The events industry, including festivals, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, incentives, sports and a range

of other events, is rapidly developing and makes a significant contribution to business and leisure-related
tourism. With increased regulation and the growth of government and corporate involvement in events,
the environment has become much more complex. Event managers are now required to identify and
service a wide range of stakeholders and to balance their needs and objectives. Though mainly operating
at national levels, there has been significant growth of academic provision to meet the needs of events
and related industries and the organisations that comprise them.

This course focuses on providing education and training for future event professionals and covers areas
such as the origin of the conference industry, the structure of the conference industry, the economics of
conferences and conventions, conference industry marketing activity, Conference management – an
organizer’s perspective, Conference management – a venue perspective, A people industry, Leading
industry organizations, and Trends, issues and future developments.

Outcomes:
Understand:

A young, dynamic industry which is growing and maturing at a rapid rate.

The highly complexity, comprising of a multiplicity of buyer and supplier organizations and businesses.
The Demand and supply in the conference industry
The value of the industry, and measurement of economic impact
The general marketing principles and their application to the conference industry
A framework for those who take up the challenge, and summarizes the main processes involved in
planning and staging an event.
Conference management from the perspective of the venue or ‘supplier’, and describes the team
approach within a venue, and between venue and client, to deliver successful events.
The importance of people skills education and learning, training and CPD opportunities, and careers in
the conference industry
The activities of international organizations and associations, the roles of selected national trade and
professional associations.
The trends, issues and future development of the conference industry

The origins of the conference industry

The foundations of a proper industry
The industry’s recent globalisation
World rankings of leading cities and countries
Certain industry shortcomings
Industry parameters and definitions
Business tourism and leisure tourism
The benefits of conference and business tourism

The buyers (corporate, association, public sector, entrepreneurs)

The suppliers (venues, destinations, other suppliers) agencies and intermediaries
Other important organizations (trade associations, trade media, national tourism organizations,
consultants, educational institutions).

Conferences and conventions within the wider tourism context

Factors affecting conference sector demand
The inadequacy of the information base
The size of the global conference industry
The value of the industry

Marketing principles
Relationship marketing and customer relationship management
Web marketing
A definition of destination
The branding of cities and other destinations
Destination marketing organizations
Conference venue marketing
The branding of hotel venues
Overseas marketing

Conference management – an organizer’s perspective

A general introduction to conference organizing
Pre-conference planning and research
Budgeting and financial management
Sourcing and selecting a venue
Negotiating with venues
Programme planning
Event marketing
Conference management and production
Event evaluation

Conference management – a venue perspective

Client-focused product innovations
Professional inspection visits and showrounds
Yield management and ‘REVPAR’
Negotiating with clients

A people industry
The importance of people skills
Education and learning, training and CPD opportunities
Careers in the conference industry
Salary levels
Career profiles
Leading industry organizations
The activities of international organizations and associations
The roles of selected national trade associations
An assessment of the conference industry’s fragmentation