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Importance Of Event Planning
Planning is defined as a mental exercise involving the activity of deciding in advance how things are to be done. Hence the event planner predetermines the entire course of action in advance to achieve the event goal. Planning allows the event planner to anticipate the future environment in order to achieve better event performance rather than going by assumptions. As defined by Catherwood and Van Kirk, Planning is a process that must continuously occur… until the end of the event. It is crucial to have as a foundation for this ongoing planning a vision, a statement, or concept that can be easily articulated and understood.
Developing an event plan requires a lot of efforts on the event planner’s part. It not only restricts itself to a mental exercise but involves networking, team building, market research, negotiations, technical and field knowledge, budgeting, publicizing and visiting sites.
A plan is treated as a good plan when it bears the capacity to be realistic and at the same time allows adequate flexibility when the environment changes. An event planner can ensure this by thoroughly scanning the external and internal environment in which the event will operate in future.
A successful event is always supported with a strong strategy and sincere effort of the team. It is usually said that a successful event management plan is the secret and inevitable ingredient that leads to producing outstanding events that meet the expectation of both clients and guests. Planning of an event should be made flexible as commitment is based on future conditions, which are always dynamic and an adjustment is needed between the various factors of event planning.
The Advantages Of Event Planning Are As Follows:
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- Things can be seen in totality.
- Problems and competition can be anticipated.
- Better utilization of available resources is possible.
- Proper resources allotment can be done.
- Unproductive work and wastage can be minimized.
Though such planning may not predict the future of an event planner, surely a strategic plan enables to meet future contingencies, correct errors, take timely decisions and avoid deviations.
For Formulating A Strategic Plan, An Event Planner Begins With Asking The Following Questions:
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- What service is to be provided?
- What sort of competition the event planner has?
- What resources and infrastructural needs are required?
- What unique features one can offer?
- What is the prime motive behind this event?
- What kind of target audience is expected to visit?
- What type of result one wants to achieve after the event is over?
- Who all are expected to be involved in the decision making process?
- What is the level of expertise required for event planning?
- What kinds of approvals are to be taken for creating a plan?
- What is the budget in hand?
A successful plan attends to all the above-mentioned questions. However, attending these questions in one attempt might make the situation dreadful instead of streamlining. Therefore, these are addressed sequentially through a process with the support of a team and simultaneously strategies are developed.
Elements Of The Strategic Event Planning Process
Concept Or Intent To Bid
In the case of new events, developing the Event Concept means making decisions on matters like type/form of the event [For Example Fair, Festival Or Corporate Event], duration, location/venue, timing and the key program elements that will make the event unique or special. Otherwise, events for which bids or proposals are required need to be identified first. This may be a result of requests for proposals [RFPs]. Once this is done, it has to be seen if there is a ‘Fit‘ with the event organizing body and the hosting destination. Events now considered worthy of further investigation are subjected to a more detailed scrutiny called Feasibility Study.
Feasibility Study
A feasibility study is carried out to determine how feasible it would be to conduct that event. To conduct an event, considerations in the feasibility study would be – Budget Requirements; Venue Capacities; Availability of Public/Private Financial Support; Political Support; Infrastructure and Equipment Facilities; Technical and Managerial Skill Requirements; Host Community and Destination Area Impacts; Estimated Attendance of People in the Event; and track record of the Event in terms of profit earnings. For large events, the feasibility study may be a very detailed process as compared to a small event such as a regional conference.
Prioritizing [Mapping] The Stakeholders
As an event manager it is important to consider what each stakeholder expects you to accomplish. Key stakeholders have to be chosen carefully as they will have a major influence on the event, whether to make it successful or unsuccessful. Internal stakeholders are the ones who are from inside the client’s organization and external stakeholders are from outside the client’s organization.
Internal And External Stakeholders For A Music Festival
Internal Stakeholders:- Festival Director. Event Manager. Employee. Volunteers.
External Stakeholders:- Event Attendees. Local Community. Local Authority. Local Business. Artists And Performance. Media Suppliers/Traders Emergency Services.
For the stakeholders of a music festival, the attendees will like it if the biggest part of the budget is used on popular artists and performers, on camping, or in the food and drink area. The artists and performers will want the largest part of the budget spent on booking fees, decent dressing rooms and comfortable backstage facilities. The local community might want to see budget allocated to upgrading facilities and amenities in the local area. Although keeping all the internal and external stakeholders satisfied is not always easy, the key to putting a successful event is being able to prioritize stakeholders, in the order of importance, and to make sure that nobody significant gets neglected.
Bid Preparation
At this stage of event planning, a bid is prepared for the event, based on the outcomes of a feasibility study. The Event Proposal should include the Purpose, Aims and Objectives of the Event, Details of the Organization, Physical Layout of the Event, and the Social, Environmental and Economic Impact, whatever applicable.
A formal proposal is prepared in response to an RFP and the process employs identifying resources that can be used for the event, understanding the organization conducting the event, exact nature of the event, identifying the key elements of past successful bids in preparing a bid document, presenting and submitting a bid to the ‘Owners‘ of the event, and lobbying in support of the bid. For example, in the case of a corporate event, the bidding process may involve submitting a formal proposal to the potential client, followed by a pitching process – a presentation of the idea to the client against competitors, in order to win the bid. Each process and the proposal will be developed based on the client’s specified requirements.
Establishment Of Organizational Structure
By conducting feasibility study for new events or after bidding for events following which the bid get accepted or rejected, it will be determined whether to proceed with the event or not. Once a decision is taken to proceed with the event, an organizational structure will have to be formed through which the event can be delivered.
A Simple Structure is the one in which the event manager is accountable for all the activities associated with the event. This is the most common structure for small event management businesses where the event manager has total control over all the staff activities. Here the staff members are expected to have multi-skills and perform various job functions.
A Functional Structure departmentalizes activities [that is, it groups related tasks]. Benefit of this form of structure is that individuals or groups [such as committees] can be given specific task areas. Further as per the event requirement, additional functional levels can be created and added to the functional structure.
A Project-Based Matrix Structure or A Program-Based Matrix Structure has various aspects of an event program as separate [but related] entities. For example, for a multi-venue sporting event, there might be separate committees with responsibility for all tasks associated with event delivery at different locations. In using this structure, coordination of the separate committees is important, so that the event is presented as a unified whole.
Multi-Organizational or Network Structures are created by small sized event management companies who take the services of various other firms and organizations, for conducting large and complex events.
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