Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A Background To Events Event Organizer

By Dave Lake

Event management is the art of delivering an event project at a given time, in a given place on a given date. To successfully manage an event, the needs of those attending, performing and taking part will have to be taken into account. A great event management specialist will be able to achieve all this and more, whilst being on time, on budget and working in a safe and secure way.

For some people, events are held for business reasons, to advise clients of new products, to train staff or to win new business. This might be in the shape of a conference, a seminar, a training day or an exhibition stand. Business events can often be formal sessions, with presenters offering their ideas and experiences and then taking ideas and questions from an audience, although networking and social time are also an important aspect.

Some events are purely for social or entertainment purposes. There are a huge number of concerts and festivals, catering for all musical tastes, as well as consumer shows and exhibitions, art installations and sporting events. Specialist shows might target particular groups, such as those with families, retired people, or those with a particular interest.

The planning of events takes in many stages, from the initial event concept to the requirements of all the stakeholders. Event managers will liaise with and brief the event venue, deal with technical contractors and ensure that all of the catering is booked. Event managers will also look after accommodation for speakers, delegates and partners and ensure that all of their requirements are met.

Many of the event management skills needed for corporate event organisation can be taken from other management disciplines. In addition many event managers are able to use their event management skills to run different types of event - offering their clients a wide range of skills and end-user services. These can include corporate conferences, conventions, exhibitions, outdoor events, consumer shows and general event planning skills.

Planning any event will require some knowledge of safety. Events will often require that your team work at height, build temporary structures or use temporary power installations. Being able to write risk assessments and having some form of event health and safety training will help you to organise events that are safe for those people who are in attendance.

Growing event management companies are often at the forefront of technology - using email, web-planning tools and customised software to make their events easy to plan. Databases of contacts, clients, attendees and suppliers will be used to ensure that all events are managed efficiently. The internet has revolutionised event planning, allowing attendees to enter their own requirements when registering for events in their own time.

It is quite often possible to save a large amount of time and money by using an event management company. These event planning organisations have specialist staff, excellent contacts and the ability to get a good deal when working on your behalf. They've seen many kinds of events and can help your organisation to a level of best event practise.

To be a successful event manager you will need to have many skills, including be very organised, be able to do a hundred things at once and to manage several projects at the same time. Technology can be of great help to event managers, as long as they are able to use it effectively, so a good grounding in IT will help. another key trait of an event manager is their ability to listen to their customers and turn their requirements into the event that they want, for the budget that they have.

About the Author:

No comments: