Lecture 6

 The planning process consists :

◦ of establishing the current position of an organization,
◦ the determining a future desired position for that
organization
◦ the methods needed to achieve it.
 Good strategic planning is crucial to the success
and survival of an organization.
 Successful planning ensures that an organization
remains competitive.
 Formalized planning can provide a structured
approach to analysis and thinking.
 This creates ownership of strategies and
communicates this to the organization and
provides useful means of co ordination.
 A number of benefits can be gained from
planning:
◦ Enables managers to detect and solve problems
◦ Alternative strategies are highlighted for
consideration
◦ Staff responsibilities are clarified
◦ Uncertainty about the future is reduced-
minimizing resistance to change.
 Planning can make managers think and
examine, which is essential to adapt to the
changing environment.
 In event management proper planning is also
essential.
 Without planning, it is possible that the
finished product will disappoint not only the
intended audience, but also the organizing
bodies themselves.
 An event planning needs to be both
comprehensive and flexible.
 For an event manager, the event plan is an
important guide which must be able to
accommodate the wide variety of conditions
◦ Meteorological,
◦ Cultural
◦ Economical
◦ Political
◦ Competitive
◦ Demographic
 – which may change and impact on an event.
 Some claim that planning is a time
consuming exercise.
 Without a plan, the members of the event
team have little idea of their objectives, and
no means to measure their success in
achieving them.
 An effective plan does not reduce
environment, allowing a speedy response if
the environment changes .
 The planning process is usually broken down
into two processes:
 Strategic and operational planning
 Strategic plans focus on settling the mission,
objectives, policies, structures and funding
deciding on means and schemes – which will
achieve them.
 Level Accountability Goals Concerns
Effectiveness e.g. market
position, competitive
Strategic
Board/Senior Guiding, growth in strategy, values (policies),
Management assists, turnover, profit financial controls

Marketing strategy,
resourcing,
Overlapping concerns financial/sales targets,
management information,
managing change

Short- term implications

– budgeted targets
Senior /Middle achieved or missed Efficiency, e.g.
Operational Management reliable flow of goods procedures, production
and services to control, selling, quality,
customers employee motivation,
cost benefit ratio.
 Every event should have a vision and a mission.
◦ Vision – usually describes the long term goals of the event.
◦ Mission – the task that the event organization has set for
itself, stating the reason for staging the event, its
stakeholders and its key objectives.
 Each event will have a unique mission, which
differentiates it from all other events.
 All festivals, exhibitions and events occur because
one person or a group of people believes that holding
an event will fulfill some need in a community,
region, organization or company.
 These needs vary, but are central to vision and
mission development.
 An effective mission statement should answer
the following questions:
◦ Who are our participants (customers) ?
◦ What participant needs are we satisfying ?
◦ What are the organizers trying to achieve?
 Once the mission is defined, the event
planner must establish the event’s objectives.
 Objectives are core element in the planning
process, and are distinguished be several
factors which can be summed up in the
acronym SMART:
Specific: carefully focused on the mission of the event.

Measurable: expressed in a concise and quantifiable

form so that they can be assessed after the event

Achievable: the objectives can be realized given the

human, financial and physical resources available to the
event organization

Relevant: applicable to the current environment

in which the event organization operates.

Time specific: to be achieved by a designated time

 Without such benchmarks, event managers
cannot determine whether:
◦ they have been successful in achieving their desired
future ends
◦ Identifying those objectives that were not achieved

 This allows event managers to analyze areas

where planning was unsuccessful and decide
ways to improve performance for future
events.
 PEST  SWOT
◦ Political / legal ◦ Strengths
◦ Economical ◦ Weaknesses
◦ Social/cultural ◦ Opportunities
◦ Technological ◦ Threats
 Political: laws and regulations which affect the way in
which people live in a society.
◦ E.g. the laws regulating the consumption of food and alcoholic
beverage.
 Economic: the economic climate affects the volume and
value of goods and services produced in a region.
◦ E.g. unemployment, levels of wages, inflation, that might affect
the event.
 Social/ cultural: the social life of a particular community
results from interaction between the people who live there.
◦ E.g. institutions who play a role in a society : churches, charities,
sporting groups, social groups, artistic bodies.
 Technological: changes in equipment and machines have
revolutionized the way people undertake tasks.
◦ E.g. internet to promote festivals, exhibitions and events.
 There are other areas that effect the environmental
analysis:
 Demographic: the composition of society in terms of
age, gender, education and occupation changes over
time.
◦ E.g. baby boomers – 1945-1960
 Meteorological: the expected weather patterns of a
particular area are a basic environmental
consideration.
 This environment must be closely monitored when
planning outdoor events.
 Competitive: the activities of organizations that
operate in the same market are always a reference
point for event managers.
 Full range of factors that make up the
external environment will reveal the event’s
target market (s), its range of activities, and
opportunities for promotion, sponsorship and
fundraising.
 Threats to the successful operation could also
be identified.
 The planning processes also entails the
analysis of the event organization's physical,
financial, informational and human resources
to establish its strengths and weaknesses.
 Strengths can be such things as :
◦ management or creative expertise,
◦ ownership pr access to appropriate technology (
ticketing systems
◦ transportation
◦ access to financial resources, reputation, brand
names, etc
 Weaknesses could be the opposite of these or
the event organization’s competitive position.
 These can be evaluated by using three main criteria:

 Appropriate/suitability: strategies and their component parts

should be consistent. They should compliment each other.

 Acceptability/desirability: should be capable of achieving the

event’s objectives.
 They should focus on what the environmental scan has identified
as important and disregard the unimportant.
 Event companies should be careful not to overlook potential
risks involved in the strategy.

 Feasibility: strategy should be feasible. It should in practice

considering the resources available and meet key success
factors.