The Madness & The Magic in Event Management

On day 1 of classes, I always ask my students this question, “ Why did you choose Event Planning as a course?"

The answers bring alive the most multifaceted perspectives of the industry from clean and unbiased minds.

Some of the responses are:

• I want to become famous by doing events.
• It is a very glamorous industry
• I want to learn about new trends in the event business
• I want to know all about new fashion & attire
• I want to meet celebrities
• I want to become an expert with the basics, work for 10 years and then teach like you mam to encourage others to be event managers.
• It will make me travel everywhere in India and abroad
• Meeting lot of different people and make new friends
• It is creative & fun
• After working for an event company for 2 years, I want to open my own event management firm.

All the reactions above have two key underlying themes:

a) Aspirations & b) Opportunity.

That is the biggest USP of the trade. Event Management embraces the vastness of dreams and the development of skill to bring them alive.  The high experiential value makes this extremely global, creative, young, dynamic, fast growing & lucrative trade a real bliss to be a part of.

Event Management is now an extremely structured industry due to it’s high demand. Today’s generation entering the profession is a lucky one. There are institutes offering courses to initiate prospective event managers smoothly into this profession. The foundation of anyone entering the business after having studied it always gives him or her an upper hand over another candidate without the necessary event educational base.  The curriculums spread out over a year or two, are well balanced between theory and practical training. That gives people a real quality entry to at least do an initial elimination of choice to be in it or not.  

The mystical world of events is not just a ‘job’ or ‘career’. It is a really cohesive journey of growth of various aspects of life at large.  We as event managers shoulder various really key responsibilities such as:

• Learning the real definition of teamwork and living it on a daily basis.
• Interacting with people at various levels and amicably molding our behaviors to create comfort for everyone who we are working with.
• Dealing with individuals from diverse educational & domestic backgrounds & from small and large cities and countries & highly skilled in specialized tasks.
• Brainstorming to bring alive some creative brilliance.
• Collaborating talent to create an impactful experience for all stakeholders with the power of creativity.
• Event managers identify heroes and design platforms to bring them to the forefront.
• In this profession one gets the autonomy to perform and lead with humble conviction. 

An individual who selects the above career is being constantly pushed mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually to keep raising the bar.  The result is a very solid human being.

Event managers develop high levels of emotional intelligence, are bustling with energy and positivity, are strong willed by always being solution providers, learn with an attitude of gratitude and develop great leadership skills. They get groomed in to managing themselves by understanding the importance of ‘me time’, relationships with colleagues & clients, friends and family and time management with detail and precision.

In the end, event managers with a lot of hard work, grit, glory, fun, long hours, persistence and a smile put various pieces of the puzzle together to create a really dreamy bespoke ensemble.  We make dreams of our guests come true, bring a smile to their faces and become a memorable spec in their life forever.

So I tell my students this; ‘the love for such a highly demanding world of events is like being pregnant! You either are pregnant or not. Similarly you either love events or you don’t. There is no middle ground”. The only way to find out is to immerse yourself in to this ocean of opportunity. All the above responses will surely make sense.

The high that one feels by seeing your mind come alive in the form of an event set is nothing but truly intoxicating. The backend and backstage madness takes center stage in a manner, which is magical.

 - Ms.Kanika Sethi Babbar

   Faculty, Event Management and PR 

    

How to build a Houseful event?

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” - Paul J. Meyer

The few hours before the event are the most nervous times for an event planner, as it is the time that they have to face that one big litmus test, the test of audience attendance. So, whether you are organizing a convention, product launch, dealers meet or a customer event, the size of your audience will hold testimonial to the success of your event. It’s a fizzle when an event manager spends countless hours and money in planning an event and only a pint-size of the expected attendees turn-up. Empty chairs are the bane of every event planner’s existence, thus the following suggestions can be considered by event planners for improving the attendance of their events and keep this bane at bay.  

• Research upfront & feedback afterwards: Try to find out what your prospect attendees are (do’s & don’ts) looking forward to in an event and try to accommodate as much as their requirements as you can. After all, they are the ones whom you’re organizing the event for. Further, since you’re an event planner and planning events is an ongoing process for you, make sure to take feedback from the audience after the end of the event about the things they liked and didn’t like in the event. 

• The venue is at a convenient location, which is notable and affordable: The venue chosen should be accessible and not very expensive so that it suits the pocket of all the attendees. Further, a notable event location draws more crowd and buzz as people are already aware of the location and scale of events taking place at that particular venue. Kamani auditorium and India Habitat Centre are some of the most famous and affordable event venue locations in Delhi. 

• Right date and time: The time of the year, day of the week and time of the day, all make a difference when it comes to audience attendance. For example, mornings are great for seminars, after work is great for appreciation/networking events and weekend afternoons and evenings are preferable for weddings and concerts etc.  

• Save the dates: Save the dates reminders should be sent out early to the target audience as it gives them time to plan their calendars well in advance and assure their availability at the event.

• Incentives for early check-inn or arrivals: Discounts/vouchers are a great marketing strategy for early registrations or last minute walk inns. 

• Personalized invitations:  A handwritten invitation or an invitation with some kind of personal touch e.g., name etc. garners more attention and makes the audience feel special.

• Overlapping with identical events: In case of 
an allied event is planned for the same time/day when you’re planning to hold yours, it’s recommended to look out for other options available as having two large scale events will only eat out into each other’s success and none of the two events will be benefited.

• Entertainment & lively activities: The event manager should make sure to include some extracurricular activities and fun time into their event schedule if the duration of the event is for a complete day or so. 

• Use Social Media: Go to multiple social media platforms and create your event. Using various channels to get your message out is essential. Nowadays, social media isn’t just about the youth. People from all generations are there on these platforms and using these platforms can get one maximum visibility and that too absolutely free of cost.

The above mentioned pointers will not only help increase registration/attendance for the upcoming events but also make attendees feel comfortable, lively and more enthusiastic about the event.

Thus, it sums up, “Build it up and they will come”.

-Parul Sardana
 Faculty, INLEAD 

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

Niche Areas of Event Management- Event Industry Review (Part-2)

Niche Areas of Event Management  

Just like in the Medical field, where one decides to become a doctor, dentist, physiologist etc. Similarly, once you have zeroed in on event management as your career path, you can further narrow down your field of interest in the event management domain.

Event management is a big wide world in itself. There are weddings, sport events, award functions, family functions and corporate events like conferences, seminars etc. taking place throughout the year.  You can choose to stick with one niche and make your career out of it or you can choose to keep dabbling between different niches. The four main niches under the even management domain are as follows.

• Wedding Management- Weddings in India have now become an elaborate affair. It’s no longer just about the regular band, baaja and baaraat. The scene has now progressed to an A-list band, an A-list Bollywood celebrity performer and a designer wear cladded baaraat, and anything below that, is just not acceptable. In order to make these once in a lifetime weddings a reality, wedding planners have now become an indispensable part of the wedding scene in India and abroad. 

Courtesy- Google

As a wedding planner, you are the engine who is driving the shatabdi train called wedding.  You are the one who is responsible for keeping the various coaches of this train like decorations, accommodation, Food and beverages etc. in sync with each other and running at a decent pace in order to reach to the final destination called the D-Day. So, a wedding planner is actually the third most important person at a wedding, losing the first and second position only to the bride and the groom respectively.

The industry which is currently pegged at around Rs. 100,000 crore is growing exponentially with each passing day. So, if Glitz, glamour and communication are your things, then wedding management is the niche for you.

• Corporate Events- Events have now become the flavor of the corporate industry. You can witness events like trade fairs, auto expos, symposiums, conferences and seminars etc. taking place almost round the year. Such events allow people from the same industry to meet and remain updated about the various trends and happenings of the industry. They even offer a big inflow of business in some cases. 

• Sports Events- Imagine yourself in a stadium full of cricket crazy fans shouting KKR, KKR or any other IPL team of your choice at the top of your voice. Now imagine yourself doing this in almost every other IPL match. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, this could be your life if you decide to enter the big and adventurous world of sports events. 

Besides IPL, the recent much-hyped fight of the century between Mayweather and Pacquiao was another sports event that made it into the top sports events of the year till date. The mega sports event drew more than three million pay-per-views, making it the most watched sports event of all time. The figure holds testimony to the fact that the world of sport events and its market is growing like never before.  So, if sports and events are your two greatest loves, then sports event management is the field for you.

• Award Shows/ reality shows/fashion events -  In the last one decade, the number of award shows, fashion shows and reality shows have almost tripled in quantity. In the earlier days, there used to be just one major annual Bollywood award show “Filmfare” but now, we have a Star screen, IIFA, Big Screen Entertainment taking place almost every month of the year. Same is the case with the fashion shows and television reality shows. The increase in the number of such events has led to a direct increase in the number of event planners required to arrange these extravagant events.  So, if the world of fashion and Bollywood stars has always fascinated you, then this niche might be your perfect match. 

Event Management as a career is a hot favorite nowadays. A professional degree in this filed can escalate your career to new heights and give you the desired edge over others in the field.

The first part of the industry review series can be read here.