A designated party managed all events in order for them to be successful. It is due to the fact that one event can have multiple activities that need to be coordinated and performed on the same day without fail. For the people who attend events, preparation begins on a material day while the event planner starts preparing for the said event a few weeks earlier. An event planner is a person who determines the date and the venue for the event. This paper will focus on the challenges that event planners faced.
Whether it is a sport such as a soccer match, or a social meeting, such as a wedding or a graduation party, the planner of the event should make ensure that the wishes and needs of people who own the event are satisfied. When an event planner embarks on planning an event the project is no longer in the hands of the owner, and thus the planner undertakes full responsibility. The two parties need to communicate on a regular basis in order to ensure that there is no clash of activities in the event program.
This means that the event planner should obtain all the information about the event such as the number of guests expected, and the activities that will be carried out (O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell 2008). This will help in determining the volume of resources that are needed.
Event scheduling is one of the challenges that are common in event management. I can prove it because I had been the planner once and, apart from the current event, I had to consider other events that could be taking place in the same period. I put myself into the shoes of an event planner and I realized that this task requires one to make Solomonic choices. The date has to be unique to guarantee maximum attendance. It is irrelevant to have an event on a day when people are most likely to be engaged in other activities. This was my first task and I had to do everything possible to ensure that all my team “will reach the top of the ranking”. I had to think critically before making any decision.
For instance, it would be insane to schedule a football match on a Monday afternoon because most people are usually busy running their own errands. I decided to check the local events listings on the internet to get a glimpse of the situation. The sponsors always double-check this issue before they enter into an agreement. This is because corporations use events to market themselves and they only do so when they are certain of hitting the target market. I managed to set a date for the event after consulting my team members. The other tasks were assigned to the other team members so that the preparations could commence at the same time. This is because all preparations had to be completed within a specified deadline so that any shortcomings could be addressed without interfering with the event program.
Another challenge comes when the event planner has to secure a venue where the event will take place. The number of social grounds is outnumbered by the number of events that are scheduled for a given time. There have been many cases where the managers of stadiums and other social grounds have allocated a single venue to more than one party. In such a case a makeshift venue has to be identified and in most instances, the new venue is forced to hold a crowd beyond its specified capacity (Masteralexis, Barr & Carol 2011).
Another disappointment comes when the venue does not have the facilities that are needed for the event. This means that some activities have to be skipped and sometimes the event program has to be restructured which causes some activities to be behind the schedule. For instance, if a stadium has only one football ground, it is impossible to have simultaneous matches. This problem can be avoided by surveying the event site regularly prior to the event date.
Tickets are needed to control the way guests will access the venue. The number of tickets should be dictated by the capacity of the venue. However, many event planners overlook this issue and print tickets beyond the recommended limit, and thus a crisis occurs on the material day when some people are denied access to the venue. This can taint the integrity of the event planner. Moreover, overcrowded venues are difficult to manage, especially when there is an emergency situation.
In addition, the approach employed to distribute the tickets will affect event attendance. Nowadays event planners are using the internet to market themselves and sell event tickets. This is an ideal approach but if most people do not have access to the internet then the intended goal will be missed by a big margin. It is therefore important to consider the channel of distributing the tickets.
In conclusion, event planners should consider the needs of the guests from the initial stages of organizing the event. The planners have to scan the environment to identify related events that could split the attendance level. This can be achieved by finding what the other events are offering and then employ a different approach. It is also important to approximate the number of potential guests as this will influence the number of event materials.
Some planners also sell event tickets at exaggerated prices which discourages people from purchasing them. Furthermore, event planners are allocated with fixed budgets, and thus when the expenses exceed the initial budget, they have to fish out money from their pockets because they can not extend the extra charges to the guests.
References
Masteralexis, PL, Barr, AC, Hums, AM 2011, Principles and practice of sport management, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury.
O’Toole, AJ, Harris, WR, McDonnell, I 2008, Festival and Special Event Management 4th ed, Wiley, Milton Keynes.