The Burning Man - Coursework Example

FESTIVAL AND EVENT ORGANISATION OF YOUR CHOICE Burning man Contents Contents 2 Introduction  3 Background 3 Objective of the event 4 Ownership 4 Structure 6 Figure 9: Organisation chart 10 Analysis of the environment of the Organization 10 Micro environment 10 Macro environment 12 Plans, decisions, operations 13 The planning phase 14 Planning phase 15 Execution phase 15 Completion 15 Recommendation 15 References 17 Jain, T.R., Trehan, M., and Trehan, R., 2010. Business environment. New Delhi: FK Publications. 20 Appendix 21 Introduction  Background The Burning man is a yearly event that is organized in the deserts of the Navada in the USA. The participants in the events are not there to just consume but ‘Prosume’ who produce as well as consume instead of just consuming. The event starts in the last Monday in August and ends on the first Monday in September. When the participants arrive to the festival they do not find a part or arts that are already built. Instead of viewing themselves as passive consumers of the festival they become a part of burning man’s social fabric. When the ‘burner community’ as the participants are called, arrive at the event they do not find a completely finished setting. Instead they find a work in progress in which they too have to participate in order complete the various structures. Participants are transformed from passive consumers to active ‘prosumers’ who produce as well as consume instead of just consuming (Gdmez, 2013). The principles that engulf the activity include radical inclusion, participation and immediacy in a community or city and where everyone feels at home. In fact the first message that one sees when going to the site or their website is the message welcome home. Everyone feels at home in the community that is established in the desert. It is a home away from home where the participants and the burner community are welcomed to a “city in the desert, a culture of possibility, a network of dreamers and doers”. They help the participants achieve this objective by making the participants in making the structures by collaborating with each other. The logo of the event is an outline of a man called simply the man. The participants work in the blazing hot sun to build this man and many other frameworks just to burn them all down after the event is over. The no. of people who participate in the event is shown in figure 3. People come from all over America and world in order to attend the festival. Objective of the event Rather than any other festival where people visit the festival just to consume, the unique aim and objective that acts as the guiding light to the burning man event is the idea of radical inclusion. The event aims to instil in its participants a set of community values where they are not merely spectators but participants to the event. In order to be able to achieve this objective the participants are encouraged to take part in a variety of participatory events and framework, form part of the participatory decision making and work together collaboratively to build a entire city in the desert (Ali-Knight, 2009). The participants participate in community events especially community art. This is how the burning man festival has been able to preserve its integrity over the years. The logo of the Burning man event is shown in figure 1. Figure 1 Burning man logo Ownership The event is organized by the Black rock city LLC, located in the deserts of NAVADA on a dry lake bed. The founder member of the Black rock city LLC that is Larry Harvey started the event in the beaches of San Francisco and started building huge effigies and then burnt the same from the year 1986. Later in 1990 the event was transported to Nevada from where it has been organized since the time it was shifted to the desert (Bekker, 2005). However, recently the ownership has been shifted from the limited liability company to a non profit organization known a Burning man Project (Bruder, 2011). The motto of the Burning man event and the site at various Burning man events as shown in figure 2, Figure 2 the Burning man motto, the site at different events (Burning man., 2015a). Figure 3 Moop map of the area and population who visited the festival in the corresponding years Figure 4 Website of the organization (Burning man, 2015a) Structure The Burning man event has been handled by a formal organization since the year 1997. This was done as the legal requirements made it necessary for the organizers to establish Black rock LLC a limited liability company (Katherine, 2009). Since then as the event started becoming larger and grander in scale and it became necessary for the organization to become more structured. The Moop map which is the total map of the area and the no. of people who visited the event over two consecutive years is shown in figure 3. The website of the figure is shown in figure 4. The organization became the sole authority that was responsible for setting up the policy, overseeing major financial decisions and also making any other decisions that directly impact the survival of the event. Beneath the top management is the Burning man’s senior staff, along with the existence of many consultants, departments and sub committees that help in organizing the event. The members of the senior staff were required to organize the budget and manage day to day finances of the event. The festival also included a large no. of independent volunteer associations such as the artist group and the service organizations (Aageson, 1999). Together all of these different groups of people helped in the smooth running of the event. The Burning man event and the organization that governs the event has avoided becoming too much hierarchical or a bureaucratic organization by engaging in greater discussion with the employees and giving greater responsibilities to the volunteers. Black rock LLC had actually followed a dissemination model in which the independent organization and the volunteer organizations were given more powers to carry out the tasks and were made responsible in training the newcomers (Adams, 2000). In 2011the control of the event was shifted from the hands of the Black rock city LLC; to a non profit organization known as the Burning man organization (Glynn, 2001). The funding for the event does not come from any corporate sponsorship as there are no banners of any corporate or any handling that is allowed in the event. All the funds for the event come from ticket sales and after the completion of each event the detailed chart of the expenditure is posted online (Barnard, 2000). The burning man is known as the network of people that are inspired by values that are reflected in the 10 principles and are united in the pursuit of creating a more connected existence in the world. The ten principles are mentioned in figure 5. Throughout the year the organization works in Black Rock City that is the home of the largest burning man festival of a year. The non- profit burning man project is headquartered in the San Francisco, California. Figure 5 10 principles at the burning man (Burning man., 2015a) Figure 9: Organisation chart Analysis of the environment of the Organization Figure 6 environment analysis of the organization (Jain, Trehan, and Trehan, 2010) The Organization does not exist as a separate entity but is influenced by the dynamics of the environment in which it exists. Micro environment There are two types of environment which generally have an influence over the organization. One is the macro and other is the micro environment (Ehrenberg, 2000). While it is not possible for the organization to control the macro environment in which the organization operates the organization can exert some degree of control on the micro environment in which the company operates (Hallowell, 1996). The first and perhaps the most important player of the microenvironment is the organization itself (Bhattacharya, Hayagreeva, & Mary, 2010). The organization management is the most important decision making body making influence on the environment through their decisions and in turn getting influenced by the environment. The managers are given freedom to take decisions but should take responsibility of their decisions. Another important part of the microenvironment is the customers or in this case are the participants of the event. It is an obvious fact that the main factor to the success of the event is the participants who come to the event (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998). The Burning man event must do something innovative every year so that it can keep on attracting participants to the events. For most of the events of this scale another important player in the microeconomic environment is the provider of the finance or the sponsors of the event (Dimaggio, Useem, & Brown, 2004). However in case of the Burning man event, in order to keep up the motto that it is not for profit, the event does not draw any sponsorship and does not entertain any sponsorship (Kotler, and Anderson, 1996). The event is now being held by the Burning man organization which is a not for profit organization (Peppers and Rogers, 2004). In fact one of the main characteristics of the event is that one almost does not require any cash to bring to the event (Carrigan and Pelsmacker, 2009). Most of the food is cooked by group activities and community lunch. The funding for the event comes from ticket sales. Total expenditure for the year 2012 was $22,111,580. The expenditure details is available in the website. Another important component or part of the microenvironment of the organization is the presence of other independent and volunteer organizations who are given powers to carry out the event and train new comers (Shone, and Parry, 2004). Macro environment In addition to the micro environment factors that might affect the event, there are also elements of the macro environment that might have an impact on the event (Andersen, 2001). The various parameters of the macro environment which might have an impact on the event are grouped under different headings in the PEST analysis. Political Economic Social Technological New license rules may be enforced by the government on the organizers in order to host an event in this scale. There may be change in legislation which might motivate the events to take place on a boarder scale or diminish the scope of the events. It was government intervention that forced a change in the ownership structure of the event from the hands of a private limited company to a non profit organization after forcing in the first place that the organizers should form a limited liability company in the first place to organize the event. Global economic downturn may have a negative impact on the event as people decide to cut their festive spending under situation of rising unemployment (Schmeiser, 2010). Rising cost of ticket may cause the visitors count to the venue decrease and have a negative impact on the event (Sonner, 2013) (Kopytoff, 2014). The social or cultural aspect of the event needs that the people and the participants who take part in the event follow the 10 principles that are core to the event (Burning man., 2015c). The people from all works are encouraged to take part in the event and are encouraged to intermingle with each other (Smith, 2014). The success of the event is also in many ways dependent upon how the strategy towards saving and investment, green and ecological products, idea of collaborative work change over time. The technological factor is not an important thing in the event as the event will not include any technology as the event is a green event and the people are allowed to ride in the premises of the event with a cycle. People are not allowed to bring anything in the event that they will not take back with them. The people are not allowed to leave anything on the event grounds. Plans, decisions, operations Although the events in general are fairly non routine, the techniques that are used to organize these events are fairly routine (Yeoman, 2004). In order to reduce uncertainties those are related to an event, effective planning and preparation is an essential aspect (Berridge, 2007) (Barsdale, 1999). It is necessary to ensure effective planning and preparation so the person who is coordinating the event is better equipped to concentrate on the unexpected challenges that might arise during the course of the event (Bladen, 2012). Whereas organizations who organize event that are one time work towards a specific target, in case of the organization and the event that is the burning man event which is a continuous event the planning and preparation to the event goes on year long (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003). Figure 5 Life cycle of an event The event lifecycle can be broadly divided in three phases that is the planning phase, execution phase and the completion phase. The planning phase has two subparts that is event concept and event coordination (Wagle, 2003). The execution phase is divided into event culmination and the last part is event closeout (Kotler and Anderson, 1996). The planning phase The planning phase may also be called the pre event phase (De Montebello, 2010). This is the most important phase as this phase involves detailed planning about the event (Felzenshṭain, Schamp and Shachar, 2002). During this phase detailed plans about Burning man is formed which includes marketing the event, preparing the budget of the event, planning the venue, deciding the support services, making sure of the infrastructure and related requirements etc (Hallowell, 1996). This phase also involves renewal of licence and completing other legal formalities required to host the Burning man event. The operating plan of the Burning man for the 2011 is given in the reference (Burning man., 2011). Planning phase The planning phase involves making actual plans that will help in the lead time up to the event It involves detailed planning about the Burning man event in terms of planning every detail and the contingency that may arise and taking necessary steps to control those contingency events. The planning must involve all the staffs with their roles and responsibilities clearly mentioned to them and helping them to carry out their tasks effectively so as to effectively host Burning man event. Execution phase The execution phase involves actual execution of the tasks at hand (Boaz, 2006). If the decisions in the planning phase are set all right that is the Burning man event has been correctly planned then the execution phase will be rather easy to follow. The execution phase will consist of the participants getting involved in making the various structures at the event ground. The participants will get involved in the spirit of the event and will engage in presumption that is they will both produce and consume. Completion Completion will involve burning down all the structures built during the Burning man event. The participants are not allowed to leave back any trace or any material. As the closure comes near the organizers will be preparing for hosting the same again next year and the cycle goes on. Recommendation Strength 1. Strong reputation 2. Relatively unaffected by recession 3. Long history in hosting the event successfully over the years 4. Unique and original Weakness 1. Licence clearance being a problem over the years 2. To keep the prices low but maintain the profitability of the event at the same time. Opportunity 1. To launch more editions of the events in future. 2. To launch the events in different parts cities across the world. Threat 1. More such type of events coming up in future Competition! 2. The government impose restrictions to host the event. Figure 8 After performing the SWOT analysis of the Burning man event based on all the parameters possible, the conclusion that is arrived at is the fact that hosting the event of such large scale requires expertise and that is quite excellently exhibited by the management team at the organization. However, the biggest challenge that remains is to keep the event relevant and to keep maintaining the prices while ensuring that the event and its spirit survive at the same time (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998). References Aageson, T. 1999. Market Value: Five Steps to an Effective Museum Marketing Plan. Museum News. Vol. 78 (1). Adams, G. D. 2000. Make Your Museum an Expert on its Customers. History News. Vol.5 (2). Ali-Knight, J. 2009. International perspectives of festivals and events. Oxford: Elsevier Science. Andersen, H. 2001. The Market Leaders. Museums Journal. Vol.101 (2). Andreassen, T., and Lindestad, B., 1998. Customer Loyaslty and Control Services. International Journal of Service Marketing, 12(3). pp.3-4. Barnard, M. 2000. The Tourist Trap. Museums Journal. Vol. 100 (2). Barsdale, K. J. 1999. Measuring Your Arts Economy: Twelve Questions and Answers About Economic Impact Studies. Museum News. Vol. 14(1). Bekker, H. 2005, Adventure guide, Hunter, Edison, N.J. Berridge, G. 2007. Events design and experience. Butterworth Heinemann: Oxford. Bhattacharya, C. B., Hayagreeva, R. & Mary, A. G. 2010. Understanding the Bond of Identification: An Investigation of Its Correlates among Art Museum Members. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 59(1). Bladen, C. 2012. Events management. Routledge: New York. Boaz, M. 2006. Planning for the Arts: A Community Handbook. London: Routlege. Bruder, J., 2011. The Changing Face of the Burning Man Festival. [Online]. Available at< http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/business/growing-pains-for-burning-man-festival.html?_r=0 > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Burning man., 2015a. Burning man. [Online]. Available at< http://burningman.org/ > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Burning man., 2015b. The Network. [Online]. Available at< http://burningman.org/network/about-us/people/year-round-staff/ > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Burning man., 2015c. The Culture. [Online]. Available at< http://burningman.org/culture/ > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Burning man, 2015d. Financial chart 2012. [Online]. Available at< http://burningman.org/culture/history/brc-history/afterburn/2012-2/financial-chart/ > [Accessed 24 May 2015] Carrigan, M., and Pelsmacker, P., 2009. Will Ethical Consumers sustain their values in the global credit crunch? International marketing Review, 6(3), p.11. De Montebello, P. 2010. The Art Museum’s Most Valuable Currency: Curatorial Expertise. The Art Newspaper. Vol. 115 (2). Dimaggio, P. J., Useem, M. & Brown, P. 2004. Audience Studies of the Performing Arts and Museums. Museum News. Vol.114 (1). Ehrenberg, S. C., 2000. Repetitive Advertising and the Consumer. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 40 (1). Felzenshṭain, D., Schamp, E. and Shachar, A. 2002, Emerging nodes in the global economy, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht. Gdmez, M. A., 2013. Order in the Desert: Law Abiding Behavior at Burning Man. Journal of Dispute Resolution. 2013(1). pp. 349-373. Glynn, M. A. 2001. Audience Research. Museum News. Vol. 64(1). Hallowell, R., 1996. The Relationships of Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and Profitability: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Service Industry, 7(2), p.1. Katherine, C., 2009. Enabling Creative Chaos: The Organization Behind the Burning Man Event. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Press. Kopytoff, V., 2014. Burning Mans bacchanal: Big ticket sales, big costs. [Online]. Available at< http://fortune.com/2014/08/29/burning-mans-bacchanal-big-ticket-sales-big-costs/ > [Accessed 3 April 2015]. Kotler, P., and Anderson, A., 1996. Strategic Marketing on Non-Profit Organizations. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Peppers, D., and Rogers, M., 2004. Managing customer relations: A strategic framework. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Ritchie, J. and Crouch, G. 2003. The competitive destination, CABI Pub, Oxon, UK. Schmeiser, L., 2010. Burning Man: Recession-proof? [Online]. Available at< http://blog.sfgate.com/dollarsandsense/2010/08/24/burning-man-recession-proof/ > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Shone, A. and Parry, B. 2004. Successful event management: A practical handbook. London: Cengage Learning EMA. Smith, A., 2014. The crazy world of Burning Man – festival survival guide. [Online]. Available at< http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/jul/29/sp-burning-man-festival-survival-guide > [Accessed 3 April 2015] Sonner, S., 2013. Burning Man Just Got Even Pricier. [Online]. Available at< http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/burning-man-yearly-fees_n_4259646.html?ir=India >[Accessed 3 April 2015]. Wagle, V. 2003. Europe on a shoestring. Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications. Yeoman, I. 2004. Festival and events management. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. Burning man., 2011. Burning man operating plan 2011. [Online]. Available at < http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/nv/field_offices/winnemucca_field_office/nepa/recreation/0.Par.1113.File.dat/2011%20Operating%20Plan.pdf > [Accessed 24 May 2015]. Jain, T.R., Trehan, M., and Trehan, R., 2010. Business environment. New Delhi: FK Publications. Appendix Figure 6: Founders Figure 7: Board members (Burning man, 2015b) 1. Chris Bentley 2. Chip Conley 3. David B Walker 4. Crimson Rose 5. Harley K Dubois 6. Jennifer Raiser 7. Kay Morrison 8. Larry Harvey 9. Leo Villareal 10. Matt Goldberg 11. Marian Goodell 12. Mercedez Martinez 13. Michael Mikel a.k.a. “Danger Ranger” 14. Mike Farrah 15. Rae Richman 16. Terry Gross 17. Will Roger Staffs 1. Allison Dewald a.k.a. Sunny (Office Hospitality) 2. Ally Deraps (Associate Counsel) 3. Andrew Lowe (Burning Man Tech Team Web Developer) 4. Answergirl (Placement Manager) 5. Audrey Whaling (Black Rock City Event Operations Team Associate ) 6. Bear Kittay (Social Alchemist) 7. Blue (Burning Man Headquarters Facilities Manager) 8. Carmen Mauk (Founder and Executive Director, Burners Without Borders) 9. Charlie Dolman a.k.a. Louder Charlie (Event Operations Director) 10. Dave X (Fire Arts Safety Team Manager) 11. DJ Momme 12. Dominic Tinio a.k.a. D.A. of Black Rock (Black Rock City Department of Public Works Playa Restoration Manager) 13. Doug Robertson (Director of Finance) Read More