Conference and Banqueting Management

This presentation provides an overview of conference and banqueting management, including the suitability of food production system and styles, food beverage services styles, factors to consider when planning an off-site conference and banquet, key menu planning considerations, and ergonomic considerations for conference and banqueting events.

CONFERENCE AND BANQUETING
MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
The banqueting and conference sector generally deals with event management. The conferencing and
banqueting sector is considered as the part of event sector and it is also referred as MICE (meeting, incentives,
conferences and exhibitions), catering, banqueting and event conferences.
Presentation will explain about suitability of food production system and styles, food beverage services styles,
etc.
The discussion about factors which are considered while organizing an off-site conference and banquet is done.
Analysis of key menu planning consideration is done and it will also explain about the ergonomic
considerations for the given conference and banquet.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CONFERENCE EVENT
The event that has to be planned and implemented by the “Service On A Plate” company is a 2 day -
Conference Meeting for the Aviva Company which is based in London, UK.
Conference activities will take place on July, 15, 2019 from 9 AM to 6 PM for 2 days till July 16, 2019.
The number of people who will be attending the conference is around 150 people.
To organize and implement the conference event, conference hall at Cabarfiedh Hotel, Stornoway,
Scotland is booked for 2 days. Last day of the event will have a gala dinner with DJ and also facility of
hard and soft drinks.

2. Factors to be considered when planning an off-site
conference or banquet.
The conference event is of 2 days, therefore, event manager has to also provide accommodation facility to its
guests. There needs to be arrangement for buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 days. There are various factors
that needs to be considered while planning an off-site conference event, and they are explained as follows:
Location: This is the most important factor while planning an off-site conference or banqueting event. Venue of
the event needs to be centralized and it needs to have reasonable driving distance from the airport and major
transporting systems. Conference hall of Cabarfiedh Hotel is a centralized location, therefore, it is booked for 2
days for the conference meeting of Aviva company.

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Budget: While booking the venue of the conference, event managers needs to consider the budget that is
specified by the client. Event managers needs to make a list of the services and activities that is going to be
there in the implementation of events, such as : venue, food and beverages, entertainment activities and
facilities, audio-visual equipment's (rental), promotional giveaways, etc.
Size and Capacity: Event managers also needs to consider the size and capacity of the venue according the
guest of the conference event. Conference hall of Cabarfiedh Hotel has the capacity for 300 people, and the
guest invited for the corporate event are around 150 people. Thus, this is a suitable venue for the conference.

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Event staff and Facilities: In order to make the conference
event successful and effective, event managers needs to plan
for the facilities that will be provided at the event and
accordingly plan for the staff as well.
Type of Conference: Event managers also needs to consider
and match the tone of conference with the atmosphere of
event for making it successful and effective. Thus, needs and
goals of the conference type and clients needs to be match up
with the venue having those specifications.

3. Assess the key menu planning considerations for
conference and banqueting event
In the conference and banqueting sector, food services plays an important and crucial role. There are
various factors that may affects the food selections, menu and production system.
It may depend on the size and type of Hotel in which event is taking place. There may be more than
one restaurant in the same Hotel. Various types of food services are provided by the hospitality sectors
which may affect the menu planning of the event, such as:
A-la-carte.
Bar menu.

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There are mainly two kinds of restaurant and they are:
Ethnic Style Restaurant: These restaurants are based on particular themes or ethnic
style and it may be Italian restaurant, Chinese restaurant, etc.
Fast Food Restaurant: These restaurants sell the food items which are easy for
preparing, cooking, producing and includes pastries, rolls, burgers, etc.

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The different restaurants also have various methods and types for serving the food, such as:
Fast-food outlets,
Restaurant's take away service,
Programs and event catering,
Fine dining,
Mainstream catering.

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While planning for the conference event, Event managers aims at right menu planning and focus on
offering right combination of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items. The right selection of menu
can help in satisfying the guests and client in relation to the food services. The food services and menu
needs to suit every type of guest. Factors which needs to be considered by the event managers when
planning and designing for the food menu includes:
Contract agreement and terms and conditions of it.
Kinds of people attending the conference meeting.

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HACCP is the approach or process in which analysis, monitor and control of food production system
is done and it stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. Quality and hygiene are
considered as the most important factor in the food production. Through the HACCP approach,
control and prevention can be planned regarding the hazards and critical points for the preparation and
serving the food. There are various principles that needs to be kept in mind by the event managers for
controlling and monitoring the production of food and related items. The principles of HACCP
approach or process are:
Conducting analysis for hazards within the food production system
Identifying different control points

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For the 2 days conference meeting event, buffet menu is organized. The menu will include breakfast,
lunch and dinner having different kind of food items.
The food menu will have 3 vegetarian and 3 non-vegetarian items and 4 beverage items including
juices and soft-drinks. Every meal have 2 types of desserts.
For the last day DJ party, 4 types of liquor options are also organized and it will be served in
unlimited quantity.

4. Details about ergonomic considerations
For making the conference event successful, it is important for the event manager for considering the
ergonomic considerations.
Event managers needs to organize this event as per the requirements and needs of the client. This
conference meeting event requires various things to be managed such as audio-visual equipments,
layout and overall designs.
This is corporate meeting event will have 150 guests, wherein business discussions will take place and
performance review of the employees and company will be done.

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The event managers also aims at providing convenient and flexible conference and meeting place for
the guests and client. As per the requirements of client, this event needs to have:
Simple and light décor
Every kind of business meeting equipment's
Laptop and projector set-ups
Mikes, speakers and handheld device for speaking purpose
Devices for music & sound control systems

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These things will lead to make the conference event atmosphere very lively and also bring a zeal and
feeling of serious event being taking place.
Event managers also needs to make arrangements for tables and chair. The chairs and tables needs to be
placed in a round, having 10 chairs on each round table.
On every table, major amenities will be available such as: notepad, pens and pencils. In order to make
the people feel refreshed, there will be mineral water bottle and bowl of toffees and cookies.
Food arrangements will take place outside the conference hall in the buffet format.

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Since the conference hall has the capacity for 300 people, so it will be quite big for approx 150 people.
Bigger size of screens, sound and audio control system and chair-table arrangements can cover the
place and make the arrangements in a way that it looks spread out.
Complete conference ambience needs to have a big hoarding on the stage having name of the event,
date of the event and logo of the company. The stage will have arrangements for chairs and table for
the company boards and seniors where they will sit and discuss the evaluation and performance of
employees and company.

CONCLUSION
Buffet management and conferencing are the key and crucial functions of the event management.
There are various factors which are considered by the event managers while planning any off-site event
and it incudes, locations, cost, budget, accommodation facility, other facility as per clients
requirements, type of conference ambience and many more.
The event mangers are also responsible for the key menu planning considerations.
Ergonomic considerations are also important to be considered and needs to be done according to the
requirements of client and type of event.

REFERENCES
Pheasant, S. and Haslegrave, C. M., 2018. Bodyspace: Anthropometry, ergonomics and the design of work. CRC
Press.
Bust, P. D., 2018. APPLICATIONS OF ERGONOMICS. In Contemporary Ergonomics 2007 (pp. 15-34). Taylor
& Francis.
Berners, P., 2018. The Practical Guide to Managing Event Venues. Routledge.
Sadd, D. and Musikavanhu, R., 2018. A Comparison of Event Impacts: Zimbabwe and the UK. Event
Management. 22(2). pp.199-212.