What is Event Management?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, event management is “the job of planning and managing large events” (EVENT MANAGEMENT | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary, 2020). In other words, event management is just a fancy word for planning an event. Madison Layman of Cvent.com says, “The individual (event manager) have some hand in planning an event. Whether the events are… in-person or virtual, they all have to be planned.” (Layman, 2020).
What are the different aspects of Event Management?
There are quite a few aspects included in event management. For example, choosing a theme, a plan and an end goal. These three basic aspects create a stepping stone to other vital parts of your event such as location (Layman, 2020).
Another important aspect of event management is promotion. Without this, no one will know about the event and you will therefore struggle to gain attendees or audience members. This includes artwork, ticketing and programmes which may be handed out or displayed before or during the event. The more appealing this is, the more attendees you will have at your event.
As well as this, if the event is going to be streamed, the audio and video quality is an extremely important aspect. Without this, you will lose the interest of the audience and will have bad feedback afterwards. This also includes lighting elements and effective editing.
Every single one of these could not be completed without budgeting and logistics. You need to establish these things as soon as possible to get the best outcome. If you have a limited budget when doing things such as booking a venue or choosing what equipment to use you may struggle to get the best quality out of the event.
What are the job roles?
In event management, there are six main job roles. These are: Event Manager, promoter, Law advisor (health and safety manager/insurance), logistics (security/front of house/ticketing), video production/stage manager, audio production (includes lighting). What do each of these roles consist of?
Event Manager – This job is arguably one of the most important roles in event management because of the sheer workload that comes with it. An event manager must create timelines and deadlines for work, manage the artists, keep constant contact with colleagues and clients and overseeing various jobs carried out by other colleagues (Nitingall, 2020).
Event Promoter – When doing this job, there are a lot of things you must be aware of. This includes familiarizing yourself with details such as pricing and scheduling, establishing how to use social media to your advantage, understanding other promotional techniques so that you are not just posting online like everyone else and getting lost in the crowd of sales and being as encouraging as possible to get the highest attendance as you can (Event Promoter Job Description, 2020).
Law advisor – In this role, you need to be able to understand how to keep everyone safe by following health and safety guidelines as well as checking your insurance such as PAT tests and PLI (public liability insurance) to ensure the safest environment possible. This will include checking that these things are up to date and surveying the event area for any breaches of health and safety such as trip hazards, fire hazards and coronavirus safety measures.
Logistics – In this role, you need to focus on security, facilities and front of house. This means that the person in this role must organise things to keep the attendees safe and comfortable. They do this by checking tickets and will organise door security, as well as ensuring that there are refreshments and toilets at venues if that applies to the event.
Video Production – The video production role is important when doing a live stream event. These people use multiple cameras to collect various angles of the event. Each video is synced up and edited to the best quality. They often need to work with the audio team to get the finished video perfect so that it can be uploaded to a streaming service or website.
Audio Production – When in this role, you work closely with the video production team to create the best quality stream. This means that a lot of effort just go into the set up of the mics and DI as well as the lighting. Once this is done, the recordings must be mixed to the highest quality and then synced with the video.
My role:
I am the event manager for our live stream event. In order to be successful in this role, I need to be in contact with every single person because it will help me to keep updated with everyone’s progress and effectively manage the event. I will need to be organised and create a timeline that is easy to follow using deadlines to help people stay on track. I will ask the opinions of my colleagues to make sure that my decisions are made in favour of as many people as possible so that the event goes as smoothly as it can.
Problem Solving:
- Due to the current pandemic, someone may become sick. If this happens, I need to make sure that there is someone who can assist them in their role until they are able to return to college. This also includes performance roles.
- If someone is struggling to remain on track with their workload, I will either find someone who can relieve the role or try to assist as much as I can by learning and understanding the basics of each role myself.
- Recording, mixing and editing may go over the scheduled time. This means we may have to take less time doing other things to share out the workload and get back on track. I need to ensure that everyone is prepared for this outcome.
- Promotion may not be very effective. This will mean that our audience may be limited. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, I will need to work with the promotion team to come up with attractive promotion ideas and various ways to promote other than online.
- If we go into a second lockdown and cannot attend college, I should see which people have the means to carry out certain jobs such as editing and mixing so that the stream can still go ahead as planned.
- In the unfortunate event that I contract the virus, I will make sure that I am able to pass my role onto someone whilst I am self-isolating. I will write down basic points as I go so that everyone is aware of what needs to be done and who will be doing it. This includes things like the overall schedule which I will add to my digital space page.
- When people are late or distracted, I will try my best to help them to either catch-up or focus back on their original task.
- The venue we would like may not be available when we need it so I will need to come up with a few backup spaces just in case. For example if B25 is not free we can use B41 or the gallery.
- The equipment we need may not be working or available to use so we should think of various ways to do things using various pieces of equipment.
- Video or audio files could become lost or corrupted. In order to prevent this, we will upload them onto multiple hard drives.
Bibliography:
Betterteam. 2020. Event Promoter Job Description. [online] Available at: <https://www.betterteam.com/event-promoter-job-description> [Accessed 22 September 2020].
Dictionary.cambridge.org. 2020. EVENT MANAGEMENT | Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary. [online] Available at: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/event-management> [Accessed 21 September 2020].
Layman, M., 2020. What Is Event Management? | Cvent Blog. [online] Cvent.com. Available at: <https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/events/what-is-event-management> [Accessed 22 September 2020].
Nitingall, G., 2020. Event Manager Job Profile | Prospects.Ac.Uk. [online] Prospects.ac.uk. Available at: <https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/event-manager> [Accessed 22 September 2020].