A Festival for Amnesty International - Speech or Presentation Example

Amnesty International is an organization that supports the human rights of individuals who are persecuted around the world. At a stage in history where the economy has left so many people desperate and focused on their own needs, the spark of compassion that supports these kinds of organizations is narrowing and dimming. Public experiences often help to galvanize the public towards revitalization where the causes of the world are concerned. It is the intention of the creators of this event to spark local interest in the London area about the issues that are supported by Amnesty International, while providing local and celebrity performers the opportunity to support the cause in a two day festival event. I hope you will take a moment to look over this proposal in order to assess the feasibility of this event. I look forward to meeting with you so that we can learn more about the possibilities that this kind of event can provide, as well as look to the potential benefits to the University as well as the community. Thank you for your consideration. A Festival for Amnesty International Table of Contents List of Abbreviations 3 Abstract. 4 Part I: Event Proposal 6 1. Introduction 6 2. Overview 7 2.1 Objectives 7 2.2 Stakeholders 7 3. Operations 8 3.1 Marketing 9 3.2 Finance Plan 12 3.3 Human Resources Plan 13 4. Conclusion 14 Part II: Reflection 15 Bibliography 19 Appendices 21 List of Abbreviations AI: Amnesty International ED: Event Director FD: Financial Director HRD: Human Resource Director OD: Operations Director PS: Probabilistic Selling Abstract. The following event proposal has been designed to offer information on the intention to create an event through committee, donation, sponsorship, and volunteerism to support and create awareness for Amnesty International. The event that has been proposed is a two day festival which will utilize the local London talent, along with talent that may choose to participate at a celebrity level because of their association with Amnesty International. The event will have tickets available for the whole two day event, one of the two days, and evening performances. It is intended that this event will take place on the University of East London Campus through the support of the administration and faculty with hope that the students will volunteer. The costs for the event will be pursued through developing sponsorship relationships. It is intended that the ticket price will all be donated to the cause because of the donations by business and the university that will cover the costs of the event. Sponsorship relationships will also help to create promotions through which the sponsor and the event can both create exposure. Advertising will also be pursued as a donated product through relationships that are pursued with the various vendors and venues through which advertising and the costs of advertising can be mitigated. The event will be managed by a six member committee which will include a head of security in order to lower the risks through analysis and consideration in a pre-planned effort. A top down management style will be created with an events director through which all other departments filter their efforts in order to create a coordinated and organized result. A Festival for Amnesty International An event at the University of East London Part I: Event Proposal 1. Introduction This proposal intends to present the idea of a festival concert event to benefit Amnesty International at University of East London's Docklands campus. The idea is to contact both local and international music performers to play at the event. The purpose of the event is to use the ticket prices as a resource for a donation to Amnesty International and to allow for further awareness to be spread throughout the campus as well as the community. It should be operated as a two day event in which attendees can see performances that they choose for a single price. The participants will gain exposure, in the case of local bands, and gain reputation for supporting Amnesty International and promoting the cause of human rights throughout the world. The space at the University of East London has a capacity for 1500. As the festival will be small, it is expected that it will be limited to local performers. Celebrity supporters of Amnesty International include Adele, Kiera Knightly, and Pete Townsend. The hope would be to see if one of the celebrities that support Amnesty International could give an appearance at the event. Local music labels, such as Big Scary Monsters, will be approached to see which of their acts they would like to see at the event. In addition, an invitation to play at the event will be sent out to major labels so that any of their performers for whom this cause and the appearance in association with the cause would give them benefit would have the opportunity to participate. 2. Overview This event would be categorized as a festival. A festival is a collection of events that celebrates something in relationship to culture, art, or music (Raj, Walters, & Rashid 2009, p. 26). In this case, it will be music through which the event supports a cause, making it a festival through duration of two days. A second aspect of the festival will be in creating sustainability so that the event can be repeated at a future date. The goal of creating a sustainable event is to meet the needs of the current event attendees while not compromising the event for future attendees (Robinson, Wale, and Dickson, 2010, p. 189). The hope is that this event can be repeated at regular intervals in the future in order to continue support for the organization. 2.1 Objectives To create an informative event that raises awareness about Amnesty International To raise funds for the organization To create and operate a well-organized event so that the operations of the event are run smoothly To execute an effective plan for marketing To have an organized plan for human resources and the financial aspects of the event. 2.2 Stakeholders There will be a series of stakeholders that will have an interest in the event. The first stakeholder is the University as the event will be held on their property. Assurances must be made that the event will be secure, that costs will be covered, and that the University will not suffer harm in public relations over the effects of having hosted the event on their property. Amnesty International will also be a stakeholder as it will benefit from proceeds as well as be represented in the festival. Anyone who comes to represent the organization as an endorser will also be a stakeholder in the event. The event must reflect the aspects of the organization that present it in the best possible light, with attention to the mission of the organization. The performers will be stakeholders in the event. The nature and size of the event will be relevant to the success of their donation of time to performing at the event. In order for the event to provide the right kind of publicity to make the donation of their performance worthwhile, the size of the event must be substantial enough with enough press coverage to create social credit as well as professional exposure for the performers. The community is another stakeholder. The community must not have any adverse effects from having been the host location of the festival. Once the festival is finished, there must be every effort possible made in order to make sure that no litter or left over marks are on the community or the University for having hosted the event. 3. Operations The event committee will have seven central actors in the process of supporting the needs of the festival. At the top of the pyramid is the Event Director (ED) who will be tasked with coordinating all of the activities from those who work on the various aspects of the event. It is through leadership that the event can be accomplished, not through taking on all of the responsibilities required to create the event. The Event Director must be able to assign tasks and see that they are accomplished by those to whom they are assigned in order to create a well-organized event (Carter 2007, p. 8). The ED is also responsible for coordinating with the community in order to minimize issues, get proper permissions, and so on. Just below the Event Director is the Human Resource Director (HRD) who must coordinate the human resources so that all of the people working for the various operations are tracked and made use of properly. The Operations Director (OD) is responsible for the tangible issues involved in putting together the event. This would include everything finding and assembling a stage to putting together the plan for food vending. How the event operates will be his or her responsibility. The Marketing Director and the Financial Planning Director will work to focus on their responsibilities in order to support the Event Director and the goals that have been set. Two committee members will have very focused and specialized responsibilities and will need to work together to control their end of the event. The Talent Coordinator will work with the various representations for performers as well as with Amnesty International in order to place the right performers into the event. An individual will be appointed to work as the coordinator for security in order to be sure that this aspect of the event is done well and with special attention. This committee member will make sure that crowd control, performer and stage control, as well as gate control are manned and developed for the needs that are presented at the event. Risk management of an event of this size is crucial. The head of security will need to have a risk analysis done in order to mitigate vulnerabilities. The analysis should evaluate all entry and exit points, the security of the staging area, how to handle potential injury or illness, and any other possible vulnerability that can be put into the discussion (Silvers 2008, p. 51). 3.1 Marketing One of the essential operations of event planning is creating a marketing plan so that an event can be properly publicized. Allen (2009, p. 34) states that the event planning industry is designed in order to be a marketing tool for the client. An event planner must design and deliver a unique event, which includes a well-crafted marketing plan. An integrated marketing plan will consist of print, internet, social media, and press releases so that the most information can get into the public as is possible. 3.1.1 Market Segments One of the ways in which the sale of the event will find success is through organizing the marketing through segmentation. Identifying the market and the different demographic communities that will be likely to participate will provide for ways in which to organize the event to meet their needs and to approach the groups through presenting how those needs will be met. One unique way in which to use segmentation is through probabilistic selling (PS). PS involves using intangible products in association with tangible products in order to create purchasing choices. This means that a virtual product, which could be seen as the social benefit of supporting Amnesty International, can be applied to the tangible benefit, that if hearing some really good music. In addition, through sponsorship relationships between the cause and products, further PS can be used to promote a variety of values to different segments of the market (Fay and Jinhong 2008, p. 674). The market segments that will be the primary targets of the marketing campaign will be the students at the university, alumni and faculty, specific consumer groups who frequent the sponsor businesses, those who support the cause, and those who support the musicians that will be performing. As the sponsors and musicians are identified, a more closely defined breakdown can be performed. 3.1.2 Marketing Campaigns 3.1.2.1 Ticketing and Pricing One of the most important parts of the event will be in creating appropriate and advantageous pricing. The pricing for this event will be broken down into three categories. The first category is a price for the two day event. The second category is a price for one of the two days of the event. The third category is a price for just the evening performances after 6pm, which will be the prime performances of the event. The ticket for the overall event will allow for substantial savings against the prices of the second and third category in order to take advantage of psychological pricing and to gain as much revenue as possible. The second and third price tiers will be respectively three fourths the full event ticket for one day and one half the price for the evening only tickets to encourage full festival event ticket purchases. Tickets for two days will be sold for three days before the release of partial event tickets. Price psychology is concerned with the perceptions of the consumer as they evaluate the value of the price in relationship to what they are receiving for that price. Pricing is indicative of either quality or the value of the monetary sacrifice that the consumer is willing to make for the exchange. One of the advantages of using the online ticketing system is that through construal level theory it has been proposed that the farther away from the use of the value of a monetary exchange, the more value is perceived to be received from that purchase (Bornemann and Homburg 2011, p. 490). The use of online ticketing as a way to provide ease of access to the tickets will be very beneficial to the event. The cost of the tickets comes right off the credit card and therefore is available through transfer and will ensure that the proper ticket procedures have done quickly and early in the process. Advance sales through the internet ensures a better understanding of the number of people that will attend the event and helps to put some level of control on the process (Bowdin et al 2011, p. 411). The intended cost of the ticket is £100, with the one day ticket being £75 and the evening tickets being £50. The problem of capacity will be an issue with the tickets being sold for specific times and days. As an example, if the two day tickets sell out, then there will be no one day or evening tickets. If the two day tickets, plus the one day capacity for the first day is sold out, then there will be no evening tickets available. A system to closely monitor sales will be in place in order to sufficiently guard capacity of the area. One issue that will be taken up with the University will be to see of more space can be opened to the festival in order to increase the number of people who can view the performances. 3.1.2.2 Advertisement Advertisement for events is crucial and requires a timed effect so that offering the tickets at the appropriate time after the advertising has begun will allow for the word to be spread far enough to encourage early ticket sales, while still being sufficiently near to the event so that long term planning is possible for the consumer. If there is too much time before the event, then the consumer will more likely want to wait, but if the buzz hits at the right time, there will be a surge of purchases the moment the tickets go on sale (Waddell, Barnet, and Berry 2007, p. 30). The plan for advertising will be to use a four month span prior to the event in order to create a ‘buzz’ about the event sufficiently before the tickets go on sale. Then it will be important to increase that buzz until all of the available tickets have been sold (Waddell, Barnet and berry 2007, p. 32). The first three months of the time span will be used to proliferate the advertising material, with periodic information releases on more acts and with more information so that a new spike of information can be experienced throughout that period. Tickets will go on sale two months before the event with more advertising ‘talk’ creating deeper interest in the event. 3.1.2.3 Selling The first priority of the event committee will be in finding sponsors for the event. These sponsors will include music labels, managers, and members of the music community who might want to participate. Just as important for the success of the event will be encouragement for non-music related businesses to help to sponsor the event through donations of needed materials for the event as well as through direct monetary support. In order to create sponsorship relationships, it will be necessary to both identify meaningful types of popular culture businesses that can benefit from associating with the event, as well as those willing to participate in promotions for tickets and advertising opportunities that relate the event to their product. In order to best utilize the benefit congruency framework, sales promotions must create multiple benefits through both hedonic and utilitarian values (Yeshin 2006, p. 158). As an example, a clothing company may create t-shirts for the event through which a discounted ticket is available if worn to the ticket office on the day of the event. Sponsorship relationships and the amount donated in goods and money will differ depending on the need and benefit ratio that affects the individual sponsor. Another sales approach will be through direct marketing. Direct marketing is the use of advertising with the intention of creating an immediate response. This could be seen through mail, e-mail, television, or any other media through which the act of seeing the advertising can illicit the response to purchase (Koekemoer and Bird 2002, p. 327). The direct marketing approaches that will be used for the event are through student e-mails, radio advertisement if donation of air time can be achieved through sponsorship or the stations themselves, and through internet outlets through promotion can be achieved. Any additional outlets that sponsors may wish to use can be used with the sales promotions relationships. Personal selling will be used in the two weeks prior to the festival through booths for selling tickets that are set up on campus and throughout the community where they can be placed. Personal selling provides for immediate feedback, obligation by the consumer for the time put into the sale, information opportunities for complex messages, and relationship building during the sale (Koekemoer and Bird 2002, p. 222). 3.2 Finance Plan The first part of the financial plan is to gain donations. Through donations for supporting the cause, businesses will gain social credit, while supporting a good cause. Not all aspects of the festival can be achieved through donation, however. The festival committee will have to be reimbursed for the amount of money that is spent on organization and presenting the performances to the public. Larger donations from sponsors will be solicited in order to cover the operational costs of putting together the festival, but if some costs are not covered it will have to be taken from the revenue taken in by the event. 3.2.1 Costing The answer to the equation for understanding the costs in relationship to the needed ticket price is not possible to determine at this time because the number of donations for the event should hopefully cover all the costs. Using volunteers for the labor means that there is no cost for that aspect. The equation to assess cost is as follows: Total Expenses/Expected Sales = Cost (O’Toole 2002, p. 25). Appendix 1 has a breakdown of costs without the projected donations. Budgeting for the event is based on the following assumptions Donations for most of the expenses will be available through contact with local businesses who will want to participate in supporting the festival. The University will donate the space for the event. Promotional activities will support a wide variety of needs for the event. There will be more than enough volunteers for the event for labor and organizational purposes Food vendors will be rented space for the event in order to increase the revenue A financial analysis is available in Appendix 2, with a budget in Appendix 3. 3.2.2 Break Even Analysis The break-even analysis is essential in making sure that the incoming value makes it worthwhile for the outgoing value to be continued to be provided (Cafferky and Wentworth 2010, p. 1). In the case of this event, it will be essential for the FD to continually evaluate the costs and the contribution margin in order to whittle that down to as small a portion as possible. The goal for this project is for the possibility of only breaking even to be eliminated through a lack of direct or indirect costs. 3.3 Human Resources Plan One of the invaluable resources for the event will be through volunteerism. The event will first seek volunteers through the University in order to support the various needs for the festival. Those needs include set-up, security, ticket sales, management, food service, communications and transport. Through an aggressive campaign to gain volunteers for the festival, it is hoped that the students will see a benefit in being behind the scenes in creating such an event. In addition to volunteers through the school, volunteers in the community will also be elicited as well as from the Amnesty International Organization. The event planning committee will have assigned a human resource director in order to organize the use of volunteers. 4. Conclusion The feasibility of the event being of a size to attract internationally known celebrities is not likely. Local bands will more likely be the focus of the performances for the event. There will be contact with those celebrities who associated with Amnesty International and using Amnesty International as a gatekeeper to those celebrities will improve the chances of having more well-known performances or speakers at the event. The event will not depend on this aspect of the proposal to connect with the public. Local performers and independent labels who want to promote their people will more than likely have the higher interest in performing for the festival. Part II: Reflection When I first approached the idea of an event, I was intimidated by the broad level of ideas that were possible, none of which specifically engaged my interests. In reading a novel in which the protagonist obsessively wrote letters for Amnesty International, I was interested in the idea of serving as a support for this cause. Although the event is not intended to be produced, I felt that using this as the platform from which to leap into the process seemed appropriate. In deciding to use a larger scaled event, I believe that a few extra problems have emerged that a good security force will need to address. In most festivals like this, they start early and end late, encouraging camping as a mode of rest for the concert goer. Jones (2010, p. 348) discusses the camping event Bonnaroo in the United States which hosts some 80,000 concert goers during its event time. This four day event creates an on-going spectacle for 24 hours a day for the duration. Cleanup crews, night time security, and overall safety is a high concern that any event like this must have as a part of their plan. The cleanup crew is essential for both during the festival and after so that the environment is left in the same condition as it was before the event. In order to create a well-executed event, the ED must keep a wide range of ideas in play so that they can be executed towards the best possible outcome for the event. The central concept that must be kept under control is the monitoring and evaluation of the process, along with the coordination of decisions so that the objectives are pushed forward. Communication is of utmost importance during the process, but even more so is the importance of inspiring and motivating those who are involved and on whom the festival depends (Ivanovic, Galicic, and Mikinac 2010, p 926). One of the things that I touched on but could not fully discuss in the proposal was the idea of sustainability. Raj and Musgrave (2009, p. 140) discuss the importance of planning so that the event can be repeated at a future date. In creating a sustainable event, the benefits can be repeated but only if the impact of the event has not caused harm to the community. That there are a number of planning models to support sustainability attests to its importance. Models that are interlinked show the most promise for sustainability for future events. Triple Bottom Line Model (Raj and Musgrave 2009, p. 141) One of the obstacles in creating the proposal was in successfully accessing the financial prospects of the event. When the hope is that the costs of the event will be covered through donations, the actual costing is difficult to assess. As the event is supporting a worthy and international cause, it is believed that donations and volunteers to cover the overall expenses would be very possible. Much of the event is in labor, so volunteers would be essential in diminishing the costs. There are five portals for fundraising that are listed by Sargeant and Jay (2010, p. 305-306). Giving portals are internet organizations that are sponsored by a larger organization like Time-Warner in order to add smaller organizations to their list of potential beneficiaries of a donation. An affinity shopping mall is an online shopping experience that supports non-profits through the sale of goods. Sites like eBay support charity auctions. Charity search engines are available for those who are looking do donate. The sponsorship portal would be specifically useful to this event because it allows for sponsors to submit donations and become a part of the event through the ease of access created through the internet. The use of the internet for such an event would be highly beneficial. Everything from the sales of the tickets to creating chatter on Twitter and Facebook would be highly valued for the development of the knowledge of the event in the public. Preston (2008, p. 60) writes that there are 350 million users on Facebook, with the local interconnections usually providing for the opportunity for a great deal of buzz to be created. Technology has been changing rapidly and it is essential to use the resources that are most current in order to reach the populace. The development of Twitter and Four Square have expanded the location and information technologies to the point where to create a marketing plan without them is obsolete. Using volunteers for the labor presents a number of problems. In promoting and attaining volunteer labor for the event, Macneela (2008, p. 125) states that it is the perception of obligation that is the most powerful motivator to convince people to volunteer their time. Shone and Parry (2004, p. 81) discuss that the key to using volunteers efficiently is extensive planning and organization of their roles and positions during the event. There are a great number of things that can go wrong, but through extensive organization the event can be conducted with a minimum of chaos. The event that has been proposed for this paper has been ambitiously created with the intent of promoting an important cause. Whether or not it is feasible is debatable, but the intention of the idea is sound and can be supported. Some of the problems that are evident in the plan is the low capacity of the space, the dependency on donations, and the use of only volunteers for the event and all of the operations leading up to the event. Although the cause is worthy, getting that many people to donate their time may or may not be possible. With the evident lack of capacity, getting celebrity support may be difficult. Even with its difficulties, the event would likely provide good exposure for local artists and create a fun experience for the attendees. In creating this proposal, I created an event that I would enjoy with the belief that others would enjoy it as well. Word Count: 4,359 (excluding abstract, contents, reference list and appendices). Bibliography Allen, J. (2009). Event planning: The ultimate guide to successful meetings, corporate events, fund-raising galas, conferences, conventions, incentives and other special events. Mississauga, Ont: J. Wiley & Sons Canada. Amnesty International. (2012). [Online]. Retrieved from www.amnesty.org.uk (Accessed on 12 December 2012). Cafferky, M. E., & Wentworth, J. (2010). Breakeven analysis: The definitive guide to cost-volume-profit analysis. New York: Business Expert Press. Bornemann, T., and Homburg, C. (2011). Psychological Distance and the Dual Role of Price. Journal of Consumer Research, 38, 3, pp. 490-504. Bowdin, G., Allen, J., Harris, R., McDonnell, I., and O’Toole. (2011). Event management. Milton: John Wiley & Sons. Carter, L. (2007). Event planning. Bloomington, Ind: AuthorHouse. Fay, S, and Jinhong, X (2008), Probabilistic Goods: A Creative Way of Selling Products and Services, Marketing Science, 27, 4, pp. 674-690, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 23 December 2012. Ivanovic, S, Galicic, V, and Mikinac, K. (2010), 'Event planning as a function In the hospitality industry', Tourism & Hospitality Management, pp. 925-930, Hospitality & Tourism Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 20 December 2012. Jones, M.(2010). Sustainable event management: A practical guide. London: Earthscan. Kilkenny, S. (2011). The complete guide to successful event planning: With companion CD- ROM. Ocala, Fla: Atlantic Pub. Group. Koekemoer, L., and Bird, S. (2004). Marketing communications. Lansdowne, South Africa: Juta Academic. Look to the Stars. (2012). [Online} Retrieved from http://www.looktoth estars.org/charity/amnesty-international (Accessed on 12 December 2012). MacNeela, P (2008), The Give and Take of Volunteering: Motives, Benefits, and Personal Connections among Irish Volunteers, Voluntas: International Journal Of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations, 19, 2, pp. 125-139, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 24 December 2012. O'Toole, W. (2002). Corporate Event Project Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Preston, C. (2012). Event marketing: How to successfully promote events, festivals, conventions, and expositions. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Raj, R., & Musgrave, J. (2009). Event management and sustainability. Wallingford, UK: CABI. Raj, R., Walters, P., & Rashid, T. (2009). Events management: An integrated and practical approach. Los Angeles: SAGE. Robinson, P., Wale, D., and Dickson, G. (2010). Events management. Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI. Sargeant, A. and Jay E. (2010). Fundraising management: Analysis, planning and practice. Abingdon: Routledge. Silvers, J. R. (2008). Risk management for meetings and events. Oxford: Elsevier. Shone, A., and Parry, B. (2004). Successful event management: A practical handbook. London: Thomson Learning. Waddell, R. D., Barnet, R. D., and Berry, J. (2007). This business of concert promotion and touring: A practical guide to creating, selling, organizing, and staging concerts. New York: Billboard Books. Yeshin, T. (2006). Sales promotion. London: Thomson Learning. Appendices Appendix 1 Cost Analysis Total Expenses/Expected Sales = 70,000/2000= £35 This figure represents minimal costs without finding donations to support the costs of putting up the performance. It is believed that the costs will be mitigated through donation of time, materials, and money. Costs plus Pricing £35 + £65 = £100 Even if the event is not covered by donations, the event can still donate £65 for every full price two day ticket sold. Appendix 2 Financial Analysis A reasonable expectation for the sales of the tickets would be as follows: Two Day Tickets: 1000 @ £100 £100,000 One day Tickets: 750 @ £75 £56,250 Evening Tickets: 250@ £50 £12,500 Vendor Rental – 6@ £500 £3,000 Total Revenue Estimate £171,750 This does not include donation that reach above the costs of the event. It is believed that the cost of the event without donations to cover those expenses will be about £70,000. The overall profit for donation to AI will be as follows: 171,750-70,000 = 101,750 Appendix 3 Projected Budget Costs: Staging £5,500 Marketing and Promotion £12,000 Waste Management £10,000 Space Rental £3,500 Ticket Booths, Fencing and Gates £7,000 £70,000 Read More