Learning Objectives

After reading through this chapter you will be able to:

■ Understand the importance of the knowledge bridge between the analyses of the internal environment and the external environment

■ Know how to define the service that is to be provided

■ Discuss how to promote an event

■ Analyse the operational feasibility of an event.

48 Management of Event Operations

● Physical evidence

● Performance

● Profit.

Event managers may focus on exciting and well-executed events, but neglect other areas such as quality, visitor satisfaction and evaluation before, during and after the event (Wood, 2002). A survey by the Meetings Industry Association (MIA) found that only 40 per cent of venues solicited the event organizers’ opinions on their service, and fewer than 15 per cent of organizations and venues thought to ask the delegates or attendees (Tum, 2002; unpublished papers).

Defining the service to be provided

Service should be provided to conform to the following factors:

1. Specification 2. Consistency 3. Timeliness 4. Flexibility 5. Right price

6. Added value and little extras.

In many instances these different characteristics will have different weightings to differ- ent groups of people – to the customer, to the organization itself and to the stakeholders.

It is this different emphasis that provides a daily challenge to the event manager.

The first and crucial issue is the specification. Unless the service fulfils the requirements of the customer, it will not be used. In Chapter 2 we discussed the courtesy bus service at a sculpture park, and we said that if the bus is not going from a to b then it would be of no use. The service offered might include other ‘nice to have’ attributes, but unless the basic service is right, the extras, the ‘nice to have’ features, become irrelevant.

Therefore no matter how clean and comfortable the bus, or how polite the driver, unless the service is right (i.e. the bus stops somewhere close to the exhibits or the pic- nic spot) it is of no use and all the ‘nice’ extras are meaningless.

The second important issue is consistency. Customers expect service to be at the same level, or better, each time it is experienced. With the bus service we would expect the bus to arrive as stated on the arrival boards, and to follow the correct route. At an outdoor music event, the audience would expect the sound system and video screens to be working effectively throughout the event. Promoters of music events would expect their suppliers to be consistent throughout all of their events.

Once a level of quality of service has been promoted or actually provided, cus- tomers will be quick to notice if it is not achieved or sustained. There is no point in set- ting a high standard of service if the operation cannot consistently meet the standard.

The third issue is timeliness.Unless the tea and coffee is ready at the agreed coffee breaks at a conference, the delegate and the conference organizer will become disen- chanted and may not return to that venue. Some conference venues for smaller meet- ings have break-out rooms adjacent to the seminar rooms where delegates can make their own coffees throughout the day. Here, exact timing for provision of hot drinks has been exchanged for total freedom for the delegates. However, timing for the venue is still important since the raw commodities (e.g. milk in a refrigerated environment and coffee and clean cups) should be available whenever needed.

Defining service provision 49

Timing is of lesser importance when customers make appointments in advance. For

example, for services from a wedding planning consultant, customers may be pre- pared to wait in order to see whoever is considered to give the best service, be it for advice, venue availability, or for a reputable and innovative lighting expert. It is past experience, promises and advertising that raise customers’ expectations.

Fourth, flexibility is important in the service industry; there is no time for checking quality, no time for rehearsing the wedding photography – it has to be right first time.

The moment the event is delivered it is consumed. Immediately, of course, we come across difficulties – customers can change their minds and want a slight change to the wedding arrangements, or rain will stop play at the Test Match at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, or there is a bomb threat in the outskirts of London and half the guests arriving for a major Annual Dinner and Ball are 45 minutes late so the meal and the entertainment have to be rescheduled. In all of these scenarios the event manager has to be flexible and to accommodate the changing situations. Customer expectations still have to be fulfilled despite changes in circumstances.

Fifth, determination of the right price can be agreed once the marketing team is sat- isfied that they know what the customer wants – the specification. This will determine the price that can be charged. What can be charged depends, of course, on what the customer is prepared to pay. The issue for the event manager will be ‘can the service be provided to the given specification, including all those extras added by marketing, within the price set and still provide a profit?’ Thus the event manager in achieving a defined level of customer satisfaction will simultaneously be required to minimize the use of resources and their costs to an affordable level.

In sixth position is ‘added value and little extras’. Once the courtesy bus has met the basic requirements, then all the other ‘extras’ – such as cleanliness, comfort, plenty of seats, polite driver, waiting shelter, and perhaps even music interspersed with announce- ments from the driver – will add to the perception of quality and could provide the edge in a competitive environment.

Some specification issues are taken for granted by customers. Examples of this in the bus service are that the bus is roadworthy and the driver is licensed. Often what the customer takes for granted will be crucial to the whole operation, and will take a good deal of effort on behalf of the event manager to achieve – such as keeping the fleet maintained and roadworthy. These aspects are expected, and are not seen by the cus- tomer as added value extras.

Other ‘requirements’ of customers can be traced back to the marketing team ‘selling’

features that the customer had not previously considered important but which once sold will become to be expected by the customer. Carlzon (1989) calls this ‘the olive in the martini’. In some service industries, for many customers the appearance and status will be every bit as important as the actual service received.

Case study 4.1 describes a major festival held in Miami, Florida.

Where the event will take place

The next issue to decide upon is where the event will take place. You may have a choice, and where you eventually choose to host your event can have an enormous effect on its success. This concept is explored more fully in Chapter 10, which is within the planning stage of the event operations management model. The location for the service provision is a marketing issue, and the decision will be affected by where the customers are and where the client wants the event to take place.

50 Management of Event Operations

Reflective practice 4.1

Consider Carnaval Miami, described in Case study 4.1.

1. As an event manager responsible for the stage constructions, what logistical considerations are there?

2. How would you deal with these?

3. What problems could there be associated with the Guinness Book of Records attempt?