UK Conference & Banqueting Management: Event Organization

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK, examining its size, scope, and the various factors that have shaped its development. It delves into the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal influences (PESTEL) affecting the industry. Furthermore, the report evaluates performance and quality review techniques employed within the sector, such as collecting customer feedback, using questionnaires, and monitoring employee behavior. It discusses key considerations for organizing off-site events, including venue selection, workforce utilization, climatic conditions, and menu planning, emphasizing the importance of catering to diverse cultural backgrounds and preferences. The report also touches upon sustainability in food production and ergonomic considerations for event organization. This resource is ideal for students looking for solved assignments and past papers and is available on Desklib.

CONFERENCE AND BANQUETING
MANAGEMENT
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Task A........................................................................................................................................4
a) A review of the size and scope of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK (ref.
1.1) 4
b) An analysis of the different influences that have shaped the industry (ref. 1.2)................6
c) An evaluation of the performance and quality review techniques used within the industry
(ref 2.2).......................................................................................................................................8
d) A discussion of the factors influencing the organization of an off-site event (ref. 3.2).....9
e) An analysis of the key menu planning issues (ref 3.3).....................................................10
Task B: Organising conference................................................................................................11
Introduction..............................................................................................................................11
a)Sustainability evolution in food production, styles and beverage services for event...........12
b)Ergonomic consideration regarding the event......................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
The conferencing and banqueting industry is a blooming industry and is growing with every
passing year. They are mainly concerned with hosting events like conferences, trade fairs,
business meetings and several such corporate events. The growth and scope of the
conferencing and banqueting industry in UK, the factors affecting its growth and
development and the factors that need to be kept in mind for the arrangement of the off-site
events in a banquet hall of choice will be studied in this project. The strategies to be adopted
for the operational management of the same and the ergonomic contemplation for the event to
be hosted will also be discussed in detail in this project.
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Task A
a) A review of the size and scope of the conference and banqueting industry in the UK
(ref. 1.1)
The banqueting and conferencing business is concerned with the hosting and the management
of official and personal events like trade fairs, business meetings or marriage and birthday
parties, festive parties and similar such events, respectively. the conferencing and the
banqueting are the two different segments of this industry (Foskett et al., 2016). The
conferencing and banqueting industry is flourishing in the United Kingdom owing to several
factors like:
 The change in the personal preferences of the people
 The opportunity to handle lesser responsibilities for organizing an event, by handing over
the responsibility to the banqueting agency and receiving flawless and smooth services in
return
 UK is a business hub and a location where all the renowned companies of the word have
their branch offices (Fast et al., 2017). Hence people come here very often for attending
the official events and meetings
 There are more number of tourists who visits the places of UK and prefer to celebrate
their birthdays or anniversaries at exotic location. Since they are not localites, so they
hand over the responsibilities of the same to the banqueting organizations that plan the
events for them
 Similar is the case with the increase in the popularity of destination marriages in the
exotic islands and venues available in UK, wherein all the proceedings of the marriage
are handed over to the event and banquet organizers
As per statistics of 2015, the banqueting and the conferencing business is responsible for
earning the third highest revenue that is generated in UK, and is responsible for providing
employment to a large number of unemployed youth and other individuals in UK. There are
around 48,000 hotels in UK alone, that provides conference and banquet services and around
2.3 million people are employed therein (Legrand et al., 2016). Around 11% of all the
business meets and trade fairs that are organized globally have their venues at UK (Lee et al.,
2015). The annual revenue turnover of UK, from this sector of the business, encompasses
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around 52 billion pounds. The banqueting agencies are responsible for organizing festive
events and parties like the Christmas parties, for the tourists. The tourists from all around the
world visit the United Kingdom for enjoying the festive season with their friends and families
and thus, the business of the banqueting industries continues to flourish, earning large
revenues.
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b) An analysis of the different influences that have shaped the industry (ref. 1.2)
The factors that influence the banqueting and conferencing industry can be classified under
the headings of PESTEL
Political- The political conditions of UK are quite stable and the government of UK
encourages investments from other foreign concerns into the business organizations located
in the country. They even allow the organizations to operate at multiple overseas locations;
hence UK acts as a hub for all the major business concerns. The trade laws are also quite
suitable for the operation of overseas business (Dwyer and Jago, 2014). Since there are a
number of companies located here, the number of trade fairs and business meets that are held
in the country also increases and employees from all over the world visits the country for
attending the annual business meet at the head offices located here. This increases the scope
of services for the banqueting sector. The large number of educational institutions and
research organizations in UK, owing to the flexible rules for the admission of the foreign
students and granting handsome allowances for the research purpose, also increases the
number of globally acclaimed conferences that are held in here.
Economical- The facilities that are available for the tourists including the lavish hotels and
restaurants they can avail, at economic prices, encourages the tourists to visit the place and
even to plan for their personal celebrations like anniversaries, marriages and other such social
meets in the exotic locations of UK. The event management and the banqueting sector are
given the full charge of all such events since the tourists are foreigners often and are not
aware of the systems for arranging such events effectively (Dwyer et al., 2016).
Social- The security systems of UK are much enhanced and make the tourists feel very safe.
The facilities for healthcare are also quite advanced and this again is a strong point for
attracting tourists since they love to travel to places where they can have access to proper
medicines and emergency services, above all others
Technological- The banqueting and conferencing industry needs to cope up with the
technological advancements in order to cater to the requirements of the customers effectively.
The options to choose and decide upon the available venues, the popularity of the
organization on the social media, the quality of the services offered by the concerned
organizations, the feedbacks and reviews of the existing clients of the organization- all these
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needs to be shared with the potent customers on the social media pages and on the company
websites in order to ensure transparency and help the customers decide on the kind of
services and the company which they want to avail the services from. The options to choose
the menu and the kind of decoration for the purpose or function must also be inculcated into
the systems of the company.
Environmental- The steps adopted by the banqueting and conferencing sector, for the
reduction of the wastes involved in the processes like the treatment of the organic wastes in
the food sector of the banquets and the paper wastes produced after the decoration of the
venues appeals the customers and they like to hire such organizations for the event
management who are conscious about their functions and regulate the generation of the
wastes. The eco-friendly practices, in a way, helps in boosting the appeal and the demand of
the concerned company.
Legal- The legal codes of UK are tourist friendly and allow them to host events and functions
in the country. The students are also granted visas spontaneously and are encouraged ot
participate in the conferences in UK. This opportunity, in a way, boosts the business of the
banqueting and the conferencing sector.
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c) An evaluation of the performance and quality review techniques used within the
industry (ref 2.2)
The evaluation and performance review of the companies responsible for organizing the
conferences and banquets is an extremely essential and critical aspect since they are directly
involved in serving the public and hence the feedback and review of the public about the kind
of services they disperse would help in judging their performance. The views of the existing
clients of the organization would help the company decide on any existent flaws in their
services and recognize the ways and the areas for improvement. The techniques that are used
for the performance and quality review of the event management organizations and the
conference and banqueting sectors can be enlisted as under:
Collecting feedback face to face from the customer- This is essential and one of the most
common ways in which the feedback is collected from the customers by the management
employees or staffs specially hired for the purpose. The customers are asked about their
experiences and their views on the services or whether they would like to see some changes
in the services provided and so (Rogers and Davidson, 2015).
Providing the customers with questionnaires about the services- This is another way of
collecting feedback from the customers about the more sensitive issues like the behavior of a
particular staff, the quality of the food served, the aesthetics of the hotel and similar such
issues. These help in recognizing existent flaws in the services and improvise methods for the
processes and correct the flaws immediately.
Keeping a close eye on the behavior of the employees while dealing with the customers and
the ways in which they plan and deal with the organization of the conferences and the
banquets by the management of the organization- The management staffs are involved in
this directly and this helps them to guide the behavior of the staffs since they are in full
knowledge that they are being monitored and hence perform good at work (Piekarz et al.,
2015).
Monitoring the catering and food services that are being provided by the food and catering
department of the organization, in order to ensure that good quality food and beverages are
provided to the guests in the banquets and the conferences- Food is one of the most
essential service that is provided to the guests in the banquets and its quality should
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necessarily be good enough so that the clients look forward to availing their services from the
banqueting organizers (Matthews, 2016).
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d) A discussion of the factors influencing the organization of an off-site event (ref. 3.2)
Off-site events mean that booking of venues is required for the purposes. The main factors
that need to be considered by the conference and the banqueting management organizations
are:
Deciding the venue, while taking care that the place is easily accessible, well connected by
roadways and provides considerable area for parking and other facilities that needs to be
rendered to the guests and obviously the budget of the hosts of the event.
Utilization of skilled workforce for making all the arrangements concerned with the events;
like the decorators, the caterers and the event managers must be all skilled and must
understand their job roles perfectly so that there is no hindrance in the proper execution of the
tasks allocated (Zarubina and Mikheeva, 2017).
The climatic conditions of the venue also plays a significant role in the organization of the
off-site events since the cold weather conditions of the venue might require all the party and
the event proceedings to be conducted in-doors and proper arrangements of room heaters to
be made while the hot weather conditions might allow hosting the events in open air or in
Open Air Auditoriums. The decorations and the interiors needs to be arranged likewise.
The planning for the menu of the food that would be served to the participants and the guests
at the conference and the banquets needs to be planned very carefully, keeping in mind the
cultural differences, the difference in tastes of the individuals and their preferences (Owusu-
Mintah and Dacosta, 2017). The arrangements should be made in such a way so that people
from all cultural backgrounds and varied tastes and preferences are able to enjoy the food
equally. Suitable arrangements for appropriate beverages, suiting the occasion and the class
of the society attending the event must also be made, in order to please the guests as well as
the hosts.
For organizing conferences, the venue must have suitable arrangements for the operation of
audio-visuals and auditoriums for listening to the speeches of the speakers. The carrying
capacity of the venues must also be considered, keeping in mind the comfort of the guests
and the number of guests that are supposed to attend the event (INDUSTRY, C).
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The pick-up and drop facilities must also be provided to the revered guests of the occasion.
The risk assessment of the venue also needs to be carried out effectively and the required
arrangements for the fire safety and the other safety measures must be done, so that the
security of the guests and the participants can be ensured
e) An analysis of the key menu planning issues (ref 3.3)
The menu is one of the key components of the banqueting management sector and needs to
managed efficiently in order to satisfy the visitors and the guests attending the events. The
menu needs to be planed after the proper consideration of :
The ethnicity of the visitors and their different cultural background to which they belong
brings along difference in basic food habits; the difference in the food habits of the people
who are likely to attend the event needs to be considered for planning the menu (Davis et al.,
2013)
The budget of the host that has been agreed upon by the banqueting organizers needs to be
considered for this purpose as well; the raw materials for the dishes needs to be purchased
depending on the pre-agreed budget
There must be a large variety in the menu provided to the guests since variety in the platter
often tends to satisfy the attendees more (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2013). The combination of
the foods in the platter increases the appeal of the dishes as well as its likeability among the
visitors and guests.
The food safety is another issue which needs to be considered, so that the quality of food that
is served to the guests is up-to-the-mark and there are no grounds for any complaint
The venue for serving the food must be big so that arrangements for buffet can be made; this
assists in serving a large number of guests at the same time.
The food habits and practices of the guests need to be considered; the vegetarian and the non-
vegetarian diets need to be focused upon.
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Task B: Organising conference
Introduction
Banquet has effectively hit the mainstream organising and managing events. The love of
nation regarding food, drinks and beverages with glamorous atmosphere has lead towards
indulgence of communal feast that is dominating event sector. In this context all key
strategies and operational issues has been engaged in an effective manner towards event
management. Proper evolution of sustainability towards food production, their style and
beverage services have been done. Consideration towards ergonomic has been provided on
the basis of event management. Banquets have gained popularity because of their effortless
focus on events, ceremony and dinning dance. The culture of sitting with dining brings all
people together and involves them in the direction of chinwag and feast in St. Paul’s roof
pavilion.
Operational issues and key strategy engaged in effective management of event
In this context St. Paul’s roof pavilion has been highlighted, which is situated in United
Kingdom. St. Paul’s generates incomes and revenue towards the nation. There were many
key strategies and operational issues that St. Paul’s is facing in managing events in United
Kingdom (Wamba, 2015).
Strict adhesion towards operational procedures
A set of instruction must be followed by the organisation regarding managing events.
Managers must present their procedures that to be operated in the organisation in written
documents to employees to obtain environmental changes in St. Paul’s regarding the needs
and demands of event. As we know food is the most efficient thing in the event, where
maximum communication and interaction session is involved among event consumers,
therefore proper maintenance of food quality must be ensured by the event manager (Jallad,
2016).
Visitor’s safety
Visitor’s safety is so much needed in event management procedure, as it deals with the proper
security for the event visitor’s. High standard security check must be provided by the event
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