Conference and Event Management: Hilton Hotel Case Study

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CONFERENCE AND EVENT MANAGEMENT
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Executive summary
The entire report has been focused on the importance of event management and the required
skills of the managers for working under this industry. For this study, Hilton hotel has been
selected. Various event categories such as corporate events, personal events and fundraising
events have been mentioned along with its features and trend. The examples have been
included. A design layout for conference room has been attached as per the requirement of the
customers. Managerial skills have been reviewed for working in the event industry and safety
measurement for arranging an event is also mentioned.
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................4
LO1................................................................................................................................................5
LO2..............................................................................................................................................11
LO3..............................................................................................................................................15
LO4..............................................................................................................................................19
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................21
Reference list...............................................................................................................................22
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Introduction
In order to conduct a conference and event in the hotel, it is necessary to make an effective
plan. In addition to this, in time of designing the plan, it is required to know the demand of the
customers. Thus, customers’ satisfaction rate can be increased. In this study, Hilton hotel will
be chosen, where three months of internship as an event and conference manager will be
conducted. It is a private company under hospitality industry. It serves worldwide and it has
around 586 hotels. It provides various luxurious services such as accommodation, food, and
arranges social events, wedding ceremony and many others (hilton.com, 2019).
As an event and conference manager of Hilton hotel, various dimensions and categories of
events will be mentioned. Professional standard for conducting an event and room set-up
related information will be included in this study. Managerial skills for conducting an event and
the ways of arranging a safe event will be incorporated in this report for achieving best outcome.
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LO1
P1 Examine the different categories and dimensions of events, using specific examples
to illustrate the differences
As per the viewpoint of Mallen and Adams (2017), various types of events are there such as
company milestone events, appreciation events, fundraising events, trade shows, conference
and seminar, social events and many others. These types of events belong to three categories,
which are followed by-
Figure 1: Different categories of events
(Source: Created by the learner)
The categories and dimensions of events are followed by-
Factors Organisational/corporate Private or
personal
Cultural/charitable
Concepts These events are
arranged in order to build
team or increase
reputation in the market
These events are
arranged privately
as host prefer to
maintain privacy in
These events are
conducted for raising
fund and a part of
earning is contributed
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(Jones, 2017). this celebration
(Thomas et al.,
2015).
to the tourism
economy of the
country (Mallen and
Adams, 2017)
Audience Specific guests Host invites guests Open-to-all
Importance of
marketing
Invitation is provided to the
guests of corporate
sectors, who are selected.
The concept of
marketing is not
included in this type
of event.
Marketing is an
essential factor of
making people aware
of this event.
Planning type Host organisation is
responsible for the entire
plan of the event and in
this case, a good venue is
required for as per the
company culture. It helps
to earn success for the
event.
The host is
responsible and
he/she needs to
create plan related
to enjoyment,
foods, decoration of
place. Thus,
happiness is
provided to guests.
The authority of
specific area is
responsible and they
need to arrange in a
glamorous way.
Ticketing facility,
various activities are
incorporated for
raising fund from this
event.
Example Trade show, company
millstone events, product
launching event
Wedding show,
birthday ceremony,
anniversary
celebration or
convocation
Various types of
festivals
Table 1: Differences between event categories
Organisational/corporate event: In this, business promotion is monitored. Trade show and
conference are the example of this event. The purpose of arranging the event related to trade
show is to enhance the business activities of the company. It helps to make people aware of
their services, in return, they can increase profit in the market (Jones, 2017). This event can be
arranged in the reputed hotel and company needs to gather their sponsors. In this event,
leaders speak about their company and promote products. They also advertise about their
existing services and products for uplifting their position in the show. This show is under
organisational/corporate events.
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The conference or seminar is arranged with their target audience in order to provide specific
information to them. Time span of this event is short and discussion is conducted on the specific
topic. It is also organisational/corporate events.
Social events- Wedding ceremony, birthday ceremony and many other are under this event.
Social gathering is noticed in this event along with sumptuous lunch or dinner (Yolal et al.,
2016). These events are under private or personal events. For example, in Hilton hotel,
various wedding ceremonies are arranged and by arranging this event, the hotel is able to
increase their profit. In this event, the host provides money to the company. By arranging
personal events, in 2018, Hilton hotel is able to increase their revenue around 9.53% from the
previous years (macrotrends.net, 2019).
Fundraising/Cultural events- In this event, government arranges the event in order to raise
money by selling products. On the other hand, cultural festivals are arranged in a glamorous
way for attracting many customers (Hornsby, 2018). It is the event, which is linked with the well-
being of community and identification of issues. It also helps to develop the tourist economy. In
time of arranging this event, event managers need to have fundraising skills. They also arrange
cultural program in order to appeal to the public. This event is under cultural/charitable
category. For example, organisation can arrange various festivals or fair, where, people are able
to purchase various things and it helps to develop the fund from this event. Most of the cases, it
is contributed to the development of the society.
P2 Using specific examples of different categories of events, discuss the features and
current trends influencing the events sector
Three categories of events are found such as Fundraising/Cultural events,
Organisational/corporate events and Private or personal events. The features and trend of
various categories of events are followed by along with examples-
Fundraising/Cultural events
The features are followed by-
 Selling various products
 Gathering various sponsors
 Need to state the reason for arranging the event
 Goal setting so that expected fund can be earned (Macmillan, 2018)
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As per the viewpoint of Macmillan (2018), in the fundraising or cultural event, the main feature is
to set goal so that sufficient amount of money can be earned. For example, event manager of
Hilton hotel has noticed that hotels arrange red carpet event, where, registration is required to
participate in this event. Moreover, the audiences need to book ticket in order to visit the event.
In this case, the amount, which is collected from the event, is contributed to the welfare of the
society. It is also found that various sponsors help to make the event in a glamorous way by
promoting it. Thus, numerous customers are aware of the event and this feature helps to raise
fund properly.
At present, in order to raise fund from the event, the social media advertisement is conducted.
The host advertises the event in the social media by creating a page. In the page all information
is mentioned so that customers are easily attracted towards the event and visit it. As social
media advertisement trend is followed, it helps the company to increase their goodwill in the
market (Coffman, 2017). For example, as the red carpet event is arranged by the hotels for
contributing the fund to the social development, it assists to increase their reputation in market.
Hence, this trend influences the hotels to arrange fundraising event.
Organisational/corporate events
The feature of this event are followed by-
 To select the specific topic for conducting the event
 To set the small number of target audience, who are the corporate employees
 To set the aim of the conference and provide best service to the audiences
For this category, the example of conference event has been chosen. In this event, small
number of audiences is selected and they get the scope to present their paper. By arranging
this event, hotels are able to increase their profit (Rogers and Davidson, 2015). In addition to
this, in the conference, eminent people visit the place, which increase the value of the hotel.
Moreover, this event also increases the number of customers of the hotel. The main trend of
conference is to provide best guest experience to the visitors that influence the event sector to
arrange it (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 205). In addition to this, higher technology is required in
order to arrange the conference. event manager of Hilton hotel has observed that hotels that
use advanced technology, arrange conferences for developing their reputation along with profit
in market.
Private or personal events
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The features of personal events are followed by-
 Well decoration
 Effective catering system
 Proper entertainment
 Attractive venue (Moore, 2018)
The main example of event under this category is the wedding event. In this event, hotels need
to provide best fooding service along with attractive venue. In addition to this, proper
entertainment such as arranging DJ needs to be provided to the guests. Hence, hotels need to
have proper set up so that customers get best experience. In this event, at present, customers
prefer to get attractive decoration along with unique menu. The hotels, which provide
accommodation and catering service to the customers, are influenced by this trend for
increasing their sale. By maintaining uniqueness, as an event manger, customers’ satisfaction
rate is increased.
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LO2
P3 Design an event layout to correctly set up a conference or event room to meet
specific client brief requirement
In the Hilton hotel, a science conference will be conducted and in this context, the specific
customer has few requirements. Based on the requirements, the conference room will be
prepared. In order to conduct the science conference event in the Hilton hotel, the following set
up is required in order to meet the requirement of the specific customers-
Projection screen: In the conference room, it is necessary to have projection screen in the
room so that audience can visually observe the entire discussion. It needs to have multi-touch
features so that multiple users can use it at a time (Norlin et al., 2015). In the Hilton hotel, the
projection screen has mouse-hover functionality and multi-touch feature for meeting the demand
of consumers. They will provide 40 inches screen so that everyone can watch the screen
clearly.
Appropriate audio equipment: Good quality sound speaker system and microphones are
required in the conference room so that the entire discussion can be conducted smoothly
(Krishnan et al., 2016). The event manager of Hilton hotel stated that effective set up of sound
system is found the conference room, which can met customers’ demand. For arranging the
science conference, 4 microphones will be provided on the stage and 1 sound speaker will be
set in the each corner of the room so that all discussion can be heard clearly. Hence, total 6
speakers will be there.
Wifi: In the conference room, high-speed internet connection is required so that customers can
find anything from internet if required. In the Hilton hotel, as science conference will be held, 5G
internet connection will be provided so that they can easily search anything during the
conference.
Seating arrangement: In the conference room, various types of seating arrangement are
noticed such as U-shaped room, auditorium, school room, banquet style and many others
(Rodman and Drell, 2015). In the Hilton hotel, as customers of science conference want to set
100 chairs and 10 tables in the room, auditorium can be suggested. In this context, the room
size will be 50 square feet so that the conference can be arranged properly. As customers want
comfort, air-conditioned room will be provided.
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Projector screen Video conferencing system
Entrance Exit
Tea zone
Hence, the design layout of the conference room for the science conference is followed by-
Figure 2: Design Layout for Conference Room Setup
(Source: Created by learner)
P4 Examine the additional services available within a conference or event environment
and the importance to provide them to meet specific client requirements for added value
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Stage for presenting the paper
Podium along with 2 microphones Podium with 1 microphone
Seating arrangements (100 chairs and 10 tables)

In time of designing the conference room, as commented by Gładyszewska-Fiedoruk (2019),
event manager needs to meet the requirement of the customers for increasing the rate of
customers’ satisfaction. For arranging the science conference in Hilton hotel, the specific
customer wants projector screen along with video conferencing system. The company has
provided many other services, which are followed by-
Digital projectors: Digital projectors will be provided in the conference room so that the specific
customers are able to watch the 3D image in the screen. Hilton hotel does not use the
traditional fresnel lens in order to provide best experience to the customers. In time of
conducting science conference, the customers want only the projector screen; however, no
quality of the projector is mentioned. Hence, digital projector will be provided so that customers
can experience the 3D image. This is the importance of using digital projector in the conference
room. As they want good quality of image in the projector screen, this projector will meet their
demand effectively.
A skilled staff: In time of conducting the conference, it is necessary to get support from the
staff of the hotel so that the needs of the members can be met effectively. In order to arrange
the science conference, Hilton hotel provides a staff to the program host, who can solve any
issue effectively (hilton.com, 2019). The needs of members will be taken care by the staff so
that the entire conference can be completed in an error free manner. This service will provide
best guest experience to the customers.
Common room/tea room: In order to design the conference room, a tea zone will be provided
to the customers of the event. It is known to all that constant lecture is a hectic work for the
people, who attend the conference. Keeping this in mind, the event manager has provided a tea
zone to the customers and they can have tea free of cost. This service will help the people to
attend the conference in an energetic manner and the host can chose this place in future.
System related to video conferencing: In time of designing conference room, video
conferencing related system will be placed beside the projector screen. As mentioned by
Neustaedter et al. (2016), in the era of advanced technology, not all invited people are able to
attend the conference physically; however, they attend it through online. In this case, the event
manager of Hilton hotel will provide this set up in the conference room so that all invited people
can attend the conference easily (hilton.com, 2019). It helps the conference team to complete
their event in an appropriate manner.
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