Analysis of the International Conference at Geneva Business School

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of an international conference organized by senior students at the Geneva Business School. The conference, focused on the role of new employees in organizational performance, was managed with the assistance of an event management company, XYZ EVENTS. The report details the conference's purpose, which aimed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application for business students. It covers the timing, location (Mandarin Oriental in Geneva), and venue selection, highlighting the importance of accessibility and convenience. The report also outlines the organizing committee, comprising senior students, and their roles, strengths, and weaknesses. The report provides a detailed overview of the event planning, financial considerations, sponsorship, and promotional strategies employed to ensure its success. The conference was designed to provide students with first-hand experience and insights from industry experts, with the aim of improving their understanding of the current market scenario and preparing them for their careers. The report also discusses the importance of feedback from students and the modifications in the course curriculum.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
International Conference
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Purpose of the event.........................................................................................................................2
Timing and location of the event.....................................................................................................4
About the venue...............................................................................................................................5
Organizing Committee and Event Manager....................................................................................6
Event List.........................................................................................................................................9
Finances and Budgets....................................................................................................................11
Sponsorship....................................................................................................................................14
Promotion......................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
Reference.......................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Event management is an essential part of today’s world for smooth running of official or
personal events. Official events can include conferences, seminars and meetings whereas
personal events can involve wedding, birthday or anniversary (Bramwell and Bill). There are
ample event management companies under event managers who are hired by individuals or
organization to conduct the specific event in a smooth way. An event manager needs to be
extremely creative in terms of planning an event because that is the main thumb- rule to get
contacts for the next event. Apart from being creative, the event manager will have to take care
of the crisis issues and the necessary steps for the management. There should not be any loop
hole in the hospitality and reception of the guest because it poses a negative impact on the
company reputation. An event manager cannot afford to reflect a bad image which will make his
business standstill (Bales et al.).
This particular report will analyze the event of an international conference held at the
Geneva Business School. The senior students of the school have been assigned to arrange the 3-
day long conference in an organized manner. The senior students have contacted a reputed event
management company for conducting this particular event and making it a grand success. They
were all the more cautious for the success of this event as it was their first opportunity to do
something good for their school sake. They did not want to be blamed for any kind of
mismanagement in the event.

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Purpose of the event
The main purpose of the conference was to present an opportunity to the students for
investigating the role played by new employees in the improvement of organizational
performance. The topic was decided on the basis of the contemporary situation when most of the
students find them drowning in mid- sea after getting placed in an organization. It is a common
problem that is not only faced by the students of Geneva Business School but other business
schools too. This international conference was aimed to improve the condition of the students in
the nations of the European Continent. All the reputed B- schools of the particular continent were
invited to attend the conference and the dignitaries included professors, lecturers, principals of
institutions and managers and leaders of organizations. There were other officials and recruiters
from different companies who delivered strategic advices for the budding managers. This
international conference based on the roles played by new talents for the betterment of
organizational performance was very appealing to the present audience as it was a demanding
topic by the students (Brigham, Eugene and Ehrhardt).
The topic was aimed to benefit the students of the business schools in the European
continent as they will be able to learn something apart from their theoretical curriculum. To get a
first- hand training of the work atmosphere general reading of the textbooks and assessments are
not sufficient. To bridge the gap in that definite area the students will need to look away from
their textbooks and seek for practical knowledge. This international conference will help them to
gather knowledge on the practical field by gaining insights from experts who have had many
years of experience in the field of business management. Live examples from the workplace will
enable the students to understand the situation in a better way. The lecture of the organizational
managers will make the students realize the current market scenario and thus they will be able to

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groom themselves accordingly. The practical experience in the course of the event will provide a
clear picture of the organizational performance and the required expectations from the new
employees by the managers. The feedback session from the students will also help the officials,
managers and recruiters to understand what the employees expect to get in return from the
organization. The students must not keep anything confidential while providing feedback as it
will help the professors to structure the course curriculum in a way which will benefit the
students in their career. The honest feedback from the students will help the managers too for
modifying the organizational structure to take into consideration employee motivation and
satisfaction (Cserhati, Gabriella, and Szabo).
Timing and location of the event
Timing and location is a very crucial factor in terms of managing an event. These are the
two important factors which determine the success of an event. Attendance of people in an event
is dependent a lot on the spatio temporal factors. The location and time of the event has to be
chosen in such a way so that the place is accessible easily and the timing does not clash with any
other event. For this particular international conference the event management company had to
take into account a lot of things before selecting the venue of the event. They had to choose a
location keeping in mind the accessibility and the convenience of the invitees to reach the place.
Mandarin Oriental in Geneva was selected where the event was held as well as staying
arrangements were made for the international students and guests. This particular hotel is
situated in an amazing and serene location mixed with the spectacular view of mountains in the
background along the gentle river Rhone vistas. This luxurious 5- star hotel has a traditional
Swiss ambience blended with the style, comfort and remarkable service which makes it a perfect
place to stay back. It is centrally located with a minimal distance of approximately 6 km from the

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Geneva airport thus making it easily accessible for the foreign guests. It was convenient from the
train station too which is why this hotel was selected for the event.
Time is another critical factor which should be taken into consideration while managing
an event. First and foremost, the even management company has to fix dates with the Geneva
Business School and according to their convenience the selected dates were 4th February 2018 to
6th February 2018. These dates were suggested because the senior students will be relieved from
the exam pressure by the end of December 2017 and will get time to prepare for the conference.
These dates were also tallied with the hotel managers and the caterers and fortunately the rooms
were free on those days. The host institution also booked the conference room for those three
days and the hotel management gladly informed them that there is no rush in the first week of
February as the peak season begins from the mid of the month. The students got divided into few
teams to make the arrangements separately and easily. The inauguration of the event was
scheduled at 9 am on 4th Feb which was a convenient time as the guests were arriving the
previous day.
About the venue
The venue selected for the event was Mandarin Oriental in Geneva which was centrally
situated and easily accessible both from the railway station as well as the Geneva airport
(Catherwood et al.). The view from the hotel was extraordinary with a combination of gentle
flowing river and the strong and sturdy mountain created an ambience of calmness and
tranquility. This hotel was selected after a lot of confusion and the company was in a dilemma
about the venue for a long time. There are not many options in Geneva when it comes to hotels
for arranging such a grand event as international conference. The large parking facility in the

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basement of the hotel was really helpful for storing numerous cars and buses. The system of
valet parking in the hotel is something worth praising as there are not many hotels in the area
which provide this service. This fact was considered while making selection of the venue by the
event manager because the guests would always feel laid back to find the parking area by
themselves and keep their vehicles in a proper place. It is a complementary service that can be
easily provided by the hotel management as well as make the guests happy.
Along with these basic facilities we had also considered the accommodation such as the
required number of rooms and if that will be sufficient for all the guests or not. The Mandarin
Oriental also passed the test in this category because they had ample airy rooms with air-
conditioned facilities, large washrooms and every room and suites faced the mountain. The
rooms were accommodated with the basic furniture such as sofa, cupboard, wardrobe, dining
table and chair, rocking chair and a small study. There were room services available throughout
the day with a simple phone call. The guests can even cook their favorite platter in the attached
kitchen. The audio- visual systems provided in the rooms and suites can turn into a mini theatre.
The beautiful décor of the rooms have the ability to impress even a pessimist. The conference
hall and the lawn were provided as a complement from the hotel authorizes as a gift to the
Geneva Business School because their owner had been a student of the same school. It was an
unexpected as well as overwhelming experience for the students to have in the conference the
owner of the venue as an alumnus. The facilities available at the hotel were undoubtedly the best
any event management company can arrange for and the extra perks that were provided along
with had been icing on the cake.

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Organizing Committee and Event Manager
The organizing committee included the senior students of Geneva Business School who
are on the verge of getting placed in different organizations. To organize the event in a
successful manner and keep up their reputation high the students had approached one of the
popular event management groups in the region. XYZ EVENTS had been always a reputed event
management group and with the new manager their success graph has become stagnant at the
peak with no scope of going down. What can be better than approach such a famous organization
to conduct such a prestigious event? In the beginning, the board of directors of the Geneva
Business School had approached three students to organize the event. They were asked to form
separate teams under their leadership which will make their task easy and doable. The brief
profile of each of the members is given below in a tabular form.
Student Responsibility
S1 Suggesting the venue and selecting dates
S2 Make a guest list
S3 Inviting the internal members of the institution
Thus S1, S2 and S3 had formed a group of 4 under their leadership thus the total strength
became 12 all over to fulfill their responsibility properly. Following is a list of the strengths and
weaknesses possessed by these 3 leaders.
Student Strength Weakness
S1 Loud
Extrovert
Has a dominating attitude
Try to grab a control over

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Communication expert
Calm and cool
others
Tries to take advantage of the
power and position
S2 A good manager
Extremely friendly
Has a good rapport with
almost everyone inside the
school
Not a good leader
Cannot identify the qualities in
other people
Weak in managing external
affairs
S3 Effective communication
skills
Hard working
Responsible
Competent
Easily loses temper
Tries to do all work by himself
and thus ruining it at the end
With this strengths and weaknesses of the members it can be mentioned that out
of the three students no one is a perfect leader and actually needed guidance through this
international conference which will help them to cope up with their weaknesses and make them a
better leader.
To draw up a brief outline of the event management company it can be said that XYZ
EVENTS is considered to be among the top event management companies in the region. In their
12 years of journey they have not faced with a single loss. They have the record of managing the
top most and high class events in Switzerland and abroad with utmost success. XYZ EVENTS

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has committed to give their best performance for each task that they are hired and to achieve that
100% success they do not take the responsibility of more than 5 events each month.
Event List
Events
(Category: General)
Time
Identifying the name and topic 2 hours
Identifying the location 3 days
Deciding the date 2 days
Set the daily starting and ending time 5 hours
Creating a primary budget 4 days
(Category: Location)
Contacting with the specific hotels for rooms,
conference hall and free space
2 days
Arranging for site inspections to compare
among different properties
7 days
Research on the facilities available at the hotels 5 days
Comparing the options regarding housing and
banquet and prices of different hotels
5 days
Research and compare among the suppliers 4 days
Research on the availability of parking and
transportation to the particular place
6 days

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Confirmation of dates, time and price 2 days
Negotiation of contract 2 days
(Category: Speakers)
Apply the speakers bureau or the management
experts for keynote speakers
3 days
Make a temporary list of the probable speakers 3 hours
Contact with the speakers 6 days
Research the terms of performance 3 days
Making a final list of speakers 1 day
Set a schedule for the speakers 2 hours
Tally the performance schedule with the
speakers
2 days
Sending formal invitations 3 days
Negotiating contract with the speakers 3 hours
Booking of accommodation 1 day
Contacting the transport company 3 hours
Arranging of transport and hospitality services 5 hours
(Category: Marketing)
Writing a marketing plan for the international
conference
3 hours
Making a list of the probable sponsors 1 day
Negotiating contract with the sponsors 4 hours
Creating a theme and logo for the conference 1 hour

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Creating promotional plan such as the internet
campaign, TV/ radio campaign and printed
materials
1 day
Designing and printing of brochures, tickets,
advertising materials and invitations
10 days
Arrange for advertising 7 days
(Category: Others)
Deciding on the required equipments for the
event
3 days
The number of staffs required for conducting
the event
2 days
Contacting with the catering management 3 hours
Deciding the food items 2 hours
Negotiating contract with the catering
management
3 hours
Arranging waste disposal places 2 hours
Deciding on the details of the events such as
what will be the program and the sequence
5 hours
Finances and Budgets
Setting up a budget is a very important part of pre event planning. It requires both
detailed attention and a complete scope of the event to decide where to spend the money by