Event Management in Business

Question: Is events management important for businesses? Explain. Answer: Introduction: The Event industry is seen to expand like never before. Company events and household ceremonies like wedding, birthday parties etc are nowadays are not celebrated in the traditional manner but these events are conducted in luxurious way, so that it has a long lasting impact on the people attending the event. Event planning is not a smooth process. It requires a good coordination between the team members of the event management group. (Simmons and Dalgleish, 2006) Event management is basically about creating events like festivals, conferences, business parties, ceremonies etc. The management team looks into myriad aspects like locating the audiences, understanding about the brand, looking into the logistics and planning, prior to the launch of the actual event. This industry has grown because business entities and other interest groups think it is an important way to market, establish business, and collect money or to celebrate. (Boag and Cuskelly, 2000) Event management broadly classified into two segments which is mainly corporate and live programmes. For corporate events, event management companies follow certain conditions. Firstly, Planning. The management team follows a complete detailed analysis and beforehand planning .Secondly, Promotion. The management team communicates to the attendees before and after the event to ensure a significant number of audiences and also to know their feedback. Thirdly, Preparation. Preparation is made on a powerful note as it arouses media curiosity and finally comes is Execution. Successful execution is what the team looks out for. Proper execution helps the management team to earn respect and also help earn more business from existing clients. We have seen corporate events account for a larger share of the total event in the present scenario. Since big corporate events are done in a lavish way and so for it good management troupe is really important. Business entrepreneur always want their pro duct launches or conferences to be successful. This is the reason why they see to the fact that their money is utilised in a proper channel. The thesis statement as suggests has both benefits and restraints to it. Just consulting an event management company for any event will not suffice. A company has to see whether the events to be organised will be beneficial or check whether the product to be launched need such grandeur show. (Getz, 1997) Arguments: There are a various Event management companies in UK that are primarily dedicated to launching corporate events. Event industry in UK account for approx 37 billion. An Event management companies caters to all business groups willing to host an event. Big multinational corporations like Oracle, IBM, and Fidelity have their own event management teams as they held parties and conferences at a greater frequency than smaller companies. Corporate events like award ceremonies are quite common in big multinationals. They give out awards to dedicated employees or those who have served the company for a long period. This as a result makes the employees sense that their dedication is appreciated by the company. All the company employees also come to know the type of work and their experiences with the company. Events of this type are held in large banquet rooms, or conference halls booked in luxurious hotels. (Van der Wagen and Carlos, 2005). Emerging companies they imitate the MNCs and try org anising events such as award distribution ceremonies, conferences but eventually fail to gain success. This is due to the fact that maximum funds are wasted in the course. As corporate firms are always in the limelight they cannot afford to lose contact from the outside world. We have seen this in large cap firms like Infosys. Even MNCs has their in-house events managed by professionals. But we have seen recently, many multinationals that used to spend copious amount of money in event related activities have slashed their budget because of recession (Mair, 2012). Product launch for big companies is crucial as a lot of time and resources has been devoted for manufacturing it. So, Event management planners are contacted. They provide a platform to bring their product to life, in this way the product is well marketed. This is indeed a good idea but planners may fail to capture the necessary audience, using their way of displaying the product. The proper marketing skill might be lacking on their part. This results in enormous loss to the client company. Corporate events are beneficial in the sense that it acts as a catalyst to build new relationship otherwise these contacts would be lost. With hosting of events, a companys credibility gets more pronounced and people get aware of the companys goodwill. Thus, we see corporate awareness is a result of these events (O'Toole and Mikolaitis, 2002). Pegasus an event management team (India) has a rich client base which includes Oracle, Tata, Barclays, Midday, Tuborg and many more. They rely on it because they have an international presence and organise conferences across India, South East Asia and the Middle East. Charges by such big event management companies are so huge that small companies hardly can afford. We dont hear local products launching with pomp and show. As a result the products do not even face the outer world and in no way can compete with the branded ones. The small companies or start ups mainly rely on door-to-door sales; distributing free samples for marketing but this does not help them to cover a wide geographical area. (Pernecky, 2015). There are numerous examples to show how small companies also crave for customers that deal only with elite companies. As Citi bank has good customer base, the small merchandiser they launch exhibition cum sales event primarily for Citi bank credit card holders. In this way they get a good business and are also able to maintain a reputable image. Through event marketing, a firm comes to know the traits of the targeted audiences. We have seen Burger King targeting the young crowd in the New York area and for doing so an event management company helped them to build 30-concert series in New York. Location also plays an important role while targeting audience. A product such as launch of a car, this would ideally take place in a metropolitan area rather than in a remote place. As a result bring in prospective customers (Robertson, Junek and Lockstone-Binney, 2014). Events that are managed professionally and has a lasting experience, brings in a lingering effect after the actual event. This is an added advantage as the attendees can recall the brand more frequently. Corporate events have become an essential part of any modern business firm. The factor that actually hits the mind of business entrepreneur is the cost .Irrespective of this cost; we see Event managing firms are growing (Rojek, 2013). Conclusion: Thus, there are both pros and cons of event management in business. Companies are more relying on such event management companies for their marketing skills and also because of their knowledge on this field. They know how audiences can be attracted and how they can be glued on to their seats when they come to such events. Though there may be huge cost on the part of the company, guarantee for profit is not always assured. (Whitford, Dunn and Cooper, 2013). An event may not always turn out to be positive. It may have some issues like technical glitches, local issues, limited funds etc. Due t o dearth of funds among small corporate, they fear to approach such event management companies. They like to organise events in their own premises. These types of events are not worth remembering. Company also do not get any exposure. With limited funds also companies can organise events. Funds are essential but implementation of plans is like a driving force for any type of event. Corporate event s have become like a trend now and it is expected to boom in the years to come. Recommendation: For corporate events to function in a marvellous way, it is always recommended to get hold of targeted audience. The entrepreneur must frequently get in touch with the event management planners to see how they are managing the whole event. Entirely relying on them might turn out to be a failure on the actual day. Selection of an event planner is also crucial. Business entrepreneur must decide on an event management planner who is well experienced in conducting corporate events or parties because they have a vivid idea on how events are organised. References Boag, A. and Cuskelly, G. (2000).Event management. Belconnen, ACT: Australian Sports Commission. Getz, D. (1997).Event management event tourism. New York: Cognizant Communication Corp. Mair, J. (2012). A Review of Business Events Literature.Event Management, 16(2), pp.133-141. O'Toole, W. and Mikolaitis, P. (2002).Corporate event project management. New York: Wiley. Pernecky, T. (2015). Sustainable Leadership in Event Management.Event Management, 19(1), pp.109-121. Robertson, M., Junek, O. and Lockstone-Binney, L. (2014). Introduction: ProfessIonalIzatIon and event ManageMent.Event Management, 18(1), pp.1-3. Rojek, C. (2013).Event power. London: Sage. Simmons, M. and Dalgleish, E. (2006).Corporate actions. 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