Event Management: Conference and Event Planning Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of conference and event management within the hospitality sector, specifically referencing a conference held at the Hilton Hotel. It delves into various aspects of event planning, including different event categories and dimensions such as mega, major, and special events, along with the key considerations of schedule, cost, location, and size. The report also examines current event trends, such as the increasing use of digital technology and the importance of safety and security, and how they influence the event sector. Furthermore, it outlines the essential considerations for conference room layouts, including seating arrangements, technological equipment, and the provision of additional services. It discusses the management roles within the event industry, the necessary management skills, and personal attributes required to meet stakeholder expectations. Finally, the report emphasizes the measures needed to ensure a secure and safe event venue, providing examples to ensure safety for both guests and staff.

MANAGING
CONFERENCE AND
EVENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P 1 Different categories and dimensions of events......................................................................1
M 1 Current event trends that can help an event to stay innovative............................................3
D 1 development of the events sector..........................................................................................3
P 2 Features and current trends influencing the events sector.....................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
P 3 Event layout to correctly set up a conference or event room to meet specific client brief
requirement..................................................................................................................................4
P 4 Additional services available within a conference or event environment and the
importance to provide them.........................................................................................................6
M 2 Evaluation of quality of the design and layout in meeting client expectations....................7
D 2 Justification of choices made for the design and layout to set up a conference or event
correctly.......................................................................................................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P 5 Different management roles within the event industry and opportunities in this sector.......7
M3 – Impact of the management skills........................................................................................9
D3- To meet the stakeholder requirements ...............................................................................9
P 6 The management skills as well as personal attributes that are needed to work with the
events industry and also meet the needs and expectation of the stakeholder.............................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P7 Specify and explain the appropriate measures required to provide as secure and safe event
venue, a safe environment for guests and a safe working environment for events staff,
providing specific examples......................................................................................................11
M4 – Safety and Security provision in terms of the special events -........................................12
D4 – Recommendation such as provide safety and security to the event staff members.........12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13

REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Event planning can be defined as a process of managing events or projects such as fairs,
sports events, meetings, conferences etc. There are various kinds of events that requires event
planning in order to occur or to be organized (Chu, Anguelovski and Carmin, 2016). There are
various kinds of events of different scales and requirement of each type of event is completely
different. In order to implement a well-planned event, it is required to ensure that all the
functions or requirements of the event are pre-planned and managed in an appropriate manner so
that a successful event can be organized. This assignment will focus on conference event
organized in Hilton Hotel and all other related departments will be focused. Hilton is a global
brand that provides hotel and resort services. This assignment will lay emphasis on different
categories and dimensions of events within event sector, features and current trends influencing
the events sector, considerations for conference and event room set-ups, additional services
available within a conference, management skills required to work within the event industry and
measures required to manage a secure and safe events environment for staff and guests.
LO 1
P 1 Different categories and dimensions of events
There are various types of events:
 Mega events: Mega events are the largest events that majorly target international markets.
Dimension of these events is so large that they can affect a whole country. Such type of
events gets so much media coverage that they are impossible to be ignored. World cups,
Olympic games are one of the most famous examples of mega events. These events are
organized either yearly or once in few years and offer various kinds of planned activities in
order to attract people from all over the world (Andriotis, Stylidis, and Weidenfeld, 2018).
These are one of the most famous and known events and it is quite unusual for an event to
occur for the first time and is considered as mega event. This type of event cannot occur
within hospitality industry.
 Major events: major events are those events that are organized to attract large number of
visitors, large number of participants in order to generate significant tourism experience
(Smith, 2017). These events are also capable of attracting adequate volume of media
coverage and a good amount of extraordinary economic benefits. For example: Opera
festival, commonwealth games etc. International level corporate events is one of the main
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example of this type of event these events are organized in big brands of hospitality industry
like Hilton Hotel.
 Special events: these are small scale local events as compared to mega events. These events
are organized for special purposes and are of various categories. Few examples of special
events are: public events, cultural events, tourism events etc. these events are mainly
organized in hospitality industry organizations
Major categories of events that can be organized within hospitality industry are:
 Leisure, travel and tourism sector events: these are the leisure or to increase tourism events
which are mainly organized for specific purposes such as award ceremonies, seminars etc.
Most of the award ceremonies are held in major hospitality industry brands such as Accor
Hotels etc.
 Corporate events: it includes in house events or promotion of products and services events.
These events work as a meeting point for corporate people of same field. In these
promotional events like product launching only media reporters and major stakeholders
related to that product launch are only invited. So, these types of products launches are only
organized in hospitality industry organizations only.
 Meetings: It includes all small or larger meeting of corporate organizations etc. For example
recruitment meeting held within a hotel is an example of this category.
Dimensions of different events
There are many dimensions of different events that each event manager should focus on such as:
 Schedule: First and the foremost dimension which is required to be discussed is schedule of
the event. Schedule of the event is important because it helps in identifying all the points
such as: availability of event venue, all the guest should be able to attend the event, all the
arrangements can be done on time etc.
 Cost: Cost of the event is related to the overall budget of the event. It is another important
dimension to be discussed. As this cost should be within the budget and should include venue
cost, catering cost (if available), devices to be used in event’s overall cost etc.
 Location: location of the event is also important to be discussed because of various factors
such as: location should be accessible by all the stakeholders of the events including guest,
should be within the approved budget, mode of transportation should be available, should be
sufficient for accommodation of all the guest, participants etc.
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 Size: it is important to be aware of event size in terms of crowd’s capacity, space and
comfort. Location of an event is majorly dependent upon size of an event.
M 1 Current event trends that can help an event to stay innovative
Advancement in technology has increase use of digitalization. Use of advance digital
technologies is the latest current trend that can help an event to stay innovative. For example:
Mega events like Olympics can stay innovative by adopting digital technologies like live media
coverage available on internet so that world wide viewers can watch Olympics games as per their
convenience while sitting at home.
D 1 development of the events sector
Development in event industry in increasing enormously year by year. There are various
factors that are helping this industry to grow and bring development that are worth this industry
like easy access to internet has helped this industry to develop as organizers of all the events
especially mega and hallmark events can ask for their viewers feedback on social media and if
any kind of improvement is required then they can make changes in next year event.
P 2 Features and current trends influencing the events sector
Current trends within event industry that can influence this sector in many ways are:
 Due to advancement in technology use of digital technology is increasing continuously due
to digitalization. Today most of the people are focusing on using digital technology. This
digitalization has impacted event industry or event sector in many possible ways. In order to
organize an event organizer, need to focus on many things such as use of event application,
access to event passes online, online discount or coupons availability, live streaming of the
event if required and possible, online media coverage and availability of event videos online,
interactive technology for the guest or audience so that they can easily communicate and
clarify their doubts, animation and many more. For example, if a conference is to be
organized in Hilton Hotel them organization can develop their digital application with the
help of which they can communicate with all of their delegates, and resolve their doubts
easily.
 Today most of the people are aware and conscious of safety and security at the events. So,
event organizers need to focus on safety and security requirements at the evets (Voskamp,
and Van de Ven, 2015). Organization who is organizing a conference in Hilton hotel need to
focus on their delegates security and privacy so that they can freely attend the meeting.
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 Today there is requirement of new and innovative type of events so it is important to focus
on this current trend as well because it can influence this industry in many ways.
There are various things of event that are important to be considered as these features of
considerations influences event sector in many ways. These considerations completely depend
upon the type of the event which is to be organized. Few considerations that are required to be
focused on are:
 What is the main purpose because of which event is to be organized? If the main purpose of
the event is not clear then further management and organization of event is affected
(Kassens-Noor, and et.al., 2015).
 Next consideration is the main client behind the organization of event and who will be their
targeted audience or guest. This helps in understanding the size of the event and main
audience.
 After this consideration and discussion size and number of people who will be attending the
event are decided so that more clarity about the event can be gained.
 Then the venue and location of the event comes into picture. It is one of the main and
important consideration which should be worked on as it affects whole success and failure of
the event. Venue and location of the event should be decided in such a manner that it is easily
accessible by all the targeted audience or guests.
 After this, lastly budget, duration of the event and provision of entertainment is decided
(Pennington, 2016). It is another important consideration to be discussed and decided. As
whole duration of the event, features and entertainment provisions etc. decided what will be
the overall budget of the event and how it will be recovered.
LO 2
P 3 Event layout to correctly set up a conference or event room to meet specific client brief
requirement
Things to be considered for conference event or meeting room layout are:
 Overall 40 guests will be attending the conference organized at Hilton Hotel.
 Safety and security of all the delegates should be first and the foremost priority of the Hotel.
 Meeting room should be large enough to accommodate all the 40 guests.
 Meeting room should be available for whole day as conference will be of 8 hours duration.
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 Projector, projector screen, mike, 40 chairs and large row lengths should be arranged for the
delegates.
 Layout of the room is in theatre style where everyone will be sitting in horizontal and vertical
lines.
 Each and every delegate will be provided with a place to sit and a large common row table to
keep all of their things.
 Meeting room is centralized air conditioned. Presence of light in the meeting room is quite
bright but there will be a provision to dim the lights for projection or presentation.
 Company or brand poster will be displayed outside of the meeting room and adequate size of
hording will be present inside of the meeting room.
 Every delegate will be provided with a bottle of water, letter pad, description of complete
event with time and place.
 All the tables and chairs will be arranging in such a manner that projection screen and front
stage is visible and accessible to all the delegates.
 Spacing between all the chair and table will be sufficient such that all the delegates can sit
comfortably.
 An information panel will also be present for all the delegates so that if they have any queries
or doubts they can easily ask the information panel and ask for guidance.
Equipment’s that will be required for the conference in the meeting room are:
 Audio and visual requirements for presentations, video calling, other location conference
calling and many more
 Wi-Fi connectivity so that all delegate can connect to internet and remain updated with event
updates or internet accessibility etc.
 Projection screens for display, web streaming facility, media coverage for event recording
and webcasting.
 Event online website in order to get all the updates related to the event, can interact live with
the event organizers etc.
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Figure 1 Conference room layout
set up in theatre style
2. Board meeting- round table layout
 It is one of the best layout that can be considered for a board meeting as in this layout at least
20 members can be accommodated together and all of them can interact with each other
without any issues. No speakers or mikes are required for this arrangements and space
required for all the board meeting members is also sufficient. In fact, all the board members
can bring their own laptops so that they can remain updated with their meeting and agendas
of the meeting can be fulfilled. All the chairs are arranged in such a manner that all the
meeting members can interact with each other.
Figure 2 Round table layout
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P 4 Additional services available within a conference or event environment and the importance
to provide them
There are various other kinds of additional services that will be available in the conference
event that will be required by the delegates or will be required to increase the value of the event.
Each one of these additional requirements has their own importance (Wang, and Jin, 2019).
 Catering facilities: this requirement includes lunch, one time refreshment facilities for the
delegates and all the other persons attending the conferences or are related to the event. This
requirement is important to be considered as all the people associated with the event needs
refreshment from time to time so that they can remain energetic and more concentrated
towards conferences.
 Other facilities like availability of laptops or other devices if required. These facilities are
important to be provided for the delegates because if any device currently in use is out of
order or is not working then these additional devices can be used. Other than this if any
delegate requires any of these devices for working then they can also access these devices.
 Special facilities for special guest or delegates like older people, disabled people etc. these
facilities are important to be kept for such guest as if there is any older person and requires an
helping hand then they can be provided with it and if there is any disabled person then they
can pe provided with special facilities like wheel chair (Joo, Bae, and Kassens-Noor, 2017).
 Other special requirements like mike, speakers so that all the guest can be even those who are
sitting at last can hear and get to know what is going on or what the speaker is saying or what
the presentation is about.
 Basic requirements like pen, letter pads so that if any of the guest wants to note down
anything then they can easily note it down.
M 2 Evaluation of quality of the design and layout in meeting client expectations
Quality of the layout can be evaluated by checking following factors such as:
 Location (Hilton Hotel) is known and easily accessible by all the delegates.
 Meeting room for conference is available for whole day in order to carry out 8 hours
conferences.
 All the required technologies like projector, projection screen should be connected to the
internet without any technological errors.
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 Ample of chairs and table should be present for the delegates and should be comfortable
might for them.
D 2 Justification of choices made for the design and layout to set up a conference or event
correctly
All the choices were made according to the client’s requirements like theatre layout was
chosen so that all the delegates can be settled in a proper manner and they have clear view of
stage and projection screen. All the delegates were provided with one-time refreshment and
lunch as conference was of 8 hours duration.
LO 3
P 5 Different management roles within the event industry and opportunities in this sector
There are various kinds of job roles available in event industry that increases job
opportunities in this industry. All the job roles are designed in such a manner that two main
responsibilities associated with can be fulfilled. First is to maintain effective and efficient inter
relationship with all the departments present in this process (Evans, 2019). And second is to
oversee fulfilment of all the event aspects and focusing on increasing network opportunities.
Based on these two requirements job opportunities available in this industry are:
 Event planner: they are one of the main persons who is responsible for who event. They
handle all the requirements of event single headedly and coordinates with all the people
associated with the event.
 Event or venue manager: they are expert in their own space and can arrange required venue
according to the requirements of the venue. They have complete knowledge of ways in which
different events require different space and ambiance.
 Sponsorship coordinator: they are the one who organize fund raising events and
communicate with community leaders for sponsorship.
 Catering service manager: they play a vital role in this industry and there is huge opportunity
for this job as these people can cater or arrange and prepare food for many people.
 Staff coordinator: to coordinate with all the staff members present in all the departments.
They are the one who is responsible for any kind of mismanagement among the staff
members.
Each one working in this industry have their own responsibilities to fulfil. Few of the main
management responsibilities present in this industry are:
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 First and the foremost management responsibility is to create an appropriate event proposal
for the client so that it meets their brief and requirements (Eryilmaz and Cengiz, 2016). It is
important for event managers to create and get their proposals passed by their clients so that
they can start working on it.
 Next is to build effective and efficient relationship and network with all the vendors and
suppliers and venues. So, that requirements of the event can be fulfilled in a proper manner
without any misunderstandings or difficulties.
 Another responsibility is team management so that effective communication can be built with
all the stakeholders associated with the event. Without people team management a successful
event cannot be organized.
 One of the main management responsibilities is to issue invoice and maintain all reports and
financial statements. This will help the event management team to increase or create sales
opportunities.
 Event managers need to create a strategic plan so that they can meet their desired targets,
achieve targeted goals and make maximum profit.
 Event managers also need to focus on contingency plans and build an effective risk
management plan by assessing all kinds of risks that are associated within this industry.
 Lastly event managers need to maintain communication and coordination among all the
departments in order to minimize disruption and increase coordination within all the
departments. It is one of the major responsibility of staff coordinator.
M3 – Impact of the management skills
There is a positive impact on the stakeholders as customers are the stakeholders so if the
employee relationship are good there are more creativeness within the events also customers are
more attracted towards them and also if they have good relationship with the customers they are
also come back for future events.
D3- To meet the stakeholder requirements
That their needs can be fulfilled such as sharing of data, also listening them properly by
increasing the communication skills with the clients.
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