Events Policy and Strategy: Reflective Review of Henley-on-Todd

This report provides a reflective review of the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, a quirky boat race held annually in Alice Springs, Australia. The report examines the event's impact on social and economic development, identifying the beneficiaries and the measurement of return on investment (ROI). It explores the government and corporate support for the event, analyzes potential negative impacts, and assesses the event's alignment with key policy and strategy principles. The review highlights the event's unique appeal, its ability to attract participants and tourists, and its role in promoting Australian culture and generating revenue for charitable causes. The report references the event's partners, the various activities offered, and the government's role in supporting such events for economic and community development. The analysis uses concepts of event management, including surveys and profit comparisons, to evaluate the ROI and overall success of the event, concluding with a discussion on the event's strengths and weaknesses based on personal experience.

Running head: EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
Australia is a country of great events. Several events keep on happening all over the
country throughout the year. Events like arts and exhibitions, culture and community events,
food and drinks, music festival and live shows and sports events are very common in Australia
(Jones, 2017). The following paragraph discusses about the personal experience of one such
great event that I have attended recently.
The event that I experienced falls under the cultural and community event. It is the
Henley-on-Todd Regatta event. It is basically a quirky boat race that is held on an annual basis.
It is held at Alice Spring’s dry sand bed of Todd River. It is the only event that hosts a dry river
boating competition in the world (Pers. Exp. 01). Many people from around the world gather in
this event to compete against each other and have fun (Alicesprings.nt.gov.au, 2019). Apart from
boat competitions it has several other sports events that are related to boating, ships and other
river and sea related activities. The people compete in the boat races in the style of Flintstones.
They hold a metal boat frame and run across the finish line. On the final day of the event a battle
takes place between three teams having motorized battleship along with flour bombs and water
cannons. Solo events also take place and team consists of a member of 10.
The name of the event has been derived from the famous event Henley Royal Regatta, a
rowing event that is held every year in river Thames. The creator of this event was Reg Smith
who started this event in December 1962. The event is organized in order to raise money for
charity. The event took place on 17th August, 2019 at Snow Kenna Park, Wills Tce. The costs of
tickets for the adults were $22 and children were $5.50. The event is considered as one of the
major events of Australia as it attracts a number of local and international participants. The
whole event is also captured by various TV and news channels. The outback madness becomes a
lot of fun as people from various regions start interacting with each other and enjoy together. The

2EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
event has full support and sponsorship from the Australian Government. The Australian Tourism
spreads the essence of the event across the world and brings all the tourists in this event. This
helps in earning a lot of foreign exchange (Australia.com, 2019). One of the main strategy for
organizing an event, especially focussed on charitable motives involves promoting the event
amongst tourists for enhancing the footfall and awareness on a global scale. There are various
food and drinks stalls that are also set up across the ground. No fishing signs are also put up. The
local shops therefore gets a chance to sell their foods and drinks to a large customer base and it
helps them in earning profitability and more importantly the exposure. The local retailers thus
gain a lot from the event, the society gets benefitted because of the cultural interactions and the
economy as a whole gets benefitted because of the returns that the event earns. The money
earned is utilized to develop the backward class and to promote development (News.com.au,
2019). The direct partners of the event are Northern Territory Government, Do the NT
travelnt.com, Alice Springs, Rotary, Assa Abloy, Asprint, KFC, Royal Australian Navy, Imparja,
Mercure, Ross Engineering, Woolworths, Bendigo Bank and many such big companies. There
are about a list of 20 fun events that takes place and people can participate in any number of
events. The whole event was backed this year by one of my favourite music band Cold Chisel.
The Government usually supports these events as it brings a huge monetary inflow within
the economy and most of the money is utilized for a charitable purpose and economic
development. The Australian Government, territory and state government majorly targets
assistance to the investors and event organizers for the purpose of encouraging the awareness and
monetary inflow from cause based events and promotion of Australian culture (Austrade.gov.au,
2019). The Government of Australia also exerts control for assessing the policy alignment of
events with the Henley-on-Todd Regatta event. My experience of the event suggests that it

3EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
brings a lot of return on investment. The uniqueness and the vibe of the event makes people
spend a lot without much thinking (Henleyontodd.com.au, 2019). The return on investment has
been measured by calculating the earnings from the number of tickets sold, the commission and
other percentages received for the stalls and sellers, from which the actual costs of arrangements,
payments and hosting is deducted. According to the concepts of return on investment strategies
of event management, various techniques are incorporated including, surveys and from profit
from comparing sales and cost of event. Based on the pyramid for six level objectives and
evaluation, calculating ROI is the final step. The event did not show much negative effect apart
from sudden injuries that were caused because of the rush by the participants while playing the
game. The injuries were minor and there were separate medical teams that were very flexible.
The event does not have any competition as it is the only unique event that organizes these
specific games for the people across the world for the sole purpose of raising money for charity.

4EVENTS POLICY AND STRATEGY
References:
Alicesprings.nt.gov.au (2019). Rotary Henley on Todd Regatta. [Online] Retrieved from
http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/events/2019-08-17/rotary-henley-todd-regatta
Austrade.gov.au (2019). Understanding government support programs in Australia - Austrade.
[Online] Retrieved from https://www.austrade.gov.au/International/Invest/Guide-to-
investing/Australian-Government-support-programs
Australia.com (2019). Henley-on-Todd Regatta - Tourism Australia. [Online] Retrieved from
https://www.australia.com/en-in/events/sports-events/henley-on-todd-regatta.html
Henleyontodd.com.au (2019). Home. [Online] Retrieved from http://henleyontodd.com.au/
Jones, M. L. (2017). Sustainable event management: A practical guide. Routledge.
News.com.au (2019). Inside the Henley on Todd Regatta. [Online] Retrieved from
https://www.news.com.au/travel/australian-holidays/northern-territory/crazy-aussie-
sporting-event-the-world-cant-get-enough-of/news-story/
8d7bf462f8bae8d9a2e32bdad0a32c53
Pers. Exp. 01 17.08.2019, Henley-on-Todd Regatta, Snow Kenna Park, Wills Tce