Organizing an Adventure Sports Festival - Report Example

Report Executive Summary Planning an event or festival appears to be highly complex since multiple processes remain at stake. Moreover, each and every aspect of a planned event or festival needs to be effectively executed for ensuring the overall success of the project. This planning project will be mostly focussed towards evaluating every aspect of an adventure sports festival and planning it accordingly. The planned event scheduled to be held at Newcastle, Australia would be primarily focused on water based adventure sports wherein jet skilling, surfing, yacht racing and scuba diving would be the prime events to be organised in the two-day festival. They key benefit of the festival is expected to be leveraged by the location of the festival i.e. Newcastle in terms of augmenting visitors from across the globe who love to indulge in adventure sports. This in turn would also benefit the stakeholders such as water sports clubs and training centres to generate greater business and awareness. The potential impact of the festival is estimated to be long-lasting and the true benefits would be leveraged in the years to come with the increase in tourists and augmenting business for tourism visitors. 2. Introduction The main objective of this feasibility report is majorly focused on creating a plan for organizing an adventure sports festival within the area of Newcastle, Australia. The reason for choosing this area for this event is due to the fact that this area has been housing multiple sporting events since past few decades and is also the second leading populated area in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area of Newcastle, Australia has also drawn a number of adventure sports lovers over the years due to the availability of different facilities and locations for such events. Correspondingly, the detailed description of the proposed adventure sports festival has been articulated. The report primarily contains the event concept articulating the adventure sporting events that would be entailed in the festival, a brief description along with rationale of the event structure, risk assessment, stakeholder management plan, marketing & promotional strategies, an evaluation of the potential impact of the planned adventure sports festival and an estimated budget for the festival. 3. Event Concept In terms of drawing a feasibility of the event, it has to be kept into consideration that the duration of the planned adventure sports festival will be kept confined to only 2 days and will be conducted through the support of the local council of that area. Adding to that, the council will also be granting a funding amount of $5,000 as a support for organizing this festival (Newcastle, n.d.). The main intention behind organizing such an adventure sports festival is to attract adventure sports lovers from all across the globe to participate and show-off their talents to the world. This adventure sports festival will comprise multiple sporting events which have been explained in a detailed manner subsequently, Scuba Diving: A form of underwater sport where the diver explores the undermining beauties within the Australian seas. For carrying out this sport, the divers will be provided with the breathing apparatus by the management of this sporting festival against a reasonable registration fee. Moreover, the presence of sea coasts in the area of Newcastle, Australia has also resulted in the establishment of multiple scuba diving clubs and training centres within that area. This factor will be acting like an additive boost for this adventure sports festival (Newcastle Dive centre, 2011). Figure 1: Scuba Diving Jet Skiing: An adrenalin pumping sport where the sportsman experiences the thrill of high speed racing in water with the help of motorised water scooters. The coast of Newcastle has also got multiple Jet Ski training centres which will act like a magnet in terms of attracting the jet skiing sports lovers. This event will also be a part of the adventure sports festival (Newcastle Jet Ski Centre, n.d.). Figure 2: Jet Skiing Surfing: Another water based adventure sport in which the surfer surfs over the high roaring waves of the sea on a surfboard. Surfing is one of the most famous water sports and is also highly preferred by the sportsmen. Adding to that, Newcastle has also got five attractive surf beaches which act like a major attraction for water sports lovers (Australia’s Surfing Coast, n.d.). Figure 3: Surfing Yacht Racing: A kind of boat racing in which all the boats are wind powered and the rider regulates the wind panels for controlling the speed and the direction. The coastal areas of Newcastle have also got multiple yacht clubs which provide their wind powered yachts to the water sport lovers and the club members. Figure 4: Surfing Potential of Festival to Enhance Destination Image and Promoting Domestic Tourism All the sporting events in this planned adventure sports festival will remain majorly focussed towards water sports. This sporting festival will also act like an enhancer with regard to improvising the image and the reputation of Newcastle on the global platform. Moreover, this sporting festival will also receive appreciable amount of support from the local coastal authorities for whom, this festival will be just like an advertisement campaign in terms of promoting tourism within that area. Apart from these factors, this adventure sports festival will also benefit the local hospitality sector within that area along with facilitating domestic tourism. Festivals like these are mostly aimed towards attracting large crowd of participants from both domestic and international localities (Hone, n.d.). 4. Description and Rationale of Event Structure The pattern of structuring this sporting festival might appear as complex in nature and so for the sake of effective understanding a diagrammatic representation of the various departments along with their roles, the events along with their timings and the selected locations will be mentioned in this festival structuring chart as shown below: The above projected event structure would help in terms of elaborating its suitability for three major factors which have been explained hereunder. Target Market (Customers) For this adventure sports festival, the target market generally lies around the coastal areas of Newcastle, Australia since every sporting event which will be organized in this festival is a water sport. Adding to that, the water sports lovers from inside and outside of Australia will be the target customers for this festival. Subsequently, the beautiful coastal areas of Nelson Bay will act as a crucial factor adding up to the suitability of festival to the desired target market (PMZ Marketing, 2013). Festival Structure The structuring of this sporting festival has already been provided above. From that projection, an understanding can be drawn regarding the timing for organizing the various sporting events along with the details of each and every stakeholder who will be sponsoring for this sporting event (OToole, 2011). Furthermore, the registration process will initialize 30 days prior to the main festival so that the details of the participants can be arranged in a systematic manner. Venue Appropriateness With regard to an appropriate venue for this sporting festival, the coastal area of Nelson Bay has been selected. This selected location projects a high level of appropriateness for all the planned sporting events which include scuba diving, surfing, jet skiing and yacht racing. In addition, the beautiful surrounding of Nelson Bay will act like a magnet in terms of attracting participants and the interested local inhabitants as well. Contribution of the Adventure Sporting Festival towards Local Community Development It can be seen from the above structuring of the festival, there will be a major contribution sought from multiple local clubs and sponsors which will in turn facilitate them in promoting themselves. These local clubs and sponsors have contributed both in terms of financial support as well as sports equipment supply. These initiatives will be like a significant factor with regard to the development of the local community within that area (Larkin, 2008). The development concept for this coming festive context can be explained in terms of the monetary and the reputational benefits which the local council within that area has been expecting to attain during this sporting festival. The local council might also expect increased amount of domestic spending on behalf of participation of the local crowd in this adventure sports festival. As a result of all these, the chances of attaining future tourism scope for this area will gradually increase. Thus, as a matter of fact, it can be stated that the organization of sporting events like this will genuinely contribute towards the development of the local community over the area of Newcastle, Australia in a positive manner (Larkin, 2008). Establishment of Connection with the Local Qualities of Newcastle, Australia Establishment of connection with the local culture and tradition of Newcastle, Australia will act as one of the major factors, which is expected to be promoted through this sporting festival. As already stated above, this sporting festival will be focussing towards inviting both domestic as well as foreign sports lovers. Thus, there seems to be a good opportunity of attaining a culturally and traditionally diversified scenario even if for a shorter time span. Both the domestic as well as the international population will come to know about new traditions and customs. Apart from only benefiting the water sporting industries over there, the level of historical as well as present scenario knowledge sharing will gradually go up (Johnson & O’Connor, 2008). 5. Risk Assessment Risk assessment is one of the most crucial factors which this festival organizers need to keep in mind for guaranteeing the successful attainment of the desired goals. The risk factors find much more creditability with regard to the organization of this adventure sporting festivals since the chances of human injury are always present (Van Der Wagen, 2007). Apart from just the risks regarding physical injury of the participants, there are multiple other risk factors which the directors of this sporting festival should concern about. For instance, the ways in which this sporting festival will promote the tradition and the cultural factors of the local inhabitants within the areas of Newcastle Australia (University of the Sunshine Coast, 2013). Adding to the above factors, the way in which the local inhabitants as well as the participants respond to this adventure sporting festival forms a prime dependability factor in relation to the successful accomplishment of this festival. Moreover, the risk factor regarding sudden arising of financial issues might also risk the integrity of this sporting festival to a significant level. Consequently, the finance related risks will have to be dealt with utmost concern since the entire festive event is budget oriented (Out Facilities Management, 2014). Another risk factor which might arise in the course of this sporting festival organizing is regarding the facility in which the events will be conducted. In simple terms, common issues such as chances of fire breakout within the setup, failure of the electronic equipment, sudden absence of the staff members, sudden change in the weather pattern, inconvenience in crowd management, and parking issues among others can create considerable obstacles (Out Facilities Management, 2014). On the contrary to the above assessed risks, appropriate steps will be taken for preventing the occurrences of any such happenings. For instance, necessary medical and fire control teams will be arranged during each and every sporting event. Besides, certain local advertisers will also be hired in terms of carrying out the promotion process in an effective manner (University of the Sunshine Coast, 2013). Novelty and Uniqueness of Festival Concept The uniqueness and the novelty of this adventure sports festival lies in the fact that it is mainly aimed in terms of improvising the cultural diversification within individuals favouring to participate in adventure sports belonging from different locations (La Trobe University, 2008). Another point of uniqueness lies in the fact that this sporting festival will also help in terms of tourism promotion within the area of Newcastle, Australia. Specifically the water tourism sector will receive a massive boost. Through this sporting festival, interested people will come to know more about this location and thus will perform simultaneous visits which in turn would benefit the tourism as well as the hospitality sectors within this area. In simple terms, it will act like a short term economic benefit for Newcastle, Australia (Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF), 2012). All these above stated facts include the elements that will make this adventure sporting festival unique and novel to the visitors. 6. Stakeholder Management Plan Stakeholder management will also form a vital factor with respect to successfully carrying out this festival. For this festival, the general stakeholders list will include the local council and multiple other water sports clubs and training centres which have been already mentioned above in the planning structure. Adding to that, just like the participant registration, the stakeholder registration will also be staring 30 days prior to the festival day and the registration gateway will be kept opened till 15 days before the festival for providing entrance to any last moment interested stakeholder parties (Larson, 2004). Apart from these, the support from the stakeholders will generally include, facility booking or setup for the festival conduction along with the provision of funding support. Moreover, the local council will also be a vital stakeholder in terms of the provision of all necessary permissions for carrying out this festival in an uninterrupted fashion. Each and every stakeholder will be charged with a specific entry fee depending on the type of membership package they want to select. The membership packages will be available in two types. Thus, the sponsors can either opt for normal membership package or they can opt for the premium membership variant (Freeman, 2010; Larson, 2004). The variation between these two packages will generally depend on the type of advertisement. For instance, the premium membership stakeholders will be advertised more in comparison with that of the advertisement levels of the normal membership stakeholders (Larson, 2004). Correspondingly, the advertisements will be done in terms of the various sports equipment and the preliminary training services which will be provided by these stakeholders for this festival. These stakeholders along with the local council of Newcastle, Australia will be of voluntary form and will also bear some portion of the risks which might arise during this function’s conduct. In a similar context, the profit attained through this adventure sports festival will be shared among the stakeholders based on their percentile investment levels (Larson, 2004). 7. Marketing and Promotional Strategies Since this is a participant oriented sporting function so the main strategy behind the advertisement efforts will be towards attracting more and more water sports loving participants. Apart from just the participants, the advertisement campaign should also aim towards attracting multiple new sponsors. With the due support from the sponsors in terms of monetary value, the wow factor of this festival could gradually be increased (Government of South Australia, 2013). Adding to the above stated facts, for effectively advertising this adventure sports festival, an appropriate marketing communication strategy will have to be formulated. This strategy will generally be including various advertisement methods through which the attention of the participants from all across the globe can be attained (Getz, 2005).The detailed description of the advertisement plan which will appropriately suite this festival’s promotion has been provided hereunder (The District Council of Elliston, 2007). The entire promotional strategy for this festival will be majorly based upon 3 factors, namely: Entertainment Enterprise Excitement All these three E’s describe about intangible aspects of promotion but will prove highly effective. Adventure sports are always accompanied by entertainment and excitement. In this sporting festival, the participants will be ones who based on their excitement will entertain the remaining non-participating visitors. However, the enterprise factor generally helps in describing the supportive organizations which all will be acting as the risk-takers. Based on these three E’s of event marketing, an understanding can be drawn regarding the implication of buzz marketing technique to be highly effective in terms of advertising this adventure sporting function (CRPGROUP, 2011). Apart from the buzz marketing technique, the mass media communication technique might also prove to be highly effective in conveying the promotional message to a large group of customers on both domestic as well as global manner. Adding to the first two advertisement techniques, the local water sporting clubs can also play a significant role in terms of attracting a large number of domestic participants. The billboard promotional technique can also be taken into consideration for the promotion purpose. Apart from all these, still there exists another promotional technique through which the attention of a large sized population can be attained. This specific promotional technique is the social media. For instance, adding promotions on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter can enable to attain a lot of user response in a global fashion (CRPGROUP, 2011). All these above stated facts describe the various promotional strategies which could be undertaken in terms of attaining high amount of participant’s attention as well as support from multiple new sponsors. 8. Potential Impact of the Planned Adventure Sports Festival The extent of the impact of this sporting festival on Newcastle, Australia is still unknown and is yet to be seen. However, this sporting festival mainly aims towards laying a positive impact throughout the area of its conduct. The impact factor in simple terms can be explained as promotional benefits for the local sporting clubs along with increased worldwide recognition of Newcastle, Australia for facilitating this kind of sporting festivals. Adding to these few key aspects, the festival also aims towards laying multiple other positive impacts in the areas of tradition and cultural diversifications well as understanding. The tourism as well as the hospitality sector will earn significant amount of benefits even if for a short time duration. Besides, the global awareness of the sports lovers regarding Newcastle, Australia will also gradually increase and thus the rate of foreign visitors visiting this place will also progressively enlarge. All these will contribute towards reflecting the positive impact of this adventure sports event over the area of Newcastle, Australia. 9. Budget In this section, the proposed budget has been provided based on the funding details. As per the provided details, an approximate figure of $5,000 will be contributed as a financial support from the local council. Adding to that, a considerable sum of monetary funds is expected to be attained through the other local sporting club sponsors as registration fee. The details of these monetary attainments have been listed in the below provided table: Budget Table Expenses Notes (Estimated Budget Figures) Promotion Activities All together the mentioned forms of mass media communication have been used in terms of promoting this sports festival and their corresponding expense budget has also been projected. Television Advertisement $375 Bill Board Posting $230 Local Newspapers $200 VIP Passes $110 Social Media Promotion $250 Live Demonstrations $200 Subtotal $1365 Rent Setup Facility $2000 This segment of expenditure mainly describes the multiple expenses in terms of setting up the facility where the sporting function will be organized. Electricity $300 Decoration $350 Parking Space Rent $1000 Food Catering $1300 Equipment Exhibition Area $900 Subtotal $5850 Travel Expense of the Organizing Team Domestic Expense $700 This section describes the expense undertaken by organizing team in terms of reaching the venues. International air travel $2000 lodging $1000 Fooding $800 Subtotal $4500 Equipment Expense Jet Skis Sponsored This section mainly describes the sponsored equipment which will be borne by sport club stakeholders along with a few other safety equipment expenses Yacht Boats Sponsored Surfboards Sponsored Scuba Diving Equipment Sponsored Other organizing Equipment $4000 Security Equipment and Arrangement $1000 Subtotal $5000 Revenue Sponsors The Local Council $5000 This section mainly delineates the revenue earning from various sponsors Newcastle Dive Centre $2000 Aqua Zero Dive Centre $2000 Dive Imports Australia $2000 Dive Skate & Ski Newcastle $2000 JETFUN $2000 Newcastle Jet ski Centre $2000 McTavish Surf Retail $2000 Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club $2000 Participant Registration $5000 Revenue from visitors ticket purchase $8000 Subtotal Revenue $34,000 Total Revenue $34,000 (-) Total Expense $16715 Net Profit/ Loss $17285 10. Conclusion From the effective evaluation of the above mentioned facts in relation to that of this adventure sports festival planning, multiple aspects came up subsequently. One such crucial aspect is regarding the necessity of risk assessment and management and how it contributes towards the success factor of this entire planning process. Multiple other aspects such as stakeholder management and target customer identification also would play a significant role in terms of effectively carrying out this planned festival. In the overall report, it is discussed that the selected sporting events i.e. scuba diving, jet skilling, yacht racing and surfing can be successfully performed as a part of adventure sports festival organised in Newcastle, Australia due to the collaboration of local stakeholders such as local council, a number of water sports clubs and training centres among others. The festival can also enhance the destination image of Newcastle by creating a global awareness amid adventure loving individuals which in turn can facilitate to draw a lot of tourists in the upcoming period. The facets such as entertainment, enterprise and excitement would be the key factors in the promotional strategy to create a buzz and draw in target visitors to the festival. Consequently, it can be stated that the festival would be a path-breaking opportunity for Newcastle to emerge as a prominent location for events and tourism activities in Australia. References Australia’s Surfing Coast. (n.d.). Newcastle. Retrieved from http://www.surfthecoast.com.au/Newcastle CRPGROUP. (2011). Planning and running sporting events. Building Better Clubs Workshop, 1-15. Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press. Government of South Australia. (2013). Marketing & communication strategies for sport & recreation organisations. 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Retrieved from http://www.newcastledive.com.au/about-us/about-us.html Newcastle Jet Ski Centre. (n.d.). Welcome to the Newcastle Jet Ski centre. Retrieved from http://www.newcastlejetskicentre.com.au/ Out Facilities Management. (2014). legal obligations, planning and preparation. Event Safety & Planning Checklist for University Events, 1-18. OToole, W. (2011). Events feasibility and development: from strategy to operations. Sydney: Butterworth-Heinemann. PMZ Marketing. (2013). Targeting potential customers for better marketing results. Better Marketing Results, 1-2. The District Council of Elliston. (2007). Event safety risk assessment and event management plan. Event Safety and Planning, 1-21. Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF). (2012). Membership of tourism & transport forum. Sports Tourism Issue Paper, 1-15. University of the Sunshine Coast. (2013). Risk assessment / safety checklist for events. Activity/Task/Hazard, 1-5. Van Der Wagen, L. (2007). Event Management for Tourism, Cultural, Business and Sporting Events. New South Wales: Pearson Hospitality Press. Read More