20images%20and %20pdfs/for%20bookshop/documents/mules_ecoimpactsfestivals_v6.pdf (accessed on February 14, 2013) 8. Kilkenny, S. (2006). The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning. Florida: Atlantic Publishing Company 9. Merrilees, B., Getz, D. & D. O’Brien. (2005). Marketing Stakeholder Analysis: Branding the Brisbane Goodwill Games. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No. 9/10, pp.1060-1077 10. Paraskevas, A. (2008), Towards Safer Special Events: A structured approach to counter the terrorism threat, pp.279-294, In Ali-Knight, J, et al (eds) International Perspectives of Festivals and Events: Paradigms of Analysis, Elsevier 11. Presenza, A. & S. Iocca. (2012). The Weight of Stakeholders on Festival Management. The Case of Music Festivals in Italy. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, Vo. 10, No.2 pp.25-35 12. Smit, L. (2012). Event Management: Putting theory into practice - A South African Approach: 3rd Edition. Johannesberg: Masterskill 13. Tassiopoulos, D. & D. Johnson. (2009), Social Impacts of Events, pp.76-89, In Raj, R. & J. Musgrave (eds) Event Management and Sustainability, CABI 14. Thredbo Jazz Festival, (n.d.) JAZZ, available at: http://www.jazz.org.au/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=624&Itemid=84 (accessed on February 14, 2013) Appendix Figure 1: This presents the three vital factors to be considered for travel management of an event. Other factors like available resources (number of personnel and equipments) and external factors (road conditions around the venue and weather conditions) are also important. Source: (Event Impacts and Stakeholders, 2009) Read More