Introduction To Event Management Company Management Essay

This is the assignment of business management. The subject aim for the management in the organization. Manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the wok of other employees so that organization goals could be accomplished. Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities are completed efficiently and effectively.

A good manager will do planning, leading, controlling, and organizing in order the help organization to achieve the goal.

The entire of business management is the study of organizational culture and environment, managing in global environment, CSR and managerial ethics, managers as decision makers, organizational structure and design, managing human resources, managing teams managing change and innovation, communication, understanding individual behaviour, and the PLOC.

In this assignment, student needs to assume himself become a manager of new event management company and indentify the form of organization structure out. In addition to justify the new company’s structure. After the task one, student is required to interview at least two small-to-medium local businesses and indentify the nature of the business with the SWOT analysis.

2.0 Introduction to Event Management Company

The organization of events is perhaps the primary activity of sport and recreation organizations. Workers in the sport and recreation industry, salaried and voluntary, are essentially organizers of people whether they are event directors, coaches, referees, instructors or facility supervisors. This organization of people is manifest by what we see and call an “event”. The term “event” in the sport and recreation industry usually refers to a situation where participants, facilities, equipment and other resources are coordinated to enable a form of sport or recreation to occur.

2.1 Structure of Event Management Company

The “event” work involved in planning, organizing and conducting a major event can be sufficiently great to require the recruitment of a large team of people. Members of the team may be involved on a full-time, part-time, contractor, casual and voluntary basis. At the head of the team is the Event Director whose job it is to keep everyone working together for a considerable period of time.

The organization structure chart below is the example which indicates the magnitude and diversity of the team needed to run a major sporting event such as a State Championships.

In addition, smaller events will obviously require a much smaller team, and individuals in the team may be able to take on more than one role.

Event Director

Program

Coordinator

Venue Coordinator

Equipment

Coordinator

Promotions Coordinator

Hospitality Coordinator

Merchandising Coordinator

As the chart shows that the event management company is type of departmentalization, each coordinator considers as “one department” and operates with their own functions.

The reason of why put the word coordinator to replace department is because of that the coordinator as exceptionally important people in the event management team, they should be indentified and recruited as early as possible. Coordinator should be a part of the organizing committee and collectively they will share in decision making processes with the event director.

2.2 Roles of each coordinator in the event management company

Event Director, Managing an event is like managing a business, and like all businesses there needs to be someone who is the ultimate decision maker. In the case of an event, the final executive authority is usually referred to as the “Event Director”. The role is complex and demanding even when events are small-scale. The primary role of the Event Director is to organize and mobilize considerable human resources such as participants, officials, administrators and helpers. They are a focal point for communication, internally and externally, and need to be contactable in and out of office hours.

Managing people can be a burdensome responsibility and it is important that anyone undertaking the role of Event Director has the capability and personality to deal effectively with people in often-difficult circumstances. Event Director also do selection in choose the following coordinator for the entire events.

The major Tasks of the Event Director are: recruit and convene a bid committee, recruit and convene an organizing committee, plan and oversee the recruitment and training of all human resources required to organize and conduct the event, develop an event management plan, represent the event in dealings with outside parties, develop policies and monitor the progress of the planning and organization of event tasks.

Program coordinator (department), the person who in charge of the schedule of activities from the start of the event to its conclusion. E.g. sport event, Program coordinator governs which competitors participate at what time. For a conference, the Program coordinator stipulates the times of lectures and workshops, what topics are offered and who is presenting. If the event is the annual awards dinner, the Program coordinator sets out what time people should arrive, what time each course will be served and the times that each award ceremony will take place. The Program coordinator is therefore perhaps the central organizing component of the event.

Keeping to times as advertised on the program is a key performance measure from the standpoint of the participant’s satisfaction. An event that fails to run on time will inevitably cause complaints from participants and frustration on the part of all persons. People can be very adversely affected if the event runs overtime and obviously commencing before the advertised time is definitely not something to ever contemplate.

The important factors to consider in preparing the official program are:

Consultation with all parties directly involved in the program

Calculating the time of each and every activity

Ensuring that the program has time for “ceremonial” activities e.g. opening and/or closing ceremonies, speeches, the presentation of awards, entertainment

Ensuring that the venue is available for the full duration of the event

Choosing the date(s) so that the event does not clash with other major events

Allowing for a little “slack” time between activities

The order of activities

How the printed program will be published

Venue coordinator (department), the person who in charge the venue of event, the coordinator goes through the venue selecting process which is:

Analyze the event’s need for a venue, to question out does the event needs an indoor or outdoor venue; What audience capacity does the event require; How long does the event need the venue for, including setup and takedown; Is it necessary to select a venue with good public transport access, etc.

Investigate possible venue, in a large metropolitan area there may be a great variety of venues from which to choose. However, outside of the metropolitan areas choice may be extremely limited. Therefore, Venue coordinator needs to do research for the suitable venue which suit the order.

In addition, Venue coordinator has to collect all information, even subjective comments, found as a result of researching venues should be retained for future use which means that Venue coordinator should create their own database.

Make site visits, once some possible venues have been identified, it is important to make a site visit. Venue staffs are usually only too pleased to show prospective customer’s around. The purpose a site visit is to determine the suitability (Dimensions, Environment, Facilities, Position, and Cost) of the venue.

Agree on price and terms, once Venue coordinator has identified some possibly suitable venues, his/her next step is to enter into negotiations with venue managers to get the best possible deal that he/she can. Although venue managers will have standard prices the Venue coordinator should not think there is no chance of bargaining the price down, or alternatively, bargaining for extra services like extra facilities or security.

Make a booking and confirmation, when Venue coordinator has selected which venue is the best for the event; it is time to make a booking.

After Venue coordinator has signed and returned the contract together with a cheque deposit or other kind of payment, he/she should never assume that the booking is safe and forget about it until the last week before the event.

It is well worth the Venue coordinator while to keep lines of communication open with the venue manager and to keep checking that you booking is safe.

Make further site visits, the purpose of making further site visits is to assure the Venue coordinator’ self that nothing has changed, or at least that any changes that do occur will not affect the event. Changes that could occur include lighting, fixtures removed, equipment and decor. It is useful also to plan the event.

Equipment coordinator (department), the person who in charge with the equipment for the event, the category of equipment includes: sound systems for announcing, two-way radios, intercoms and mobile telephones for communication, video cameras and closed circuit television, sirens and alarms systems, ropes and barriers to control spectators, scoreboards timing equipment, computers, and first aid equipment.

Equipment needs to be budgeted and this information has great importance in constructing the overall event budget. Any possibility of cost over-runs must be notified to the event director at the earliest.

Promotion coordinator (department), promotion is a key factor in the success of a special event nowadays. The main purpose that promotion serves is to attract participants, spectators or both to the event.

Promotion is also important to the sponsor, if one exists. The objective of the sponsor is to achieve as much exposure of their name, logo and other properties as possible. Sponsors therefore have a keen interest in pre-event promotion and in the promotion that can be achieved on the day through erecting signage and product displays in view of all participants.

Achieving an attendance target is not only good for the atmosphere of the tournament but also it is often a critical component that determines the event’s financial success. Event organizers require income earned from spectator attendance or participants fees to pay for costs of the event. Any shortfall in expected revenues can have a disastrous effect on organizations that stage special events.

Promotion is a key result area in event management and as such is deserving of adequate human and financial resources. A good promotion coordinator should be able to use the strategies for promoting events like: social media, advertising online/offline, Free publicity via television, radio or print media, Promotional events leading up to the main event and Signage & banners.

Hospitality coordinator (department), the person who oversee the event from the point of view that participant/spectator point of view. The word “Hospitality” is often a term used to infer food and beverages served. However Collins dictionary defines “hospitable” to be welcoming guests and strangers. For example: the Seating of event, Food and refreshment, A reception area for dignitaries and other important personnel, Information stands manned by event personnel, Good standard of toilets, wash rooms and baby change areas for public, Good standard change facilities, Facilities for people with a disability, Giveaways and lucky door prizes, Special services for competitors such as masseurs, lockers Directions to venue on web site, Assistance with parking, Good public announcement system, and the End of event function.

Merchandising coordinator (department), the person who in charge with the promotional products for event. Selling promotional products (merchandising) is not a necessary component of event management but it can add to the potential for ongoing marketing of the event in future years.

Merchandising coordinator and the staffs may sell the product during or after the event like: Gift items, Clothing, Badges, Equipment, Program, Magazines, Books, Memorabilia, and Food. The purpose of selling such products is primarily to boost event revenue and increase profits. However there are also considerable promotional advantages. T-shirts that have been screen-printed with a pattern to commemorate the event is a common form of promotion, and one that has a lasting effect. Such clothing helps to promote the event, the host organization, the sponsor and/or the sport/activity in general.

As a Merchandising coordinator, he/she may need to get the following tasks before the event started, those tasks includes: selecting products, negotiating with suppliers, receiving and ensuring security of stock, recruiting and training a sales team, setting up a sales stand, payment of suppliers, cash management and producing financial reports.

Therefore, this is form of the event management company’s structure, with the above explanation; each and every department and its coordinator’s job are described in details and with the relevant examples.

Introduction to SWOT analysis

SWOT Analysis is a powerful tool for looking at an organization’s business nature. It is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The goal of SWOT is to examine internal – Strengths & Weaknesses and external – Opportunities and Threats elements of a business.

The element of strengths could be staff, customer base, market position, financial resources, products/ services, profitable, and growing; weakness could be staff, profit margins too low, market position, financial resources, competitive vulnerability, lack of new products/ services and sales channels; opportunities could be the new complimentary market, strategic alliance as funding sales products/ services, merger acquisition, market poised for growth and competition weaknesses; threat could be economy, lose of key staff, lack of financial resources, cash flow, new technology, increased competition, new government regulations, falling seals and decreasing profits.

3.1 Interview questionnaire

By interviewing the owner of the Pick and Go convenient store and Save Way mini market, student carried out the following 20 question base on the SWOT analysis in help of identify the business nature of these 2 company. This two companies allocated in the student’s housing area, with the similar business nature, both of these companies are the only competitor to each other in the area, therefore student choose them to be the interview targets. The below are the questions which general into 4 categories with:

Strength:

what is your business’s proposition and the advantages?

What unique resources do you have?

What differentiates you from your competitors?

Do you have immensely talented people on your staff?

Do you have a broad customer base?

Weaknesses

what disadvantages of your business’s proposition?

What can your company be improved upon?

In what areas do your competitors have the edge?

What necessary expertise / manpower do you currently lack?

Do you have cash flow problems?

Opportunities

What trends do you see in your business?

What trends do you foresee?

What trends might impact your business?

What external changes present interesting opportunities?

What have you seen in the news recently that might present an opportunity?

Threats

What obstacles do you face?

What is the competition doing that you’re not?

What is your insurmountable weaknesses?

Do you facing any environmental effects?

Do you facing the seasonality, weather effects?

3.2 Answers and Analysis for questionnaire from Pick and Go convenient store

Mr Ethan Hong, the Pick and Go convenient store’s owner, was answer the questionnaire with the following answer:

Strength: the proposition of Pick and Go is just like its names, business aim for make consumer spend money in the store with fast and efficient, as well as the convenient feeling; Pick and Go was just adopted the BSN bank payment assets to the shop, it could be the unique resources. BSN bank payment assets help consumer to pay their bills in the store rather than go to the specific company or post-office make the payments; the differentiates that Pick and Go has compare to their competitor Save Way mini market is that there is printing machine available in the Pick and Go convenient store; Pick and Go’s staff knows at least 3 language (Mandarin, English, Cantonese, and Bahasa Malayu) to serve consumers, thus, it has a wild range consumers.

Weaknesses: the disadvantage of Pick and Go business’s proposition is that their products’ price are slightly higher; Mr Ethan Hong thinks that the shop needs to be improve on the product categories of Daily necessities; in the area of kitchenware and grocery could be a weakness to Pick and Go due to the acreage of shop is quit small, in addition, due to the acreage reason, Pick and Go has only one cashier as the staff to work alone everyday and perform several role of jobs, such as stock boy, cleaner, etc; but business has no cash flow problems.

Opportunities, Pick and Go’s business trend is that working with flexibility and freedom, Mr Ethan Hong allow employee listen music during working and also give staff discount for some products to the staff when she/he buying goods in the shops, Mr Ethan Hong foresees the trend to be empowerment in the future, which means allow employee making discount decision while he is not around, and as well as ask the employee to join the promotion project ( means when shop import some product, if employee sells out several among, she/he will get rewards )for some products; because of the location of the shop and the area population, Pick and Go does not impacted by any trends or external changes so far.

Threats, according to Mr Ethan Hong’s answer for the business’s threat, Pick and go is facing the problem of employee turnover, and the competitor Save Way is doing festival sales to attract consumers which Pick and Go does not, the insurmountable weakness of Pick and Go is its business is small-scale, during festival season, safety of the shop is a main threat, because of there is only one worker in the shop, it is easy to cause robbery happen.

3.3 Answers and Analysis for questionnaire from Save Way mini market

Mrs Ling, the Save Way mini market’s owner, was answer the questionnaire with the following answer:

Strength: the proposition of Save Way is just like its names, business aim for the low price for the consumer, purchasing in Save Way to save more is the proposition; the differentiates that Save Way has compare to their competitor Pick and Go is that Save Way has the kitchenware and grocery for consumers; and because of Save Way’s shop acreage is quit bigger compare to Pick and Go, it has a more complete commodity.

Weaknesses: the disadvantage of Save Way’s proposition is that product price is low, but shop acreage is big, it makes the income not very high; Mrs Ling thinks that the shop needs to be improve on the reduction of the cost of facilities; the one of the weaknesses could be that Pick and Go adopted the BSN system, it makes more consumer will go to Pick and Go rather than Save way.

Opportunities, Save Way’s business trend is that follow the rules and regulation, due to most the employees are Indian, Mrs Ling pay the employees by the working hours, mini market is operating stable now, does not impacted by any trends or external changes so far.

Threats, according to Mrs Ling’s answer for the business’s threat, Save Way is facing the problem with the new housing area was already built near the shop area, there might be some other convenient store or mini market open in the future.

4.0 Conclusion

This is the final conclusion for the assignment of business management, through the entire research and evaluation, student understood the structure of event management company and how it functions, the role of each department/ coordinators are very important to the organization. Student also deeply understand what is SWOT analysis and how to use the analysis in really life to make survey. The online resources are helpful in complete this assignment also.