Event Leadership Issues - Research Paper Example

Event Leadership ABSTRACT The following paper will pose and answer two challenging questions about event leadership, with a focus of the production team, its responsibilities and its ability to deal with problematic situations that might occur during the preparation of the event, as well as during and after the event itself. The paper can also be viewed as a short case study that presents a music festival organized in a park and analyzes the organizational details for the event, the tasks and the responsibilities that have to be taken by the producer and the last, but not the least, the difficulties that the producer might be facing during and after the festival. Question #1: You will be providing all production for a summer folk festival for 20,000 persons in a city park, with performances running from noon to 10:00 p.m. on a single main stage. Your contact is a member of the Park’s Board. List as many questions as you can think of that you must ask this person to determine what you need to know in order to produce this festival. Answer: Producing a good festival is a challenging task and in order to be successful, one should be backed up by a very good team that would work together and make sure that all the organizational points are followed in the right way. In our case, we have to deal with a big music festival; music fans around the world will tell you there's nothing like a music festival for discovering new bands and enjoying an experience like no other. However, many of these fans are also likely to lament the scarcity of festivals catering to their taste in music and the high costs of those that do. This is why a good producer should make sure to meet the needs and the preferences of the costumers, in this case, of the people that will attend the festival, but at the same time, the producer should meet the requirements of the client, that is, of the event manager. Therefore, in order to produce a high standard festival, all details must be considered and the event plan has to be efficiently put in practice. The event producer has to consider the most important ideas regarding the preparation of the site, in our case, the preparation of scene in the park, for the event. At the same time, aspects such as marketing, advertising, funding and sponsorships possibilities, list of participants and the needed equipment are also significant for the event to unfold properly; and the last, but not the least, the producer has to develop a well defined plan for setup, execution and cleanup. So, I would need three basic documents to begin with: a list of things to do, a timetable for accomplishment and a column showing who will be responsible for each task. Therefore, in this case, having the contact of a member of the Park’s board, I will start by asking him some question in order to get a better idea of the possibilities that the location offers for organizing the event. I would start with some question referring to technical issues and accessibility: Is there electricity provided? Otherwise, do we have to get generators to supply electricity? – This piece of information is very important, first of all because this is how all the power will be provided for lighting, musical instruments, technical arrangements, etc. and it covers the basic need for the festival to take place. Does the stage have its own technical booth where the technicians can regulate the sound and the lights from or does it have to be provided separately by us? Does the stage have a dressing room and a green room1 for the artists or do they have to be provided by us as well? Does the site have a storage room for items that will be used in the concert, for maintenance equipment and other needed objects? Can the park provide seats for the people attending or do we have to provide that from an external source? Is there free access to drinking water? – Having access to drinking water, such as public water fountains and other water supplies is an extremely useful thing and clearly an advantage especially in the summer, when the weather is hot and people have a constant need to drink water. Is there a parking place nearby? - It is very important to make sure that the place is accessible to costumers and that it is very easy for them to get there. If not, arrangements should be made in order to provide customers with indications regarding the closest parking areas. Do you have affiliations with hotels and restaurants where people could eat and stay for the night if the festival goes on for more than a day? Does the park have arrangements for people with disabilities? Then I would do a short check on the history and the background of the park: What are the previous events that have been held in that particular park? – This is a somewhat strategic question in order to find out or deduce what kind of reputation the site has and what are its ratings in terms of popularity and customer satisfaction. What is the biggest event that has been held in the park? – This way we are able to learn about the actual capacity of the site and prepare to extend it, if needed. Does the park have any kind of recommendations from artists that have performed there before? – Such information could be very useful in advertising. What sponsors did they have on previous events? Also, I would ask some questions about regulations and security: What are the steps to take in order to obtain a permit2 for the place in a reasonable amount of time? – The member of the Park’s Board should be able to give some very useful information regarding this topic, especially if some other events have been previously held on the site. Does the park have any special policy regarding such public events like a festival? Are there any restrictions imposed by the administration of the park regarding natural site such as grass, trees, plants and others and if there are any conduct regulations that we have to inform the costumers about? On such big events, like the music festival that we intend to organize, is the security provided by the administration of the park or do we have to contact other security agencies in order to make sure that the event proceeds in a safe manner? Are there any noise regulations regarding specific hours? This way, after getting an answer to these questions, I will be able to understand the site that I am working with and the possibilities that the place can offer in order to combine the existing conditions with my own creativity and vision, and organize the best version of the festival and satisfy the artists, the event manager and the attendees. Question #2: As the producer for a large outdoor world music festival, your responsibilities include entertainment programming, audio, lighting, staging, fencing, and portable electrical power. At the end of the event, you discover that several of these suppliers had major cost overruns, some performers did not know where to report and were consequently late for their performance, and you have not been paid your final installment for your production work by the event manager. Discuss the various people you must contact, what meetings you might have to attend, and what actions you might have to take to ensure that everything is resolved and that you keep this client for future events. Answer: As a professional services provider, the event producer is mainly responsible for the supervision and the coordination of the event, from the initial concept, in our case, the music festival theme and duration to the management of the maintenance workers when the festival has ended. The producer manages the staff and the vendors and directs the participation of the artists as well as the participation of the people that have come to see the festival. Still, sometimes the event doesn’t go on in a perfect manner and several issues appear regarding different aspects of the festival. A good event producer has to be able to resolve the problems in a professional and diplomatic manner, time and resource efficiently. So, if the situation occurs as described in the question, that is, if I discover that several of the suppliers had major cost overruns and some performers did not know where to report and were consequently late for their performance, I would start up by meeting up with my production team and go over the initial plan in order to spot out the flaws and discuss why they occurred. Still, this should be a short meeting, as I am supposed to indentify why the problems appeared, but focus most of my time on solving the issues efficiently. In our case, I believe that the performers did not get enough directions on the location of the park and the location of the stage in the park, so it was hard for them to find the site. This is definitely the fault of the members in the production team, so we shouldn’t accuse the performers of incompetence. That is why, since the performers were unable to find the location on time, they were late for their performance, so the audio, lighting, staging team and others had to work overtime and they charged more for the services they provided. In order to fix the problem, I would have to attend a meeting with the event manager himself and kindly explain to him that the over costs are an unfortunate consequence of the performers being late; still, I would clarify that this was somewhat an unpredictable aspect, since we provided them with written direction, but the park was very populated and it was much harder for them to find the location of the stage. At the same time, I would assure him that he is not supposed to provide any kind of extra funding in order to cover the over costs. As a good event planner, I know I have to have an extra 30%-40% of money that are over the budget and are usually provided by sponsors and in part, by the event manager himself, at the beginning of the project. This money are reserved especially for covering eventual over costs, since they are an inevitable phenomenon in most events, whether they occur in smaller or larger amounts. So, I would explain to the event manager that the over costs will be covered by the small extra budget that I have set up at the beginning and that he should consider that the event was a success, since it was a great turn out and people, as well as artists, were very satisfied with it. Therefore, I believe that after this meeting in which I would calmly explain to him the causes of the over costs and the simple solution that I offer, the event manager would be pleased by my predictability in establishing the over budget and would decide to remain as a client for future events. It the end, I believe that being an event producer is similar to being an artist: you need to have creativity and vision, but at the same time, you have to have the ability and the talent to put all the pieces together in order to create something monumental. Also, being a producer is about leadership and problem-solving, the ability to organize people, think in anticipation, act fast and efficient- therefore, a very challenging and interesting job. Works Consulted: Allent, J. (2009). Event Planning. Mississauga, Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada. Kilkenny, S. (2006). The complete guide to succesful event planning. Ocala: Atlanting Publishing Group. Laurie, A. (n.d.). How to Plan Your Own Music Festival. Retrieved May 7, 2010, from Ezine Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/ Oliver, I. D. (2004). Event Planning. Morriseville: Lulu Entreprises. Robert L. Chapman, A. A. (1975). The Arts festival planning guide . North Carolina Bicentennial, Dept. of Cultural Resources, State of North Carolina: Raleigh. Scotti, D. (2001). Choosing A Great Event Producer. Retrieved May 8, 2010, from Corporate Event Channel: ttp://www.corporateeventchannel.com/ Read More