Plan The Event Event Management Management Essay
In this subject matter, as according to Ferreira et al, administrative management encompasses the process of planning, organizing and controlling all the information related activities which concerns book-keeping, collection, storage and release of information by means of computerized management information organization, thus in this matter it applies to the administration the practices and procedures of events.
As mentioned by Rogers (1998) in Damster et al (2007), there are different types of corporate events varying in sizes and types, which can be found in the diagram 1. As stated, majority of the events will be organized in hotels, purpose-built event venues while few corporate events are attracted to civic venues and town halls because they could be perceived as staid and simple. Since majority venues can be limited so will be the delegates, as to less than 100 delegates on the event where frequently participation by the delegates in such events is not voluntary but a part of daily procedures.
Source: Adaptation from Damster et al (2007)
Rims spirit -12
The author of this project carried out the annual day for his school and in this assignment he will try and show all the various elements needs to carry out a successful event. Annual day is one of the most awaited occasions in any school. The name itself suggests how great this event is that’s held just once a year, which brings teachers, students, parents and the entire school together.
Introduction
In today’s world, internationalism has become an imperative. The term “global village” is not a hyperbole, but is and will be a concrete reality in the lives of our children. It is therefore essential for schools to equip children with skills and knowledge that is required to survive and thrive in any professional or personal environment that their aspirations and efforts take them.
Our Philosophy
Welcome to RIMS International School & Junior College.
Congratulate yourself on your choice of RIMS.
Remember we are the answers to the hopes and prayers of many.
Remember that our lives intertwine with the lives of our students.
That every step we take is filled in by their footsteps;
That our learning shows up in their achievements;
These beliefs are the cornerstone of the philosophy of the faculty at RIMS.
And very soon these will be yours
http://mumbai.rims.ac.in/2011/09/25/about-rims/
Aims
Develop some event management skills and prepare how to behave in times of difficulty and pressure. Also to have a fun environment with teachers, students and every one related to the annual day.
Smart Objectives
In order to achieve all the aims our objectives need to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
Provides students a platform to showcase their talent
Give students a chance to step on the stage and conquer their fear of speaking or performing in front of a huge crowed.
Distribute prizes and have a successful and impactful event.
Targets
Looking at the past years performances we have to make sure we deliver our best and make rims spirit 2012 the best event Rims International School has ever had. In past, schools used to choreograph the performances themselves and only focus on the kids and teachers who had talents in dancing and acting. With the help of professionals, including all the students and focusing on preparing them to be confident when facing the crowd, we can make this event unforgettable.
Activities and responsibilities
Event itinerary: 7 -10:30pm
Welcoming guests and helping them to their seats.
7:00-7:20
Program starts with prayers by primary section with the auspicious lighting of the lamp by the quest of honor and director.
7:20- 7:35
Welcome speech is given by the director.
7:35-7:45
The guest of honor will be requested to deliver a speech.
7:45-7:55
The students will be honored with prizes for various academic and non academic activities.
7:55-8:20
Welcome dance – primary section
8:20-8:30
Drama skit- corruption
8:30-8:55
Refreshment Break
8:55-9:10
Bollywood dance -middle section(5th – 8th)
9:10-9:20
Seventies theme dance- 9th&10th grade
9:20-9:30
Fashion show- A levels
9:30-9:45
Parents event
9:45-9:55
Rims band performance -fire
9:55-10:05
Teachers event
10:05-10:15
Program concludes with note of thank you by the principal
10:15-10:30
Core project team
Tasks to be performed by each group
Work break down Structure
Project manager
Aryan
Manager C
Jay
Manager D
Kirk
Manager B
Sam
Manager A
Jack
Raul
Guest invites, scheduling &management
Kim
Auditorium
Bart
Catering
Bob
Budget
Jim
Funding & sponsor
Rob
Fashion show
Costumes
Shawn
Drama
Shane
Dance
Gantt chart
activities
November
Week 1
(17th -23rd)
November
week 2
(24th – 30th)
December
Week 3
(1st – 7th)
December
Week 4
(8th – 14th)
Select team
Guest of honor
Budget
sponsor
schedule
Hire professionals
auditorium
Light and sound
Catering
costumes
Visual effects
Guest invitation
Final rehearsal
Annual day
Responsibility matrix
It is a structural map that illustrates various roles in completing tasks. It can be a very useful tool in clarifying roles and carrying out work between different departments.
Responsible – The person or role who is assigned to achieve the task. There is only one resource given this category type. Others may be required to assist in the work but they are either given another participation code, such as Assist, or are not included as the RM may only list the key people for the activities.
Accountable – This person or role must sign off on work that Responsible provides. They are ultimately accountable for the correct and thorough completion of the deliverable or task, and the one to whom Responsible is accountable. Theremust be only one Accountable specified for each task or deliverable.
Consulted – Those whose opinions are sought and with whom there is two-way communication.
activities
responsibilities
Time scale
(days)
Aryan
Sam
jack
Kim
Bart
Shane
rob
Shawn
jay
Kirk
Raul
Jim
bob
auditorium
C
A
R
C
3
Lighting and sound
A
R
C
2
dance
A
R
C
5
costumes
A
C
R
C
7
catering
A
R
C
2
management
A
R
20
budget
C
A
R
5
Funding and sponsor
C
A
R
9
drama
A
R
8
Fashion show
A
R
6
scheduling
C
A
R
4
Invitation and passes
A
R
3
Risk analysis
However careful we are, always there is a certain chance that things can go wrong. So it’s better to know them and be prepared for them as much as we can. We can conduct a risk analysis chart to find all the risks associated to the event and also the degree of it.
H – High
M – Medium
Risk analysis matrix
risks
degree
comment
Likelihood to occur
Approach to reduce
high
medium
Negligence
High chances of this Happening. Member falling sick or conflict with other members
high
Appoint with contingency plan and keep members motivated
Time management
problem
Due to many duties there is a good chance of this happening
high
Use time management and have clear tasks
Miscommunication happening
Due to lot of duties there is a slight possibility of this happening
low
Delegate clearly and take feedbacks
Loss of motivation
Any distraction can cause this
high
Motivate and counseling sessions if needed can solve this problem
Checklist
Category/item
Person responsible
Due date
Done?
Auditorium
Kim
26th November
Yes
Team selection
Aryan
20th November
Yes
Catering
Bart
25th November
Yes
Budget
Bob
21st November
Yes
Costumes
Rob
7th December
Yes
Light and sound
Kim
25th November
Yes
Sponsor
Jim
25th November
Yes
Schedule
Raul
27th November
Yes
Guest of honor
Aryan
23rd November
Yes
Hire professionals to train students
Sam
30th November
Yes
Guest invitations
Raul
3rd December
Yes
Visual effects
Jay
7th November
Yes
Final rehearsals
Entire team
12th December
Yes
Annual day
Entire team
14th December
Yes
Monitoring and evaluation
There are many tools that can be used for monitoring and evaluating the event. They are as follows:
Gantt charts: they will help in keeping track of time and meeting deadlines. It will also help in glancing through the triple contingency.
Meetings: it helps in getting updates and keeping track of what’s happening. Conflicts and confusions can be sorted in meetings.
Work breakdown structure: it breaks down the entire group which provides clarifications of tasks and duties.
Risk analysis: it helps in keeping track of some major and minor problems and also alerts us for our future events.
Questionnaires: it helps in evaluating and gives aspects of improvements.
Feedbacks: it’s a quick and easy way of correcting our mistakes.
Checklists: in pressure times it will be a helpful tool or remember the tasks that need to be performed and especially on the day of delivery.
Quality checks: it’s very important to maintain quality standards and quality check it best way to that. This also alerts all the team members to maintain high quality standards throughout the.
Resources required
To carry out the annual day a lot of resources will be required such as:
Human resource
About nine hundred people are going to be a part of this annual day and to be able to meet their requirements a good and efficient team needs to work for it. Everyone in the team should be skilled and willing to perform the task delegated. The team will also need continues motivation from project head to get 100percent from every one.
Physical resource
These resources will include lights, sound, video, stage, chairs, tables, location where you will run your event, etc.
We have chosen one of the biggest auditoriums in Mumbai. A modern deluxe A/C auditorium with 1301 seats – 788 in the main level and 513 in balcony, every seat a VIP seat, spacious 43 x 32 stage, two level green rooms and lift is the best in the suburbs.
Sound & Lights: The sound and light will be arranged by Special FXband. A profession company specialized in this area.
Food: Outside catering is not allowed in the auditorium so the auditorium company will be arranging for food and refreshments according to the requirements.
Financial resources
Finance is the root of the event. Arranging finance is the most important and responsible duty. Getting sponsors is very difficult tasks because no company will be ready to fiance an event unless they are sure of their gains.
This is why it’s very important o market the event as much as we can and in the best way possible
We want to make this annual day very unique. Our target audiences are mainly parents. For the annual day so we cannot be asking entre fee from our guests. We need some huge funding and sponsorship for the event. How do we get it?
Advertising
Direct mailing
Leaflets
Posters
Free gifts
For sponsors, first we will contact our previous years sponsor and see how many of them are interested in sponsoring the annual day this year as well. Some of the sponsors from last year include:
M/S.TRAVELPORT HOLIDAYS INDIA PVT.LTD.
M/S.INFINITI RETAIL LIMITED
MR.SUKETU JHAVERI
M/S.CITY UNION BANK LTD
M/S.RISHABH ANEJA
Jim, our member responsible for sponsors has also planned to approach many new people including student’s parents because parents have always been very helpful and easy to convince. The annual day will have many advantages to the sponsor such as posters everywhere and media converge so getting sponsors will not be much of task. A very important thing to consider before approaching sponsors is to have a clear budget plan. It’s very important because budget is the first thing any sponsor is going to ask for when approached.
Budget
Budget is one of the most important parts of any event. We looked into the previous year’s budget for the annual day and conducted the budget for this year. The annual day is bigger than ever so the budget is also a bit on the higher side.
BUDGET FOR THE ANNUAL DAY (2011-12)
Sr. No.
Particulars
Amount (Rs.)
(2010-2011)
Amount (Rs.)
(2011-2012)
This year
(2012-2013)
1
Hall
60,000
65,000
70000
2
Costumes
65,000
70,000
85000
3
Music / Lighting / Sound
55,000
70,000
75000
4
Food (1 day)
27,500
30,000
40000
5
Hair and Make up
13,000
15,000
15000
6
Choreographer
20,000
30,000
40000
7
Props and backdrop
40,000
42,000
45000
8
Prizes
17,000
20,000
20000
9
Mementoes
10,000
12,000
10000
10
Passes
7,500
10,000
11000
11
Video shooting and photographs
35,000
40,000
25000
12
Transport
5,000
5,000
7500
13
Bouquets and floral arrangements
5,000
7,500
8000
14
Miscellaneous
10,000
10,000
10000
Total
3,70,000
4,26,500
461500
Task 2
What skills and knowledge do you require, in order to effective manage this event?
Event management is a complex task from conception through to staging. Many responsibilities and roles need to be executed to make sure the event is a success. The roles and responsibilities are as follows:
Planning
Defining
Active planning
Developing schedule
Time estimation
Cost estimation
Developing a budget
Risk management
Leadership skills and qualities
Documentation
Marketing
Logistics
Leadership is an important part of being a successful manager. Leaders are born not made. A leader needs to have a number qualites in him, some natural and some he needs to learn. All leaders are not the same, they all think diffrently and they all have different approachs to problems and decisions.Leadership is a winning combination of personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all. Anyone can be a leader…
The leadership styles
Autocratic: This style is used when leaders tell their employees what they want done and how they want it accomplished, without getting the advice of their followers.
Democratic: This style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process.
Paternalistic: managers do what they think is best for the workers. They might just consult but the final decision is theirs.
Laissez faire: every one is left to do what they want.
The appropriate leadership style for the annual day
The project manager will chose the style that he thinks will be the best in that particular situation. He will not choose any particular style and run the entire annul day accordingly because that is not the best way to operate. For instance, if he adopts democratic style and things get delayed he might not be able to finish the work in time because consulting every one and they taking a decision might be too time consuming.
Group managers might get the liberty to take decisions for themselves but other subordinate need to consult the group heads for problems. The project manager tries to be part of every decision that’s been taken. This will motivate the entire group and improve productivity. The project managers or group heads cannot be free always so in those times staffs can look at all the aspects and then make a decision.
Managers cannot do everything themselves so they delegate some responsibilities or work. Delegation means giving a subordinate the authority to perform a task. It is very important to remember, it is the authority to perform a task which is being delegated and not the final responsibility.
For the annual day project manager (Aryan) can delegate tasks to all the group heads. Similarly group heads can delegate to the subordinates working directly under them. For instance Sam group head for performances delegates the authority to Shane to choose the song for the dances. Shane will finish the task and report back to Samwith his task competed. So it’s very important to take feedback and keep a watch on the delegated task because it’s not the final responsibility.
Time is very precious so why waste it on something that can be done by others as well. Carrying out a big event like annual day is no easy task. In order to perform efficiently and in time, managers need to delegate some of the responsibilities that they think can be performed by his team. This way he can concentrate on bigger problems and also speed up the arrangements.
Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date.
Time management is a difficult but a very important task; Difficult because it can go wrong due to external factors also. We can control and see to it that our team members meet their deadlines but we cannot control external people. For instance, we can order costumes for annual day as per our schedule but delivering the costumes is in the hands of the designer. In such cases there is not much that we can do but we can take some measures to avoid such things from happening. Preparing a Gantt chart is an effective way of time management.
Motivation
It is the reason why employees want to work hard and effectively for the business.
‘Motivation is the process of attempting to influence others to do your will through the possibility of a gain or reward’
-flippo
The factor that motivates an individual keeps changing as one climbs the ladder of age and maturity. So achievement of one goal sets another to be achieved, motivation is a constant need.
Motivation is not always positive, sometimes without knowingly we might be demotivating our staff. Thus, it’s very important to know the real key to positive motivation.
To motivate the managers and the groups we didn’t use any particular theory but learned from all and tried to motivate every one by:
Praising them on good work
Giving fringe benefits
Delegating jobs and making them feel a part of the company
Providing Job security
Task 3
How will you build a team for this project? Discuss team building skills, and which roles would be necessary for the successful execution of this event.
Working_Together_Teamwork_and team building exercises
According to Adair (1986), teamwork is more than just a group with a common aim where contributions are complementary; it is collaboration among creative people with different types of skills and specialties. Everyone wants to take care of their own business and want to do everything themselves but this is not possible because to meet the deadlines and to deliver an event in time an effective team of motivated people is needed.
Annual day is a big event and building the right team for this event is also a big task. No two people in the team are the same .Everyone thinks differently, processes information differently also communicate their ideas differently. So the event manager needs to understand each and everyone in his team and try to find out everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Finding the members strengths and weaknesses will help him in delegating the work. In order to get full commitment from the teamthey need to be willing to do the task delegated to them. This will not only keep them happy but will also increase their productivity as the person doing the job knows exactly what is expected of him and more importantly he likes his work.
Characteristics of good team work
The above figure shows the different characteristics needed for successful execution of the annual day.
Building the right team for the event is no easy task. Creating a team where each member works as a team, and has a feel of importance and belonging. In is very difficult but important to build an effective team where everyone understands the mission and objective. To achieve this, event managers uses the 12c’s of building effective team.
12 C’s of effective team
Quarrels and conflicts among team members are very common. They occur when there are differences between team members. It could be in terms of power, values and attitudes, and social factor. Conflicts often affect the entire group so resolving them and avoiding those needs to be one of the priorities of the manager. The direct approach is the best way to resolved differences. When the leader confronts the issue and resolves it hand-on. It’s always better to resolve these problems before they arise and become a concern for the entire team. Effective communication, clear understanding and regular meeting can help avoid such issues from arising.
Communication is transfer of information from one person to another, whether or not it elicits confidence. But the information transferred must be understandable to the receiver – G.G. Brown. Communication is a two way process which needs to have the following four features in order to attain effective communication. The sender sends the message through an appropriate medium to the receiver who understands the message and responses back in form of feedback.
Communication_Model
Process of effective communication
To carry out effective communication the above factors need to be incorporated by the event manager and his team. Communication is about interactive, so the sender and receiver need to constantly be able to switch positions where the sender becomes the recipient and the recipients becomes the sender. If they are not able to do this freely the communication process weakens. The above process involves the sender encoding the message and sending it through a channel and then decoding of that massage by the receiver who understands the message and encodes a message inform of feedback and sends it back to the sender through an appropriate feedback channel, and noise to transfer the message without any filtration in order to communicate effectively is a common factor in the process. If this process can be repeated again and again without barriers, effective communication is achieved.
Resources needed for success
The lack of needed resources will be a definite constrain on the success and completion for the tasks. Important resources include equipments, funding, facilities, efficient team and anything else that is required to complete and deliver the annual day. Managers can use resource scheduling and check the availability of resources in advance to make sure they have all the recourses needed for annual day. In most cases funding for such events is very difficult because sponsors don’t often choose such events because promotion is very less and also the audience are limited, so the limited resources should be allocated based on the priority and need. To find out which resources are more needed than others managers use critical path analysis.
Simple example of critical path
http://www.natpact.info/qof/assessortraining/img/xml/2115710.png
Task 4
What communication methods and systems would you need in order to manage the event? Who would you need to communicate with?
Internal and external communication
Managers gives equal importance to both internal and external communication.Internal communcaiton takes place with people within the group and external communcation happens when people from wthin the group communicate with people ouside the organisation. Exapmles of internal commincations are communcation between team members and policys sent from one manger to another. Examples of external communcation inculde: talking to sponsors and convincing them to ba apart of the event and negociations with costume designer and auditrium company. The features and methods used in both kinds of communicatios are same, still extra precaustions need to be taken when communcating extranally as it affects the entire brand.
Ways of communication
All the above forms and ways of communcations have their ows advantages and disadvantades such as verbal communcation is the best way to communcate when immidiate feedback is needed and for two-way communication. On the other hand verbal communication is inappropriate when accurate record is needed like lighting warranty or money transactions, in these cases written forms are most appropriate. The event manger and his team need to understand this and chooses the right medium and form according to the situation.
Mangers, team leaders and every one part of the group have various chioses to communicate. They communicate one-to-one with eachother,make telephone calls, use instant messaging, notices,pinboards,fax,posters, powerpoints ect. They first analyse the seriouness of message and the amount of informatioan that can be conveyed through it, finally after chossing the most appripriate means they start commuting.
Information technology
The term information techonolgy refers to any thing that has something to do with computers and software to manage information. The event manager knows we are living in the ‘information age’ and its use has become very common and necessary. IT is used by all the managers and for various purposes such as processing the information, Storing information, protecting information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary. Good use of information technology will also help the team communicate easily and with more ranges to choose from. IT will also help in increasing productivity in some areas. Overall good use information technology is very crucial to deliver a successful annual day.
Outcome and conclusion
The event was made a success on the night of annual day and went according to the initial plan, where no changes or difficulties were encountered during the event. The event went through different stages where there was team management, which the event manager took time to manage as the event is not the only obligation for the team members to work on. As regarding the performance and quality the team has achieved, questionnaires were given out to the team members to fill in before the final meeting to evaluate their performances according to the administration’s practices and procedures, where mostly suggested that they needed more time on finishing the tasks as well as motivation and support from the event manager in handling team management though leadership skills were evidently shown. Questionnaires were also given to parents and other guests because there word was going to decide the events outcome. As expected it was amazing!
Questionnaire for quests
We would really appreciate your comments and recommendations. Please take a few minutes to answer the following questions. The result will help us with our offering in the future events.
http://wigsandmuscles.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/ist2_4154214-questionnaire-and-interrogation.jpg
Did the event meet your expectations?
Yes
No
Was it a fun filled affair?
Yes
No
On a scale of 1 to 5: 1 being the best and 5 being the worse, how would you rat the entire event?
1
2
3
4
5
Did you feel your child was given the right platform to perform?
Yes
No
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