Career Fair Program and Copy of Minutes - Assignment Example

Business Event Management Introduction This assignment is all about making a career fair a successful event by employing professionalism and skills required in every stage of managing an event. The Career fair is aimed at promoting entrepreneurial culture, exposing the students to different corporates with the hope of getting those interviews, internships, jobs but more importantly showing them that it is practical and manageable to start and run your own business. The reason as to why we have a guest speaker who has made it big in entrepreneurship, Richard Branson. One who believes in working hard and playing hard. Different sponsors have come on board to showcase what they offer to the business environment making economic and financial sense. This career expo brings together potential employees who are basically the students and professionals from different industry sectors so that the right candidates can access employment opportunities by matching up the right talent with potential employers. Not forgetting investors who are willing to create job opportunities with people who have great ideas which have not been tapped yet thereby enhancing entrepreneurial culture. Departments It’s important to note that in coming up with this event, there are four key departments that have been set up, each with different functions. In a way the event planning itself prepares the people involved who are basically the students in what happens in a normal business set up. Each department though independent, having different roles and responsibilities depends on the other departments to make sure that the event is successful, bringing in the aspect of interdependence within any organization. Without which, the event cannot be successful. The four departments and their functions are outlined below; Legal department- this ensures that the event to be held does not contravene the state laws and that all the procedures required in holding a career fair are met. This means that all the documentation necessary to hold an event must be acquired following the legislation of the state. Adherence must be followed to the latter. Specifically, this department will be required to acquire permits, licenses and approvals for the career fair. It’s also their responsibility to understand legal obligations, to identify and reduce any risk to occupational health and safety, not to just deal with the consequences. In addition, all suppliers for the event in form of sponsors, investors, exhibitors and any corporates coming on board on that particular day will be required have their own public liability insurance policy. This will be effected by the legal department (Raj 2009). Operations department- this is charged with making sure that the target for the career fair is achieved by putting in place the necessary measures and having an efficient and effective organizing team. This department will also be involved in ensuring proper documentation for the event for items such as the event summary or program, event planning timeline and checklist, name tags for the event hosts and organizers, keynote itinerary for the guest speakers, site plan and parking map. Noise management will also be handled by this department by identifying noise generating activities, steps to reduce noise, details of how noise will be monitored, and identify a contact for noise complaints. Basically all matters to do with operations will be dealt with by the members of this department. Marketing- this is charged with the responsibility of making sure that the event reaches as many people as possible, the targeted number of those in attendance being two thousand students with video and television coverage to also target the mass market. By mass market I mean the public, doesn’t necessarily have to be students, it can target all age groups and society at large. This is one of the key departments without which the success of the event can and will be compromised. All key aspects of publicity will be handled by the marketing team. It will work very closely with the operations department as the two are closely intertwined due to the nature of their functions. Financial department- this is one of the core departments without which the event cannot be held. Put simply, it is charged with ensuring that the career fair is facilitated financially by offering the monetary requirements to make it happen. The budgets sent from the various departments have to be considered and taken into account. The finance department will not only be looking at meeting the budget costs but also looking at the nonfinancial aspect, the overall goal being to have a successful career fair (Oak Ridge 2011). Career Fair Program and copy of Minutes The Career fair is scheduled to happen on 28h of April starting from 10:00am to 5:00pm. The program is organized in such a way that there will be registration ongoing before the career fair officially opens at 10:00am. A target of two thousand people in attendance is expected to be in the Kensington Olympia London. Jennings Wayne from the Operations department confirmed that the venue is ideal as it has a capacity of more than five hundred people, free parking, and First Aid services on site and the charge would be fifteen thousand pounds. Lunch would be served in the small conference rooms. Paul Gordon from the marketing department confirmed the Key note speaker for the day Richard Branson would be in attendance and scheduled him as per the program to have two hours of his presentation. This was appreciated by all the departments via email confirmation. Details of the minutes were as follows; The chair person would be Matilda, the date of planning the event was scheduled to be on 31st March 2015 and the following people were in attendance, Maolie Kere-Soni, Matilda Kankam, Milena Ewa, Ndombasi Ntangu, Pierre Robert, Reace Vincent, Reem Giuma A, Reyhan Busra, Rita Oana, Soukaina Tiken, Ted Agunday, Thoma Pierre Jean Thierry,Wayne Anthony, Theodora Delcheva, Ivo Delcheva, Timur Khon, Akrom Ruziev, Alexandra Sivets, Charlotte Hemmendinger, Denell Dorian Lavel, Hatim Jaddad, Homer Anthony Lyseight, Jaroslaw Tomasz Stefaniak. However two people gave their apologies to be absent from the meeting and they were Paul Gorden, Adejumoke Adeluwoye. Matilda introduced the minute takers Akrom Ruziev & Teadora Delcheva and asked everyone to corporate during the meeting as the main agenda for discussion would be the starting time would be ten to five pm, the venue was agreed to be Kensington Olympia London but this was to be confirmed by the Operations department and emailed to everyone. Other items that were discussed included the following the layout of the stores, the number of people to attend the career fair which was finally settled to a minimum of two thousand in the hall, the food to be served which was sandwiches and no alcohol drinks for that particular day as this was a careers event. Badges for security and entry passes was also crucial for the security detail so that they would easily be identified from the other public. The VIP Lounge would not be taken so much as a factor as the guest speaker Richard Branson would want to interact with the students hence, this would primarily be omitted but either way discussed and was minuted.The main activities for the career fair also contributed as one of the key agendas and basically was the opening registration process, the guest speaker, the theme for the day which would be the mindset of entrepreneurship, finding potential investors for students ideas and closing. Detailed Role of the Finance Department The objective of the Finance department for which I am involved in is to ensure that funding will be distributed to the other departments depending on the need and requirements provided it makes economic sense bearing in mind that the event organizers are working with a limited budget. It is also the duty of the finance team to cut down on unnecessary budgets brought in by the other departments, outsource sponsors for the event to cut down on some costs. By bringing in sponsors on board, it is an effective way of branding what they offer as long as they do not charge any fee to the event planners on that particular day. This means that in exchange for the sponsorships, the event holders will be in a way promoting what the sponsors offer to the public. It cannot achieve this without the help of the marketing department (Allen 2003). The marketing team was very aggressive in selling the career fair to the public. Paul Gordon who is a graphic designer specifically was responsible for creating a website, and urged people to send in more pictures for uploading. The pictures would attract the attention of most people rather than just doing the traditional ways of marketing such as putting posters around the venue, which would not be as effective as attracting the attention of most people who are online, the use of the website was well thought out. His total budget for the Graphics & Website design was totaling to thirty two thousand, eight hundred and seventy eight pounds. Charlotte from the Finance department replied to his request via email confirmation and told him that he will look into it and give him feedback. The finance department expedited this process as soon as possible and was able to reply to the marketing team in less than two days showing a level of commitment and determination in regard to promoting teamwork. Charlotte who is one of my team members in the Finance department had to convince Gordon to work with a lower budget so that other needs from the other departments are also met. The finance department was given various quotations from the other three departments and was required to look into the budgets, come up with a cost minimizing scheme so that all the necessities needed for the event to be successful are taken into consideration. Mac Boa from the marketing department requested Charlotte of Finance to look into a quotation that had the following requirements; posters, banners, flyers and newspaper adverts, hiring of grounds men to do the marketing of the career fair two weeks prior to the day. The cost for this was totaling to thirty eight thousand, three hundred and sixty pounds. Matilda who is the head of marketing sponsorships also requested the finance department to consider her sponsorship team budget of eight hundred and sixty pounds to cater for stationery, internet, desk and chairs. I was able to convince the sponsorship team that outsourcing some of their requirements from our sponsors would solve their immediate need so that the finance department would not have to incur costs of buying or even the thought of hiring. This way the total budget costs would reduce significantly (Moss 2014). Paul Gordon who is in the marketing department had the following requisitions in mind which he termed as necessities for the event. Exhibition floor layout, exhibitions, a security company to ensure safety for all the people who will be present, cleaner and waste disposal company, a catering company for the meals and tea breaks as this would be a full day event, VIP security procedures considering there will be guests from the high end market, investors and entrepreneurs who have made it in the business environment, an electrics company for the technical bit, Wi-Fi signaling and internet connection, an ambulance, first aid, health and safety organization officer and stewards for the car and parking organizations. His request was passed on to the other departments via email conversation. All these requirements are vital, but working with a limited budget means there has to be prioritization of the most important needs. However such items such as health and safety regulations as well as the security detail cannot be compromised. The marketing department stressed that this career fair would be considered to be successful only if two thousand people attend, 20-30 exhibitors come on board, presentation by the guest speakers cover at least two hours of the program but most importantly that the students will manage to secure jobs, interviews and scholarships from the companies and potential investors who will come on board. This input was from Paul Gordon. All the matters relating to airing of the event, giving it the public exposure that it so requires in terms of media coverage so that the main objective of having the event is met. This means ITV would come in handy and their budget has to be taken as a priority (Bhe 2004). Demonstrating Leadership Skills & Time Management In efforts of cutting down all these costs, the Finance team which I am in charge of had to come up with a strategy of bringing sponsors on board who would provide their products and services free of charge in exchange of an opportunity to brand their image during that particular day. The following sponsors were willing to showcase and exhibit what they offer. Apple would provide video coverage for the event using their screens in the hall. This would save the organizers a cost of five thousand pounds for Hardware Mac/ Computer standalone system and screens. Ikea would provide tables and chairs so that the hall is full to capacity saving a significant cost of one thousand, one hundred and twenty pounds. That means that the Finance team would not have to think about hiring of seats and tables. Waterston would facilitate the stationery requirements such as pen and paper which are necessary as people would need to take down notes during the career fair. Water would be sponsored by Evian as this is a full day event while the food in form of sandwiches would be sponsored by Waitrose. Waitrose will not be expected to serve alcohol for this event as this is a career fair. There will be TV coverage covered by IV Media which will enable the public to have an idea of what’s happening increasing the mass coverage for that particular day. This will save the event planners a significant amount of money enabling them to cut back on their total budget. Were it not for the Finance team reaching out to these sponsors, then all these costs would have to be borne and included in the budget, cutting down of these costs is in itself a way of demonstrating leadership skills. Time management would be required and the true test of this would be the speed with which the sponsors deliver, how fast communication and feedback is acquired from the teams, execution of duties as and when they fall due and being able to provide all the relevant information which is needed by other team members (Mcneese 2000). Delegation & meeting deadlines There are other important roles and responsibilities expected from my Finance department. I as the chairperson for the Finance Department held a meeting to distribute roles to my team members and made sure that everyone is involved. I appointed Hatim to prepare the financial statements for this particular event. This should be ready two weeks prior to the event .Even though this was a career fair, the fact that money was involved created in the aspect of accountability and therefore professionalism had to be employed in producing the necessary accounting information in form of Balance Sheet, Trading, Profit and Loss account as well. Thomas would oversee expenditure and sales from the other departments and would therefore be responsible for keeping and maintaining the financial records. The reports on expenditure should be done on a daily basis so that no information is left out regarding costs that have been incurred. This would mean that all items of expenditure are properly documented, quotations from various suppliers should be compared to ensure that costs are minimized. Prior to making a payment, the invoices should match the total amount for which the receipts are totaled say for goods supplied and copies of proof of payment filed for audit purposes and proper book keeping practice. The financial records should be availed at to me at on a need basis because where money is involved, then accountability has to be done and executed without any excuses (Drucker 1974). It is not just sufficient to maintain proper books of accounts, an analysis has to be done to evaluate the performance of the firm in this case the event planning and hosting of the career fair. To see whether or not it makes business and financial sense, I appointed Alessandro to carry out an evaluation using ratio analysis. This would enable the team to evaluate whether there has been excessive expenditure using the minimal resources that has been budgeted for the event to be successful. Charlotte who is the Finance coordinator would then make sure that there are no payments owed to suppliers that are pending. All creditors who will facilitate their services and or products to make the career fair a success should be well compensated according to the contractual agreements. Charlotte would hold subsidiary meetings in my absence with the team members just to check on the progress and would there be any challenge, then I would come in handy to assist because of my expertise in the financial background. This way, the Finance department demonstrated teamwork, leadership skills via the ability to work with minimum supervision and everyone meeting their targets given the set deadlines. Time management was very crucial, if a team member had to be late or absent from any scheduled meeting, then prior communication was mandatory but each one of them was still required to perform their duties as and when needed to do so. Stakeholders & Sponsorships Communication to these sponsors who will be considered as the main stakeholders for the event was done officially via emails and confirmation through telephone conversations. This brings in the concept of stakeholder analysis. Stakeholder analysis is the process of identifying and analysing stakeholders and plan for their participation. Generally, the usage or application of stakeholder analysis would include; making a list of all stakeholders, analyzing their interests, analyzing potential causes of conflicts that may arise among the stakeholders and most importantly evaluating the existing strategy as the interest of all stakeholders will be closely related with the general success of the event. The marketing department managed to get feedback from Apple, Ikea, Waterston, Evian and Waitrose that they would be in attendance and would gladly offer their services in exchange of the exposure that comes along with branding (Fabricant 2014). This would be their main interest, promoting their products and showcasing them to the general public during the career fair. These five stakeholders have been carefully selected as their presence in the career fair directly involves the main activities for the day, without whom we would have to outsource their services from other suppliers at a cost. I would then comfortably refer them as the primary stakeholders. However, the sponsors and exhibitors had one condition which had to be fulfilled prior to them coming on board, that this career fair would attract a minimum of two thousand people in attendance. The LSBF (London School of Business and Finance) and the surrounding community would also be a main stakeholder as the career fair is being held in its compound. This would mean that it would portray the school as one of the leading institutions for business studies and most people would consider taking their students for business studies in the same school as a center for career nourishment. The government would be a secondary stakeholder in this scenario, adherence to all regulations governing event planning and hosting is key. Conflict in event organizing and how it was managed There were some interdepartmental conflicts such as some guys not responding to emails on time and some team members not picking calls. Paul was urging guys to send them pictures for uploading on the website but for some reason, there was slow response from people either due to focusing too much in internal responsibilities within their groups and forgetting that they also have interdepartmental roles to play. There was a WhatsApp call that went unanswered and had to be video chat on email. Matilda for example who is in the sponsorship team budget department had to apologize for sending late minutes to the team members for their roles and responsibilities. I requested her via a phone call to delegate some of her duties to her team members so as to save on time and not hold the other departments waiting in lack of information. Her excuse was that she was unwell. As much as one’s health is important, when it comes to working with deadlines for such an event like his, being sick would not serve as an excuse to not delivering. All these challenges brought in conflicts during the event planning and had to be addressed. Professionalism is paramount and needs to be taken seriously. In this instance for example, Matilda should have considered delegating some of her responsibilities to her team members so as to avoid excuses and failure of work not done. Delegation is and remains to be one of the key attributes of a leader, and especially with event planning, one cannot afford to put others on hold as one person is not able to perform all duties by themselves. Finding Investors Finding investors could be one major hurdle but all in all, it is expected that all teams will collaborate to make this event successful. The investors will only come on board if it makes business and economic sense for them. Business sense in that they can be able to meet their operational costs as well as promote their brand. This is a way brings in the promotion mix. Economic sense in that costs will be able to be met at the bare minimum and will in return have value addition to the companies themselves and the student community at large. Bearing in mind that the main objective is to enlighten the students on career opportunities within their scope and range, then the main intention of these investors would not be to make profits but to promote a culture of entrepreneurship. They would then be helping the students see the available opportunities around them and assist them filling in the gap by exposing them to the corporate world via use of skills and expertise found in the career world. This brings in the aspect of identifying niche markets that have not been tapped yet, encouraging the students to build on such careers by being creative and innovative. Investors would only come on board if the students have a bargaining power on what they are offering to them, therefore unique ideas would be a necessity and very crucial. Tapping into entrepreneurship Assessing the market around them to see the gaps that can be filled via entrepreneurship, then being able to create a business case scenario within their environment. It’s only after identifying such opportunities that they can then approach investors, make presentations and convince them that they can work together to achieve something for the common market. It is important to note that most investors do not look at the money first as a priority, but successful investors who often start as entrepreneurs will first look at the need in the society, then look for ways to fill into that gap, penetrating into the market and then having captured the confidence of the public it is then that they are able to generate income which eventually translates into profits. Students will therefore be exposed to such companies that have made it during the career fair but it will be their responsibility to identify which companies can come on board obviously with the help of investors. This can easily be done by effective communication, conducting research via the websites and not only that by accessing business related articles, watching the trending news in the financial sector. In trying to sell their ideas to the corporates and investors, the students will be cautioned and encouraged to patent or have copyrights in future as some investors with the financial muscles can easily steal their ideas and make money from those ideas without proper compensation to the innovators which in this case would be the students. Also importantly, the students will be encouraged that innovation does not necessarily have to be a totally new idea in the market, but that they can build on other people’s ideas and still manage to create a new business model that can sell in the market eventually creating more opportunities for entrepreneurship subsequently creating employment opportunities to others. Age will not be a factor as to whether or not the students will make it in entrepreneurship but the exposure one gets during the career fair will be the determinant factor in trying to establish one’s own business. They will be encouraged to realize their maximum potential in their tender age so that their career progression grows and nourishes progressively. That way, they can manage to develop their careers in a way that they can grow and advance and create meaningful and lasting business impact in the society at large. Richard Branson’s speech. The Operations team identified Richard Branson to be the guest speaker and had to cover at least two hours in the program. Their choice of keynote speakers was creative and relevant to the career fair as most students look up to him with the aspirations that they too can and will be successful like him in the business sphere. He will be welcomed to give his speech and will mainly talk about his life experiences in the career path as an entrepreneur that have made him successful so that the students can and will relate to him in the near future. He will especially give them insights on how to start a business from scratch and see it grow, enlarge and even have other subsidiary companies within the main group of companies. Importantly to note will be his first business venture a magazine called the Student which he started at the age of sixteen, the students can and will easily relate to it. This will be significant in stressing the fact that the students are young does not mean that they cannot successfully start and run their own companies. The key focus will be the determination that one has and knowing exactly what you want to achieve, then talking to the right people. This would mean networking skills will be employed greatly, knowing how to approach clients, and accessing sponsorships in form of investors will be paramount but will come with experience. He will also emphasize on the need for personal etiquette, good communication and interpersonal skills, good grooming being some of the necessary soft skills that are not taught in schools but are essential and core in any business set up as people judge you by how you present yourself. Due to his interactive nature, there would be no separate VIP Lounge. Students would want to interact with him briefly in a before the event comes to a close. Importance of IT Information technology has and will always be a necessary tool in passing information within any organization, company, business atmosphere or even in such a case as this event planning and organizing. For this event particularly, use of emails between the departments proved to be very essential because items such as budgets could be forwarded directly to the head of finance. Not only that, the website and design team could not have made it to upload pictures for the event showcasing and promoting what they have to offer thereby advertising and promoting the career fair. All these require technical expertise in Information Technology and this was adequately facilitated, evidenced by the WI-FI connectivity during the event, use of emails for communication, use of mobile phones for communication and feedback messages, some of which were done through WhatsApp messaging. Social media was one of the vital tools that really helped put this career fair on the limelight and really contributed immensely as one of the marketing strategies employed by the marketing team. The marketing team used Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram for pictures to advertise the career fair before the day, during the event as it was going on there were still some social media active persons managing those accounts and even after the event, social media was still used to showcase how successful the event was in terms of the turn up, uploading of videos on you tube. All these goes to show how relevant Information Technology is in making this career fair a success without which information would not have reached the intended target audience. The challenges that IT may encounter such as hacking into the systems for the event organizers was not experienced as there was proper planning and people charged with the responsibility of ensuring that all matters Information Technology were up to par. Conclusion In conclusion, I can say that the event planning was adequately successful. Just a few mishaps with a few members from the different teams but all the same there were lessons to be learnt such as when it comes to event planning, it takes teamwork and every member has a key role to be play. The operations department was on top of their game, as well as the Finance department, not forgetting the marketing department and the legal department that ensured all the requirements are met. However in future events, all the students will be required to employ professionalism, people answering calls, responding to emails, being actively involved in their individual responsibilities as per scheduled on the departments. The main objective of promoting the entrepreneurial culture was passed and came across so strongly, the students being the main beneficiaries but the corporates as well as potential investors. The career fair ended on a high note and congratulations were in order for all the people who were charged with the responsibility of organizing, all the investors, the students who had ideas, the corporates, exhibitors, the sponsors who came on board, the community at large, the government for providing an enabling environment, and the London School of Business Studies for providing a venue within which the career fair was to be held. Bibliography Akrom Ruziev & Teadora Delcheva (April 28, 2015). All Department Agenda Template Allen, J. (2003). Event planning: ethics and etiquette: a principled approach to the business of special event management. Etobicoke, Ont, Wiley. Bhe, T. (2004). Event management and best practices. [Austin, Tex.], [IBM, International Technical Support Organization]. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?isbn=0738497878. Careers Fair Event Drucker, P. F. (1974). Management: tasks, responsibilities, practices. New York, Harper & Row. Fabricant, F., & Miller, J. 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