Reflective Report

1. OVERVIEW

The report puts across a non-bias personal reflective contribution to an event planned and delivered by Event Management students from Greenwich University. It sets out the rationale behind the event in an introduction and briefly discusses the roles of group members in the focus.

Through out the focus, the report reflects on incidents leading up to the delivery of the event, and through a critical discussion, points out possible improvements. The discussion refers to aspects of communication, marketing and sponsorship; which have been taken as lessons prior to going into the event industry. There are references to literature and venue site visits which cement theories behind event management in relation to the event.

2. INTRODUCTION

In October 2007 a group of 6 students was put together to plan, organise and deliver a public event, as part of assessing the module “Delivery and Productions of Events” (BUSI-1136). In December 2007, the group welcomed 2 other students who took on roles immediately.

Group members, their field of experience and roles during planning of the event:

Name Previous Experience Role within Event

Miss Claudia Rodriguez (Conferences) (Marketing)

Miss Ester Rodriguez (Festival Administration) (Administration)

Miss Nina Bruining (Box Office Administration) (Sponsorship)

Miss Nana Kato (Sales and Retail) (Budgeting)

*Miss Lisa Choi (Flower Arrangement) (Sponsorship)

Mr. Nunzio Giannone (Air Travel Customer Care) (Marketing)

*Mr. Kobori Yuichiro (Sport Administration) (Sponsorship)

Mr. Michael Sanchez (Festival Tours) (Sponsorship)

*New student members

When discussing the nature of the event, the group dismissed small scale music concerts and exhibitions in preliminary meetings. Although 2 nightclub venues offered their assistance in exchange for co-promotion; the team identified the simplicity of student parties and opted to test event management theory with a challenging event.

The team chose a 5 aside football competition that would involve solving real event issues in the scope of venue management, customer care, sponsorship, volunteering and marketing.

The team was aware that football is the most popular sport in the UK and as target audience; it is welcome by students of any race and social background. Also organising a football competition would allow students from different colleges to interact with each other as well as with the spectators.

3. BACKGROUND

Delivery of the football event was modelled around event delivery lectures by Clement (2008) which focused on managing and evaluating live events. Marketing strategies for the event were based on genuine guerrilla promotion and from past methods used by students in 2007.

The author constantly referred to Bowdin (2006) as first base when the team looked into acquiring volunteering assistance, sponsorship, and maintaining control and budgets. The author employed the methodology of recruiting, selecting and motivating volunteers at the event itself from Van der Wagen (2007); paying particular attention to making sure that each volunteer had a challenging task and had a voice input with the team.

The team was aware of the value of sponsorship and developed its strategy around companies who would want be involved with a sports event and charities. The author found Allen (2005) instrumental in putting together material for sponsorship, outlining the advantages of association to the event looking at Telstra’s Sponsorship case study.

For the preparation of the venue and designing an experience for the spectators, the team referred to material by Berridge (2007) and Bladen (2007) with interaction and service encounter.

3. FOCUS

3.1 Meetings and Preparation

The group had to prepare a presentation to outline the strategies and progress of the football competition as part of the assessment to the module. The presentation helped some group members gain confidence with their oral skills while others used their IT skills to illustrate information effectively. The contents of the presentation were spread out accordingly so that each team member could explain the area they were working on.

The author took upon the task of taking minutes when they met once a week for two hours to review, update and discuss issues concerning the event. There was regular input from most members to every aspect of the event, in particular volunteering, health and safety, creative student participation and budget reductions. To an extent, without underpinning complete authority to the group, the author chaired the meetings and attempted to push forward agendas. Please refer to Appendix 7 (Sample of Minutes).

The enthusiasm and vision shared by all during preparation of the event made the group a key stakeholder (Allen, 2005). Tasks such as marketing, sponsorship, budgeting, etc. were divided amongst group members in accordance to their individual experience; where, some members were able to show leadership, enterprise, motivation and self discipline with deadlines. Other members showed lack of enthusiasm and were bone-idle when reporting back to the group; creating segregation from the start.

The attendance at meetings varied every week with some members not been able to attend due to prior engagements; which often brought delays to decisions with budgets for marketing. The pressure was evident in delivering the event on time, paying for event costs and acquiring enough football teams to enter the tournament; but positive exchange of views and different ways of thinking amongst group members brought real solutions.

3.2 Client Liaison and Communication with Stakeholders

Communication was fundamental between group members, as well as external bodies such as the venue manager for the Coldharbour Leisure Centre, sponsors and volunteers.

The author insured that all communication with the venue manager was documented so as to keep track of all team requirements. The author