EVENT MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT: Event Management is a phenomenon which is developing in the present scenario. This has enabled the growth of festivals and event as an industry around the world means that the management can no longer be adhoc. Event planners go by many different job titles, but the core function of their work all falls within the realm of events management. Events management is the process behind planning, executing and evaluating corporate, association, nonprofit, government and social events .Events management requires strong organizational, budgeting and creative skills. Those who work in events management must be comfortable with interacting with all levels of individuals inside and outside of their organization. The development of Event management software companies provide the event planners with software tools to handle many common activities such as delegate registration, hotel booking, travel booking and allocation of exhibition floor space. As a result of this, the industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to a breakfast meeting for ten business people. Many industries, charitable organizations and interest groups will hold events of some size in order to market themselves, build business relationships, raise money or celebrate. This paper discuss about the Event management Importance of Event Management Event Manager Effective building of team through Event Management.

Event management Event Management is the application of project management to the creation and development of festivals, events and conferences. Event management involves studying the intricacies of the brand, identifying the target audience devising the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event. Post-event analysis and ensuring a return on investment have become significant drivers for the event industry. Events and festivals, such as the Asian Games have a large impact on their communities and, in some cases, the whole country. Marketing tool Event management is considered one of the strategic marketing and communication tools by companies of all sizes. From product launches to press conferences, companies create promotional events to help them communicate with clients and potential clients. They might target their audience by using the news media, hoping to generate media coverage which will reach thousands or millions of people. They can also invite their audience to their events and reach them at the actual event. Services Event managers can supervise diverse corporate events, such as product launches, press conferences, meetings, conferences, and marketing programs such as road shows and grand opening events. In addition, they can coordinate special corporate hospitality events such as concerts, award ceremonies, film premieres, parties to

launch new products or services, fashion shows, commercial events, and even private (personal) events such as weddings and religious services. Event management firms can handle a variety of specific event-related services, which can range from a few select services for clients with limited budgets, to handling all creative, technical and logistical aspects of an event. EVENT MANAGER: The event manager is the person who plans and executes the event. Event managers and their teams are often behind-the-scenes running the event. Event managers may also be involved in more than just the planning and execution of the event, but also brand building, marketing and communication strategy. The event manager is an expert at the creative, technical and logistical elements that help an event succeed. This includes event design, audio production, scriptwriting, logistics, budgeting, negotiation and, of course, client service. It is a multidimensional profession. An event architect is an event manager that becomes involved at the early initiation stages of the event. Especially for larger public events, at the initiation stage, the event architect needs to make crucial choices and decisions related to the creative concept and design of the event. In depth technical design knowledge and full understanding of how to communicate a companys message across a public are needed in order to make the event effective. If the event manager has budget responsibilities at this early stage they may be termed an event or production executive. The early event development stages include:

Site surveying Client Service Brief clarification Budget drafting Cash flow management Supply chain identification Procurement Scheduling Site design Technical design Health & Safety First Aid Services Environmental and ecological management Risk management

An event manager who becomes involved closer to the event will often have a more limited brief. The key disciplines closer to the event are:

Health & Safety including crowd management Logistics and vehicle selection Rigging Sound Light Video Detailed scheduling and agenda planning Security

QUALITIES OF AN EVENT MANAGER: The event planning profession is unique in that it takes a blend of people, business and program management skills to succeed. Heres a list of top five attributes that makes the difference between a good and a great event manager. Organizational skills Events are much like a great stage performance, and the event manager the show director. Choreographing various elements that make an event successful is imperative to the success of any event. Great organizational skills are the basic underpinnings of successfully managing people, schedules, vendors and everything else. Attention to detail Not everyone can have a Steve Jobs-like maniacal attention to detail to everything. However, excellent event managers take the time to consider the most important elements of an event and focus their efforts on every minute detail for the things that matter most to their customers. Temperament Murphy s Law states that if anything can go wrong, it most likely will. Experienced event managers know that there are rarely any events where something doesnt go wrong. They also know that their ability to stay calm under pressure and be the voice of reason is an attribute that makes them great leaders. People Skills When it comes down to it, events are all about people. The ability to connect, understand and build lasting relationships is a skill that every event manager must build and improve upon, no matter how experienced and successful they are.

Leadership Ever noticed how birds flying in the air in unison as "one mind", gracefully and in perfect timing as they weave across the skies? Leading and managing people is something like this. The passion and the ability to take charge of the flow of things make all the difference at the end of it all.

EFFECTIVE EVENT MANAGEMENT:

Knowledge is power: In order to make an event successful, understanding and knowledge is crucial. No two events are the same and understanding the nuances of what is required for a particular event is crucial. Events such as corporate meetings have their own demands of protocol and procedures. Entertainment events such as concerts require knowledge of various supporting resources to be put in place. Before actually commencing with managing an event, do make sure that you understand what exactly needs to be done. Talk to people who have participated in such events before, talk to other people who have managed such events before, keep yourself constantly updated with the evolving dynamics of each type of event.

Set the Stage: What is perfect for a few persons may turn out to be a claustrophobic experience for a hundred. It is very important to know the number of people who are expected to attend the event beforehand. Make sure the customer has intimated his requirements to you clearly. The choice of the venue will depend on this factor. Very often the decision of choosing a venue is taken jointly with the customer. After the venue is chosen it is essential to obtain maps, scout the location, and take notes.

Prepare today, execute tomorrow: Once a high level understanding of what needs to be done is obtained, its time for the planning phase. Chalk up a plan of which actions to be taken, and when. Assign responsibilities to the various actors within you team. Track the progress of each such planned action to completion. Before a big event, it is crucial to conduct dry runs and simulations. If possible, do involve the customer in such a dry run and walk him through of what he may expect during the actual event. This will prevent unpleasant surprises.

Time it Right! When planning an event, work out a plausible time span. No event should be hurried, hectic affair and neither should it be a long drawn affair which puts the audience's patience under test. The agenda should be well balanced, with adequate time contingencies built in.

Tools of the trade: It is also very important to have a grasp over the technicalities that run the show. Arrangement of proper technical equipment and skilled technicians is of prime importance. Nothing can be more embarrassing than a piece of equipment malfunctioning in the middle of the show. Pay attention to detail for example when two projectors are beaming simultaneously on two ends of the stage, they must be in sync and have the same color balance. Have the technicians check and recheck the equipments before the show starts.

Rules are not always meant to be broken: Organizing an event also requires number of approvals, permissions and procedures to be obtained. These range from permission from the police, civic authority clearances, environmental clearances etc. Make sure you, or your customer, have sought and obtained all necessary approvals and permissions. Stick within the

boundaries of the provisions during the event. Never ever make the mistake of landing up in the wrong side of the law.

There is no "I" in teamwork: An event involves a number of players. In some large scale events, it is mind boggling to think of the sheer number of players involved. For example, in a music concert musicians, sound technicians, light technicians, stage technicians, sponsors, celebrities and of course the general audience. Each of these parts has to function smoothly in order for the whole to work. Communication is the key. Frequent meetings, briefings and rehearsals are needed for everyone to understand what their responsibilities are and how they need to coordinate. During the event have effective communication and coordination mechanisms like wireless headsets, or cell phones. In teamwork, most of all, it is important to forsake egos. Don't try to blame others for anything for might go wrong instead the entire team should work in close coordination to cover for the slightest mistake made by an individual.

"If anything can go wrong, it will": In spite of the intricate planning, rehearsals and the best of your efforts, things may not always run smoothly and last minute glitches can occur. Do not panic - be prepared for such exigencies. Have a backup plan in place. Arrange for emergency power backups and other technical backup systems. If an inordinate delay occurs (for example a performing artist does not show up on time), plan in advance how to handle the situation and keep the audience occupied.

Safety is paramount: While it is important to have fun, safety is a very important factor. Ensure that emergency exits are well marked and that you

have adequate trained personnel to handle the situation in case anything untoward happens. Have the fire brigade and paramedical ready in case of very large events.

Smile!: Last but not the least, always remember that managing an event is all about interacting with people to deliver the best results. Keep a cheerful and positive disposition - it lowers stress for everyone concerned. The customer is always king some things may not always go your liking, but in the end your satisfaction would come from seeing the event getting executed perfectly.

EVENT MANAGEMENT FOR EFFECTIVE TEAM BUILDING: We consider corporate teamwork as the juice for successful event management. Motivated minds exert efforts for the common goal of achieving uncommon success of planned event. Social Events: For effective team building, we organize various social events. These events are often affordable, effective and enjoyable form of events and activities we organize for effective team building. These types of events have ultra-high and impromptu impact on our participants, and are low-cost activities. We make sure that individuals mix and mingle well with each other, particularly if the group is a large one, or else they will just hang around one or two close friend and our purpose of organizing the team building event will be gutted.We carry out various other corporately social events for enhancing the sense of team spirit. These events include evening meal, lunchtime drink, quiz nights, seminars for encouraging and rewarding employees, family picnic, coffee

morning, etc. These social events are easy to plan and execute and we easily organize them without going harsh on our wallet. The serve like in an engine, and generate that all important spark which fuse our participants like never before. We plan them well and ensure things go smooth as summer cherries, and no wonder we craft a battalion of dedicated team players. Changes to Work Practice: For building an effective team, which has deep sense of dedication towards team effort and organizations common objectives, we organize various events or change activities within our workplace. Changes like swapping job between employees, following open door policies, organizing team meetings and circulating team newsletters improve the confidence, faith and output of our employees, big time. In addition, it drastically enhances the communication and co-operation among them. For organizing successful events, we believe that there is nothing as magical as an out-and-out team effort. We realize tons of success by shear team effort, with making all significant groups engaged in the scrupulous planning requisite, crafting exhilarating and favorable results for a broad range of people and groups. Producing flourishing events is nothing but our art of heeding facets.

Corporate Events: Planning and managing events for corporate affairs is somewhat dicey, challenging and taxing. But, no wonder organizing a successful corporate event is one of the most rewarding things we repeatedly to do for ourselves. We effectively organize various corporate event like press conference, product launch, product deal, merger and partnership tie-ups, quarterly and annual

parties, annual functions, and more. In such events, we deem perfection holds the aces and before start of the planned corporate event, we make sure all modalities are working gracefully.

CASE STUDY:
Data Core India has been providing meeting management services as part of the Event Management domain that it caters to. By extending its services in the data management domain, Data Core India has been able to: Provide a data foundation that supports the vision and goals of the organization Ensure that the foundation is extensible and scalable Enable further alternatives to be considered by management for current and future data strategies Leverage existing IT architecture investments Deliver within clients cost constraints The various technologies/languages/platforms used by Data Core include: ASP.NET 2.0, VB.NET 2.0, SQL Server 2005, IIS 6.0 VB 6.0, ASP, SQL Server 2000, MS Excel.

The company is in the business of planning and running business meetings, conferences, and incentive programs. The events range in size from a couple dozen to thousands of attendees with budgets in the millions of dollars. The company can handle all aspects of the event from negotiating hotel contracts,

registering attendees, providing creative materials, ticketing air travel, to on-site management.

Problem Statement Data systems within this company had evolved separately and were only just starting to be integrated via selected interfaces. Furthermore, each department focused on performing its function without regard to the overall goals of the organization. Future plans included increased usage of outside service providers (ASPs) which also complicates the process of integrating the information. While the companys data systems were sufficient to support the successful operation of the business, they lacked they capability to provide analysis of the business as a whole. The Solution Data-Core approached the problem from a functional standpoint rather than a technical one and looked at what the users needed before offering a technology solution. Requirements were determined by interviewing key personnel. Special notice was taken of needs that could not be handled by any single existing system. An inventory of the available data sources was prepared at the field level to identify what data could be derived from the existing systems. Further analysis was done to see if the fields of interest actually had a meaningful data population. Also documented were the keys that could be used to join data from separate systems.

A multi-tier, Web-based architecture was provided to serve multiple users, no matter where they are in the world. The solution keeps even remote users in touch with the information they need. Users can work directly with business information for ad hoc reporting and develop their own applications using advanced data visualization and data mining techniques via Internet browser software and the companys standard digital tools. The rich functionality and flexibility of the Web interface minimized training and accelerated deployment. CONCLUSION: The Event Management has now become a successful tool for every company while organizing corporate festivals, meeting and other conferences. This has made as an effective marketing tool for the company for their target audiences and creates satisfaction among them. It has playing a vital role in any field. Thus, it has a wide scope in the future.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. WEBSITES:
www.dfa.productions.co.uk www.datacore.India.com en.wikipedia/wiki/Event-Management institute of event management.com libraryguides.griffith.edu.au www.google.com eventplanning.about.com

2. BOOKS:
Bowdin Glem, Johnney Allen, William OToole, Rob Harris, Mc DonnellEvent Management (Event Managements)

3. JOURNAL:
Kenneth Backman-Event management (formerly Festival management and Event tourism)