Event Management

Ms.Pooja singh*
*Assistant Professor, RN College of Commerce & Management, Varanasi
Abstract---- The way in which an organization deals with events is known as event

management. It may include the organizations objectives for managing events, assigned roles
and responsibilities, ownership of tools and processes, critical success factors, standards, and
event-handling procedures.The linkages between the various departments within the organization
required to handle events and the flow of this information between them is the focus of event
management. While event management focuses on the high-level flow of events through an
organization, event processing deals with tools. Specifically, the term event processing is used to
indicate the actions taken upon events automatically by systems management software tools.

Keywords: Corporate responsibility or sustainability .

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
What is Event Management?
To explain Market Research in Event Planning
To define SWOT Analysis in Event Planning
To explain events planning with 5 ws concept
To explain event venue selection

event marketing

How to Plan a Successful Event

How to Handle Criticisms & Compliments & Its Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION
What is an Event?
An event can be described as a public assembly for the purpose of celebration, education,
marketing or reunion. Events can be classified on the basis of their size, type and context.
Types:

Corporate Events Events like Y2B, HR Summit and etc.

Education and career events Events like education and career fair, workshop,
seminar, debate, contest, competition etc.

Social Events Events like balkalakaar, Impact week, Discovering hope, Udaan and
etc.

What is Event Management?

Event Management is the process of analyzing, planning, marketing, producing and evaluating
an event. It is a different way of promoting a product, service or idea. If an event is managed
efficiently and effectively, it can be used as a very powerful promotional tool to launch or market
a product or service. Events Management requires certain core values to be deployed to every
element, process and decision to justify professional approach and achieve effective and efficient
results
Market Research in Event Planning

Market Research

Before organizing an event, find out whether there is a market (i.e. audience) for your intended
event or not. For e.g. you want to organize a BKK in US. If societal need is not met with event
objective, then it is not a good idea to organize such event there. The event will fail for sure.

Market Analysis (Understanding with general example)

If there is a market for your intended event, then do market analysis. Market Analysis means
finding information about your target audience. Find out who are your target audience i.e. there
age group, sex, qualification, profession, knowledge level, income, status, likings, disliking,
personality, customs, traditions, religion, lifestyle etc. Knowing your target audience's customs,
traditions and religion is very important so that we dont hurt there customs and religion
unknowingly through our event. For e.g. if you organize a Hindu wedding and serve beef there,
then u will be in mortal danger as cow is considered as a sacred animal in Hindu religion.
Similarly serving pork in a Muslim function can bring havoc. Find out where majority of your
target audience live so that you can direct your marketing efforts towards them. There is no point
in advertising across US if your target audience belongs only to New Jersey. In this way you can
cut down your advertising and marketing cost tremendously. Find out what are the desires and
expectations of target audience from your intended event. Find out when (i.e. date and time) and
where (i.e. venue) they want the intended event to take place. For this you

Competitors' Analysis

It means finding information about your competitors. Find out who are your competitors .i.e.
their age, sex, qualifications, knowledge level, experience in organizing events, turnover, market
value, PR (media and corporate contacts) and market share. Find out how they promote and

execute there events. What they do in there events? Why people come to there events? For this
you will have to attend each and every event organized by your competitors and then create an
event report. The event report will contain things like

- seating and light arrangements

- promotional materials used

- blueprint of the whole venue

- program and food menu

- contact details of sponsors, partners, clients (for whom the event is organized)

- Service providers like DJs, Anchors, Make up artist, Performers, photographers,

videographers, decorator, florist etc.

Find out as much information as possible about events organized by your competitors.
SWOT Analysis in Event Planning

Products/Services Research

If you are organizing a corporate event then it is necessary for you as an event manager to do
research of the products/ services promoted and sold by your corporate client.

Find out how the company promotes its products

How the company wants to build/enhance the image associated with its product (also
known as the brand image)?

What is the market value and market share of the company and its products?

Who are the customers of the product?

What are the features of the product?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the product in comparison to competitors'
products?

All this research will later help you in making an effecting promotional campaign for your
corporate event.

SWOT Analysis

It is a strategic planning tool which is used to identify and analyze the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats involved in your project. SWOT analysis can also be done on your
organization.
Strengths:
These are the attributes of your project/organization which are helpful in achieving project's
objectives. For e.g.: experienced event team, high motivation level, excellent PR, good market
share etc.
Weaknesses:
These are those attributes of your project/organization which are harmful in achieving project's
objectives. For e.g.: social loafing, lack of funds, inexperienced event team, low energy level,
lack of media and corporate contacts etc.
Opportunities:
These are those external factors which are helpful in achieving the project's objectives. For e.g.:
little competition, favorable economic conditions, support from the local authorities, availability
of the state of the art infrastructure etc.
Threats:
These are those external factors which are harmful in achieving the project's objectives. For e.g.:
high competition, little or no support from local authorities, bad weather, poor infrastructure,
high lab our rate, unavailability of raw material etc. It is very important that you conduct SWOT
analysis before developing an event plan to develop a strategy which maximizes the potential of
strengths and opportunities of your project and at the same time, minimizes the impact of the
weaknesses and threats.

Events planning with 5 Ws Concept

We follow 5 'W's (i.e. Why, What, When, Where, Who) principle to create an event plan.

Why

'Why' means, why you want to organize the event i.e. event objective. What do you want to get
from the event? For e.g.: do you want to organize the event to enhance your company's brand
image, to increase company's sales, to promote your client's products/services or to promote a
social cause etc. Defining event objectives at the very start of event planning is very important as
it gives you the direction in which you should proceed to accomplish your objectives. Organizing
an event without clear objectives is a huge waste of both time and resources.

What

'What' means what you are going to do in the event i.e. what will be the:
Event Name What will be the name of the event? For example: BKK".
Food and Beverage Menu It contains the list of food items and beverages you will serve during
the event to guests and target audience
Guests Profile who will be your chief guest and other guests? Your guest list must include
organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and specially media people. Use your imagination to create
good titles to woo your guests. Like 'Guest of honor', star guest etc. Never give special treatment
to one particular guest or guests' group.
Type of Entry Decide how will be the entry. Entry will be by ticket, pass or invitation only.
Entry fees What will be the entry fees? If you are going to charge entry fees, then be prepared to
pay entertainment tax. Your entry fees should be according to your target audience's status. If you
overcharge you wont get any audience.
Promotional Campaign How you are going to promote your event, organizers, sponsors,
partners and clients: - pre-event, at-event and post-event.
Program Menu It is the list of various activities that will occur as a part of the event.
Event Budget to determine your event budget finds out what will be the cost for producing and
marketing the event.

When

When you are going to organize the event (i.e. date and time)? Keep following things in mind
while selecting date and time for the event:
1) Select date and time according to target audience convenience and availability. For e.g.: don't
organize events during work days, examination days or festival times. The best time to organize
events is during weekends like Saturday or Sunday.
2) Make sure that your event's date and time, don't clash with other event's date and time
specially bigger event's date and time. For e.g.: it is not a good idea to organize your music
concert on a day when there is Bon Jovi concert.
3) Keep climatic conditions into mind while selecting date and time for your event. It can be
disastrous to organize event outdoor on a day when the weather is stormy or heavy rain is
expected. Here you can take help of your own experience if you are familiar with the climatic
conditions of the region where you intend to organize the event or you can take the help of the
meteorological department for the weather forecast. Find out how the weather will be on the day
of your event.

Where

Where you are going to organize the event (i.e. venue)? Check out the venue selection tips.

Who

Who will be your organizers, sponsors, partners, clients and target audience? How many target
audience you are expecting to visit the event and why? You must have very good reason to this
'Why' as you will have to convince your prospective organizers and sponsors that why particular
number of people will attend the event.

Event Venue Selection

Keep following things in mind while selecting a venue for your event:
1) Target Audience/Guest Size
This means the number of people you are expecting to attend your event. Make sure that your
venue can easily accommodate your expected target audience. Your venue should not be too
small or too large for your guests. If too small, then your guests will feel discomfort. If it is too
large then you will unnecessarily end up paying more for the venue. Get firm indications whether
guests plan to attend your event by sending R.S.V.P clearly printed on the invitation. The term
R.S.V.P is a French acronym. Its meaning in English is 'Please Respond'. If R.S.V.P is printed on
the invitation then the invited guest is expected to tell the host whether or not he/she is attending
the event. Since many people don't understand the meaning of this term or don't bother to reply
back, it is advisable to individually call and ask your guests about there plan to attend the event.
In this way you can get quite accurate idea of the guest size which will help you in deciding food
and beverage quantities also.
P.S: Here guest indicates to school and NGO responsible for kids who are participating
2) Target Audience Convenience
Select venue according to target audience convenience. Your venue should not be very far from
the place where majority of your target audience live. Your venue should have proper lighting
and ventilation. It should not be in a noisy or polluted area. It should be absolutely neat and clean
and free from any type of infestation.
3) Venue History
Before hiring a venue check out the history of the venue. Find out how many events have been
organized in the venue so far. In this way you can find out whether or not venue and the staff
there is event friendly. This will help you immensely when you later organize event there as you
will have to do less amount of work in making the venue suitable for the event. If venue has
noise ordinance problems in the past like neighbors calling the cops to shut down the event.

4) Venue Services
Before hiring a venue check out the number of services provided by the venue like:
Parking facility
Make sure venue has its own parking space. It should be big enough to accommodate your target
audience's vehicles conveniently. If parking space is not adequate then look for other venue.
Never compromise on parking space especially if you are organizing event on a large scale.
Security Arrangements
Security of guests, service providers and target audience is a very important issue which should
never be neglected or compromised at any cost. Make sure that your venue has adequate number
of fire extinguishers, fire alarms, emergency escape routes, sprinkler system (a system consist of
overhead pipes designed to control or extinguish fires), security personals, handicap ramps,
security cameras, first aid kits and power backup (like generator, inverter, UPS). ire engine,
police, paramedical team with ambulance is a must.

Event Marketing
Steps involved in creating a promotional campaign for your event
Step 1: Setup advertising objectives.
Why you want to advertise? What is your objective of advertising? What do you want to get
through advertising? For example:
- You want to advertise to create awareness about your event.
- You want to advertise to get sponsors and clients for your events
-

You want to advertise to thank you your sponsors and clients.

Step 2: Decide your promotional Activities

How you are going to promote AIESEC, your organizers, your sponsors, your clients and your
partners, pre-event, at-event and post-event. Before I go any further, let's get an idea of what is
media and what is media vehicle.
Media refers to various means of communications. Broadly speaking there are five categories
of media: Print, Electronic, outdoor, Transit and Miscellaneous media. Print media includes:
newspapers, magazines, press releases, tickets, passes, invitations, banners, posters etc.
Electronic media includes TV, Radio, Internet, Telephone, electronic signage etc. Outdoor Media
includes Hoardings, Billboards, and Balloons etc. Transit Media includes promotion through

cars, cabs, buses, trucks, trains, planes etc. Miscellaneous media includes everything else like:
events, word of mouth publicity etc.
Media vehicle is a specific medium. For e.g. if 'Internet' is media, then MySpace, Facebook,
Twitter, Google, Yahoo etc. are media vehicles. If 'TV' is a media, then specific TV program like
'Celebrity Apprentice' is a media vehicle. Similarly if magazine is a media, then specific
magazine say 'playboy' is a media vehicle
How Print Media can be used for Promotion
1. Promote your event, sponsors and clients through newspapers ads, magazines ads, trade
journals, press releases, tickets, passes, invitations, banners and posters.
2. Imprint you sponsor/client's company name and logo on your staff's shirts and caps and on the
pens, diary, gifts, and exhibitors manual and other promotional materials.
How Electronic Media can be used for Promotion
1. Promote your event, sponsors and clients through TV and Radio Commercials
2. Provide free ad space on your company's website where your sponsors and clients can
promote their products and services for particular period of time.
3. Develop an event website just to promote your upcoming event and provide a facility for
online registration. All the details regarding the event must be available on the website. For e.g.
if your event name is say 'spark2009', then come up with a website like www.spark2009.com
4. Use electronic signage like visual display signage, Plasma Screen, LCD Screen, LED Screen,
Projection Screen, Video Walls etc to promote your sponsors and clients.

How to Plan a Successful Event

The word event means an occasion, a gathering of people at a certain place at a certain time for
a specific reason,
Determining your Budget

One of the most important things that should be determined before planning an event is
the budget.

Knowing your budget will allow you to know which items are necessities for your event
& which items are luxuries.

Also, having a set budget will narrow your choices for entertainment, catering etc.

Determining your Schedule

One of the first steps to event planning is creating a timeline.

Create a schedule of deadlines, including meetings, invitation send outs, deliveries and all
other important dates.

Follow your timeline! It will ensure that you dont miss deadlines and allow you to stay
organized.

Determining your Audience

Another crucial step in planning an event is determining your target audience.

Knowing the age group and likes/dislikes of the audience that will attend your event can
assist you in deciding what type of food to serve, which type of entertainment to have,
and even the venue.

Choosing a Venue

Another important step in planning and executing an event, is choosing a venue.

After determining your target audience and the type of event that you are planning, you
can begin looking at different venues.

You want to choose a venue that is neither too large or too small for the number of people
that will attend.

You also want to choose a venue that fits your theme and also fits into your budget.

Event Planning Roles

When planning an event, it is a good idea to assign different roles to your staff.

I have found that having a staff of 5-8 people provides the most effective work
environment when it comes to planning an event.

How to Evaluate an Event

Providing an evaluation form at your event is a great way to gain feedback.

Evaluation forms allow the guests to tell you what they liked and disliked about your
event.

A great way to give each guest an evaluation sheet is to place a sheet inside of a program and
place the programs on each seat.

Determine the extent to which event and advertising objectives have been achieved

Get feedback from your clients and target audience.

How to Handle Criticisms & Compliments

Always remember, you cannot please everyone.

There are always going to be unhappy guests, but as long as your client and most of the
guests are happy, youve done your job.

When reading the evaluation sheets, focus on the criticisms. They can help you improve
at your next event.

The compliments will let you know which areas of the event were successful and should be
repeated
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY :
Research Objectives : --- To explain Event Management
Types of research ::: Exploratory research
Steps in sample design
Type of universe :: Finite
Sampling unit :: people of event management department
Size of the sample :: 50 Respondents
Sampling procedures::: simple random sampling

Questionnaire in favor of event management

50 questionnaires spread ---- people who are appointed in event management department..
You can ask following questions in your feedback form:
Q1) Did you enjoy the event? If no, then please state the reason.
Yes{ 50}

No {0}

Q2) what do you like most in the event?

Venue{22}

Audience{28}

Q3) what do you like least in the event?

Budget{23}

Audience{27}

Q5) what could have been done to make this event better?
Good marketing {25}

event evaluation {25}

Note: Your questionnaire should not have more than 10 questions. You don't want to irritate your
guests. Ask only relevant questions and keep the questionnaire short to 5-6 questions. Of course
the type of questions you will ask may change from event to event. And don't forget to mention
the following line in you feedback form: "Thank you for taking the time to complete this feedback
form".

Conclusion

Whether planning a wedding, awards banquet, birthday party, or grand opening there a few
key aspects to keep in mind:

Tailor your event to suit your audience. Knowing your guests will allow to choose the
best venue, caterer, entertainment, and decorations.

Stay on track. Create a schedule with important dates and make sure you and your
staff stick to the schedule.

Update your budget. After each purchase, update your budget to ensure that you do
not go over.

Communicate clearly. Be specific in your contracts and be clear with your staff,
client, and vendors lastly, enjoy

Conclusion derived by questionnaire is the favour that event management takes important
part in management field, Because Ultimate result is in the favour of us by 91.25%
( drawn from questionnaire)

REFERENCES
The Everything Guide to Being an Event Planner by Jennifer Mancuso
The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning by Shannon Kilkenny