Conference and Banqueting Management: Key Factors and Considerations

This report delves into the multifaceted world of conference and banqueting management, providing a comprehensive analysis of the UK industry. It examines the size and scope of the sector, exploring factors influencing its development, including socio-cultural, economic, technological, political, and legal aspects. The report identifies key strategic and operational issues, such as pricing, licensing, health regulations, and cultural guidelines. It then explores performance and quality review techniques, focusing on budget, food and beverage, and entertainment assessments. Furthermore, it analyzes food production systems, service styles, and the considerations for off-site events, concluding with a detailed examination of menu planning. The report also includes a self-critical reflection on the research approach, a description of external factors, and demonstrates innovative thinking in planning and implementation. This detailed analysis offers valuable insights into the conference and banqueting industry.

Conference and Banqueting
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
AC 1.2 Analyse factors that have influenced its development...............................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
AC2.1 key strategic and operational issues involved in the effective management of a given
conference or banquet.............................................................................................................2
AC2.2 performance and quality review techniques used by the Conference and banqueting
industry...................................................................................................................................3
3.1 the suitability of a range of food production systems and styles and food and beverage
service styles for a conference or banquet..............................................................................4
3.2factors to consider when organising an off-site conference or banquet............................5
3.3 Analysis of the key menu planning considerations for conference and banqueting events.5
M1 -resource tools that were used to undertake the research................................................6
M2 – justification of off-site issues to be considered when planning a conference or a banquet.
................................................................................................................................................6
M3 – performance and review techniques used for this particular conference or banquet....7
D1 . Demonstrate that self-criticism of approach has taken place within reflection.............7
D2 - full description of the external factors to be considered including contingency
arrangements...........................................................................................................................7
D3 innovation and creative thought have been applied in planning and implementation of the
conference or banquet.............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
While conducting various conferences and banquets one has to take care of many aspects
such as it ambience, food menu, service delivering, location , decoration and other factors such
as entertainment. The following report consist of the analysis of all these area along with external
factors that affects the development of such events and along with that the contribution of the
conference and banquet industry in the economy of UK (Hernandez and et.al., 2017). Also its
nature and scope has been discussed which plays an important role for its growth and
development.
TASK 1
AC1.1 size and scope of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK
The hospitality industry has some core business which are restaurant, hotels, cafe, bar etc.
The conference and banqueting industry is known to be the most frequently emerging industry
which is facing an enormous increase in the customer who are interested to avail hospitality
services in various kinds of functions that can be formal or informal. There are about 46000
hotels .At present in UK that provides various arrangements for the purpose of conferencing and
banqueting. According to the statistics of last year of has been observed that the number of
employees who are employed are around 1.6 million and having 127000 properties in the form of
infrastructure. It is considered as the 3rd largest among the industries in an economy which
provides various sources for employment generation and contributing income for the growth and
development of nation. It is considered as the most fastest growing sector as with the rise in
many trends customers are more interests in availing various hospitality services for events and
even fro travelling (Kaplan, 2014).
AC 1.2 Analyse factors that have influenced its development
There are many factors like socio-cultural, economic, technological , political and other
legal scenarios which affects the development of this industry.
a. Socio-cultural Factors
The history of individuals always creates an influence in every sector in an economy. All
these factors. Every customer has different opinions regarding the services which he wants to
avail therefore every hotel has to make arrangements according to their preferences so that they
can provide a higher satisfaction to their consumers. Also, employees who belongs to various
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cultures has also influence on decision making process fro any certain corporate events which are
needed to be considered for in order to provide a satisfactory services.
b. Economic Factor
There are many aspects of an economy such as recession, inflation, trade agreements etc.
In the recession there no individual prefers to travel or conduct any grand event therefore it
affects the financial sector of industry which leads to decrease the customer base. Also when
economy grows it provides more opportunity which can be in the terms of growth or revenue
generation
c. Technological Factor
With the advancement in the technology, new systems has been introduced which has
made the task more easier and it is mandatory to adopt changes in technologies as it affects the
functioning a lot. With the increase in time factor it has lead to provide a deeper impact on
processes which are obsolete and are needed to get improved.
d. Political Factor
Stability in the political arena is very important which promotes the smooth operations of
all process which are involved in these sector. Political pressures lead to influence all the
corporate events and other formal gatherings which might be supported or lead to get against
these meetings.
e. Legal Factor
There are various laws and other rules and regulations that leads to prohibits certain
activities and regulates every business activities which are involved in an industry. These legal
factors lead to determine limitations which are required for successful operations that are
implemented in various functional units (Taheri and et.al., 2014).
TASK 2
AC2.1 key strategic and operational issues involved in the effective management of a given
conference or banquet
For conducting a corporate party event there involves many strategic and operational
issues which are needed to be solved in order to provide a successful event which can satisfy all
guest as well as hosts. Some of the issues are discussed below:
Pricing and Packaging
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As the filed is very competitive there is a need to maintain a distinctive pricing policies
which shall be different and must be satisfying those who want to conduct the event. The
packages for several conferences and meetings shall be flexible according to all requirements
which are related to it and number of guest which might come for those events.
Licensing Law
There should be permit of the government for conducting particular event that as several
procedures for obtaining. These permission is taken by mostly local councils by providing
license fro business activities which are conducted in UK. It is very important to take all the
related allowance for organising such events so that no restrictions could take place.
Health, Safety and hygiene regulations for work
There must be some regulatory standards for various aspects such as health, safety of
customers, hygiene which are essential for the success of any event. The health of employees
must be good in order to provide a healthy surrounding and accordingly every staff should focus
on hygiene factor in all services which is being offered to very guest. The safety of individuals
who shall be present must be safeguarded by providing risk free surrounding and making it more
safe and secure from fire and other threatening events that can risk certain life.
Religious and Cultural guidelines
There are many limitations which are being imposed due to some religious and cultural
acceptance. For remaining a complete international it is very important to consider all the
religious inclination for consumers and making such arrangements which shall support all the
beliefs of these customers (Amores, 2015).
AC2.2 performance and quality review techniques used by the Conference and banqueting
industry
For every event it is crucial to measure the review related to aspects such as quality and
performances which is very important to be maintained. As the performance factor determines
the effectiveness of the hosting events which are done by organisers and also quality
maintenance determines the efficiency. Managing these two factors also leads to determination
of all these factors which results in success of any event. According to the number of guest
organisers has to take review on various areas such as
Budget Review
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Budget is very necessary to be implemented in order to maintain the correct financial
decision of the investment which is required in order to make the conduction of all activities to
be successful so that their might be no restriction in collecting funds for invest . It includes the
optimisation of cost which are related to every activity and are required to be reviewed by
financial experts among the organisers. There fore n ideal budget leads to optimised usage of
resources and along with that it leads to provide an idea related for obtaining sources for fund
collection.
Food and drinks Review
These are the most important factors that determines the success of the events as they are
major reasons which provides satisfaction to customers in the food aspect. Guest individuals can
have varied preferences in food therefore one shall have a menu which can accomplish their
expectations by providing various categories of foods to gave and also the drinks might be
according to the delegates who have been the special guest. They should be healthy and hygienic
to consume (Staurnes and Grødum,2014).
Entertainment Review
No party is complete without some entertainment and even corporate meetings or events
have some arrangements of entertainment perspective. Formal events have soft music which
makes the surrounding to be more light and relaxing avoiding any circumstances which can lead
to create tension that might ruin the whole scenario. Also it is considered as an intrinsic part of
banquet and is required for effective evaluation which should match the taste and preferences of
guest and organisers as well
3.1 the suitability of a range of food production systems and styles and food and beverage
service styles for a conference or banquet.
Food and beverages service has an important role in the areas of catering and banqueting
industry which mainly depends upon type and size of any hotel which provides several facilities
and related amenities that can be provided to any any individual who are considered as guest.
There can be many restaurants in particular hotel. It mainly depends upon size and
associated level of a management which that hotel has. There are many services related to
serving of food which can be observed for the events or hospitality sector which are comprised
of Bar Menu, room services, Buffet Menu Services and other which can be related to catering.
There are Following methods which are provided by various restaurants:
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Outlets for fast foods- which will provide various kind of fast food that can be considered as
appetisers for events
Take away units- these would provide the arrangements of taking away the packed food.
Fine Dinning- in this arrangements can be don which could lead to provide dining with the group
at the restaurants .
Catering at the Mainstream- A system should have good level of services by implementing
certain themes.
Also there can be two types of restaurants which are Ethnic and Fast food based upon the
menu which is being provided to individuals (Pierotti and et. al., 2017).
3.2factors to consider when organising an off-site conference or banquet.
There are various factors which are needed to be considered while arranging certain
events which are related to successful organising of events.
 There shall be review of budget which is very important and is made taking in
consideration all the factors which are related to events such has number of guest invited,
requirements, menu and other services which can be varied and also what would be
sources which would be required fro collecting investments
 The ambience and the decoration aspect is very important as different events required
special arrangements which might not be required in other events such as informal
parties can have more decorative aspects where as corporate meetings would require light
atmosphere.
 The entertainment is very important in an event whether it is formal or informal it might
require certain sources to make the surrounding little light. As in informal events one has
many sources for entertaining guest in different ways whereas a formal meeting or a party
might have light music.
 Menu planning is very essential aspects as it requires the taste and preference of types of
guest who are invited and their related choices for vegetarian and non vegetarian aspects
(Kew and Cates, 2015).
3.3 Analysis of the key menu planning considerations for conference and banqueting events.
While deciding the menu for providing food in an event or an activity , it is suggested
that needs and related requirements for every individual must be studied in order to provide
suitable food categories.
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 First it is very necessary to observe what kind of people would be coming to the event
and also various issues which might get arises while designing it.
 Also the price budget must be considered which was negotiated for the conduction of an
event with the host.
 The categories in menu shall be discussed which provides wide variety of categories in
food.
 There shall be different section of vegetarian and non vegetarian menu along with that
beverages and desserts for every individuals
 Food must be healthy and shall have hygienic process for making it (Lee and Yuan,
2018).
3.4 Assess the ergonomic considerations for a given conference or banquet.
Conference event is considered as the event which is conducted annually by the firm where
certain discussions can be conducted. The atmosphere of it should be simple and shall have
suitable lightings with all tools and equipments which might be required for conducting various
activities.
 There shall be arrangements of Laptops and projectors that facilitates the visual
representation. After that it must be make sure that speakers and mikes might be
arranged in order provide effective sound system along with that effective sound control
system which would facilitate to convey the conversation without any problem.
 Besides these there shall be arrangements of proper chairs and tables which might not be
less or more than invited guest and the table must be round which have the capacity to
held 10 people around it. The table shall have many basic amenities such as notepad and
other writing material. There shall be small water bottles with the bowl of some
refreshment to keep them refreshed.
 The food arrangements should be in a format of buffet which has to be conducted outside
the hall and staff will serve food to them (Phillips and et.al. 2015).
M1 -resource tools that were used to undertake the research.
The scholar has taken references through various journals, books and other internet
sources for gathering information that is related to the topic which is being provided to him and
he has taken valid sources of for gathering information in order to make the report more effective
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and provide a deeper aspect of scenario which has been already determined. As these sources
were considered as secondary and has an advantage of being a time effective method.
M2 – justification of off-site issues to be considered when planning a conference or a banquet.
There were several off-site issues such as the location where event has to take place and
other factors such as transportation facilities which were needed to reach. The availability of less
staff according to the decided number.
M3 – performance and review techniques used for this particular conference or banquet.
There are many performance and review techniques but apart from those , the most
important technique that was used as the collection of feedbacks from customers and employees
of those companies which organises several events. The feedback may contain complaints,
expectations, advices and suggestions which can be very beneficial for improving their
strategies and decision making along with that fortuning on those perspectives which might get
neglected and can be considered as very important. Also, the organisers also gets to know the
lacking points of a particular event (Riley, 2014).
D1 . Demonstrate that self-criticism of approach has taken place within reflection.
The event might have conducted in the middle of city. The food items might be much
better than the current menu. It might had good facilities of all the devices and a good sound
system and at last the service of the staff should include attentiveness regarding the needs of all
the guest. The budget shall have maximised according to the number of guest who were invited.
D2 - full description of the external factors to be considered including contingency arrangements.
All the external factors has been discussed in above question but apart from those
factors , there is another one which also has an adverse impact on this sector
Environmental factor
It includes all the geographic aspects and the destination where corporate events would
occur. As all it involves all outlook of the nation and its related development. Government has
also enhanced the features of surroundings by working on the growth and development of
infrastructure that has made environmental factors that can be favourable for conducting various
events (Conference Management, 2018).
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D3 innovation and creative thought have been applied in planning and implementation of the
conference or banquet.
There might be some fun activities which would have conducted in order to make all the
guest more energetic and attentive in the events. They might have provided effective visual
displays for event that might lead to catch the attention. Also the serving of the services much be
in a more innovative manner and the dress code might be be conducted to make all team
members interesting apart from their formal wears.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded that a successful formal event is conducted with the effective
combination of various activities which contributes for making the event successful and also the
main aspect of any event is food and beverages which needs special attention which is made
acronym with the budget.
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REFERENCES
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Talmudic Dialectics(pp. 221-252). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
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conferencing applications. In Network and Service Management (CNSM), 2014 10th
International Conference on (pp. 292-295). IEEE.
Amores, V. E., 2015. Non-Native Users and Global Classrooms As a Tool. Global Partners in
Education Journal, 5(1), p.51.
Staurnes, J.O. and Grødum, N.,2014. Method of monitoring and configuring. U.S. Patent
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Pierotti, D. and et. al., 2017. It Takes a Village: Christiana Care Visiting Nurse
Association. Home healthcare now.35(2).pp.126-128.
Kew, K. M. and Cates, C. J., 2015. Remote versus face-to-face asthma reviews. status and date:
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Lee, K. W. and Yuan, J. J., 2018. Hospitality and Tourism Industry Segments: Toward a New
Taxonomy. e-Review of Tourism Research.14(1/2).
Phillips, P. and et.al. 2015. The interactive effects of online reviews on the determinants of Swiss
hotel performance: A neural network analysis. Tourism Management.50.pp.130-141.
Riley, M., 2014. Human resource management in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Routledge.
Online
Conference Management. 2018.[online]. Available Through
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