Events Project Management - Term Paper Example

?Contents Events and Event Management 2 Cultural Events 2 Leisure Events 2 Organizational Events 2 Personal and Private Events 3 Wedding Planning - Aims and Objectives and Stakeholder Analysis 3 The Skills needed for Event Management 4 Project Management and Event Planning 5 Event Management Plan for a Wedding 6 Step 1: Contract Signing 6 Step 2: Budget Planning 7 Step 3: Gantt chart 7 Step 4: Minute Details 9 Step 5: Pre and Post Evaluation 11 Conclusion 11 References 12 Appendix-I 13 Events and Event Management Events have been central to culture since the dawn of time. People mark the important events of their lives and commemorate special occasions with celebrations. Events are the “non-routine occasions set apart from the normal activity of daily life” (Shone and Parry 4). Events come under different categories; they can be leisure based, personal, cultural or organizational. Leisure events are sports and recreational in nature; personal events cover birthdays, weddings and anniversaries; cultural events are heritage, art and culture and folklore whereas commercial, political, charitable and sales events come under organizational events (Shone and Parry 4). Following discusses the nature of each of these events in detail. Cultural Events Cultural events are usually organized to celebrate the history and heritage of a place. Although cultural events are mostly commercial, they may also have religious aspects. Cultural events have great economic benefits; however the main aim of cultural events remains the confirmation or celebration of culture. Carnivals, concerts and parades are some forms of cultural events. Cultural events create economic opportunities and recognition for a town or a city. They attract tourists and thus boost tourism in a place. Leisure Events Sports events and recreational events come under the category of leisure events. Sports events can range from small school based competition among children to league competitions to mega sports events such as Wimbledon Tennis Championship, Formula One Grand Prix, US Open Golf Championship and Olympic Games to name few. These events involve a large number of stakeholders and therefore requiring careful planning and professional event management. Organizational Events Organizational events can be anything from corporate events, the anniversary celebrations of organizations, fundraisers, award functions, ground breaking ceremonies, business and commercial events to large government and political events. These events can be product launch ceremonies, conferences, exhibitions, award or other staff motivation ceremonies. In political and government events media plays a major role. These events are costly and are handled by professional event management teams. Personal and Private Events The personal and private events are special occasions one likes to celebrate with his/her families and friends. People like to celebrate their achievements and age related events such as birthdays, graduation, homecomings, anniversaries etc. with their close friends and family members. Among the personal events, weddings are hugely popular. In fact with the introduction of professional event management, wedding planning has turned into a multibillion dollar industry (Allen xv). As weddings are supposed to be the biggest day in a person’s life, wedding planning is done meticulously so that everything goes perfect on the big day. Some couples may have a theme in mind and some may not have a clear vision and require assistance from event managers. This paper presents the event project management plan for a wedding ceremony. It starts with the introduction of the event describing its aims and objectives and stakeholder analysis. Then the paper discusses the skills required to plan and organize an event and role of project management in event planning in the light of literature. Then a complete event management plan for a wedding will be presented. Wedding Planning - Aims and Objectives and Stakeholder Analysis Events vary a great deal depending upon the number of stakeholders involved, scale and complexity (Raj, Walters, and Rashid 2). Small events are less complex and have lesser number of stakeholders which makes managing them easier. Event management is defined as the “capability and control of the process, purpose and people”. It involves the co-ordination, functioning and planning of the people and teams and features involved in the creation of every type of event (Raj, Walters, and Rashid 2). For a wedding event, though the number of stakeholders is lesser but their needs and demands are high because wedding is life time event and everyone involved want the ceremony to be the best and memorable. Somers, Cain and Megan Jeffery (92) explained that outlining aims and objectives of any event planning requires determining what, how, who and when. For this wedding plan following aims and objectives are outlined; A wedding ceremony to be held on 8th Feb, 2014, Saturday (what is to be achieved). A complete plan stating the timeline for the completion of each activity is to be jotted down (how this target will be achieved) Selection of an event management team who will be responsible for carrying out all the activities defined in the wedding plan in a timely and efficient manner (who will do this?) A Gantt chart defining the activities and a timeline for the achievement of these activities is to be prepared (when the targets will be achieved?) Once the objectives are defined it is important to conduct stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder is a person who is affected by the outcome of a project. Stakeholders perform various roles during the lifecycle of the project; for instance, they are involved with the project from the very beginning as they ensure that resources that contribute to the success of a project are easily available. The active involvement of the stakeholders in the project usually contributes to its success. In events where multiple stakeholders are involved, meeting the expectations of all stakeholders is often not possible due to cost, feasibility and schedule restraints; a project manager thus has to ensure that he is able to create a win-win situation for all. In a wedding, the major stakeholders are the bride and the groom and their parents; however there are other stakeholders as well. Stakeholder analysis for this wedding event suggests following stakeholders of this event; Bride and groom, Parents and siblings of bride and groom, Extended family, friends and guests of the couple and their families. Event management company Sponsors of the event (if any, other than the parents and family of the couple). The Skills needed for Event Management Besides academic qualifications, an individual needs to have hands-on experience and natural abilities and skills and strong leadership qualities. Tassiopoulos has identified seven important skills necessary for event management (32). They are as follows leadership, vision, flexibility, high organizational skills, great communicational skills, people management skills and marketing skills. The author states that all event managers need to develop strong teamwork skills, customer focus, networking skills, strategic skills, innovation and the ability to sustain high pressure. According to Tassiopoulos for successful event management, it is also necessary to have knowledge related to marketing especially media, budgeting, and sponsorship among others (32). Specifically for wedding events strong communication skills are the mandatory as the event manager should be constantly in touch with the clients updating them with the latest developments (Moran 6). Regular contact with staff members, vendors and suppliers is also necessary so that they understand their roles and responsibilities and know what is needed of them. Wedding planners and managers must be well connected and must have the ability to negotiate. Good connections are necessary to obtain quality services at a reasonable price. Often clients make unusual demands; a well-connected event manager would have the resources to fulfill such demands. Good connections are also useful if there is a last minute demand or replacement which is common in wedding events. Negotiating is necessary to ensure that everything gets done within the budget. Budget allocation and management for wedding planning requires meeting budget without compromising on quality. Creativity, teamwork, delegation and the ability to build relationships is also vitally important for wedding events. For weddings specifically, the event mangers should also be knowledgeable about the different cultures in the world. Consumers nowadays prefer to follow themes; for instance, Indian weddings and Cherry Blossom Japanese weddings were quite popular among people a couple of years ago. Project Management and Event Planning Effective project management skills are necessary for successful event planning. The major difference between project management and event planning is that while project management is well defined and a methodical process that goes from one step to the other in an orderly manner, event planning is all about evolving and last minute planning and for this reason often misunderstandings and miscommunication can occur that lead to frustration and decreased efficiency. In order to make event planning more efficient and successful, the same strategies, tools and techniques used in project management should be followed. Gantt chart, an important tool in project management can also be used for event planning. Gantt chart is a visual representation of the schedule of the project; it shows various activities (events or tasks) against time. By following the procedures and processes similar to project management, event planning can also be made orderly. For instance, event planning can be done by defining the project; in other words identifying what really is required from the project and then do the research needed to gain excellence and perfection in the project. For instance, when planning weddings, one needs to define a theme and then choose the venue, decor, flowers, food, entertainment, the gown for the bride, dresses for bridesmaids etc. Event Management Plan for a Wedding Planning a wedding requires creativity and skills; weddings are usually enormous and elaborate affair and at an average a wedding has two hundred guests. The wedding planner should be creative and should not only be aware of the traditional wedding customs but must also be open to new ideas. The wedding planner must have the knowledge of the wedding customs of different cultures if the families of the bride and the groom belong to different race or ethnicity. Every couple especially the bride wants the big day to be absolutely flawless; perfect wedding is only possible if proper planning is done. Following presents step-wise plan for a wedding event. Step 1: Contract Signing Since weddings are different from project management in that project management is predictable and project managers can match the outcome of the project with the expectations of the clients but the same cannot be said for event planning. In event planning, an unexpected twist can arise at any time for example the client can make any last minute request. To avoid these, the event planners can either have sign offs (the client signs off an agreement) to lower the chances of unexpected changes or an implicit agreement could be there which can be reminded to the client in case a change is required. The planners can emphasize that a change would exceed the budget. For this wedding event, a contract between the planner and client is signed off to ensure everything goes well according to the agreed terms. If however the client is willing to pay more, the event planner must be creative and resourceful enough to manage the change without disturbing the rest of the project. Step 2: Budget Planning Weddings are expensive so planning and managing budget throughout the wedding is very important. Following presents the budget planned for this wedding. Budget Item Budget Amount (in USD) Budget Utilized (in USD) Completely consumed or not? Marriage License 150 100 No Venue, flower arrangement and decor (including service charges and taxes) 1700 700 No DJ and Musicians 250 50 No Food, Wine, and Cake 2000 500 No Invitation card printing, stamping and distribution 300 50 No Bride’s dresses and accessories 1100 300 No Groom’s dresses and accessories 1100 300 No Photographers and videographers 1200 200 No Wedding rings for bride and groom 800 - No Gifts and guest favors 500 50 No TOTAL 9,100 2,250 - Step 3: Gantt chart The project management approach of breaking down work into manageable pieces can be applied to wedding planning. Specific groups can be assigned specific tasks and time limit to fulfill those tasks can be set for timely completion of the project. Efficient planning also requires strong and constant communication among all people involved so that everyone is aware of their duties and informed of the latest development. Since wedding involves multitude of tasks, it is quite a complex issue and for this Gantt chart can be useful in planning and scheduling the tasks to be done. Following Gantt chart presents the typical wedding tasks such as theme selection, venue selection, caterer selection, bride and groom dresses and accessories, invitation card design, invitation card distribution, venue setups, flower arrangement, guest placing, music selection, color coordination, arrangement for food, cake and wine. Since budget planning is already done it is not included in Gantt chart. Activities 5th to 12th Jan, 2014 (Sun to Sun) 13th to 20th Jan, 2014 (Mon to Mon) 21st to 28th Jan, 2014 (Tue to Tue) 29th Jan to 5th Feb, 2014 (Wed to Wed) 6th and 7th Feb 2014 (Thurs and Fri) 8th Feb , 2014 Saturday (Wedding Day) Wedding documentation Theme selection Venue selection and Booking Caterer selection Musician and photographer and videographer selection Bride and groom dresses and accessories (buying rings) Invitation card design and Distribution Venue setups Meeting Deciding on flower arrangement Floor Plan Finalization (table #, name cards etc.) Guest placing and Music Corner selection Follow up on any remaining matters Final check for arrangement of food, cake and wine and final check for everything invitation, dresses, decor, music, photographer etc. The Day of Celebration Step 4: Minute Details Following is the plan; Dealing with documentation: This includes arrange marriage permits, ante nuptial contracts and make travel arrangements for honeymoon. If the wedding is taking place in an offshore destination, arrangements for passports and visas should also be done. Choosing a theme: A theme must be chosen; for instance the theme chosen is Victorian Deciding the Venue: the choice of the venue depends whether the couple wants the wedding indoors or outdoors. Parks, pavilions and gardens make a perfect outdoor venue for Victorian theme while Victorian style mansions, church with a garden or inns with gardens and long verandahs are most suitable as indoor venues. A well-manicured lawn with rose garden is an ideal setting for a Victorian wedding. Deciding Musicians and Photo and videographers: selection and booking them as early as possible is recommended to ensure their availability on the day of celebration. Sending invitations: This requires compilation of guest list and designing of invitation cards as per the chosen theme of the wedding. Bride and groom outfits and accessories: Bride’s and Groom’s input will decide the dresses however appendix-I shares a typical Victorian theme outfits for bride, bridesmaid and groom. Decor: Arches decorated with flowers can be erected both indoors and outdoors. Flowers held a special meaning in Victorian era so flowers should be chosen carefully. Chandeliers, silver candelabra as center piece and vases with roses or other blossoms must be included in the decor. Tables should be covered with floor length damask. Fine china crockery must be used. Music: The recreation of Victorian era is incomplete without selections from Chopin, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. As waltz was the dance of that era, the couple should take lessons in waltz. Food and drinks: To be decided with client’s consent however appendix-I shares a typical Victorian theme menu. Accepting replies and arranging guests’ placements: Guests’ placement needs to be done carefully; protocol must be followed when placing the families of the bride and the groom. Co-coordinating with all suppliers: caterers, flower suppliers, minister for the ceremony. Confirming everything related to the ceremony: taking care of every minute detail, reviewing all the arrangements and rehearsing before the wedding. Step 5: Pre and Post Evaluation Checklists and Gantt chart will help evaluate the project as it goes on, yet budget will guide the set of activities. For post evaluation client’s feedback on the performance of event management team and the running of the project will inform the success. Conclusion Over the years event management has emerged as a strong industry and all types of events such as carnivals, festivals, exhibitions, corporate events, seminars and conferences, sports and cultural activities have become strong drivers of this industry. Events have become ways to promote culture and they also serve economic purposes such as promoting tourism, advertising products and building brand image for companies. Event management has turned into a full-fledged profession where celebrations are developed after careful identification, planning, research and creativity. Although academic qualification helps in event management, it is more of an in-born talent, innovation and imagination. References Allen, Judy. Event Planning: The Ultimate Guide to Successful Meetings, Corporate Events, Fundraising Galas, Conferences, Conventions, Incentives and Other Special Events. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2009. Print.Bottom of Form Moran, Jill. How to Start a Home-Based Event Planning Business. Connecticut: Morris Books Publishing. 2010. Print. Raj, Razaq, Paul Walters, and Tahir Rashid. Events Management: An Integrated and Practical Approach. USA: SAGE. 2008. Print. Shone, Anton, and Bryn Parry. Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. UK: Cengage Learning EMEA. 2004. Print. Somers, Gillian, Julie Cain and Megan Jeffery. Essential VCE Business Management Units 1 and 2. UK: Cambridge University Press. 2011. Print.Bottom of Form Tassiopoulos, Dimitri. Event Management: A Professional and Developmental Approach. South Africa: Juta and Co Ltd. 2005. Print. Appendix-I Typical Victorian theme Bride and Groom Dress The bride wears a white gown with fitted bodice and small waist with a full skirt. Silk, organdy, gauze, tulle and satin are the materials of choice. The bridesmaids can dress as Victorian flower girls. The groom can wear the formal attire of a Victorian gentleman for instance a frock coat or a cutaway coat, a waistcoat, ascot ties and pin stripped trousers and of course a hat. The bridal bouquet must be arranged in tussie mussie or nosegay and must comprise of roses, stephanotis, tulips, hyacinth and pansies. Typical Victorian Theme Menu The main course can include roast beef, roast mutton, turkey, pheasant and duck. For drinks variety of teas such as Earl Grey can be served. Champagne and white wine can be served in the evening. Pies, puddings and tarts can be served for dessert. The bride can choose between a traditional all white cake and a Victorian charm cake. Pearls and lace are also included in modern replicas of Victorian bridal cakes. Read More