Business Event Analysis - Essay Example

Business Event Analysis and Report Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) Introduction and Theme This report aims at the event Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF), which will be held in Singapore for the first time in the last week of this month in collaboration with Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore. The theme of the event will be The Future of Mobile Marketing in Asia. (The Mobile Marketing Association 2009: Online) The event would be held on 28th April to 29th April 2009 at Suntec City Convention Centre with an aim to bring together the whole mobile marketing ecosystem to discuss the latest happenings and best practices in the industry. The seminar is all about for the players in the mobile technology world to join on one platform creating an environment for sharing and receiving making it the most enticing yet valuable meeting for them. (The Mobile Marketing Association 2008: Online) Mission and Scope of the Event By bringing the entire gamut of mobile sector under one roof, MMF aims to provide the environment for the major players in the industry to enhance their skills and capabilities and increase the know-how of the latest technologies, latest designs and ideas that could give them lead in their existing enterprises. There also will be an opportunity to hear from the leaders in the industry who have shown their spirit to pose big challenges in the existing markets. In the event, debate and active interactions will be welcomed opening new opportunities for them to develop new partnerships and connections for the future development of their own endeavoring propositions. MMF is aiming to receive funds for the event from sponsorships. Mike Wehrs, CEO and President, Mobile Marketing Association commented that this event would be the flagship event of the company widening our horizon in this dynamic market. Asia is the best place both for creating of innovative ideas and technologies and for usage of consumer. (The Mobile Marketing Association 2009: Online) With this event, company hopes that 70% of delegates from the industry will register themselves for the same. It would also be ensured that delegates showing interest for the same should register for whole program and also attend the same to get its full advantage as in the end there would be interactive sessions that to appease the clients. From the event Operating, Planning and Managing Event Organization of any event is a serious business involving thoughtful and well- planned lay out with the best strategic move. The biggest challenge is the way Event organizer has to keep in point image of the company while meeting the expenditure conducive to the budget and in this event when the biggest players of the mobile industry are becoming a part, then naturally this event should be a grand affair in itself. To attract the mobile business community to register themselves and convince them to join the seminar is yet another challenge. We have a target to get 150 registrations for the seminar. It is decided to promote the event through the websites, sending personal invitations to all the players in the industry through mail and advertisement through links at websites. This process would cost less as website of the company already exists and creating the links does not cost much. Mailing is also cheaper and best as it involves personal invitation. In mails motive, aim and the details of the program is also clearly mentioned. Through mails we can also invite sponsorships and speakers who are interested to deliver their ideas to the audience. The telephones and word of mouth is also the best way to encourage the visitors as it becomes more personal than even mails. This event is also the best venue for the companies to promote their products, as media will also be invited. Invitation to the delegates will be sent separately with adequate transport arrangement for them and the special transport arrangement will also be made for all those who are partners to this programs. Delegates, partners and speakers will be given DVDs of the program free. To invite for the event, MMA has also decided the method of registering of the interesting companies through their website and the prices of the same varies for the members as well as non members including the cost of DVD who so ever are interested. Another marketing strategy has been used to encourage participation: if the participants register before 27 March 2009, both the members and non-members will be given special discounts. For encouraging companies to join the event, taxable amount is not levied for the companies who join before March 27, 2009. To the special guests we have decided a discount of 5 per cent on the total cost of the price and those businessmen who are attending complete seminar and are also speakers also in the same is decided to give a discount of 10 per cent. Brochures can be sent through mail or can be downloaded through the website detailing the complete timeline of the event. The agenda of the two day conference has been made available on website to facilitate participants regarding the details of the whole program. In our yet again marketing strategic sponsorships can be invited from the associated companies who has direct link with the mobile world, like sponsorships from other players in the telecom industry who has interest in the same. They can be partner to the event and dignitaries in the same can be allowed to be the part of the seminar as their contribution helps boost the mobile sector. Along with them they can use the venue to promote their corporate propositions. This event would become a great venue for one of the biggest business entrepreneurship program where Asia’s biggest dealings will be held and biggest players in the mobile industry would show their future schemes and proposals. With the sponsorship our company would also hope to be profited atleast 40 per cent after the taxes, and costs deductions. Quality services would be provided, including special team appointed to make arrangements of stay for participants who have come from outside. Staying arrangements have been made at the hotels near the venue, including arrangement have been made for their transport. Even before the event is started all the efforts would be made to attend to all their queries, online as well as through telephone. 24 hours services have been provided for communicating with the delegates before the event as well as after the event. 24 hours services online as well as through net works of phones to redress any of their grievances or complaints. Suggestions from the delegates are also welcomed. The stage of the process of managing the event is deciding of a venue and then preparing to decorate it to make a place itself most enticing for guests. Deciding A Venue – For deciding a venue, there is a need to consider several viable options-the first being the nature of the venue in other words whether the venue conforms to the theme or not? To elaborate further, this Seminar aims to bring in the Asian players in the meeting to confirm in them ideas of The Future of Mobile Marketing in Asia, therefore the venue should be located in the place which is a center of the mobile market and secondly it should be in close proximity to transport network and thirdly it should be appealing to the visitors. Though it is a serious business catering to the business needs, making the venue lively charms the guest and increases their enthusiasm, therefore this venue could also be made lively by little bit of decoration, thematic colors and light music. Logistics After the venue is decided, there is a need to decide about logistics. Logistics means getting permits or insurance while making adequate arrangements for power, gas, water, power, sewerage, etc. all which requires considerable amount of time and is arranged much before time and are the first step in any management of the event. A logistics plan with the requirements and necessary items should be prepared in a chronological order of importance. As and as the deadline comes nearer, the less able one will be able to spend maximum amount of money. In short as suggested by Anton Shone and Bryn Parry, “there is a cut-off point at which the contractual arrangements have to stand (this varies, depending on what supplies or services are being provided and how long they take.)” (2004, p. 124) An officer in charge of the logistics will be assigned with the task of drawing various support functions for an event to take the work forward. Hereby proper care is also taken of parking with the vehicles of the guests will be parked at just the close proximity. Section I.1 Technical facilities The technical facilities that any event manager wishes to provide are getting more and more sophisticated increasing the need for outsourcing the equipments to the multimedia companies and other production teams. Here the need is to get loud speakers for the renowned speakers to deliver their speeches, then arrangement of slides for the presentations by speakers, DVDs will be specially arranged to record the speeches, which can be sold out who so ever are interested to buy the same. Arrangement will also be made for video recording of the whole program. Provision of multi-media will also be made for the computer-generated texts and graphics with sounds. A theatrical scene building technique will also be adopted to provide backdrop to the events. (Shone & Parry, 2004: 134) Arrangement of catering Lunch will be arranged and best catering services will be provided. Catering services is outsourced catering to the tastes of varieties of people. Human resource strategies Organizing of any event is not a single person’s job but involves whole team of human management. Human resource management is not only about the skills, knowledge, abilities but also the attributes, attitudes and aspirations. For this purpose the events committee is formed to identify the goals of the event and monitor progress of the same and will be responsible for various areas such as marketing, operations, finance and staffing. As such various teams were formed and the work was allocated to them with their assigned roles. The team has to face many challenges while in the process of organizing the event. The biggest challenge was the coordination problem with the various teams. To solve this problem a manager was appointment to whom all the team members need to report. In very large-scale companies teams are formed who work simultaneously on several projects at a one time. In the basic structure of the organisation there is a finance head, arranging finance for the companies, he or she does not have just responsibility for budgeting but also for cash flow and projects. When the venue was being decided by the committee members, several options came in front of them and controversy aroused regarding the place to be decided for the event. Finally Singapore was decided, as it is not just the hub of the Asian market but also best tourist destination. It is also a leading city in the mobile industry with the promise to take the industry forward. It is also the best place for the exports and imports with very less trade restrictions therefore Singapore was unanimously decided. One of the important tasks is managing people who are assigned with the responsibility of designing and staging the event. For actualizing the tasks, one team was formed for decorating and designing of the venue along with making arrangements for the technical equipments. Another team was fixed for organizing caterers for arranging for lunch for two days during the conference. Another was media team assigned with the task to send invitations and arrange for the promotion of the event along with the invitation to media. Another team was for arranging the transport for dignitaries along with the arrangement of parking. Some members of event organizers were arranged for security leaving them to handle their respective roles with out any interference with each other and in case of any problem, it would be dealt with the manager in charge. One team is for promotion of the event, encouraging the industrialists to join the same. This is a marketing team who has to ensure that their target of 70 per cent members is met. Each team is taken care of by the organizer or leader who is allocated the funds to meet their particular expenses. All these allotted assignments are carried under the able leader, who with his ability and skills provide vision, direction, and awareness to the entire team to make the event a success. (Tassiopoulos, D Damster, G. 2005: 136) (a) Conclusion Uniqueness of the mobile is its versatility with many brands at their anvil and their intrinsic capability to remain connected with their customers, engaging in a fruitful dialogue. But the rate at which mobile industry is growing, is also bringing in more challenges for marketers like invention in technologies, stiff competition, developing and framing new strategies, to retain their products and the way brands are finding their niche among their customers, how the way marketers increase their network and channels and the way they are managing the success rate. Moreover it is all the more important to see the way mobile technologies become more standardized while entering in the market arena. The event Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF) emphasizing these various aspects is being organized for the first time in Asia to promote mobile business and to make the event successful, above stated strategies in fields of marketing, operations and human resource management are required to be adopted whereby special focus will be put on marketing of promoting the conference, various aspects of operation management such as deciding venue, logistics, technical facilities and catering to facilitate and providing best services to the participants and above all, the whole team of the event management would be put together to accomplish the tasks successfully. Appendix: Challenges and Opportunities: As technology is changing very fast there is a need to bring more innovative and novel approach to make already technological savvy world to get themselves acquainted with the more advanced and more user friendly technology. Increasing innovative and technological way to organize seminar is a way to catch more eye balls. In the ever increasing competition, how the new entrepreneurs could enhance their marketing skills is also the biggest challenge. Always the main goal of the marketers and advertisers is to provide the right content to the right consumers at the right place and at the right time. This is the biggest challenge in the front of the event organizers who had to create an integrated well developed approach to make e even reach the wider audience just not for those who can reach the venue but also for those who cannot attend the seminar. They can sit at the convenience of their home and office and utilize every movement of the event. This can become possible by making interested participants register online and then they can get access through their media screens via, mobile, internet or Television to view and hear the speakers. They can also get themselves involved in the interactive session while sitting at home. This is a grand opportunity for all businessman in the mobile sector who cannot reach at the venue to attend the seminar. Main challenges that could be faced are the decision of the time, arrangement of the parking lot and special welcoming method for the delegates and media. Even managing human resources is a big challenge for any event organisation. The best recommended action for making this event a grand event is the appointment of the charismatic leader who has the capability to share authority, accountability, and responsibility. The selection, hiring, training and supervision of the team members should be based on their capability and experience. The best multimedia company for the technical equipments for the presentation and recordings should be chosen. The company rates could be costly but they will no doubt assure quality and best technical support (i) Reference List Catherwood, D.W., Kirk, R.L.V. & Ernst & Young. 1992. The Complete guide to special event management: business insights, financial advice, and successful strategies from Ernst & Young, advisors to the Olympics, the Emmy Awards, and the PGA Tour Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Goldblatt, J.J. 1997. Special Events: Best Practices in Modern Event Management Van Nostrand Reinhold. Goldblatt, J.J. 2005. Special Events: Event Leadership for a New World. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Gomes, R. & Knowles, P.A. 2006. Nonprofit Marketing: Marketing Management for Charitable and Nongovernmental Organisations. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2006. Hiebing, R.G. & Cooper, S.C. 2003. The successful marketing plan: a disciplined and comprehensive approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Hoyle, L.H. 2002. 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Tassiopoulos, D. & Damster, G. 2005. Event Management: A Professional and Developmental Approach. Lansdowne: Juta and Company Limited. Article II. The Mobile Marketing Association. 2009. Mobile Marketing Forum: Asia Pacific (Singapore) - April 28 & 29, 2009. [Online] Available: http://www.mobilemarketingforum.com/?q=node/717, April 13, 2009 The Mobile Marketing Association. 2009. Global Industry Leaders to Converge in Singapore to Outline Future of Mobile Marketing in Asia. [Online] Available: http://mmaglobal.com/news/global-industry-leaders-converge-singapore-outline-future-mobile-marketing-asia, April 13, 2009 Article III. The Mobile Marketing Association. 2008. MOBILE MARKETING FORUM SERIES (MMF). [Online] Available: http://www.mobilemarketingforum.com/, April 13, 2009 Article IV. The Mobile Marketing Association. 2009. MMF: April 2009 Singapore: Agenda. [Online] Available: http://mobilemarketingforum.com/?q=node/729, April 13, 2009. The Mobile Marketing Association. 2009. MMF: April 2009 Singapore: Speaker Bios. [Online] Available: http://mobilemarketingforum.com/?q=node/725, April 13, 2009. Article V. The Mobile Marketing Association. 2009. Mobile Marketing Forum DVD. [Online] Available: http://mmaglobal.com/events/forum-dvd April 13, 2009. Article VI. Wagen, L. V. 2007. Human Resource Management for Events: Managing the Event Workforce. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Yeoman, I., Robertson, M., Ali-Knight, J., Drummond, S., McMahon-Beattie, U. 2004. Festival and events management: an international arts and culture perspective Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Read More