Business Event Management

Spatial Analysis

For this assignment, three different venues have been selected for three different scenarios. All these venues are located on the same destination Sydney. These venues are selected depending on the number of delegates, exhibitors and days of operation.

• Scenario a

A small conference will be conducted in Sydney with workshops and forums. There will be 100-200 delegates and 10 exhibitors attain this conference. The conference will be conducted over 2 days. For this small conference, the Star room venue is selected. Location of Star room venue is Level 6, Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park, Sydney NSW 2000 (Docksidegroup 2016). The number of delegates attaining a conference has significant impact on the space requirement for the event. As it is a small conference, a small venue like Star Room is appropriate. The entire venue is 350 sqm. Height of the ceiling is 15 meter. The theater and the cabaret are 200 sqm and 160 sqm respectively. The cocktail are is 400 sqm and the classroom is 120 sqm.

• Scenario b

In the second scenario, a medium sized conference will be conducted over 3 days. It will be opened with plenary session. In addition, 6 to 8 concurrent sessions will be organized every day. Some social networking activities will also be conducted in this conference. For this conference L’Aqua venue of Dockside is selected. 600 to 1500 delegates and 50 exhibitors will attain this conference for which the venue is ideal. Location of L’Aqua venue is Rooftop Level, Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park, Sydney 2000 (Docksidegroup 2016). L’Aqua has terrace room to conduct all the concurrent sessions. Area of the Terrace room is 244 sqm. The height of the terrace room is 2.9-3.37 meter. There is a gold room in the venue, which is ideal for the plenary session. Area of the gold room is 180 sqm and height is 4.2 meter. 

• Scenario c

A major international conference will be held for 5 days with plenary, concurrent sessions and social networking activities for each day.  3,500 to 5,000 delegates and 400 exhibitors will attain this conference. For this conference has been selected.  Location of Dockside Pavilion venue is Balcony Level, Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Park, Sydney 2000 (Docksidegroup 2016). The entire venue is 1560 sqm. It is ideal for the plenary, concurrent sessions and social networking activities. There is also an outdoor terrace where the closing gala dinner and award ceremonies can be organized. In addition, the venue has large theatre (1800 sqm) and classroom (612 sqm) that can appropriate for a large conference like it.

Functional Analysis

• Scenario a

In the small conference held in Star Room venue, there are mainly two types of functions conducted. They are such as workshops and forums. There are some major steps related with organizing a forum (Bearzotti et al. 2012).

1) At first, it is required to find out the organizational partners who are co-hosting the forum.

2) Then it is required to decide appropriate timing and place for the workshop and forum. It has been analyses that the classroom of the Star Room venue is appropriate for such workshop and forum.

3) Then it is required to decide the program that will be organized in the workshop.

4) At last, the costs related with the workshop activity have to be analyzed.

• Scenario b

In case of the middle-sized conference, the major functions will be conducted. They are such as opening plenary session, 6 to 8 concurrent session every day and some social networking activities. Plenary meetings, breakouts will be organized in the gold room while concurrent session will be organized on the Terrace room. As Masterman (2014) stated that, it has become a tradition to incorporate meetings with breakout sessions or concurrent sessions. At first a large session will be organized where all the delegates will attend a general session with the key exhibitors. Then it will “break out” into multiple smaller sessions. Delegates will attend these sessions in accordance with their interests. For example, if a football team organizes a concurrent session, then one session will be for defense, one session will be for offense and one for strategy building. The necessary items required to organize the breakout sessions properly. They are such as screen, projector, microphone, sound system and mixer. Additional items such as wireless microphones, slide advancer, laser pointer, table microphone and audience microphones.

• Scenario c

In the large conference, plenary session, concurrent sessions and social networking activities will be organized every day. In addition, a closing gala dinner and award ceremonies will also be organized as well. A PCO exhibition is going to be organized where more than 400 exhibitors will be participating.  For this reason, it is required to have registration desk and office. For the closing Gala dinner, it is required to have decorated house kitchen and serving areas. In order to develop proper interaction between delegates and exhibitors, the venue must have quite areas and networking spaces.  In order to organize social activities in conjunction with business events it is required to have cocktail bars and large dining rooms.

Operational Requirements

• Scenario a

As in the first conference, only workshops and forums are going to be organized, hence only technical items are required. It includes Bluetooth devices, video links, screen, projector, microphone, sound system and mixer. Soundproof rooms and networking space is required to develop effective interaction between the Host Company, exhibitors and delegates. There are some additional items such as wireless microphones, slide advancer, laser pointer, table microphone and audience microphones will be required for the conference. 

• Scenario b

Technical items such as Bluetooth devices, video links, screen, projector, microphone, sound system, mixer, wireless microphones, slide advancer, laser pointer, table microphone and audience microphones will be required.

• Scenario c

Just like above mentioned two conferences, it will also require all the technical items. However, Getz (2012) mentioned that “Concurrent session audio visual needs are often similar to that of a breakout room but often with a bit more dressing up.” It requires some Audio Visual upgrades like fast fold screens, drape and pipe, accent lighting and signal switching. As a PCO exhibition is going to be organized, a registration desk and office is required to retain all information of delegates and exhibitors who are attending the conference. As closing Gala dinner, it is required to have decorated house kitchen and serving areas. In order develop social activities in conjunction with  business events, it is required to decorate the dining room and cocktail bar properly. In addition appropriate communication system is required make proper interaction between exhibitor and delegates. Appropriate signage and furniture are required to make proper sitting arrangements for visitors. Proper catering service is required to conduct the closing Gala dinner properly. It includes organized housing kitchen and serving areas.

Conclusion

It has been found that there are 3 case scenarios given in this assignment. In the first case scenario, it has been mentioned that a small conference will be organized with workshops and forums. There will be 100-200 delegates and 10 exhibitors attain this conference. In the second scenario, it has been stated that a medium sized conference will be conducted over 3 days. It will be opened with plenary session. In addition, 6 to 8 concurrent sessions will be organized every day. Some social networking activities will also be conducted in this conference. 600 to 1500 delegates and 50 exhibitors will attain this conference. In the third scenario, it is mentioned that a major international conference will be held for 5 days with plenary, concurrent sessions and social networking activities for each day.  3,500 to 5,000 delegates and 400 exhibitors will attain this conference. For this conference has been selected. Depending on the total amount of visitors, separate venues are selected for each scenario. It has been found that technical items like speakers, screens, monitors, microphones are common requirement for all three conferences. However, appropriate dinning arrangement is required for the large conference as a closing gala dinner is going to be organized.

References

Bearzotti, L.A., Salomone, E. and Chiotti, O.J., 2012. An autonomous multi-agent approach to supply chain event management. International Journal of Production Economics, 135(1), pp.468-478.

Docksidegroup, 2016. Iconic Waterfront Venues Sydney | Weddings, Conference, Meeting, University Balls & School Formal Venues | Dockside Group. [online] Docksidegroup.com.au. Available at: https://docksidegroup.com.au [Accessed 25 Aug. 2016].

Getz, D., 2012. Event studies: Discourses and future directions. Event Management, 16(2), pp.171-187.

Hall, C.M., 2012. Sustainable mega-events: Beyond the myth of balanced approaches to mega-event sustainability. Event Management, 16(2), pp.119-131.

Janiesch, C., Matzner, M. and Müller, O., 2012. Beyond process monitoring: a proof-of-concept of event-driven business activity management. Business Process Management Journal, 18(4), pp.625-643.

Masterman, G., 2014. Strategic sports event management. Routledge.

Preston, C., 2012. Event marketing: how to successfully promote events, festivals, conventions, and expositions. Wiley.

Silvers, J.R. and Goldblatt, J., 2012. Professional event coordination (Vol. 62). John Wiley & Sons.