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Title of the course

Student's name
Professor’s Name
Email Address
Date of Submission
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Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3
Critical Success Factors .................................................................................................... 3
Type of Event ................................................................................................................................. 3
Target Audience ........................................................................................................................... 4
Accessibility ................................................................................................................................... 4
Event Operations Plan ...................................................................................................... 5
Location........................................................................................................................................... 5
Licensing and Legal Issues ....................................................................................................... 5
Risk Management ........................................................................................................................ 6
Health & Safety (Security and crowd control)................................................................... 7
Supply Chain Management ....................................................................................................... 8
CSR and Sustainability ............................................................................................................... 8
Waste Management..................................................................................................................... 9
Professional Learning ....................................................................................................... 9
References .......................................................................................................................... 11
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Introduction
Over recent years, a new direction has been observed in the planning and
implementation of the event. Planning, setting, organization, and professionalism of
event planners make an impact on their future (Getz and Page, 2016). The current
study is also based on planning and executing a live event. Ides of March Production
is aiming to plan a cancer charity event in the grounds of Royal Hospital Chelsea. It
is the most famous landscape and flower gardens where “Chelsea Flower Show” is
carried out for different purposes (RHS, 2018). Since 1912, the Royal Horticultural
Society (RHS) is arranging the show attended by the member of British Royal Family
and attracts visitors from all continents (RHS, 2018). Since Ides of March Production
is planning a cancer charity event so Chelsea Flower Show will be a great event to
attract people for taking part in the noble cause. The current study will explore the
event planning and management by using a practical approach to plan and execute the
live event. The study aims to evaluate the elements to raise awareness of cancer,
highlight the support available in the community and help in raising funds for the
cancer patients across the UK.

Critical Success Factors

Type of Event
To make the event successful, Ides of March Production must choose the location
that is easily accessible, popular among the masses, depicts the cause and has the
great reach to the broad audience. Keeping in view all these factors, RHS Chelsea
seems to be a reliable choice where purpose could be served through Chelsea Flower
Show.
Chelsea Flower Show is a prestigious event that is attended by 157,000 visitors
every year. The show is held for five days bringing out floral art by the best retailers
of the town (Hyslop and Rahim, 2018). Extensive television coverage is given to the
show by BBC and RHS also releases an exclusive DVD of the show. The area of the
garden devoted to the show has increased steadily between 1970 and 2000 (Hyslop
and Rahim, 2018). The popularity of the flower show is growing among the people
for watching trends. The popularity of the Chelsea Flower Show is assisting the non-
profit organizations in an effective way to raise funds. There are many successful
examples of the events held during the show. Conducting the “Cancer Charity
Support” at Chelsea, the organization will be able to earn considerable publicity. The
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event is likely to be covered by the national and regional media that would contribute
to the increase in the traffic (Allen, 2011). Ides of March Productions will be able to
receive an unprecedented amount of media coverage for RHS Chelsea across all range
of categories that would result in reaching out more people for making the event
successful (Hyslop and Rahim, 2018).
Target Audience
The target audience of the Ides of March Production is the high spending class
educated class to which cause of the charity is communicated effectively. Chelsea
Flower Show in this regard is the best option as it attracts a high-spending audience.
The number of people attending the show has increased to 166,800 (Barr, 2018). The
audience that attends the show helps in generating direct sales and other business and
marketing opportunities. 81% of the visitors attending the show have high disposable
incomes. There are 480,370 members of RHS with a high socio-economic profile
(Barr, 2018). The visitors are mostly from London and South East, thus, having full
international and national participation and press coverage. This helps in reaching out
to new clients and reinforcing the brand's values to the current loyal customers. The
visitors are attracted through advertising, group marketing, direct mail, and press
promotion. Thus, Ides of March Production is likely to reach out to its target audience
through Chelsea Flower Show.
Accessibility
The primary objective of Ides of March Production is to arrange an event that
is accessible by all and visitors must be facilitated in every possible way. In this
regard, RHS Chelsea is an appropriate choice where people can come conveniently,
view and enjoy the show. They are facilitated in the best way possible. RHS has set
an online forum for the members and public to purchase a ticket for the show. The
price of the tickets varies for member and non-members, and only four tickets could
be bought at a time. The management assures that event is made suitable for disabled
people as well. The RHS provIdes equal opportunity to disable people to enjoy the
gardens as other visitors. Measures are taken to make the visit as problem-free as
possible for all people. At the show, all catering facilities are accessible by the visitors
except for the Thames View Food Court and Rock Bank Restaurant. All floral
exhibits, gardens, and marquees are accessible can be viewed from ground level.
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There are some marquees and floral exhibits through which people can walk through.
Visitors are given parking and are charged for a day.

Event Operations Plan

Location
The charity event will be organized at RHS Chelsea in the grounds of the
Royal Hospital Chelsea bounded by Chelsea Bridge Road to the east, Royal Hospital
Road to the north and Chelsea Embankment to the south. The site benefits from
excellent public transport links, being located close to numerous bus routes and the
London Underground/National Rail services offered by Sloane Square (LUL only)
and Victoria stations (LUL and National Rail). The carriageways surrounding the site
are also suitable for cycling, pedestrians also benefit from good quality footways and
convenient crossing facilities.
For conducting an event at RHS Chelsea, it will be made sure that the
uniqueness and authenticity of the event is preserved, and sustainability of the event
can be reached through a strategy aimed at preserving the authenticity of the rituals,
educating visitors about their behavior and encouraging donations to support the
continuity of the rituals (Stoyanova-Bozhkova, 2017).
Licensing and Legal Issues
For conducting a charity event for cancer at RHS Chelsea, the requirement of
submitting license has to be fulfilled. However, Ides of March Production is facing
the issue of seeking license from the authorities. The Licensing Authority is the main
body to deal with along with the Environmental Health and Police. The Licensing
authority will assure that application is filled in the correct format, right fees are paid
and filter any vexatious objections to the application (Fenich, 2013). Information
related to stewarding, crowd management, about door staff companies and thefts
prevention strategies will be shared with the Police. Environmental Health will be
concerned with matters such as noise management, liaison with local residents and
presenting a detailed noise management plan. The Police and Environmental Health
can take significant measures such as Noise Abatement Notices, closing the event
under the Anti-Social Behavior Crime and Policing Act 2014. The officials are more
concerned with the Event Safety Plan having detailed appendices (Bowdin, 2006).
Thus, Ides of March Production will present an event safety plan in which the safety
of the visitors along with safety standards of Chelsea Garden will be presented in
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detail. The management plan presented to the authorities will include traffic
management policy, noise management strategy, visitors’ management within the
garden and garden protection strategy.
As it will be an annual event so time-limited license will be requested from the
authorities that would permit the event at the same location for a day in the month of
May. The time-limited license will be beneficial in a way that the organization does
not have to pass through the process of applying for the license every year (Fenich,
2013). However, any adjustments in the requirements will be updated in the license
along with the notification obligations to the Authorities written in the conditions of
the license.
Risk Management
There is a number of risks involved such as equipment failure, power failure,
brawl, medical emergency, fire, sponsorship withdraw, etc. A risk management plan
is needed to address all these contingencies. Risk management at RHS Chelsea will
aim to assure that all activities are carried out under the umbrella of law and good
governance practices. All the stakeholder will be included in the development of the
risk management plan and training will be offered to all employees to highlighted
concerns.
As Chelsea Flower Show is an outdoor event, so it also involves uncertainties
of weather. Risk management will be done at each and every stage of event planning.
The keys areas to consider are marketing, finance, human resource, visitors, food and
beverages management, infrastructure, technical management, team management,
procurement, and logistic (Yeoman et al., 2012).
Since the event is conducted at a garden, so the first risk to identify is the
vagaries of the weather. It is to ensure that the plants and trees planted must be
retained to retain the record-breaking legacy of Chelsea Gold medals for the last 67
consecutive years. The risk of weather-related to an outdoor event is evident in every
season such as frost, drought, wind, etc. Climate change has added to the challenges
as the weather is becoming more unpredictable (Guerin, 2005).
The plan includes putting wet leaves at the entrance which can be harmful to
children visitors as they could triple on these leaves and get hurt as a result. For this
purpose we will install signs at every spot where there will be wet leaves, furthermore
more cleaning will be done at regular intervals and also organizers will be alert to
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rectify if such situations come up during the event. As far as fire hazards are
concerned, the system installed by the museum for fire safety is reliable and should
work properly so there is no need for intervention. Maps should be handed over to the
visitors in case they want to visit a specific place and it will also help them in finding
their way out in case of fire or any other emergency. Another hazard for the visitors
could be falling from heights, which can cause serious issues. The cleaning operatives
should be alert and should immediately clean such things on ground which could
cause people to slip and fall. Upon their arrival visitors should be given a warning
about these hazards so that they shall be careful during their visit.
The physical enclosure of the garden is presently retained by the railings in the
boundary of the grounds ensuring the security of the environment. The existing gates
will be utilized such as Bull Ring Gate, Garden and London Gate for visitors. The
Ambulance Gate shall also be utilized on the event evening. Qualified workers from
the Ground Crew, Plumbers and Electricians will be directed to be on site 24 hours a
day for an immediate reaction to the problem.
Fire Risk Assessment will be carried out before the event and will be updated
through the event as required. The plan will be implemented as such to have sufficient
visitor flow through egress points. To determine the number of visitors at any hour of
the day, capacity calculations will be carried out. The access points of Bull Ring,
Ambulance, Barrack, Chelsea and Caterers Gates will be open for emergency
vehicles. Training will be offered to staff members on emergency procedures, and all
relevant parties will be given a comprehensive Emergency Procedures Document.
Training to Safety Stewards and Security team will be given on carrying out the
evacuation.
Health & Safety (Security and crowd control)
The event will be managed by offering security 24 hours a day during the days
in which events are conducted. The contact of the security team with the organizing
team will be assured for effective communication in case of any problem. It will also
be assured that the site is free of any hazard and is secure and safe for visitors. The
security contractor shall be hired for controlling egress and access and also ensuring
everything is under control during an after the event (Fenich, 2013).
The management of guests will be of prime importance to the organizers. A
detailed guest management strategy will be developed proposing the arrangement for
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managing visitors. The show will be open for visitors between 08:00 am to 08:00 pm.
To facilitate the pedestrian and provide vehicle access, the site will be from 07:00 pm.
The organizers will reach the site at 06:30 am. Security will be assured for 24 hours.
The event will be fully ticketed with egress and access arrangements to facilitate
visitors on foot, cycle, car, and public transport. The guests will be directed by safety
stewards and security team arriving at the London and the Bull Ring Gate.
Supply Chain Management
The principal aim of the organization is to develop sustainable relations with
suppliers because they possess an imperative role in making the event successful. The
key suppliers of the organization are those that supply services and goods (Carr and
Newell, 2014) to the Gardens, offices, retail outlets, and flower shows. The common
supplies include cleaning contractors, catering, stewards, security providers,
wholesale plan suppliers, producers of licensed products and plant growers. During
the process of supplier selection, due diligence will be carried out. It is ensured that
agreements are made in the form of written contracts with suppliers. While working
with the suppliers, it is to ensure that contracts are followed in a way to support
compliance with the values of the organization (Carr and Newell, 2014). The highly
ethical procurement policy shall be developed, and suppliers will be asked about their
conformity to comply with the newly introduced strategy. The decisions were taken to
manage the supply chain; it will be assured that charitable objectives are met and
regularly reviewed by the management.
CSR and Sustainability
Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the events and
meetings helps in greening the function. Thus, it requires developing the programs
that have a profound impact on the sustainability of the community, company and the
planet. Through the CSR program, the organization aims to leave a legacy in the
community by collaborating with potential clients (Van der Wagen and White, 2018).
The flower show incorporates the activities to highlight water conservation and offer
solutions to sustainability issues. The organization will also propose solutions for the
stormwater to enhance the understanding of the visitors regarding the concept when
they see the garden. They will be showing how water is stored by slowing through the
garden and dropping the levels of water to reflect water infiltrating into the ground.
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Waste Management
The waste management strategy is important in event planning as it helps in
attaining suitability and brings economic benefits (Melissa & Newell, 2014). At
Chelsea Flower Show, 40-yard skips will be used for placing the rubbish and will be
taken off from the location for separating the waste. The responsibility of the
Operations Manager is to assure that there is no litter left on all exterior areas of the
site (Tum, Norton & Wright, 2005). The suitable secure enclosures will be made
available for keeping any attractive material or food to rodents. The organization is
directed to carry out waste management through recycling the waste. The purpose is
to achieve a high percentage of recycled waste and turning the small percentage of
waste left into the energy. This will help the organization to make significant use of
the waste and giving back to the society. With the collaboration of relevant bodies, all
the waste will be segregated through the most useful methods offsite to retain the rate
of recycling at 95%. This will help in improving the environmental position of the
show that will not only make the show event sustainable but is important
economically as landfill tax is increasing annually.

Professional Learning
Learning in every field of knowledge is an ongoing process. The more you
work, the more you learn, and more your knowledge increases and that is what we
call experience (Berridge, 2007). This process clearly identifies the way of replicating
success and coping with the consequences of failures because such things allow to
grow from challenges and bring in innovative projects in the future. When an event
takes places, the knowledge and details about it are fresh in your mind. You are clear
about what went right and what went wrong. Based on these small outcomes which
are a part of the total outcome of an even, we decided what things to incorporate in
our upcoming events and what to eliminate as Chelsea Flower Show is an outdoor
event. What I learned in this event is that outdoor events especial where natural things
are concerned involves more risk and thus require more focus on risk management.
The most important thing to do in this case is to keep a good track of the weather
forecast because a slight weather problem could develop into a greater issue for the
whole event (Everest & Swanson, 2015).
Event management comes in the services industry. The theory of operational
management plays a great role in the services sector and event planning and
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management; however, it is slightly different from the conventional operational

management, which is primarily concerned with the production of goods and
products. Operational management in services are more concerned with the
production of services and delivering them to the customers directly. Services are like
intangible products that are short-lived. The decisions in the operational management
of services are more concerned with information, people and systems. In Chelsea
Flow Show, the theory and concepts of operational management were used to
determine what are the constraints, what are our expected outcomes and how are we
going to achieve our expected outcome taking into account the given constraints.
Above all, it helped in the utilization of resources, which included both physical and
human resources. It gave us a clear pathway of who should do what based on who is
good at what. Thus, management of the outcomes leads to the management of the
event as a whole (Getz and Page, 2016).
One of the biggest challenges faced during the planning process was the
scarcity of resources. The planning always came to a place where we needed more
resources to cover the entire event (Guerin, 2004). However, we took help of the
operational management techniques to optimize our process and make better
utilization of our workforce in order to rid get of such situations. Great learning that
event management gives is the efficient use of scarce resources (O'toole and
Mikolaitis, 2002).
There are times in the field when a there is a strong need to consult a
professional of the field. As mentioned we have had the issue of resource allocation to
different aspects of the event (Van Der Wagen, 2011). For the issue, we consulted
with Mr. Schultz, who is a well-known event manager. We took the matter to him,
and he suggested that we use our resources very rationally and should take help from
operational management theories to help in the resource allocation process.
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References
Allen, J. (2011) Festival and Special Event Management, Wiley
Barr, S. (2018). CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2018: WHERE IS IT, WHAT'S THE
DRESS CODE, AND HOW DO YOU BUY TICKETS? Retrieved from
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/chelsea-flower-show-2018-location-
tickets-dress-code-when-opening-times-dates-a8362881.html
Berridge, G. (2007). Events design and experience. Routledge.
Bowdin, G., Allen, J., Harris, R., McDonnell, I., & O'Toole, W. (2012). Events
management. Routledge.
Carr, M. G., & Newell, L. H. (2014). Guide to fashion entrepreneurship: the plan, the
product, the process. A&C Black.
Fenich G., (2013). Meetings, Expositions, Events and Conventions: Pearson New
International Edition, An Introduction to the Industry, Pearson Routledge,
Getz, D., & Page, S. (2016). Event studies: Theory, research, and policy for planned
events. Routledge.
Guerin, P. (2005). Creative fashion presentations. Fairchild Publications
Hyslop, L. & Rahim, L. (2018). Ten things you didn't know about the RHS Chelsea
Flower Show. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/chelsea-
flower-show/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-rhs-chelsea-flower-show/
Lindsey, K. (2011). Planning and Managing a Corporate Event. Hachette UK.
O'toole, W., & Mikolaitis, P. (2002). Corporate event project management (Vol. 8).
New York: Wiley.
RHS. (2018). World-renowned, glamorous and quintessentially British, RHS Chelsea
is a truly unique and unforgettable day out. Retrieved from
https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show
Stoyanova-Bozhkova, S. (2017). Sustainable Event Management: a Practical Guide,
M. Jones. Routledge, Oxon and New York (2014), 394 pp.,(Pbk.),£ 42.99
ISBN 9780415840200,(Hbk.),£ 100.00 9780415840194,(Ebk),£ 42.99
9780203768723.
Tum, J., Norton, P. and Nevan Wright, J. (2005) The Management of Event
Operations, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann
Van der Wagen, L., & White, L. (2018). Event management: For tourism, cultural,
business and sporting events. Cengage AU.
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Yeoman, I., Robertson, M., Ali-Knight, J., Drummond, S., & McMahon-Beattie, U.
(Eds.). (2012). Festival and events management. Routledge