Event Management Report: Thessaloniki International Film Festival

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the event management plan for an international film festival in Thessaloniki, Greece. It begins with an introduction highlighting the economic context of Greece and the importance of events like film festivals for promoting tourism and economic growth. The report outlines the purpose and objectives of the festival, emphasizing its role in enhancing the country's economy and providing a platform for filmmakers. It details the benefits of the event, including tourism promotion, local merchant support, and networking opportunities. The report then discusses alternative events considered, the selection process, and the chosen theme of 'Unity in Diversity'. It covers the feasibility of the event, venue design using the Olympion Theatre, and the event design plan, including time factors, coordination strategies, and budgeting. The report also addresses media messages, music, activities, and potential risks. Finally, it includes a conclusion summarizing the key findings and recommendations for successful event management. The report is a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of event planning and its potential impact on the economy.

Running Head: Event Management 1
Event Planning for Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Event Management 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Purpose and objective......................................................................................................................3
Benefits............................................................................................................................................4
Alternatives considered...................................................................................................................5
Selection process.............................................................................................................................5
Project planning and execution........................................................................................................6
Theme...........................................................................................................................................6
Feasibility of the event.................................................................................................................6
Venue design................................................................................................................................7
Event design plan.........................................................................................................................7
Media messages.........................................................................................................................10
Music..........................................................................................................................................10
Activities....................................................................................................................................10
Budget............................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14
List of Figures
Figure 1: Olympion Theatre............................................................................................................7

Event Management 3
Introduction
Greece is one of fastest growing economies in the Euro zone and it grew at the annual
rate of 4.2% as foreign capital flooded in the country. But now it is observed that the growth of
the country is continuously diminishing. Greece is facing various financial difficulties and due to
financial circumstances, there is the need for borrowing from IMF, European central bank and
European Union. Because of the financial crisis, government of the country has to take some
tough decisions in order to restructure the economy so that the country can get its prosperity
again (Hope, 2017). There are various events and festivals taking place every year in country.
These festivals and activities are very helpful for the company to enhance the economic status
and prosperity and to achieve appropriate result. There are many events taking place in the
country and to enhance the economic value, it is important to organize a mega event in the
effective manner. A number of award ceremony events and film festivals are being hosted in
Greece throughout the year. This report focuses on the event management of international film
festival in which the award ceremony will take place. This festival is to be held in Thessalonika
in Greece. This event will be helpful in order to enhance the visits tourists in the country. In the
film festival, there will be two types of films which would be screened-featured short films and
lengthy films. This report evaluates and explains the objective of the conducted event which
would be beneficial for the country. Further, event plan would be designed and venue would be
specific for the overall film festival. Along with this, an effective media message would be
shaped that will be effective for targeting the audience for the event. This report will also focus
on various details of the events i.e. menu activities budget and type of risks in the event.
Purpose and objective
The film industry is considered as the most autonomous art form and the film festival
always include peace, liberty and equality of the country. The objective of this international film
festival is to enhance the economy of Greece so that the county can achieve its prosperity again.
Along with this, the objective of conducting the event of film festival is to provide the broad
platform to the film makers by discussing their diverse work in the event. Along with this, aim of
the international film festival is to provide a meeting place for people and audiences so that the
tradition, art shape and attractiveness of the country can be enhanced (Lee & Goldblatt, 2012).

Event Management 4
Film festivals are the events for the creation of symbolic, cultural and economic value. The
festival provides opportunities for the interchange of symbolic value to economic value.
Conducting international film festival enhances the chances of distribution and exhibition. Film
festival is helpful in rising funding for the country. So basic objective of conducting the event of
film festival is to enhance the value-adding process in Greece and attract various tourists in the
country by improving its economic value (Fox, 2015).
Benefits
Every event consists of some benefits for the society and related audience. Event must
have some values that could be beneficial for the people. By conducting the event of
international film festival, Country Greece will have some benefits. Those benefits are as
follows:
Promoting tourism-
It is well known that Greece is one of the famous tourist destinations. Due to economic
issues, there is the need to attract the tourists in order to gain its prosperity again. International
film festival will attract the tourists from both in and out of the country. The film makers and
producers will generally travel in all over the world for promoting the screening of their film.
Along with this, it will also attract film fans and media professionals (Getz, 2008).
Benefits for local merchants-
By conducting the event of international film festival, local merchant will be benefited. It
is well-known that tourists spend money. Any festival in Greece will attract them. Being a
famous tourist’s destination, tourists will definitely visit in various parts of the country and local
merchants will experience a respectable spike in their business. This will also benefit to the
economy of the country.
Networking-
These kinds of festivals give various opportunities to film makers to communicate with
other filmmakers, media representatives, supporters and many other professionals. Along with

Event Management 5
this, the event will also establish mutually beneficial relationships and leads to various
collaborative possibilities (Olum, 2004).
Benefits of theater-
With the arrangements between theater hosting and festival promoters, the theater will
enjoy various benefits such as hike in the sales and positive word of mouth of about the venue.
Theater will be able to enhance their positive reputations and management. This approach will
minimize various issues before they arise.
Alternatives considered
It is stated earlier Greece is the famous tourist destination but the country is facing some
financial difficulties. In order to deal with this situation, it is important to conduct an event that
can enhance the prosperity of the country. There are various events that can be conducted for this
manner. Potential event can be Hellenic festival, Thessaloniki international film festival,
Rockwave Festival, Easter, Acroplis Rally, August Full moon, European music day and
Mothers’ day run etc. These all events are effective in enhancing the prosperity of the country.
Out of the list of the events, international film festival is selected. The reason is that the film
industry is considered as the most entertaining industry. The international film festival will
attract various filmmakers, producers and tourist to visit Greece so that economic value of the
country can be enhanced. Along with this, the event of film festival is selected so that film
makers and audience can meet a place where they can share traditions, history and shapes from
all over the world (Milohnić, Lesić & Slamar, 2016).
Selection process
Reason for selecting the event of film festival is discussed above. Film festivals are the
important link in the chain of international film culture. Cinema is the most democratic art that
uses suitable languages for the audiences. Film festival is helpful in maintaining democracy
freedom and peace. Film festival is the exceptional tool to cross the communication channels
from the most distant places. Sometimes, event selection process is affected by various factors
i.e. media exposure, potential economic impacts, time, available resources and local
involvement. The most important critical success factor for selecting an event is the unique

Event Management 6
process and marketing resources. Research will be undertaken in order to gain a better
understanding about the nature and importance of the events along with critical success factors of
the event. International film festival is selected because it is important for the ecosystem of the
country (Adams & Hall, 2015).
Film festival can attract the audiences from the community and all around the world.
Along with this, the festival is also helpful in enhancing the local economy. The viewers have
opportunity to stay connected with the story of the films by experiencing the film firsthand. The
setting of the festival allows the audience to share the ideas with the producers, filmmakers and
other audience so that new perspective on the films can be opened. This process can give insights
to the filmmakers, producers, and distributors. Data will be collected on the nature and objective
of the film festival event from conventions. It is found that international film festival is beneficial
for the enhancing the economic value of the country. The selection criteria of film festival are
based on the economic impact of the event on the country (Motion Picture Association of
America, 2017).
Project planning and execution
Theme
For the international film festival, it is crucial is to select a suitable theme in order to
attract people and various film makers. So, the theme for the event would be ‘Unity in
Diversity’. This theme is selected because this film festival will include various films including
various small and documentary films and fiction films from the entire world. Along with this,
there will be various films that would be screening in the festival that would reveal the theme of
this festival. Although there is lots of diversity in all over the world but this film festival will
celebrate the variety of culture and this will be represented to the audiences. In the international
film festival, individual sections will be provided to the audience so that they can choose that
film which would be most appealing to them (Lill, 2015).
Feasibility of the event
Film industry is the entertaining industry and by this event, country will be able to attract
various organizations and government in order to receive financial support from them. The
required physical resources for the event will include music, decorative items, stationeries and

Event Management 7
sound equipments etc. Most of the support staff will be local youth and volunteers. As the result,
huge support from organizations will be achieved. (Burgess & Kredell, 2016).
Venue design
Further, next step is to attract the audience by innovative venue selection and design. The
venue of this event will be Olympion Theatre, Thessalonika which is the head office of
Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The theater has architecturally impressive structure
which is built in 1920s in the heart of the city. In this complex, there are two renovated cinemas
i.e. ‘Olympion and Pavlos Zannas’ including two cafes i.e. ‘Foyer and Room with a view’. The
building of this theater is suitable for various events like theatrical productions, film screenings,
music events and various cultural activities. This is the permanent headquarter for the
Thessaloniki International film festival.
Figure 1: Olympion Theatre

Event Management 8
Event design plan
In order to manage the event, it is crucial to focus on some essential things i.e.
coordination, budget and time. An event cannot be successful without coordination between
teams, without sufficient funds and without proper time frame. Although proper and efficient
planning for the international film festival has done but there is still need to focus on the time
frame and budget for the effective operations in events.
Time factor-
Time factor has a critical role while planning an event like international film festival. So,
it is crucial to set such time which is convenient for the audiences. Generally, people prefer
evening time to attend the events so; evening to night time will be preferred for the event. If
these things are not followed systematically then event will not be successful and the objective
will not be accomplished. So, international film festival will be held in the month of January (De
Valck, 2014).
Coordination-
There is the need of more and more people to conduct an event so; there should be
coordination among the team members. Without proper coordination, there is the possibility for
conflict because of the lack of communication among the members while planning the events.
Along with this, there are various activities which must be completed by different teams. So, it is
important for the authorities to coordinate among the team members for event planning
successfully. Proper planning at the initial stages includes knowledge sharing, regular meetings
and informal outing would be helpful in coordinating among the team members for the
successful event. Planning for the international film festival will be designed from last six
months (Getz & Page, 2016).
Budgeting-
Further, budgeting and funding is also an important part for the event planning. It is
understood that appropriate planning of the budget is helpful to accomplish all the desired
activities of the event. So, it is recommended that estimation of the budget will be efficient. By
the formulation of the budget, experts will be able to distribute the fund for various activities

Event Management 9
including infrastructure, lightings, and food arrangements for the guests and salary for the crew
members and hosts (Ralston et al, 2007).
It is most important to develop an effective and proper event design plan so that event of
film festival can run smoothly. There are many processes which would be included in the film
festival. Following steps will be included in the event design plan-
Planning of festival- This step would include detailed planning of the film festival. The
planning will be completed by deciding the budget, invitation and key attractions of the event
(Kerzner, 2013).
Budget formulation-This is the important part of any event plan. In the budget allocation
process, identification of key events of the film festival will be done. In this process, Budget will
be decided for various events.
Scheduling the event- It is very important to plan effectively in order to conduct the event
successfully. In this manner, there is the need to set a schedule for the key events in the festival
like sending invitations, recruitment of staff, major objectives of the festival and many others.
Recruiting event crew- In this process, key people of the event i.e. directors, critics, producers,
audiences and others will be invited. Along with this, setting necessary infrastructure for the
event like lights, food, projectors, screen, sofa, chairs, bouncers and others would also be done
(Brown, 2014).
Promotional activities- Advertising and promotion is the crucial part for any event so that the
audience can be targeted. For this event, key focus would be on direct mailing, hoardings, and
social media platforms which would be effectively used in order to promote the film event
(Meusburger, Funke & Wunder, 2009).
Launching - This process of the event will be done by screening famous films from various
producers and directors. This will be done with the song sequences and dances.
Red carpet celebrations- Segregation of festivals will be organized including various
catagories. Those catagories will comprise love, laugh, debate, thrill, comedy, suspense and

Event Management 10
action. Along with this, feature and documentary films will also be take place in the event. After
that, special function of giving awards and night ceremony will also take place.
Media messages
After the planning of international film festival event, it is important to promote the event
in order to make it successful. In current time, social media platforms are strong tool to promote
the event. It is important to have an effective media message on the social media networks. In
order to promote this specific event, Twitter and Facebook will be used as these are the popular
social media platform used by people. By using these platforms, audience will be able to achieve
all the information related to international film festival (Cetinic, Petric & Pranic, 2012). The
message on the social media platforms would be related to time, date and venue of the event. The
message would be ‘Inviting for International Film Festival to Film and Cinema lovers which
would be detained in Olympion Theatre, Thessalonika from 1st January 2019 to 10th January
2019 (Vilhjálmsdóttir, 2011).
Music
Music has an important role in the organizing and managing any event. It is also crucial
to enhance the environment and quality of the event. In the international film festival, mild music
will be played in order to entertain the audiences during the gap of the performances and
activities. Along with this, the music in the international film festival is selected for the
background and that will be selected from the nominated documentaries and movies for the
awards. The reason for choosing the music from the nominated movies is that filmmakers,
producers and directors will be motivated for doing more valuable work (Wagen, 2005).
Activities
It is essential section for managing various activities of the events. In this section,
different activities will take place which are required to conduct the event of international film
festival. It is already decided that the film festival will take place in Olympion Theatre. There are
some additional activities in order to manage and organize which are as follows:
Planning for different teams-
It is very important for various teams to plan and organize the work accordingly. There
will be various teams i.e. event product team, marketing team and programming team and these

Event Management 11
teams are responsible to conduct specific event catering arrangements, decoration and promotion
of the event and preparing posters for the event etc (Mawer et al, 2106).
Screening films and award ceremony-
Under these activities, quick look of various films i.e. animation, documentary, pop
promos, television and film records related to creative arts will be shown. This will also includes
of award distribution to the nominated actors, producers, directors, and films (Tassiopoulos,
2005).
Live performances-
This will be the key attraction of overall film festival. In the performance related activity,
the performances will be organized in order to promote any specific movie considering
performance related concept.
Speech-
Under this activity, film makers and producers will give talk about their movies and
related concepts. They will share their ideas and viewpoints about movies i.e. from where they
get idea and inspiration to make the film. Further, public will ask their queries about the movies
to the directors. Those questions can be related to their current movies or upcoming movie
projects.
Awards-
This is main activity of the event of film festival. In this, awards will be distributed to the
nominated films based on different criteria i.e. best animation, best actor and supportive actor,
best direction, best critic, best negative role and others. The activities of award distribution will
be helpful in inspiring the film makers and directors so that they can do best work on films in
future.
Apart from these activities, there are some activities that will be taking care of by
different teams. All the crewmembers will have induction guide for the activities sob that they
can be aware of the every kind of emergency in the event. Along with this, there will also be

Event Management 12
ambulance service in order to minimize the health issues and hazards. ‘Least disturbance of other
activities’ regulations will be followed in the sound system of the event.
Budget
Budgeting is the important part of a robust planning structure. Budget is helpful for the
event managers in spending the amount based on the requirements. Budget of the event must be
planned in the visualization and advance of the event. It impact on each factor of the event
management and needs to be evaluating on the regular basis. The event of international film
festival will be organized on the grand level (Bowdin et al, 2012). So, there is the need of budget
planning for the activities so that the event can be operated successfully. The budget plan for this
event is as follows:
Cost of event Amount (In Euro)
Cost for entrance ticket per person 180 x 5000= 900000
Cost for decoration in Olympion Theatre 3000
Promotional activities for event of
International Film Festival by social media
800
Various activities including stage arrangement
and sound system for dance and live
performance
900
Furniture i.e. sofa and chairs for sitting people 1500
Welcome drink and dinner for all guests 2600 x 5= 13000
Salaries for the staff and crew members, jury
members and host
1800
Installation screens with their supporting
devices
900
Additional cost for other activities i.e. water
supply maintenance, emergency services, and
ambulance etc.
500
Total cost 9,22,400