START AN EXCITING JOURNEY INTO EVENT MANAGEMENT!
There are events taking place all the time, some are impromptu but others require different levels of organisation. There are many different types of event, some of the most popular include:
- Corporate events e.g. conferences, seminars, exhibitions
- Weddings
- Parties
- Concerts
- Festivals
- Sporting
If you:
- Enjoy meeting new people
- Like a job that is varied
- Are patient
- Have great organisational skills
- Can be flexible
then this sector could be a great one for you to work in!
This course covers lots of different areas relating to the organisation of events as well as what goes on behind the scenes. If you're looking to improve your knowledge and skills within the area of events management, then sign up for this course!
Lesson Structure
There are 9 lessons in this course:
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Scope and Nature of Event Management
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What is Event Management
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Planning an Event or Conference
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When to Run an Event
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Other factors
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Where to Hold an Event
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Event Management Companies
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Planning Example -A Christmas Party
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Developing the Concept
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Naturally Occurring Events
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Creating New & Original Events
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Planning a Party in a Home
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Making Decisions
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Contingencies
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Hiring Equipment
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Fire at Events (BBQ’s, Bonfires, Fire Pits, Braziers, Torches, Fireworks)
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Safety
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Planning a Public Event
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Evaluation Checklist
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Physical and Human Resources
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Volunteers
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Managing Staff
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Leadership
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Giving Orders & Instructions
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Communicating Change
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Forming a Team
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Types of Team Members
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Elements of a Team
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Dealing with Problems in Teams
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Nurturing a Team
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Committees
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Guidelines for Planning a Show or Exhibition
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Hiring Tradesmen
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Choosing an Event Location
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Décor
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Equipment
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Entertainment
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Choosing a User Friendly Site
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Lighting
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Car Parking and Transport
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Project Logistics
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Contingencies
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Traffic Management
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Toilets and Locker Rooms
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Security Lighting
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Legal Liability
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Understanding Legal Requirements and Controls
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Negligence
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Local Government and Liability
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Minimising Risk
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Marketing an Event
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Target Audience
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Publicity
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Public Relations
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Sponsorship
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Developing a Business Plan
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Key Strategy
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Business Priority
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Action Plan
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Marketing Strategy
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Business Reviews
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Marketing
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Advertising
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Financial Management
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Types of Budgets
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Budgeting an Event
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Cash Flow
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Controlling Cash
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Cash Cycle
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Liquidity
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Financial Decisions
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Budget Performance Reports
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Improving Profit
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Reducing Costs
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Controlling Expenditure
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Risk Management
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Risk Reduction
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Managing Risk
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Sensitivity Analysis
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Quality Systems
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Contingency Planning
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Catering for People Overload
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Managing Slippery Surfaces
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Identifying Risk
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Workplace Policy
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Risk Control Methods
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Business Law
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Legal Rights and Obligations
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Consumer Protection
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The Law & Employees
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Dispute Management
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Duty of Care
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Staging the Event
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Theme of an Event
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Venue Choice
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Audience and Guests
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Ticketing
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The Stage
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Power, Lights, Sound
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Catering
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Performers
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Crew
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Hospitality
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Recording an Event
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Contingencies
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Crowd Control
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After the Event
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Measuring Success
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Dealing with Complaints
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Cleaning Up
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Repairing Lawns
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Evaluation Checklist
Aims
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Identify the various tasks which are involved in the management of a variety of different types of events.
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Explain how a range of different types of events are initiated and planned.
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Determine the human and physical resources required to deliver different types of events.
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Determine how physical and human resources will be organised in preparation for staging an event, in order that needs are appropriately catered for.
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Develop a marketing plan for an event.
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Develop a Financial Management Plan for an Event.
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Develop a series of Risk management procedures to minimize the impact of different types of problems including financial, legal, marketing, crowd control, food services, and hygiene.
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Describe the way in which facilities and services are managed during the actual delivery of an event.
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Review an event after its delivery.
The Logistics Behind Planning an Event
The when, where and how of things, for example, how will things be done and where and when will things be supplied?
Every participant in an event has potential for experiencing all of the following:
- Anticipation
- Arrival
- Atmosphere
- Appetite (for all the senses not just food)
- Activity
- Departure
- Reflection
The event planner should plan for a great experience with respect to each one of these aspects:
Anticipation – before the event, they anticipate the experience they are going to have. Some may have realistic expectations and some unrealistic. The way an event is presented beforehand can have a huge impact. Raising unrealistic expectations can be an easy way of promoting an event, and getting people to attend; but it can create huge problems later on and lead to early departures, negative memories and may lose (you) business as an event manager for future events. Word of mouth cannot be underestimated!
Arrival – make arrival easy: travel information, transport, signage/directions, parking, entrances, meeting, greeting and welcoming packages should all be straightforward. Of equal importance is the aspect of shelter, queues and toilets. How queues are dealt with is an crucial issue. A huge queue may be off-putting and some people may choose to leave rather than wait to get into an event. If they then have to wait in yet more queues inside (for toilets or to buy food or drinks or attend particular smaller organised events) it can lead to a frustrating time for the visitor.
Atmosphere – The atmosphere is about how much fun or enjoyable or interesting an event is. What type of atmosphere you are aiming for will depend on the type of event. If you are planning something intellectual and/or academic, then it should be interesting, informative, quieter and more subtle. Whilst a music event would aim for a relaxed atmosphere with friendly people and staff. The people who attend an event obviously impact on the atmosphere, but the atmosphere can also be affected by other factors. The physical environment can definitely have an impact. If it is too cold, too hot, dry, wet, windy, too exposed to the sun, dirty or clean – all of these can potentially affect how much the visitors enjoy the festival, and that will impact on the atmosphere. If you have lots of visitors moaning about how cold and dirty the event is, this will affect other people there who hear them and can affect the atmosphere.
The venue itself can also affect the atmosphere. Is it easy to reach? Easy to find your way around? Good signage? Is it clean? Well landscaped? Well organised? Has it got good information for visitors?
Appetite (for all the senses not just food) – The sight, sound, smell, taste, touch of an event all impact on how much the visitors enjoy the event. This again can affect the atmosphere, and affect future attendance at such an event It depends on the attendees, what they are looking for. What style of event? What style of food? Who they are? What do they like? What can they afford? Have you considered mood music?
Think of the senses:
Smell – supermarkets will pipe smells of fresh bread from their bakery around the store, to make people feel hungry. When people are hungry, they are more likely to purchase more. Events can try the same thing, piping smells of food they offer, cakes they offer and so on. Obviously this is difficult in an outdoor event, but smells of food cooking, barbecues and so on can have the same effect. A complementary health event may have essential oils wafting around, calming and relaxing visitors.
Sight – the venue and the show should look good. People do not want to see a shabby tent in a field. They expect more, particularly when they have paid money to attend. Presentation obviously affects how people view and remember an event. And remember that many people post their photographs now on social media, which can be seen by many thousands of people. If something doesn’t look too good, who knows how many people will see it, potentially influencing them to not come to the event next time.
Hearing – we mentioned mood music. We have to consider the type of event we are offering and what is appropriate. Classical music may not be appropriate at a science fiction convention. Heavy rock music may not be appropriate at the opening of an art gallery showing Renaissance art.
And so on – consider all the senses and what you think your visitors and stakeholders are looking for.
Activity – Anyone who attends an event wants to enjoy it and get something from it, whether it be a fun day, a new bit of knowledge or whatever they came for. So any event should aim to be a collectable experience. A collectable experience is any experience that is unique or interesting or novel or unusual. The event should be more interesting to the visitor than sitting watching TV on a Saturday afternoon.
An example taken from a few years ago when snow was predicted on New Year’s Eve in New York. Spectators were getting worried about attending so the organisers changed the focus and started talking about ‘the first time that it had snowed on New Year’s Eve for years’. They made it a collectible event, something rare and unusual for the spectators. People still attended.
It should be something that stands out in their memory as a unique experience. Even if they go to the event annually, the event manager should aim to make each year slightly different from the previous one, to retain visitor interest. Any visitor may have a participating experience or a spectator experience. A participating experience is obviously when the visitor takes part in the event in some way. For example, if they attend a team-building event, they may have to take part in role-plays and exercises to learn team-building. Another example is interactive theatre. A theatre group may set up a play where children are encouraged to get involved, take on roles, join in, rather than simply sit and watch. A spectator experience is when the person attends and observes the event in some way, such as a music festival, lecture on the arts or history and so on. So how the event is organised will vary according to whether visitors are expecting to be involved and participate, or whether they are simply expected to watch.
Departure – at some events it may be appropriate to appoint someone to conduct a formal departure (such as hand shaking or thanking people for attending the event; the reverse of the ‘meet and greet’ concept upon arrival). At other events it may be a broadcast message of thanks to all attendees via an MC or similar. Sometimes, for later events, the lights may be turned on and a bell might be sounded if there is a bar about to be shut. Then staff should politely encourage visitors to leave. The departure should also be well-organised and as painless as possible. If lots of parked cars are involved, staff may be required to organise the departure of the vehicles in an orderly manner.
Reflection – As we said, any event should give the visitor a collectible experience. We may encourage them to remember the event in other ways. They may be able to purchase things at the event, but some organisers will offer free gifts, merchandise and so on for people to take away with them. Or an event organiser may send them a free gift or letter a few days later to remind them of the event and (hopefully) what a wonderful time they had. Attendees should leave feeling as though they have had a great experience and/or a wonderful time. They must feel enthusiastic about their experience - something they want to talk about for days. It is not just about the gifts and merchandise, it is about ensuring that they have had a really great time, whatever type of event it was.
WHY STUDY WITH ACS?
There are lots of reasons why you should sign up to do this course with us, including:
- This course provides you with an extensive amount of information to develop your knowledge, this knowledge will help give you confidence within your job role
- Events are made up of many different layers, this course will take you through the different components. Even if you're not involved in each component, awareness is essential for each event to be delivered successfully.
- Throughout the course there are opportunities to apply your learning to real life situations, enabling you to apply theory to practice.
- You will be supported by subject specialist tutors who will happily share their industry knowledge and experience with you in order to help your learning
- The course has been designed to be studied flexibly, this helps you to fit your education in around gaining valuable experience
TAKE THE NEXT STEP, AND ENROL NOW!
You can enrol on the course now, but if you have any questions about the content of the course or studying with ACS, then please get in touch with us today - use our FREE COURSE COUNSELLING SERVICE to get in touch with our expert tutors. They will be pleased to help you!
