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Impact Of Events
Events have a range of impacts, both positive and negative on their communities and stakeholders. The event manager needs to always identify and predict these impacts, and then manage them to bring about an overall positive impact from the event. Impacts on the social, economic, cultural and political framework of the destination should be carefully assessed as a critical planning tool to events. Good communication and consultation with local authorities, while keeping religious and cultural sensitivities in mind are important aspects in selecting the event destination and organizing it. Logistics, crowd traffic flow and event venue planning often are the critical areas, where errors in planning can lead to huge negative impacts.
As mentioned in the historical contexts of events, in earlier times, events used to be more social in nature, example weddings and this was a big source of social interaction between people, hence bringing around a clear social and cultural impact on society. Apart from the social aspect, there were larger events of religious or political nature example, the KUMBH MELA. Such events bring pride to the community, and broaden people’s awareness and cultural horizons. Contemporary events are seen more in the light of the community, and event managers are focusing more and more on bringing benefits to an entire community through footfalls, tourism and more business for the local community. Some events, especially sporting events like the Commonwealth Games play a political role, in addition to social and economic roles. There is considerable competition to stage the games, and they bring in significant impact on the national image of the country, in addition to economic, social and commercial benefits. Destinations are often chosen keeping in mind the local weather, culture, and tourist attractions for a particular event. For example, Goa is usually the destination for International and National Film Festivals, or Media Summits. The environment and culture in Goa, especially during December [ Carnival Time ] enables the right atmosphere for a fun filled and creative environment for these events. An ill planned event can have huge negative repercussions, and the larger the scale of the event, the larger is the impact. Stampedes and crowds going in a panic have often been seen in very large mass events like the HAJ at Mecca, or the KUMBH MELA, where unplanned logistics and crowd management have resulted in disasters with many people dying. This leaves a huge negativity to such events.
Economic implications and impact on a community or city can be huge, due to a major event. An event, in itself may or may not provide direct employment, but the indirect effects on local businesses, services and infrastructure can be extremely significant. Events are seen as catalysts and marketing tools for attracting visitors and tourists, while creating profiles for destinations. Many events, after analysis have proved that a large chunk of the income came from tourists, and various merchandise and related items with the event theme being sold; as also with the local restaurants, hotels and other shops gaining hugely during the event. Support services like transport, taxis, equipment vendors, photographers and videographers, contractors and other type of suppliers also see huge upsides in their businesses. In destinations which host an event on a regular basis [Annually], there is a marked positive impact on the tourism aspect, and this tends to extend much before and after the event time period. There can be huge developmental impacts from a large scale event, like the Commonwealth Games held in the National Capital Region of Delhi in 2010. Work started many months before the event, and the positive changes in transport, infrastructure and facelift of the city extended much beyond the event. This had a permanent impact on the facilities provided by the city.
Political implications of events have also been huge, right from historical times. The Roman Gladiator games in Rome were political in nature, and the ability of the Roman Emperors to put on a major spectacle of a huge scale contributed much to their royal status. In today’s time too, holding of global events like the Olympics, or World Cup Cricket and Football events speak much about the political status and superiority that the hosting country enjoys. The politicians and ruling governments get a platform to showcase their popularity, success and achievements during inauguration ceremonies in these events. Media coverage on such events, which include a lot of information on the host city and country, showcase the economic, social and cultural development there, which all goes as political benefit to the government at work. Shrewd politicians and governments always have an eye on large scale events that will keep the population happy, and themselves in power. They use hallmark events to highlight their coming into and going out of power, as these events are retained in public memory for a long time. Such events could arouse nationalism, patriotism and are eventually linked to the government as a positive impact. Corruption arising out of politics can have negative impacts on an event too, example the negative publicity that came out of media coverage of the corruption in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi raised many question marks on the integrity of the organizers, and the ruling party.
The event planner holds the critical task of assessing and balancing all the above impacting factors. Social and cultural factors, along with economic and political issues could have positive outcomes if managed well, but could bring about negative, and sometimes disastrous results if not managed and planned well. Governments also need to have a long term view while planning mass events. Though these bring huge social, cultural and economic benefits and urban development, the governments need to assess long term political and social impacts, while keeping costs and integrity of managing these events in mind. However small or large scale the event maybe, one cannot ignore or overlook the criticality of planning and analysis of all the above factors, which may impact the long, medium or short term social and economic environment.
The Advantages Of Events
You have so far learnt that events generate social, economical, cultural and political impacts. Through these impacts the vast majority of events serve to improve and enhance our society at a time of significant social change. A look at the various types of events reveals that events are used for developmental purposes besides being used for cultural, recreational, enjoyment and celebration purposes.
A well crafted wedding provides us the advantage of a memorable experience that lingers on for years. Cultural celebrations are greatly promoted, because of their success in terms of openness, free entry and informality in most events. They provide great opportunities for interaction, reach, are beneficial to sponsors, and open up new marketing horizons for the corporate sector. Talent shows and award functions enable the promotion of arts, entertainment and enjoyment. Events that are used for image-building, to support tourism, or improve the environment have a positive outcome. Events like garden festivals are useful as a mechanism to regenerate rundown areas. Thus events provide innumerable opportunities to ideate and create. The effective networking of the event managers with the right vendors or suppliers are highly advantageous to events. Efforts should be made to establish a relationship on a long term basis with a commitment to a partnership approach between the EMC and the vendor.
As a marketing communication tool event helps us overcome problems associated with traditional media. Events have the ability to bring together well defined participants. A specific number of the target audience could be invited or could buy tickets for a show specially created for a particular profile of the target audience. Since the audience is actively targeted, the option of controlled reach can be exercised. This leads to lowering of the media networking budgets and focused communication with the specially gathered audience. Live media communication enables interactive communication. Live media communication is a complete sensual experience as compared to a press advertisement on TV/ Radio commercial. This is so because a press ad is basically a flat piece of paper and a commercial is just an audio-visual experience. The high recall value of live media communication used in events is very advantageous. No wonder events are called as tools for ‘Experiential Marketing.’ Experiential not only integrates a number of mediums together, but offers a great degree of personal connect. A consumer is more likely to have a greater sense of brand recall and brand loyalty after experiencing a product in a favorable environment. The word-of-mouth publicity of a memorable event suggests that the event has been professionally carried out.
One of the greatest advantages offered by an event is the involvement of all the senses while experiencing the event. When the audience participates in an event, they get to see and do activities happening [in real time], hence the ‘feel good’ factor and ‘thrill’ sets in. Events have the greatest advantage over other media, by boasting of instantly collecting feedback. Being a live media, it is possible to feel and deduce the reactions of the audience to the objective that the event was meant for.
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