Events Management

A must-have introductory text of unrivalled coverage and depth focusing on events planning and
management, the fourth edition of Events Management provides a complete A to Z of the principles
and practices of planning, managing and staging events.
The book offers a systematic guide to organising successful events, examining areas such as event
design, logistics, marketing, human resource management, financial planning, risk management,
impacts, evaluation and reporting. The fourth edition has been fully updated and revised to
include content covering technology, including virtual and hybrid events, concepts such as social
capital, soft power and events, social inclusion, equality, accessibility and diversity, and the latest
industry reports, research and legal frameworks. The book is logically structured and features
new case studies, showing real-life applications and highlighting issues with planning events of
all types and scales in a range of geographical locations.
This book has been dubbed ‘the events management bible’ and fosters an interactive learning
experience amongst scholars of events management, tourism and hospitality.
Glenn A. J. Bowdin
Principal Lecturer in Events Management
UK Centre for Events Management, School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management
Leeds Beckett University, UK
Johnny Allen
Formerly Foundation Director
Australian Centre for Event Management
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Rob Harris
Director
Event Training Australia, Sydney, Australia
Leo Jago
Griffiths University, Brisbane, Australia
William O’Toole
International Events Development Specialist
Event Project Management System, Sydney, Australia
Ian McDonnell
Formerly Senior Lecturer
School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism
University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Events Management
Edited by Glenn Bowdin, Leeds Beckett University, UK
Donald Getz, University of Calgary, Canada
Conrad Lashley, University of Leicester, UK

Innovative Marketing Communications

Strategies for the Event Industry
Guy Masterman and Emma H. Wood

Events Design and Experience

Graham Berridge

Human Resource Management for Events 2nd Edition

Managing the Event Workforce
Lynn Van der Wagen and Lauren White

Marketing Destinations and Venues for Conferences, Conventions and Business Events,
2nd Edition
Tony Rogers and Rob Davidson

Event Studies, 4th Edition

Donald Getz and Stephen J. Page

Risk Management for Events, 2nd Edition

Julia Rutherford Silvers and William O’Toole

Events Feasibility and Development, 2nd Edition

From Strategy to Operations
William O’Toole

Conferences and Conventions, 4th Edition

A Global Industry
Tony Rogers and Peter Wynn-Moylan

Events Management, 4th Edition

Glenn A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, Rob Harris, Leo Jago, William O’Toole and Ian McDonnell

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Events-Management/

book-series/EM
Events Management
Fourth Edition

Glenn A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, Rob Harris,

Leo Jago, William O’Toole and Ian McDonnell
Designed cover image: Getty Images
Fourth edition published 2024
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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© 2024 Glenn A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, Rob Harris, Leo Jago, William O’Toole and Ian McDonnell
The right of Glenn A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, Rob Harris, Leo Jago, William O’Toole and Ian McDonnell
to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Butterworth-Heinemann 2001
Third edition published by Routledge 2012
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bowdin, G. A. J., author.
Title: Events management / Glenn A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, William O ‘Toole,
Ian McDonnell, Robert Harris, Robyn Stokes and Leo Jago.
Description: 4th edition. | New York : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Events management |
“First edition published by Butterworth–Heinemann 2001. Third edition published by
Routledge 2012”—T.p. verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022061879 (print) | LCCN 2022061880 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367491888 (hbk) | ISBN 9780367491840 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003044963 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Special events—Management. | Special events—Planning.
Classification: LCC GT3405 .B69 2023 (print) | LCC GT3405 (ebook) |
DDC 394.2068—dc23/eng/20230426
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022061879
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022061880
ISBN: 978-0-367-49188-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-49184-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-04496-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003044963
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9780367491840
Contents

List of figures xi
List of photos xvii
List of tables xix
Case studies xxiii
The authors xxv
Series editors xxvii
Series preface xxix
Preface xxxi
Acknowledgements xxxv

Part 1 Event context 1

1 An overview of the event field 3

Introduction 3
Events as benchmarks for our lives 4
The rich tradition of events 5
Industrialisation, festivals and the sporting event calendar 6
Birth of an events industry? 7
What are events? 20
Categorising events 22
The structure of the events industry 36
Events management education and training 41
Recognition of events management as a profession 46
Career opportunities in events 48
Event sector maturity 50
Summary 51
Questions 51
Case study 1.1: The power of celebration – the globalisation and impact of
the festivals and events industry 52
Case study 1.2: MPI World Education Congress 2020 – driving the industry
forward with successful and safe hybrid events 56
vi CONTENTS

2 Perspectives on events 60
Introduction 60
The government perspective 61
The corporate perspective 78
The community perspective 82
Summary 89
Questions 89
Case study 2.1: Edinburgh – ‘the world’s leading festival city’ 89
Case study 2.2: Putting CSR at the heart of an annual conference’s agenda
by Ashfield Event Experiences 94

3 The event planning context 97

Introduction 97
Social and cultural context 97
Political context 104
Legal and regulatory context 109
Environmental context 109
Economic context 111
Event legacies 115
Summary 117
Questions 117
Case study 3.1: Campaigning against climate change 117
Case study 3.2: Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy 120

4 Event tourism planning 125

Introduction 125
Government involvement in event tourism 126
The event tourism strategic planning process 129
Situational analysis 130
Development of event tourism goals 136
Creation of an event tourism organisational structure 143
Development of an event tourism strategy 146
Implementation and evaluation of an event tourism strategy 151
Evaluation of event tourism strategy 157
Summary 158
Questions 158
Case study 4.1: The National Events Strategy for Wales 2022 to 2030 159
Case study 4.2: Notting Hill Carnival 165

5 Sustainable event management 171

Introduction 171
The environmental impacts of event production 173
Event sustainability policies 192
Measurement, industry initiatives and certification 195
Summary 201
Questions 201
Case study 5.1: Boardmasters’ approach to sustainability 202
Case study 5.2: The Ocean Race 2017–2018 204
 CONTENTS vii

Part 2 Planning 209

6 Strategic event planning 211

Introduction 211
What is strategic planning? 211
Strategic planning process for new and geographically mobile events 215
Summary 239
Questions 240
Case study 6.1: Liverpool Irish Festival Business Plan 2020–2025 240
Case study 6.2: Leaving legacies from the Platinum Jubilee Pageant 248

7 Conceptualising the event 252

Introduction 252
Stakeholders in events 253
The host organisation 254
The host community 256
Sponsors 260
Media 261
Co-workers 263
Participants and spectators 264
Sourcing events 267
Creating the event concept 269
Evaluating the event concept 276
Summary 278
Questions 278
Case study 7.1: School of Rock 279
Case study 7.2: AV Awards 281

8 Event project management 284

Introduction 284
What is a project and what is project management? 285
Considerations when applying project management in event settings 287
Skills and knowledge required by event project managers 288
Event project management phases 291
Project management software for events 315
Limitations of the project management approach to event management 316
Convergence 318
Summary 318
Questions 319
Case study 8.1: Project management lessons from the Fyre Festival 319

9 Event financial planning 322

Introduction 322
The event financial management process 324
Useful tools, practices and concepts aligned with best practice event
financial management 339
Commitment account 345
Summary 345
Questions 347
Case study 9.1: Innovative ticket pricing at Greenbelt Festival 347
viii CONTENTS

10 Human resource management and events 350

Introduction 350
Considerations associated with human resource planning for events 352
The human resource management process for events 352
Motivating staff and volunteers 380
Building effective staff and volunteer teams 384
Legal obligations 385
Equality, diversity and inclusion 386
Summary 390
Questions 390
Case study 10.1: The people matrix of the Woodford Folk Festival –
building a passionate team 391

11 Marketing planning for events 395

Introduction 395
What is marketing? 396
The need for marketing 398
The nexus between event marketing and management 401
The role of strategic marketing planning 402
Marketing context 405
Market analysis 413
Steps in the strategic event marketing planning process 429
The event experience 434
People and partnerships 439
The marketing plan 447
Summary 448
Questions 448
Case study 11.1: A dissection of modern-day event marketing strategies 449

12 Promotion: Integrated marketing communication for events 452

Introduction 452
Application of IMC 455
Establishing the IMC budget 456
Elements of IMC 458
Selecting the promotional mix 471
Controlling, monitoring and evaluation 474
Summary 475
Questions 475
Case study 12.1: International Confex 476

13 Sponsorship of events 481

Introduction 481
What is sponsorship? 482
Trends influencing the growth in sponsorship 484
Sponsorship benefits for events and sponsors 487
The value of sponsorship policy 498
Stages in developing the event sponsorship strategy 500
Managing sponsorships 514
Evaluating the effectiveness of a sponsorship 518
 CONTENTS ix

Summary 521
Questions 521
Case study 13.1: Microsoft UK’s sponsorship of the 2002 Commonwealth Games 522
Case study 13.2: Cheltenham Festivals 525

Part 3 Event operations and evaluation 531

14 Event design and production 533

Introduction 533
Key factors influencing event design decisions 535
Event design elements 543
Theming and event design 562
Recording the event 568
Contingencies 569
Summary 569
Questions 569
Case study 14.1: Driving environmental change at Goodwood Revival 570
Case study 14.2: Theming – a marketing tool 573

15 Event logistics 576

Introduction 576
What is logistics? 576
The elements of event logistics 578
Supply of the customer 580
Supply of product – product portfolio 587
Supply of site/venue services and facilities 588
Onsite logistics 592
Shutdown 603
Techniques of logistics management 606
Control of events logistics 613
Evaluation of logistics 613
The logistics or operations plan 613
Summary 614
Questions 614
Case study 15.1: Electrical services at Glastonbury Festival 615
Case study 15.2: Inside COP26 619

16 Legal considerations in event planning and management 622

Introduction 622
Legal structures for event ownership and management 624
Contracts 624
Intellectual property 631
Consumer protection 634
The duty of care 637
Regulations, licences and permits 642
Summary 647
Questions 647
Case study 16.1: Ticket to nowhere: Don’t let ticket fraudsters take off with your cash 647
Case study 16.2: Maria Alexiou v SOCOG (2001) 649
x CONTENTS

17 Risk management 653

Introduction 653
What is risk? 654
Risks in event settings 655
Developing a risk management culture 661
The risk management process 662
Risk assessment 665
Further risk management methodologies 684
Occupational safety and health (OSH) and events 687
Summary 693
Questions 694
Case study 17.1: Operations and risk management at the Auckland Diwali
Festival – implementation of new LPG gas bottle system 695
Case study 17.2: 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar 698

18 Event evaluation and research 703

Introduction 703
What is event evaluation? 704
Post-event evaluation 706
How event evaluations should be used 715
The event evaluation process 716
Summary 732
Questions 733
Case study 18.1: London welcomes in 2021 with a message of thanks and hope 733
Case study 18.2: Being Human festival, United Kingdom 735

References 741
Index 797
Figures

1.1 Categorisation of events 24

1.2 Ten post-COVID tips for event professionals 44
1.3 International EMBOK structure 45
1.4 Five phases of the event sector maturity model 50
3.1 Impact of major sporting events on soft power, trade and investment 109
3.2 Inclusive and accessible events 110
4.1 The UK government’s vision for business events 127
4.2 Event tourism strategic planning process 129
4.3 Recommendations for the development of business events in
Northern Ireland 130
4.4 Some key considerations in a destination’s event tourism
SWOT analysis 133
4.5 Forms of bidding assistance potentially available to a conference
bidding body from an event tourism organisation or convention and
visitors bureau 147
4.6 Destination event portfolio model 150
4.7 Common grant selection criteria employed by event tourism
organisations 152
5.1 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 172
5.2 Extract from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
sustainable sourcing code 175
5.3 ICC Belfast, Waterfront Hall and Ulster Hall sustainability policy 178
5.4 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 179
5.5 Sustainable transport checklist 189
5.6 Sustainable water management checklist 191
5.7 Central Hall Westminster: building a sustainable future 192
6.1 Event production company strategic planning framework 214
6.2 Stages in the strategic planning process for new and geographically
mobile events 214
6.3 Local government NSW Annual Conference 2024 criteria for
expressions of interest 216
6.4 Manchester City Council Community Events Funding 219
xii FIGURES

6.5 Contents of the event proposal 223

6.6 A simple organisational structure 223
6.7 The functional organisational structure of the Roskilde Festival 225
6.8 2006 Commonwealth Games organisational structure 226
6.9 Sweet Pea Festival organisational chart 226
6.10 Sydney 2000 Olympic Games matrix organisational structure 227
6.11 A network structure 228
6.12 Liverpool Irish Festival SWOT/TOWS matrix 246
7.1 The relationship of stakeholders to events 254
7.2 Key stakeholder groups in the XVII Commonwealth Games 265
7.3 Creating the event concept 269
7.4 The brainstorming process 272
8.1 The project management triangle 288
8.2 The EMBOK phases of project management 291
8.3 Level one work breakdown structure for a music festival 293
8.4 Level two work breakdown structure (risk management) for a
music festival 293
8.5 Level three work breakdown structure (risk management plans)
for a music festival 294
8.6 Work breakdown structure for a community show 294
8.7 Plans and documents created from the work breakdown structure
(WBS) 295
8.8 Sample Gantt chart format 297
8.9 Gantt chart represented as a network 299
8.10 The event plan, archive and review system 314
8.11 Features of FestivalPro event management software system 316
8.12 A summary of the tools necessary for staging an event 319
9.1 Sample event budget incorporating the use of graphics 335
9.2 Event financial management process from the perspective of
a new event 337
9.3 The implications of underpricing 338
9.4 Corporate event company budgeting process (product launch) 338
9.5 Break-even point graph 341
9.6 Generic event cash flow statement for an event with a 12-month
planning cycle 343
10.1 The human resource management process for events 353
10.2 Example event manager job description 357
10.3 Extract from Birmingham 2022 Volunteer Programme Privacy Notice 362
10.4 The recruitment, selection and induction process for paid and
voluntary employees 365
10.5 The six principles of the Commonwealth Games recruitment strategy 366
10.6 Internships offered for The English Music Festival 368
10.7 Example festival volunteer application form – Harrogate
International Festival 370
10.8 Sample interviewer’s checklist 373
10.9 Rights and responsibilities of volunteers – Midsumma Festival 374
10.10 Performance management and appraisal 378
10.11 The basis of content theories of motivation 381
 FIGURES xiii

10.12 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 381

10.13 Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation 382
10.14 Example of an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policy 387
10.15 Organisational structure of the festival 393
11.1 Examples of the consequences of not delivering on expectations 401
11.2 The event services trinity 402
11.3 Constructing the mission 403
11.4 Strategic event marketing management process 404
11.5 Components of the environment analysis 408
11.6 The power of influencer marketing – the Fyre Festival case (extract) 415
11.7 Brainstorm – Fyre Festival 416
11.8 Customer expectations and perceptions at events 421
11.9 Steps in the strategic event marketing planning process 430
11.10 The total event experience concept 435
11.11 The process of creating an event ‘product’ 437
11.12 Ticket sales capping example 443
11.13 Burning Man Ticket Aid Program 444
11.14 Example of event price mapping 445
11.15 Pricing decisions for events marketers 445
11.16 The marketing plan 447
12.1 The IMC process model for events 455
12.2 Event message objectives and strategies 457
12.3 Objective and task budget setting for the Pittwater Festival 459
12.4 Press release example 463
12.5 Banner advertisement example 467
12.6 Business benefits of social media for events 470
12.7 Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s promotional mix 472
13.1 The trinity of sponsor, event and audiences 484
13.2 Exchange relationship in event sponsorship 487
13.3 The sponsorship effects process 490
13.4 Examples of sponsors adding value to the event experience 496
13.5 The effect of excellent sponsor fit 498
13.6 Extract from NHS England Partnership Branding Guidelines FAQs 499
13.7 Event sponsorship strategy stages 500
13.8 Example of sponsorship levels for a conference – Academic
Conferences International 502
13.9 Screening criteria used by businesses to determine sponsorship 511
14.1 Basic attendee experience map 536
14.2 Common seating setup styles 544
14.3 Stage layout options 546
14.4 Stage layout options 547
14.5 An example of a stage plan 548
14.6 The relationship between types of event and the relative importance
of the staging elements 549
14.7 Factors to consider in stage safety 549
14.8 Basic types of event lighting 552
14.9 An example of the relationship between theming and an event’s
purpose 563
xiv FIGURES

14.10 Themes and suggested design styles 565

14.11 The elements of staging revolve around the theme 566
15.1 Elements of the logistics system 578
15.2 Marketing versus logistics 579
15.3 Ticketing – logistics checklist 582
15.4 Queuing – factors to consider 584
15.5 Customer transport checklist 586
15.6 Key considerations associated with sustainable transport planning
for events 586
15.7 Some traffic patterns to be considered when planning a multi-
staged music festival 592
15.8 Event programme information 595
15.9 Shrewsbury Folk Festival site map 597
15.10 Food and beverage – factors to consider 599
15.11 Areas for consideration in a major incident plan 602
15.12 The lines of communication between the logistics manager and
other managers for a multi-venue event 606
15.13 Example of an event site map (groundplan) for an outdoor festival 608
15.14 Example of an attendee site map – Platinum Jubilee Pageant 609
16.1 Contracts required by an event management organisation 625
16.2 The process of constructing a contract 626
16.3 The duty of care 638
16.4 Principles for leading health and safety at work 639
16.5 Event insurance considerations for a crisis 642
16.6 Examples of regulations applying to exhibitions 644
16.7 CDM role allocation for a typical sports event 645
17.1 Examples of the consequences of inadequate risk management
at events 655
17.2 Sample event risk policy 662
17.3 Five steps to risk management 664
17.4 The risk management process 664
17.5 Sample risk categories for use in a large-scale outdoor event risk
register 666
17.6 Qualitative risk analysis matrix 671
17.7 Considerations in emergency risk management planning 674
17.8 Volunteer safety induction questionnaire – Illawarra Folk Festival,
Australia 678
17.9 Adverse event report and investigation form 681
17.10 The risk management process from the design perspective 686
17.11 Risk management maturity model (events sector) 688
17.12 Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle 691
17.13 Recommended safety committee/event management safety team
composition 692
17.14 Risk management process 694
18.1 Evaluation and the event management process 705
18.2 Event economic evaluation models 708
 FIGURES xv

18.3 Example of host community social impacts 710

18.4 A measurement model describing the total impact from a
sustainability perspective 715
18.5 Event evaluation process 716
18.6 Evaluation – data collection methods 719
18.7 Sample festival survey instrument 723
18.8 Manchester International Festival contributes £50m to the city 729
Photos

1.1 Tower Bridge and the Olympic Rings for London 2012 Olympics 4
1.2 Vivid Sydney 18
2.1 Edinburgh Winter Festival 61
2.2 Parkes Elvis Festival 83
3.1 Sparks fly from 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Monument,
Glasgow, Scotland 98
4.1 Titanic Museum, Belfast 126
5.1 Recycling at events 172
5.2 Example of festival bin signage 185
6.1 Strategic planning meeting incorporating video conferencing 212
7.1 Lion’s Den Stage at Boomtown Fair 2019 253
8.1 Event management project team at work 285
9.1 Greenbelt Festival 2023: 50 years of artistry, activism and belief 323
10.1 Volunteers collecting litter 351
11.1 Attendees view the stage through their phones 396
12.1 UAE Pavilion at Expo, Milan 453
13.1 Sponsor Visa prominent on the track-side advertising board at
London 2012 Olympic Games 482
14.1 Giant mechanical bull during the opening ceremony of
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games 534
14.2 Architectural projections – Joy Ride by Greenaway & Greenaway
projected onto The Queens Hotel, Leeds during Light Night Leeds 2022 556
14.3 Examples of giant props 556
14.4 #FreeYourFit stage 564
15.1 Stage removal after The Killers concert, St. Mary’s Stadium, May 2022 577
15.2 3D venue layout diagrams 611
15.3 3D venue layout diagrams 611
15.4 Use of clothing to identify event staff 612
16.1 A court room 623
17.1 An outdoor event in the rain 654
18.1 Customer satisfaction survey for event evaluation 704
Tables

1.1 Examples of major sporting events hosted in the UK 13

1.2 Event categories 36
1.3 Event management body of knowledge domain and classes structure 45
1.4 Roles in the events industry 49
2.1 The key event impact areas identified in VisitScotland’s strategy 67
2.2 Corporate use of events 79
2.3 Potential individual, organisational and community capacity
building indicators for community celebrations and festivals 86
4.1 Selected issues impacting event delivery in Scotland and their
proposed solutions 132
4.2 Key impact areas and reasons the Welsh government invests in
major events 142
4.3 Organisations involved in event strategy development and/or
implementation 145
4.4 New event assessment matrix (unweighted) 149
4.5 New event assessment matrix (weighted) 149
4.6 Relative standings of the top 15 countries worldwide in the
association meetings market in 2019 156
5.1 Resource recovery action plan 182
5.2 Outcome: 72 per cent diversion from landfill from an event with
1,500 visitors 188
6.1 The role of the host council (and LGNSW) 218
6.2 Selected event vision statements 230
6.3 Selected event mission statements 230
6.4 Selected event goals 232
6.5 Categories of event objectives 233
7.1 Event typology 255
8.1 Basic task-based resource worksheet 298
8.2 Contractor scope example – electrical services 301
8.3 Sample production schedule template for an outdoor event 304
8.4 Combined production schedule and run sheet 305
xx TABLES

8.5 Extract from an event inspection safety checklist (Middlesbrough

Council Events) 307
8.6 Potential event manual inclusions 310
8.7 Event shutdown activities 313
9.1 A generic listing of event costs 327
9.2 A generic listing of potential revenue sources for events 329
9.3 Sample budget based on a conference (incorporating a trade show)
and using scenario planning 332
9.4 Live event budget – summary 335
9.5 Reporting guidelines 344
9.6 Festival trust profit and loss 344
10.1 Example volunteer job descriptions, World Confederation for
Physical Therapy Congress, Geneva 359
10.2 Example person specification – Event Manager – 2023 UCI Cycling
World Championships 360
11.1 Event consumer decision-making process and the implications for
strategic marketing planning 422
11.2 A classification of socio-economic market segments for events 424
11.3 Socio-economic classification 426
11.4 ACORN classification 427
11.5 Lifestyle dimensions 428
12.1 Metrics used for assessing the effectiveness of digital marketing 468
13.1 Silver Conference Sponsor – GBP 800 502
13.2 Gold Conference Sponsor – GBP 1250 503
13.3 Platinum Conference Sponsor – GBP 2000 503
13.4 Items that can be included in a sponsorship budget 517
13.5 Sponsorship objectives and their associated measures 520
14.1 Examples of potential indoor and outdoor spaces 539
14.2 Basic venue checklist 541
14.3 Staging considerations 545
14.4 Looking after corporate sponsors – a hospitality checklist 560
15.1 List of suppliers for a jazz festival 591
15.2 Simple communication plan 594
15.3 Food safety checklist 600
15.4 Event shutdown checklist 604
15.5 Information required by the logistics manager from the other
festival managers 607
15.6 Site map checklist 610
17.1 Examples of potential risks associated with the conduct of events 657
17.2 Consequence rating – qualitative measures of consequence or impact 669
17.3 Likelihood rating – qualitative measures of likelihood 670
17.4 Sample risk treatment plan and schedule 673
17.5 Recommended minimum checklist for assembled structures 675
17.6 Sample risk register document 676
17.7 Checklist for planning risk assessment requirements 684
17.8 Risk management maturity model (events sector) 689
 TABLES xxi

17.9 Plan, Do, Check, Act and other management systems 690
17.10 Treatment plan 697
17.11 A selection of the enforcing authorities who had jurisdiction over
some part of the event 701
18.1 Extract from Manchester International Festival 2021 Manchester
City Council Review 714
18.2 Event evaluation checklist 722
Case studies

1.1 The power of celebration – the globalisation and impact of the

festivals and events industry 52
1.2 MPI World Education Congress 2020 – driving the industry forward
with successful and safe hybrid events 56
2.1 Edinburgh – ‘the world’s leading festival city’ 89
2.2 Putting CSR at the heart of an annual conference’s agenda by
Ashfield Event Experiences 94
3.1 Campaigning against climate change 117
3.2 Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy 120
4.1 The National Events Strategy for Wales 2022 to 2030 159
4.2 Notting Hill Carnival 165
5.1 Boardmasters’ approach to sustainability 202
5.2 The Ocean Race 2017–2018 204
6.1 Liverpool Irish Festival Business Plan 2020–2025 240
6.2 Leaving legacies from the Platinum Jubilee pageant 248
7.1 School of Rock 279
7.2 AV Awards 281
8.1 Project management lessons from the Fyre Festival 319
9.1 Innovative ticket pricing at Greenbelt Festival 347
10.1 The people matrix of the Woodford Folk Festival – building a
passionate team 391
11.1 A dissection of modern-day event marketing strategies 449
12.1 International Confex 476
13.1 Microsoft UK’s sponsorship of the 2002 Commonwealth Games 522
13.2 Cheltenham Festivals 525
14.1 Driving environmental change at Goodwood Revival 570
14.2 Theming – a marketing tool 573
15.1 Electrical services at Glastonbury Festival 615
15.2 Inside COP26 619
16.1 Ticket to nowhere: Don’t let ticket fraudsters take off with your cash 647
16.2 Maria Alexiou v SOCOG (2001) 649
xxiv CASE STUDIES

17.1 Operations and risk management at the Auckland Diwali Festival –

implementation of new LPG gas bottle system 695
17.2 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar 698
18.1 London welcomes in 2021 with a message of thanks and hope 733
18.2 Being Human festival, United Kingdom 735
The authors

Glenn A. J. Bowdin is Principal Lecturer in Events Management and former Head of the UK
Centre for Events Management, School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds
Beckett University. He is co-series editor for the Routledge Events Management series. His
research interests include the area of service quality management, specifically focusing on the
area of quality costing which he is exploring for his PhD, and issues relating to the planning,
management and evaluation of events. He is a member of the editorial advisory board for Event
Management (an international journal) and editorial board for Journal of Convention & Event Tour-
ism. Glenn is Treasurer and Executive Committee member of AEME (Association for Events
Management Education), where he has served since becoming the founding Chair in 2004,
and a founding director of the International EMBOK (Event Management Body of Knowledge).
Glenn is a Vice Chair, Treasurer and an Executive Committee member of UKEVENTS.

Johnny Allen was the Foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Event Management
(ACEM) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) from 1999 until 2013, where he taught
in the Event Management Program and conducted a series of International Event Management
Conferences. Prior to this he was the Foundation Special Event Manager for Tourism NSW
from 1996 to 1998, and Event Manager for the Darling Harbour Authority from 1989 to 1996.
Johnny has had an extensive career in event management and planning, and is the recipient of
an Order of Australia Award for his services to the events industry and event education, and
a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Event Awards. He is now semi-retired but
continues his involvement in the events field.

Rob Harris has over 25 years’ experience in event management research, education and train-
ing, including 15 years as the Director of the Australian Centre for Event Management, Uni-
versity of Technology, Sydney. Upon leaving his university position in 2017 he established
Event Training Australia as a vehicle through which to continue his work in the field of event
management. Dr Harris has undertaken research projects, or developed and delivered courses
for, numerous organisations, including: The United Nations, Bank of China, Cooperative Cen-
tre for Sustainable Tourism, Marketing Institute of Singapore, Austrade, Northern Beaches
Council and 12 Australian and overseas universities. Additionally, Rob is: the co-author of
the widely used texts and handbook Festival and special event management and Event management
and the regional event management handbook; a serving judge for the Australian Event Awards; an
assessor for Destination NSW’s regional event grants; and a member of the editorial board
of several international refereed event management journals. Dr Harris presently holds the
positions of Adjunct Fellow, School of Business, University of Technology, Sydney and Adjunct
xxvi THE AUTHORS

Professor, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. In 2019 he was appointed a Professional Fellow of the
Asia Pacific Institute for Event Management.

Leo Jago is a Professor in Events at Griffith University and an Emeritus Professor at the Uni-
versity of Surrey in the UK. Over the last 20 years, Leo has been Director of research centres
in Australia and the UK, including as the inaugural Chief Economist and General Manager of
Tourism Research Australia. The focus of his research agenda has been the evaluation of events
particularly from economic and social perspectives. He was awarded an OAM in 2016 for con-
tributions to education and the tourism industry.

William (Bill) O’Toole is a consultant working around the world as an events development spe-
cialist for organisations such as the European Commission, Deloitte and the United Nations
as well as national and state governments, private companies and cities. He is recognised as
a key person in the creation of the event sector around the world. He originated the Event
Management Body of Knowledge (EMBOK) and helped develop it into the Event Manage-
ment International Competency Standard (EMICS). Over the last 15 years, Bill advised Dubai,
Uganda, Liberia and Kenya on the development of their event industries. From 2010 to 2015
he trained event managers and advised the UN in Entebbe, Monrovia and Khartoum. His event
strategy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, developed in-country over ten years, is acknowl-
edged as key to creating a new events industry worth over five billion dollars. Bill has authored
or co-authored six international textbooks on event management: The latest, Events feasibility
and development, (Routledge), was released in 2022.

Ian McDonnell was a Senior Lecturer in the faculty of Business’s School of Leisure, Sport and
Tourism at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he taught management and marketing
of leisure and tourism services, including the very popular event management subject. In 1996,
along with Johnny Allen, he started the first higher education course in Australia in event man-
agement: the Executive Certificate in Event Management. This book came from the lack of a
text that could be used in such courses. Ian passed away on 25th April 2019.
Series editors

Glenn A. J. Bowdin is Principal Lecturer in Events Management and former Head of the UK
Centre for Events Management, School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds
Beckett University. He is co-series editor for the Routledge Events Management series. His
research interests include the area of service quality management, specifically focusing on the
area of quality costing which he is exploring for his PhD, and issues relating to the planning,
management and evaluation of events. He is a member of the editorial advisory board for Event
Management (an international journal) and editorial board for Journal of Convention & Event Tour-
ism. Glenn is Treasurer and Executive Committee member of AEME (Association for Events
Management Education), where he has served since becoming the founding Chair in 2004,
and a founding director of the International EMBOK (Event Management Body of Knowledge).
Glenn is Vice Chair and an Executive Committee member of UKEVENTS.

Donald Getz is Professor Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Canada. He works as a manage-
ment consultant and also holds guest positions at several universities. In addition to event stud-
ies, his areas of expertise include wine and food tourism, evaluation and impact assessment,
consumer research and special-interest travel. Professor Getz co-founded and was Editor-in-
Chief of Event Management: An International Journal.

Conrad Lashley is currently employed on a temporary contract at the University of Leicester,

and at the Luxury Hotel School in Paris. He is Editor Emeritus of Hospitality & Society, and was
formally the co-editor of Research in Hospitality Management. He was previously Professor in Hos-
pitality Studies in the Academy of International Hospitality Research at NHL Stenden Univer-
sity in the Netherlands. He has held professorial appointments at several UK universities, and
regularly makes keynote research presentations in Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand,
the Netherlands, the USA and Sweden as well as in the UK. He is the author or editor of 23
books, including Slavery and liberation in hotels, restaurants and bars, and Prejudice and discrimination
in hotels, restaurants and bars, as well as the upcoming companion volume Conflict and hostility
in hotels, restaurants, and bars. He has published over one hundred papers in refereed research
journals and volumes of conference proceedings. He has worked extensively with industry and
generated commercial income from research and consultancy, as well as in-company manage-
ment development programmes.
Series preface

The events industry, including festivals, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, incentives, sports
and a range of other events, is rapidly developing and makes a significant contribution to business
and leisure related tourism. With increased regulation and the growth of government and corpo-
rate involvement in events, the environment has become much more complex. Event managers
are now required to identify and service a wide range of stakeholders and to balance their needs
and objectives. Though mainly operating at national levels, there has been significant growth
of academic provision to meet the needs of events and related industries and the organisations
that comprise them. Many countries have developed programmes of study leading to the award
of diploma, undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications. These courses focus on providing
education and training for future event professionals, and cover areas such as event planning
and management, marketing, finance, human resource management and operations. Modules in
events management are also included in many tourism, leisure, recreation and hospitality qualifi-
cations in universities and colleges.

The rapid growth of such courses has meant that there is a vast gap in the available literature
on this topic for lecturers, students and professionals alike. To this end, the Events Management
Series has been created to meet these needs to create a planned and targeted set of publications
in this area.

Aimed at academic and management development in events management and related studies, the
Events Management Series:

● provides a portfolio of titles which match management development needs through various
stages;
● prioritises publication of texts where there are current gaps in the market, or where current
provision is unsatisfactory;
● develops a portfolio of both practical and stimulating texts;
● provides a basis for theoretical and research underpinning for programmes of study;
● is recognised as being of consistent high quality;
● will quickly become the series of first choice for both authors and users.
Preface

Events Management comes at a pivotal time, as the events industry has faced its biggest challenge
to date. The COVID-19 pandemic in the short term shut down the industry for a significant
period of time, and its long-term impacts are expected to be far-reaching and profound. It has
hastened existing trends, such as the move to video conferencing and the live streaming of music-
based festivals and events, as travel becomes more expensive and people begin to question the
need to travel for particularly business events where the objectives may be achieved through
online events. The pandemic led to many people leaving the events industry and significantly
impacted balance sheets, with the postponement of events and then the subsequent re-scheduling
of events, combined with external political and economic factors having a knock-on effect on the
financial viability of some events and the availability of resources. At the time of writing, there is
a cost-of-living crisis and ongoing supply chain issues, as some countries are still emerging from
the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the impact of the war
in Ukraine, significant increases in energy prices, increased concerns about the environment/
climate leading to increased emphasis on sustainable events, and a range of political issues. What
the events industry will look like in the future is unclear, with a number of event-organising busi-
nesses not having the financial capacity to bounce back, and government, corporate and personal
budgets heavily trimmed. The dramatic pause in live events has, nonetheless, provided a powerful
reminder of their economic and social value and what it means to gather in person, and while it
might take several years, they will return once again to make their vitally important contribution
to our lives and society.

Each year, events occur throughout the United Kingdom and around the world. They dominate
the media, fill transport systems, hotels and venues, meet business objectives, motivate commu-
nities and create positive and negative impacts. For example, the Notting Hill Carnival can trace
its origins back to 1964 when, established as a festival, it provided an opportunity for the West
Indian community to celebrate and commemorate their ancestors’ freedom from slavery. Over
the years, the event grew slowly, from 200 visitors, to some 3,000 in the early 1970s. The turning
point for the Carnival came in 1975, when the event was promoted by Capital Radio, resulting in
150,000 people from the West Indian community attending. In the last decades, the Carnival has
boasted audiences of up to 1.5 million people from all communities – attracting attention from
Greater London Authority and other stakeholders who fear for the safety of visitors and wish to
support its future development.

The UK events industry is wide ranging, incorporating many different sectors from the smallest of
exhibitions, conferences and parties, through to large-scale sport, music, cultural and entertain-
ment events. Although definitive data are not available, due to the complex nature and diversity
xxxii PREFACE

of the industry, figures suggest pre-pandemic the industry was contributing over £70 billion to
the UK economy, with the industry recovering and predicted to reach and exceed pre-pandemic
levels over the next 18 months. This suggests that the industry generates significant income to
the UK economy, which has not gone unnoticed by local and national governments and other
public sector bodies. Increasingly, they are using events as a means of serving a host of policy
objectives – from delivering tourists, regenerating communities and celebrating moments in time,
to arousing civic pride, inspiring the arts and stimulating regional economies, illustrated by the
increasing number of events strategies across the UK and support for large-scale events, including
the successful London 2012 Olympic Games, Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham
2022 Commonwealth Games, among many others.

The UK has developed an enviable programme of events, including The Championships (known
the world over as simply Wimbledon), Notting Hill Carnival, The Open Championships, Glaston-
bury Festival, Royal Ascot, Edinburgh International Festival, the British Grand Prix, Belfast
International Festival, Eisteddfod and the FA Cup – together with many others that cover the full
spectrum of business and community interests. These events and others, which are discussed
in later chapters, illustrate in various ways the power of events to raise the profile of their host
cities, attract visitors, deliver economic benefits and create jobs. They also show the various
origins of events, ranging from community celebrations growing out of protest, to international
events supported for political and economic needs. They raise issues of the costs, benefits and
impacts on their host communities and serve as models for event management, development
and marketing.

Until relatively recently, events had been seen as part of hospitality, tourism, leisure and recre-
ation industries, or as a support service to businesses. However, the environment is changing
and the events industry is emerging in its own right. Events management has shifted from being
a field of dedicated and resourceful amateurs to being one of trained and skilled professionals.
There are several reasons for this shift.

First, events management has emerged as the umbrella profession for a diverse range of activities
that were previously viewed as discrete areas. These activities include festivals, sporting events,
conferences, tourism and corporate events. This change has led to the need for a methodology
broad enough to service this wide range of event types, but also flexible enough to encompass
their individual needs and differences.

Second, the environments in which events operate and the range of stakeholder expectations have
become much more complex and demanding. This change has led to the need for a robust meth-
odology that is responsive to change and able to manage and encompass risk.

Third, corporate and government involvement in events has increased dramatically, in terms of
both companies mounting events for their own purposes, and companies and governments invest-
ing in events through sponsorship and grants. This change has led to the need for management
systems that are accountable and able to measure and deliver return on investment.

Fourth, the industry has increasingly worked together to develop practice around common issues,
interests and concerns, and increase its profile with government and other stakeholders. This was
evident during the pandemic, which led not only to increased co-operation and coordination of
professional and trade associations (for example, through the umbrella body UKEVENTS, and its
partners), but also professional communities mobilising and communication campaigns estab-
lished showcasing the industry, such as The Power of Events.

In response to the challenges, the events industry has increased in professionalism and has rel-
atively quickly developed a body of knowledge of industry best practice, supported by qualifica-
tions, training and accreditation.
 PREFACE xxxiii

To do so, it borrowed much from other disciplines and adapted this knowledge to the event
context. This textbook attempts to capture and refine this emerging body of knowledge, and to
document it in a useful form for students, researchers and practitioners in the field. As authors,
we each bring to the textbook the benefits of our own discipline and perspective, reflecting the
many facets of events management.

Events Management examines these and other aspects of events from a UK perspective. Specifically,
the book aims to:

● Introduce the concepts of event planning and management

● Present the study of events management within an academic environment
● Discuss the key components for designing and producing an event, covering the whole process
from creation to evaluation
● Develop an understanding of key areas required for planning and managing events, includ-
ing planning, project management, logistics, risk management, legal considerations, human
resources, budgeting, event design, marketing planning, integrated marketing communica-
tions, and evaluation
● Examine the events industry within its broader business context, covering impacts and event
tourism
● Provide an effective guide for producers of events.

Part 1 deals with the context for events – the reasons human societies create events and the
events culture that has evolved are examined, as are the range and types of events and their event
planning context, including social and cultural, political, legal and regulatory, environmental and
economic. The part also examines event tourism planning, sustainable event management and
perspectives on events. Part 2 illustrates a methodology for the planning of events by examining
the processes involved in strategic event planning; conceptualising, developing, project manag-
ing, implementing, financing, marketing, promoting and sponsoring events. It also examines the
human resource management considerations for events. Finally, Part 3 looks at event operations
and evaluation in detail and focuses on the systems event managers can use to manage events,
discussing staging events, logistics, legal issues, risk management and the process of monitoring
and evaluating events and reporting back to stakeholders.

The book is conveniently divided into 18 chapters, which may be used to structure teaching
sessions. Each chapter commences with clear objectives and ends with review questions in order
to assess the student’s understanding. The book is also amply illustrated throughout with case
studies, which assist the reader with relating the theory of events management to the real world
of events practice, with all its challenges, frustrations and rewards. Events Management has been
extensively revised and updated to reflect the many changes and developments that have taken
place since the last edition and to reflect current practice. The book provides the reader with both
a tool for greater understanding of events management and a framework for planning and imple-
menting events.

The events industry is developing, supported by an increasing body of knowledge, education,

research and industry professionals; hopefully, the fourth edition of Events Management will con-
tribute to this evolution and to a better understanding of how events enrich our lives, and it is
hoped that the reader will in turn contribute to the future of this young and exciting industry.
Acknowledgements

Glenn wishes to thank Johnny, Rob, Leo, Bill and Ian (RIP) for collaborating on this exciting
project and the publishing team at Routledge for all their support (and patience!), advice and
professional guidance during the production of this text. Thanks also to the many contributors
of cases, examples and other content who have enabled this textbook to reflect current practice.
Special thanks and appreciation to current and past colleagues, students, and alumni from the
UK Centre for Events Management, Leeds Beckett University, and members of the International
EMBOK (Event Management Body of Knowledge) Executive, for their ideas, advice and sugges-
tions, together with members of the Association for Events Management Education (AEME) for
their feedback on the earlier editions. Finally, Glenn dedicates this edition to his wife Eileen and
their children Peter, Sean, David and Niamh, his parents, Andrew and Andrea, and family.

The authors and publisher would like to thank the following copyright holders, organisations and
individuals, for permission to reproduce copyright material in this book.

Figures and Photos

p. 4 (Photo 1.1): © chrisdorney – stock.adobe.com; p. 18 (Photo 1.2): © Taras Vyshnya/Shutter-

stock.com; p. 44 (Figure 1.2): © David Jamilly, Managing Director, Theme Traders; p. 45 (Figure 1.3)
and p. 291 (Figure 8.2): © The International Event Management Body of Knowledge (EMBOK) by
International EMBOK Executive. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Licence (licence available at www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). (Figures have
been redrawn); p. 50 (Figure 1.4), p. 223 (Figure 6.5), p. 295 (Figure 8.7), p. 314 (Figure 8.10),
p. 688 (Figure 17.11) and p. 694 (Figure 17.14): © William O’Toole, Event Project Management
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Alf Manciagli/Shutterstock.com; p. 98 (Photo 3.1): © ScottishJack/stock.adobe.com; p. 109 (Figure
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poration and UK Sport, with the publication and its contents owned by City of London Corporation
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2018 Equality and Human Rights Commission. Contains public sector information licensed under
the Open Government Licence v3.0. © 2016 VisitScotland. Reproduced with permission; p. 126
(Photo 4.1): © 4kclips – stock.adobe.com; p. 127 (Figure 4.1): © Crown Copyright. Department of
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open
Government Licence v3.0. Available from: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-gov-
ernment-licence/version/3; p. 130 (Figure 4.3): © Northern Ireland Business Events 2022.
Reproduced with kind permission; p. 150 (Figure 4.6): © 2016 Getz and Page. Published by Elsevier
xxxvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ltd.; p. 172 (Photo 5.1): © spwidoff/Shutterstock.com; p. 172 (Figure 5.1): © UN Department of

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for volunteers. In: Connors, T. (1995) The volunteer management handbook. New York: John Wiley &
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mation licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; p. 393 (Figure 10.15): Amanda Jackes,
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxxvii

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zant Communications Corporation, New York; p. 490 (Figure 13.3): © Meenaghan, T. (2001).
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ton, J. (1994). Benefits and Risks Associated with Sponsorship of Major Events, Festival Management
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com/stock.adobe.com; p. 623 (Photo 16.1): © sas – stock.adobe.com; p. 638 (Figure 16.3): ©
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16.6): © Association of Event Venues 2021; p. 645 (Figure 16.7): © Crown Copyright/Health &
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org/licenses/by/4.0); p. 704 (Photo 18.1): © Pixsooz/Shutterstock.com; p. 708 (Figure 18.2):
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tional 2019.
xxxviii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Text

p. 45 (Table 1.3): © The International Event Management Body of Knowledge (EMBOK) by

International EMBOK Executive. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Inter-
national Licence (licence available at www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode);
p. 52 (Case Study 1.1): Steven Wood Schmader, International Festivals and Events Association;
p. 56 (Case Study 1.2): © Cvent. Reproduced with permission; p. 67 (Table 2.1): © 2015 Vis-
itScotland; p. 66 (Extract): © 2015 VisitScotland; p. 87 (Quote): © International Association for
Public Participation www.iap2.org; p. 89 (Case Study 2.1): Kenneth Wardrop, Business School,
Edinburgh Napier University; p. 94 (Case Study 2.2): © 2021 Ashfield Event Experiences; p. 117
(Case Study 3.1): Laura Sevier/The Ecologist. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission; p.
120 (Case Study 3.2): © Crown Copyright 2018. Morrison and Thompson, 2018. Contains pub-
lic sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.; p. 132 (Table 4.1): ©
Published by VisitScotland/EventScotland in 2015; p. 142 (Table 4.2): © Crown Copyright 2022
/WG45030. Welsh Government. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open
Government Licence v3.0. Available from: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-gov-
ernment-licence/version/3; p. 154 (Event Profile): © 2021 Crown Copyright. Department of
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open
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ernment-licence/version/3; p. 156 (Table 4.6): © 2020 International Congress & Convention
Association (www.iccaworld.org); p. 159 (Case Study 4.1): © Crown Copyright 2022 /WG45030.
Welsh Government. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0. Available from: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-li-
cence/version/3; p. 165 (Case Study 4.2): Claire Holder; p. 202 (Case Study 5.1): © 2021 Kevin
Moore, Vision Nine, Vision: 2025. Reproduced with permission; p. 204 (Case Study 5.2): Meegan
Jones, Sustainability Programme Manager, The Ocean Race; p. 212 (Quote): Extract: © Carroll
1977 (first published 1865); p. 240 (Case Study 6.1): © Liverpool Irish Festival 2020. Reproduced
with kind permission; p. 248 (Case Study 6.2): © The Platinum Jubilee Pageant Limited; p. 265
(Event Profile): © 2002 Manchester The XVII Commonwealth Games: Post Games Report. Lon-
don, Commonwealth Games Federation, pp. 18–19. Reproduced with permission; p. 275 (Event
Profile): © 2022 Glasgow Convention Bureau/Glasgow Life; p. 279 (Case Study 7.1): David
Jamilly, Managing Director, Theme Traders; p. 281 (Case Study 7.2): © 2022 Clive Couldwell,
AV Magazine; p. 286 (Event Profile): Noel Landry, CEO, Summernats; p. 319 (Case Study 8.1):
© Workgroups DaVinci n.d.; p. 307 (Table 8.5): © Middlesbrough Council 2022; p. 332 (Table
9.3): Based on © 2022 Western Sydney University; p. 346 (Summary): © 2006 John Aitken; p.
347 (Case Study 9.1): © 2022 Greenbelt Festival. Reproduced by permission; p. 359 (Table 10.1):
© WCPT. Reprinted with permission of World Physiotherapy WCPT; p. 360 (Table 10.2): © Glasgow
Life. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0;
p. 391 (Case Study 10.1): Amanda Jackes, General Manager Woodfordia Inc and Deputy Festival
Director, Woodford Folk Festival; p. 424 (Table 11.2): adapted from Morgan (1996), National
Readership Surveys Limited (2008) and ONS (2003). © Crown Copyright 2003. Contains pub-
lic sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.; p. 426 (Table 11.3):
© Crown Copyright 2022. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government
Licence v3.0.; p. 427 (Table 11.4): © CACI Limited, London 2020. All rights reserved. Repro-
duced with permission; p. 428 (Table 11.5): adapted from Brassington and Pettitt (2013), pp.
140–141; p. 449 (Case Study 11.1): © Jose Bort/ClickZ.com. Reproduced by permission; p. 476
(Case Study 12.1): © International Confex, Mash Media; p. 519 (Event profile): T Ferguson;
p. 522 (Case Study 13.1): Rachael Church, Editor, Sport and Technology; p. 525 (Case Study
13.2): Cheltenham Festivals Ltd.; p. 566 (Event Profile): Lisa Gudge/Access All Areas/Mash
Media; p. 570 (Case Study 14.1): Christopher Barrett/Access All Areas/Mash Media; p. 573 (Case
Study 14.2): David Jamilly, Managing Director, Theme Traders; p. 590 (Event profile): © Crown
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxxix

Copyright/Department for International Trade 2026. Contains public sector information licensed
under the Open Government Licence v3.0.; p. 615 (Case Study 15.1): © 2022 Bill Egan, Aggreko
Events Services and Daniel Betts, Aggreko.; p. 619 (Case Study 15.2): p. 600 (Table 15.3): ©
2009 Wiltshire Council, www.wiltshire.gov.uk/foodsafety.htm; p. 619 (Case Study 15.2): © Sam
Anderson/The Drum; p. 648 (Case Study 16.1): © 2022 Crown Copyright/Action Fraud. Contains
public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.; p. 650 (Case Study
16.2): Paul Johnson; p. 669 (Table 17.2) and p. 670 (Table 17.3): © Alexandrina Council 2022;
p. 675 (Table 17.5): © MUTA, 2018; p. 676 (Table 17.6): © Crown Copyright/Health & Safety
Executive 2013. HSG65. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Govern-
ment Licence v3.0. HSG65; p. 684 (Table 17.7): © 2015 EIF Ltd. all rights reserved; p. 689 (Table
17.8): © William O’Toole, Event Project Management System Pty Ltd., EPMS.net; p. 697 (Table
17.10): © Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development. Reproduced by permission; p.
701 (Table 17.11): Tim Roberts; p. 695 (Case Study 17.1): © Auckland Tourism, Events and Eco-
nomic Development. Reproduced by permission.; p. 698 (Case Study 17.2): Tim Roberts; p. 714
(Table 18.1): © Manchester City Council 2021. Contains public sector information licensed under
the Open Government Licence v3.0.; p. 733 (Case Study 18.1): © Jack Morton Worldwide; p. 735
(Case Study 18.2): © Ruth Townsley Research and the School of Advanced Study, University of
London, ‘Being Human: a festival of the humanities: 2014 festival evaluation’, report commis-
sioned by Dr Michael Eades, Director of the Being Human festival in the UK for the School of
Advanced Study, University of London. Reproduced with kind permission.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material
in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here
acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book.
 Part
1
Event context

The first part of this book looks at the history and development of events, and the emergence
of the events industry in the United Kingdom. It examines the event planning context, including
the social/cultural, physical/environmental, political and tourism/economic impacts. This section
also deals with the nature and importance of event tourism, and additionally includes a chapter
on sustainable events management; an increasingly significant factor influencing overall event
planning.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003044963-1
 Chapter
1
An overview of the
event field

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

● define events, special events, mega-events, hallmark events and major events and demonstrate
an awareness of why events have evolved in human society
● describe the role of events in the UK, and the UK tradition of events
● discuss the growth and emergence of an events industry
● distinguish between different types of events
● list and describe the components of the events industry
● list and describe the main professional and trade associations in the events industry, discuss
the attributes and knowledge requirements of an events manager, and describe the types of
organisation involved in the delivery of event management training.

Introduction
Today, events are central to our culture as perhaps never before. Increases in leisure time and dis-
cretionary spending have led to a proliferation of public events, celebrations and entertainment.
Governments now support and promote events as part of their strategies for economic develop-
ment, nation building and destination marketing. Corporations and businesses embrace events as
key elements in their marketing strategies and image promotion. The enthusiasm of community
groups and individuals for their own interests and passions gives rise to a marvellous array of
events on almost every subject and theme imaginable. Events spill out of our newspapers and
television screens, occupy much of our time, and enrich our lives.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003044963-2
4
Part 1 EVENT CONTEXT

Photo 1.1 Tower Bridge and the Olympic Rings for London 2012 Olympics
Photo Credit: chrisdorney – stock.adobe.com

As we study the phenomenon of events, it is worth examining where the event tradition in the
United Kingdom has come from, and what forces are likely to shape its future growth and devel-
opment. As events emerge as an industry in their own right, it is also worth considering what
elements characterise such an industry, and how the UK events industry might chart its future
directions in an increasingly complex and demanding environment.

Events as benchmarks for our lives

Since the dawn of time, human beings have found ways to mark important events in their lives:
the changing of the seasons; the phases of the moon; the eternal cycle of birth, death and the
miraculous renewal of life each spring. In Britain, the early folk festivals were associated with
Plough Monday, May Day, Midsummer Day and Harvest Home, the latter celebrating the final
gathering of the grain harvest (Oxford Interactive Encyclopaedia, 1997). From the Chinese New
Year to the Dionysian rites of ancient Greece and the European carnival tradition of the Middle
Ages, myths and rituals have been created to interpret cosmological happenings. To the present
day, scratch the surface of the archetypes of Old Father Time on New Year’s Eve, Guy Fawkes on 5
November Bonfire Night, Halloween, or Father Christmas on 25 December, and remnants of the
old myths, archetypes and ancient celebrations will be found underneath.

Both in private and in public, people feel the need to mark the important occasions in their lives,
and to celebrate milestones. Coming of age, for example, is often marked by rites of passage, such
as initiation ceremonies, the Jewish bar and bat mitzvahs and the suburban twenty-first birthday
party. At the public level, momentous events become the milestones by which people measure
their private lives. We may talk about things happening ‘before the new millennium’, in the same
way that an earlier generation talked of marrying ‘before the Depression’ or being born ‘after the
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 5

War’. Occasional events (be that planned, or unplanned) – the 1966 World Cup, the London 2012
Olympic Games, the new millennium, the global financial crisis (GFC) and the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic – help to mark eras and define milestones.

Even in the high-tech era of global media, when people have lost touch with the common reli-
gious beliefs and social norms of the past, we still need larger social events to mark the local and
domestic details of our lives.

The rich tradition of events

The UK, and the various countries and cultures within it, have a rich tradition of rituals and
ceremonies extending over thousands of years. These traditions, influenced by changes within
society, including urbanisation, industrialisation and the increasingly multicultural population,
have greatly influenced many events as they are celebrated today. Palmer and Lloyd (1972) high-
light that Britain has many customs and traditions that are tied in with the changing seasons and
country life. In addition, they note that with developing immigration, particularly after the War,
settlers brought their own customs and traditions that have now become part of Britain’s heritage.
In the cultural collision with the first migrants from the former colonies of India, Pakistan and
the Caribbean, new traditions have formed alongside the old. However, many events which people
take for granted today have been taking place in one form or another for hundreds of years. These
include fairs, festivals, sporting events, exhibitions and other forms of public celebration.

The Lord Mayor’s Show provides an example of this – originating from 1215 when King John
granted a Charter confirming the citizens of London’s right to choose their own mayor. One of the
conditions of the Charter was that the man chosen as mayor must be presented to King John for
approval and had to swear an oath of allegiance. This was the basis for the original show – literally,
the mayor had to go to Westminster to be shown to the king. Attracting over 500,000 along
the route, the Lord Mayor’s Show is now one the largest parades of its kind in the world, with
8,000 participants, 140 performances, military personnel, horses, motor vehicles, floats, marching
bands, and the state coach involved in the procession that is nearly 2.5 miles long (Lord Mayor’s
Show, 2021; Visit London, 2021).

The term ‘festival’ has been used for hundreds of years and can be used to cover a multitude of
events. The Policy Studies Institute (PSI, 1992, p. 1) note:

A festival was traditionally a time of celebration, relaxation and recuperation which often
followed a period of hard physical labour, sowing or harvesting of crops, for example.
The essential feature of these festivals was the celebration or reaffirmation of community
or culture. The artistic content of such events was variable and many had a religious or
ritualistic aspect, but music, dance and drama were important features of the celebration.

Newbold, Jordan, Bianchini and Maughan (2015, p. xvii) support this view, noting that, “The
ancient origins of festivals are often associated with moments of intensive consumption of meat
at times of abundance, providing a protein rush leading to mad hedonism, moments of abandon-
ment, the mocking of authority, spectacle, feasts for the senses and aesthetic indulgence.”

The majority of fairs held in the UK can trace their ancestry back to Charters and privileges
granted by the Crown. The original purpose of the fairs was to trade produce, much the same as
exhibitions operate today. For example, the famous Scarborough Fayre dates back to 1161. The
first recorded Charter granted to King’s Lynn was 1204, with the Charter for the Valentine’s Day
fair granted by Henry VIII in 1537. Cambridge Fair dates back to 1211 and provides an excellent
example of a fair that started out as a trade fair, run under the auspices of the local religious com-
munity, but continues today as a pleasure fair. Hull Fair, the largest travelling fair in Europe, dates
back to 1278, and Nottingham Goose Fair to 1284 (NFCA, 2021a).
6 EVENT CONTEXT

Encyclopedia Britannica (2021) notes that the term ‘festival’, as commonly understood today, was
first used in England in 1655, when the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy was first delivered at St.
Paul’s Cathedral, London. Established as an annual charity sermon, it assumed a musical charac-
ter in 1698. Other examples of early festivals include the Three Choirs Festival (1713), the Nor-
Part 1

folk and Norwich Festival (1789) and the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales (revived in 1880,
although it originates from 1176) (PSI, 1992). Festivals of secular music started in the eighteenth
century – the first dedicated to Handel took place in Westminster Abbey in 1784 – with many of
these continuing well into the twentieth century (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021).

Industrialisation, festivals and the sporting event calendar

Exhibitions and trade shows have taken over much of the traditional purpose of the fairs. The
Exhibition Liaison Committee (1995, pp. 2–3) noted:

Since pre-Biblical times producers and merchants have displayed their wares at fairs.
However the present UK exhibition industry can trace its origin back to the first
industrial exhibitions held in London in 1760 and 1791. These were organised by the
Royal Society of Arts and culminated . . . in the Great Exhibition of 1851 which was
housed in the impressive ‘Crystal Palace’ erected in Hyde Park.

Dale (1995) highlights that the Great Exhibition was a triumphant success, with over 6 million
visitors – around 25 per cent of the population. It proved to be an excellent promotional tool
for Britain, British industry and related trades, and was the first international trade show (Cart-
wright, 1995). The exhibition generated profits of over £180,000 (Exhibition Liaison Committee,
1995). The following years saw the development of many exhibition facilities that are in existence
today, including Alexandra Palace and the Royal Agricultural Hall (1862), Olympia (1886) and
Earl’s Court (originally opened 1887, current structure from 1936).

Sport provides many of the UK’s most significant and enduring events. As well as attracting large
crowds and media attention, sporting events help to create a national identity and are important
to the country’s tourism appeal. As the birthplace of many major sports, Britain has an interna-
tional reputation for sport and stages many international world-class events each year, drawing in
large numbers of visitors and providing major benefits for local economies (VisitEngland, 2016).
Many of the most famous UK sporting events have their origins in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, including equestrian events such as Royal Ascot (1711), the Epsom Derby (1780) and
the Aintree Grand National (1839, name adopted 1847); water-based events such as the Oxford
and Cambridge Boat Race (1829), Cowes Week (1826), Henley Royal Regatta (established 1839,
named Henley Royal Regatta from 1851); and the first America’s Cup race off the Solent, Isle
of Wight (1851). Other major events from this period include The Open Championship (Golf)
(1860), the FA Cup (1872), The Championship (Wimbledon) (1877) and Test cricket (England
vs Australia, 1882).

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, mostly choral festivals were developed in cities
across England, including Leeds. However, further trends included local singing competitions in
taverns in the eighteenth century, and amateur singing and brass band competitions in the nine-
teenth century (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021).

Wood (1982) observed that due to the dual forces of industrialisation and Christianity in the
mid-nineteenth century, many of the traditional festivities that developed alongside folklore were
lost. In the emerging climate of industrialisation, the working classes had little time for traditional
celebrations, with the new National Police Force disciplining the working classes through criminal-
ising many of the traditional festivities. The middle of the nineteenth century saw at least 40 saint
days per year, although not all were public holidays in all areas. However, the Victorians believed
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 7

that it was uneconomical for workers to have so much free time and, as a result, they abolished a
number of festivals and tidied up the public holidays to control this. Later, they introduced a week’s
paid holiday to replace the lost bank holidays (Harrowven, 1980). Wood (1982, p. 13) noted:

The assumed irrationality of festivity underlay the bourgeois social order of industrial
life and for the working classes this meant that old ways of thinking about the future,
steeped in folklore and superstition, were slowly obliterated. The emerging morality of
industrialism insisted that personal security could only be gained by thrift, diligence and
abstinence from the pleasures of the flesh. There was little place for riotous assembly in
this code of ethics until far sighted [sic] commercial entrepreneurs began to discover in
the frustrated needs of the working class a whole new sector of the industrial market.
Celebration was then resurrected as the Leitmotif of the emerging leisure industry and
has remained a key element of mass entertainment ever since.

Palmer and Lloyd (1972) acknowledge that weakening community life and the increasing pace
of progress led to folk festivities that had lasted hundreds of years being changed; a trend which
they note will continue with the rapid change in civilisation. However, they highlight that British
resolve has prevented the complete extinction of these celebrations, with many too deep-rooted
in communities to completely disappear. Although many do not take place as spontaneously as
previously, the folk rituals continue to survive or be revived, with some of the modern revivals
adding new energy to old traditions. They explain:

It is said that if you scratch civilisation you find a savage. If you scratch the owner-
occupier of a desirable semi-detached residence you will find a man who is unconsciously
seeking something safe and familiar, something with roots deep in the forgotten past. He
may call Morris dancers ‘quaint’ . . . and refuse to appear as St. George in a mummer’s
play, but he will still eat hot cross buns on Good Friday, hang up mistletoe at Christmas,
and give a Hallowe’en party . . . Modern man is what history has made him, and one
facet of history lies in the popular customs that have their beginnings in cults almost as
old as man himself.
(Palmer and Lloyd, 1972, pp. 9–10)

Records of amateur festivals taking place across Britain date from as early as 1872. The 1870s wit-
nessed the spontaneous birth of local competition festivals alongside developments of intense com-
petition in industry. The first recorded festival was Workington Festival, which is still running today
(BIFF, 2022). Perhaps one of the most famous music events in the world, the Last Night of the Proms,
originates from this period, with the first Proms concert taking place in 1895 (Cowdrey, 2012).

Birth of an events industry?

Wood (1982) highlighted the birth of what is now becoming known as the events industry. She
identified that commercialising popular celebrations required wealth for people to participate and
therefore meant selecting suitable elements of the traditional festivities and adapting them for
‘vicarious consumption’. Consequently, celebrations that were traditionally seen as indecent or
immoral were restricted. The Hoppings, in Newcastle (now one of Britain’s biggest fairs), founded
in 1882 as a Temperance Festival, in conjunction with race week, provides a good example of one
approach. The idea of using a fair to advise people to act morally and not drink was in contrast to
the London Council and the Fair Act in 1871, which asserted fairs were places of ill repute and
dangerous for residents. The purpose of fairs has changed over time to what are seen today as
events that mainly operate for enjoyment, with rides, sideshows and stalls (NFCA, 2021b).

With the increase in work through industrialisation, the practicalities of celebration meant that
people were too tired to celebrate as they had done previously. Thus, celebration, and commercial
8 EVENT CONTEXT

celebration, provided the opportunity to relax from working life and, from a government perspec-
tive, it provided the basis for ensuring that celebration and traditional pleasure culture did not
interfere with work. Wood (1982, p. 15) noted:

In order to remove the guilty feelings attached to the pursuit of ‘sinful pleasure’ by the
Part 1

legacy of the Protestant Work Ethic, it became necessary to firstly earn the material means
of acquiring product of the entertainment industry and secondly, to ornate the rituals of
mass celebration with an aura of professionalism and beneficient spectacle strong enough
to dispel the appeal of popular home-spun amateur entertainment and pleasure seeking.

In 1871 bank holidays were made lawful, with the days dictated by the government and the
monarch. Since that time, the monarch has retained the power to proclaim additional holidays,
with the approval of Parliament, as illustrated by the extra bank holidays given for the 1977 Sil-
ver Jubilee (Harrowven, 1980), the 2002 Golden Jubilee, 2012 Diamond Jubilee and 2022 Platinum
Jubilee celebrations, as well as extra bank holidays in 2011 to celebrate the wedding of Prince
William and Catherine Middleton, and in May 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE
(Victory in Europe) Day. There remain ongoing discussions about when and whether there should
be additional regular bank holidays across the United Kingdom, but as yet no firm decisions have
been made.

Speak to any international visitor, and it is likely that comments relating to Britain’s rich history
will emerge. The monarchy and anniversaries of major historic events have played a key role in
public celebrations and the traditions, image and culture of Britain for hundreds of years. In their
extensive research on royal events, Laing and Frost (2018, p. 4) note that a range of events take
place, including:

● Coronations, funerals and weddings

● Jubilees and anniversaries
● Openings of Parliaments and other constitutional ceremonies
● Public appearances, openings and dedications
● Diplomatic events
● Processions and performances
● Royal visits and tours
● Commemorative events
● Events linked to royal patronage of charities, sports and cultural events
● Involvement within other events (for example, opening London 2012).

Royal events encourage patriotic fervour and serve not only to involve the general public in cel-
ebrating the monarchy itself, but have also contributed much to the UK’s position as one of the
leading international tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists each year. Judd (1997)
notes that Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 1897 were staged mainly to
display the achievements of Britain and the British Empire. Patriotic sentiment, lavish receptions
and balls, street parties with flags and bunting, shows, and military and naval displays marked the
festivities – similar displays have been witnessed since; for example, at the Coronation of Queen
Elizabeth in 1953, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, Golden Jubilee in 2012 and the Diamond Ju-
bilee in 2022. The death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, and the immediate ascension
of King Charles III, led to a unique mix of mourning, celebration and ritual throughout the United
Kingdom, other realms and the Commonwealth, and around the world. Events were staged in
Edinburgh, London and elsewhere, mourning and celebrating the life and 70 years’ service as
monarch of Queen Elizabeth, culminating in the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 9

19 September 2022, with further events and ceremonies to mark the ascension and confirmation
of King Charles III. The Coronation for King Charles took place on Saturday 6 May 2023, with an
additional bank holiday announced to mark the occasion across the UK.

According to Rogers and Wynn-Moylan (2023), the origins of the UK conference industry lie in
political and religious congresses, and trade and professional association conventions in America
in the late nineteenth century, though recognition of an industry itself is more recent, dating
from the middle to latter half of the twentieth century. Shone (1998) supports this and notes
that although the emergence of the conference industry dates from the last 30 years, and to some
extent, the past 250 years, this would ignore the development that took place for the preceding
thousands of years. He goes on to discuss the development of meeting places for trade, supported
by the growth in appropriate facilities, from public halls (first century AD), churches (tenth and
eleventh centuries), market towns (thirteenth century), and guildhalls (fourteenth century),
through inns and coffee houses (seventeenth century), assembly rooms, town halls and universi-
ties (eighteenth century), to the growth in specialist banqueting and assembly facilities such as
the Café Royal and Connaught Rooms in London, and meeting rooms within hotels (nineteenth
century).

Some of the leading exhibitions today have their origins in the early part of the twentieth century.
The Ideal Home Show is a prime example. The show was launched in 1908. Since that time, it
has mirrored changes in Britain’s social and lifestyle trends. The show is dedicated to setting and
reflecting trends, from the 1930s when plastics and stainless steel made their first appearance,
through the 1960s with the introduction of American-style kitchens as an international dimen-
sion was introduced, to the twenty-first century when the exhibits continue to be at the forefront
of innovation and still include the ‘Future Living Home’ – one of the show’s most famous features
(Media 10 Limited, 2021). Who would have thought in 1908 that technological concepts show-
cased at the exhibition as futuristic and innovative could become part of everyday life?

Significance of events established

In 1915, the British government realised the value of exhibitions to the country and held the first
British Industries Fair at the Royal Agricultural Hall (now the Business Design Centre), London.
The event proved to be a great success and grew rapidly over the following years, to the stage
where it ran in Earl’s Court, Olympia and Castle Bromwich (Birmingham) simultaneously. How-
ever, due to the increasing demand from trade associations and exhibitors for more specialised
events, the final British Industries Fair took place in 1957 (Cartwright, 1995). The period is also
notable for the 1938 Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston in Glasgow, which attracted 12.6 million
paying customers (Dale, 1995).

Following the World Wars, the promotion of popular celebration became a thriving sector of the
new industrial economy. The Policy Studies Institute (PSI, 1992) notes that, since 1945, arts fes-
tivals have become a prominent feature in the UK. Research by the Association of Independent
Festivals (AIF) (AIF, 2020), based on an online directory eFestivals, suggests that there are now
over 975 festivals, plus hundreds more one-day community festivals and carnivals. Some of the
most famous festivals, including Cheltenham (1945), the Edinburgh International Festival (1947)
and the Bath Festival (1948 – then named Bath Assembly), were developed by arts practitioners
following the two World Wars as a means of encouraging contact between European countries
(PSI, 1992). Although some arts festivals have been in existence for hundreds of years, over half
of all festivals have been established since 1980, with only six festivals within the PSI research
established before the twentieth century and a small number held before the end of the Second
World War. Those taking place before 1945 tended generally to be music festivals –for example,
Glyndebourne Festival (1934) which focuses on opera – as arts festivals are more contemporary.
10 EVENT CONTEXT

The 1951 Festival of Britain was held at South Bank Centre, London, to celebrate the centenary
of the Great Exhibition and to provide a symbol for Britain’s emergence from the Second World
War. It proved to be a great success, yet it underlined the fact that Britain had lost its early lead in
staging international exhibitions (Cartwright, 1995). As a result, in 1959 the Pollitzer Committee
Part 1

inquiry identified that the shortage of quality exhibition space was damaging the UK’s ability to
compete in the global marketplace and recommended that further developments were required.
Rogers and Wynn-Moylan (2023) identify that since the 1960s significant investment has taken
place in the infrastructure to support conferences, meetings and related events, with the 1990s
showing sustained growth in venues illustrated; for example, by the developments in Birmingham
(International Convention Centre) and Glasgow (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre),
with improvements continuing into the twenty-first century across the UK and elsewhere.

Emergence of professional events

The 1950s and 1960s were also notable for other factors that shaped events as they appear today.
First, the period saw the rapid increase in communities from the West Indies and South Asia, and
the establishment of events to celebrate these cultures. For example, the Notting Hill Carnival
was established in 1964 by the West Indian community to celebrate their ancestors’ freedom from
slavery (see the case study in Chapter 4). Second, the period saw the emergence of festival culture
that is still around today. McKay (2000) highlights that, contrary to popular belief, festival cul-
ture was established in the 1950s, rather than the 1960s. He states:

The early roots of British festival culture in the jazz festivals run by Edward (Lord)
Montagu at Beaulieu (1956–1961) and in Harold Pendleton’s National Jazz Federation
events at Richmond then Reading (from 1961 on) indicate the perhaps surprising extent
to which the trad and modern jazz scenes of the 1950s and early 1960s blazed the trail
for the hippy festivals of the later 1960s and beyond.

This period saw the appearance of a number of popular music festivals, including the Bath Festival
of Blues (1969), the Pilton Festival (1970, forerunner of the Glastonbury Festival), and the Isle
of Wight Festival (1968, 1969, 1970). The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 is believed to be the largest
ever UK festival, with over 600,000 people estimated to have attended (Glen, 2020). This event
illustrated the need for professional organisation and control, as the organisers ended up making
the event free when they lost control of admissions (Hodenfield, Bailey and O’Sullivan, 1970).
The promoters, Fiery Creations, are said to have made this their last festival on the island owing
to concerns over the festival’s size, claiming that it had become unmanageable.
The 1970s and 1980s saw a range of multipurpose venues being built that were funded pre-
dominantly by local authorities, including the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham
(1976) and the Wembley Conference Centre (1977) (Exhibition Liaison Committee, 1995). Since
then, the pace of development has continued, with the addition of exhibition space alongside or
within football stadia, an increasing number of multipurpose 10,000+-seat indoor arenas (e.g.
Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Not-
tingham and Sheffield) and multipurpose 5,000-seat indoor arenas (e.g. Bolton, Cardiff, Derby,
Exeter, Glasgow, London, Milton Keynes and Newport), additional exhibition space at the NEC in
Birmingham, plus the launch of ExCeL in London (2000), yet demand apparently still outstrips
supply given the continuing development and redevelopment taking place.

The growth in community festivals in the 1970s allowed professional artists to measure their
skills against ordinary working people, and provided a means of harnessing community spirit by
focusing attention away from social deprivation and unrest. Funding for such celebrations came
through art associations, with the events developed within an umbrella of social welfare and
community development. Thus, community festivals and festivities were used by governments
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 11

to provide a focus for society, in order to rejuvenate communities and provide the basis for social
and economic regeneration (Wood, 1982). Festivals had become part of the cultural landscape,
and had become connected again to people’s needs and lives. Every community, it seemed, had
something to celebrate and the tools with which to create its own festival.

Closely allied to sporting events is the area of corporate entertainment and hospitality. Crofts
(2001) observes that Britain has one of the most sophisticated corporate hospitality markets, due
in part to the concentrated summer social season that includes many of the distinguished events
highlighted earlier. He quoted Peter Selby, of Keith Prowse Hospitality, who noted that corporate
hospitality in the UK is believed to originate from the early 1970s, when the Open Golf Champion-
ship let Gus Payne erect a catering tent at the event. Other events saw this as a means of generating
revenue and keeping control of their events, by limiting their reliance on sponsors, and quickly
followed suit. Further, in the mid to late 1970s, Keith Prowse Hospitality was established. Initially
selling incentive packages, clients began asking to use the facilities for entertaining their customers
as well – at this point, it is believed, a new industry was born (Crofts, 2001). Greaves (1996, p. 46)
notes, “with the blip of the recession putting a stop to the spiralling extravagance of the 1980s, a
more targeted and cost-efficient display of corporate entertainment has had to step into the shoes
of the last decade, refashion them and then carry on walking down a different path.”

Through the 1980s and 1990s, certain seminal events set the pattern for the contemporary events
industry as we know it today. The Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 1982 ushered in a new
era of maturity and prominence for that city and a new breed of sporting events. It also initiated
a career in ceremonies and celebrations for former ABC rock show producer, Ric Birch, which led
to his taking a key role in the opening and closing ceremonies at the Los Angeles, Barcelona and
Sydney Summer Olympics and the Turin Winter Olympics.

The Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 demonstrated that major events could be econom-
ically viable, and blended the media mastery of Hollywood-style spectacle with a sporting event
in a manner that had not been done before, and that would set a standard for all similar events
in future. The production and marketing skills of the television industry brought the Olympics
to a wider audience than ever before. Television also demonstrated the power of a major sport-
ing event to bring increased profile and economic benefits to a city and to an entire country. The
1980s saw a rapid increase in the use of spectator sports for corporate hospitality, with interna-
tional sporting events such as the Open Golf Championship, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the British
Grand Prix and rugby events at Twickenham still popular today. Roger de Pilkyngton, marketing
director of Payne & Gunter, noted that the focus changed from entertaining for the sake of it, to
a more strategic use of hospitality. The mid to late 1980s saw an expansion of teambuilding and
multi-activity events (Greaves, 1996), the market growth continuing into the twenty-first century.

In 1985, Live Aid introduced the era of the telethon, followed by the BBC’s Children in Need and
Comic Relief ’s Red Nose Days (Bear Necessities of Golf, 1998). Live Aid was a unique television
event – it was a direct plea to the audience of 1.5 billion people in 160 countries to give Ethiopia
famine relief. It resulted in £200 million being raised (Younge, 1999).

PSI (1992) found that the 1980s benefited from significant expansion in arts festivals, due to suc-
cess observed in established festivals, supported by increased funding from the Arts Council and
regional arts boards. New Leisure Markets (1995) notes that, as a result of festival development
and redevelopment in the 1970s and 1980s, the typical festivals are modern events. Further, the
1980s saw increasing links with local authorities as they recognised the role of the arts in regen-
eration and tourism.

These festivals gave the cities and towns a sense of identity and distinction, and became a focus
for community groups and charity fundraising. It is a tribute to their place in the lives of their
communities that many of these festivals continue to this day.
12 EVENT CONTEXT

During 1995, extensive VE Day and VJ Day commemorations, parades and celebrations marked
the fiftieth anniversaries of the end of the Second World War in Europe and Japan. A series of
events was staged not only to celebrate victory and to thank those that fought for their country,
but also to look forward to the future and meet former enemies in a spirit of reconciliation. The
Part 1

finale to the VE celebrations in 1995 was the biggest celebration of reconciliation in European
history. Taking place in Hyde Park, London, it was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and members
of the royal family, leaders and representatives of 54 countries touched by the war, and a crowd of
150,000 people (Hardman, 1995).

The UK enjoyed success throughout the twentieth century, hosting some of the world’s major
international sporting events. These became more than the particular sport – many were ‘festivals
of sport’, reflecting the package of events taking place alongside the main event, and also revealing
the increasing crossover between sport, leisure, festivals and public events. These developments
increase interest in the event, encouraging festive spirit and community involvement, and enhanc-
ing the image of the event in the host community. For example, during the twentieth century,
the UK hosted the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games in London; the 1966 World Cup in London;
the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh; the 1991 Rugby Union World Cup in the UK and
France; the 1975, 1979 and 1983 Cricket World Cups; the 1973, 1993 and 2017 ICC Women’s
Cricket World Cup and the 1991 World Student Games.

In the past 30 years, there has been an increase in successful hosting, with the UK hosting in
quick succession a range of major sporting events (see Table 1.1)

Over that period of time, there has been increasing interest and investment in women’s sport and,
as a result, also the hosting of major and international championships. An example of this was
UEFA Women’s EURO England 2022, played at ten stadia around England. The final, played at
Wembley Stadium between England and Germany (and subsequently won by England), set a new
record attendance for a European Championship, in the men or women’s game, with over 87,000
spectators and a peak TV audience in the UK alone of over 17 million, and provides a launchpad
for a new era for equality with women’s sport. It has shattered, once and for all, the myth that
women’s football could not attract large audiences, both as spectators or for broadcasts, and will
also therefore provide an increasingly attractive proposition for sponsors, sporting bodies, gov-
ernment and other stakeholders, as well as a long-term legacy of increased engagement in sports.
UK nations have also bid to host other major events, subsequently awarded to other host nations,
including, for example, spending £10 million bidding for the FIFA Football World Cup in 2006, a
bid subsequently awarded to Germany; a reported £19 million bid to host the FIFA World Cup in
2018 or 2022, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively; and also a bid for the 2007
Rugby Union World Cup, an event awarded to France. In addition, a joint Scotland/Ireland bid for
the 2008 UEFA European Football Championships was awarded to Austria and Switzerland, and
a joint bid by Scotland, Wales and Ireland for the 2020 UFEA Football Championships was over-
taken by a decision to host the event across multiple countries. At the time of writing, the United
Kingdom and Ireland are considering a joint bid to host the 2028 European Championship, having
dropped plans to bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, though the potential success of this may have
been marred by the crowd issues at the 2020 UEFA Football Championship Final at Wembley
(Berkeley, 2021; Kilpatrick, 2022).

The pursuit of major events such as these forms part of government strategy implemented
through UK Sport (discussed further in Chapter 3), with nearly 100 major events targeted as part
of the UK sport strategic plan 2021–31 (UK Sport, 2021). Since 1997, when the first strategy was
launched, the UK’s reputation for hosting international events has significantly increased, with
UK Sport support for major events of European, World or Commonwealth status (UK Sport,
2017). They are also supported by national agencies such as VisitBritain/VisitEngland, VisitScot-
land/EventScotland, Visit Wales/Event Wales and Tourism NI (Northern Ireland), as well as
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 13

Table 1.1 Examples of major sporting events hosted in the UK

Year Event

1996 UEFA European Football Championships

1999 Rugby World Cup, Wales
1999 Cricket World Cup, England
2000 Rugby League World Cup
2002 Ryder Cup, The Belfry
2002 Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games
2003 World Indoor Athletics Championships, Birmingham
2009 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
2010 Ryder Cup, Celtic Manor Resort
2010 Rugby World Cup (Women’s)
2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games
2013 Rugby League World Cup, England and Wales
2014 Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
2014 Invictus Games, London
2014 Le Grand Départ Yorkshire, Tour de France
2014 Ryder Cup, Gleneagles Hotel
2015 Rugby World Cup, England
2017 World Athletics Championships, London
2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup
2019 Cricket World Cup, England
2021 UEFA European Football Championships (UEFA Euro 2020), Europe including UK
(rescheduled from 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2022 Rugby League World Cup, England (rescheduled from 2021 due to COVID-19
pandemic)
2022 Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
2022 UEFA Women’s EURO England 2022
2022 FIG World Gymnastics Championships Liverpool 2022
2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, Glasgow
2025 Rugby World Cup 2025 (Women’s), England
2026 2026 T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup, England
2026 European Athletics Championships, Birmingham

regional agencies or local authorities, for example, Marketing Manchester, Welcome to Sheffield,
London & Partners and City Events Team of Culture Liverpool.

The spirit of Live Aid was rejuvenated in 1999, with the NetAid fundraising concerts, and again
in 2005 for the Tsunami Relief Concert at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (see Chapter 14) and
Live 8. Using modern technology not available at Live Aid in 1985, the NetAid concerts took
place simultaneously in London, Geneva and New Jersey, with a combined live audience of
110,000. However, the difference with this event was that 2.4 million people watched the live
Internet broadcast of the event in one day, setting a new world record, and worldwide televi-
sion, radio and Internet coverage has so far generated over 2 billion impressions on the NetAid.
org website. NetAid illustrates the potential use of the Internet as a medium for social change,
through providing a global resource against extreme poverty. NetAid has also been credited with
helping to secure $27 billion in US debt relief by U2’s Bono (NetAid.org, 1999). Live 8 took
14 EVENT CONTEXT

place in July 2005. Timed before the G8 Summit of world leaders (Canada, France, Germany, UK,
Italy, Japan, Russia and USA) at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, Live 8 was developed not to raise
money, which had been the aim of Live Aid, but to campaign for justice by putting pressure on
the G8 leaders to end poverty in Africa by cancelling debt, increasing aid and delivering trade
Part 1

justice. What had originally been planned as five concerts (Berlin, London, Paris, Rome and
Philadelphia) expanded to twelve, with events taking place in Barrie, Berlin, Cornwall (Eden
Project), Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome and Tokyo. The main con-
cert took place in Hyde Park where over 200,000 watched acts including U2, Sir Paul McCartney,
Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Madonna, Dido, Pink Floyd, The Who, REM and a host of other
leading artists perform over the ten-hour event. Live 8 was watched by an estimated 3 billion
people worldwide with the event broadcast through television, radio, the Internet and mobile
phones (Live 8, 2005).

Into the new millennium

The trend in local authority funding for arts festivals continued into the twenty-first century. Allen
and Shaw (2001) found that, of the 137 festivals responding to their study, 82 per cent received
part of their funding in 1998/9 from local authorities, with 51 per cent gaining grants from arts
councils and 42 per cent from the English Regional Arts Boards. In the updated BAFA com-
missioned study, based on 2006/7 data, consultants sam and the University of Brighton (2008)
reported that of the 193 festivals responding to the study, around £5.2 million of their £21.3 mil-
lion combined total funding came from local authorities and councils, compared to £5.4 million
from arts councils, £4 million in grants from trusts and foundations and £6.7 million from busi-
ness. New Leisure Markets (1995) identifies that festivals are attractive to local authorities as they
provide visitors/tourists, encourage commercial sponsorship, present cultural experiences for res-
idents by taking arts to a wider audience, give staff a focus and can motivate involvement from the
local performing arts community. Funding for festivals, events and cultural activities has taken a
major hit over recent years, particularly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, however
potential sources of funds do remain, including through government, lottery and trusts, with
special funding implemented to aid recovery from the pandemic, including the Culture Recovery
Fund. While this was a temporary measure, longer term it is yet to be determined what further
support will be available as society recovers.

Commenting on their study (Allen and Shaw, 2001), Tim Joss, the then Chair of BAFA and Direc-
tor of the Bath Festivals Trust, highlights the modern role of festivals. He comments:

It’s time for many people – in the arts, in national and local government, and elsewhere –
to change their attitude to festivals. The old view that festivals are flashes in the pan
contributing nothing to long-term development must go. This valuable research paints a
very different picture. It makes an impressive case for arts festivals as flexible, efficient,
contemporary enterprises rooted in their local communities. And thanks to their special
freedom to collaborate with artists, venues, and artistic and other partners, they are
proving themselves valuable catalysts for cultural, social and economic development.
(BAFA, 2001)

Across the UK, the new millennium brought an unprecedented level of funding for community
projects, including events, and firmly focused the spotlight on the events industry. North West
Arts Board (1999) note that community festivals and events such as melas, Chinese New Year
and carnivals are extremely important, providing not only the opportunity for communities to
celebrate their identity and presence in the UK, but also a stage for creative expression within
the context of their cultural heritage. The year-long Millennium Festival, supported with £100
million from the National Lottery-funded Millennium Commission, saw communities take part in
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 15

around 2,000 events across the UK, including major celebrations in 22 towns and cities on New
Year’s Eve 1999, a further 32 events closing the year in 2000 and over 370 large-scale festivals.
Steve Denford, Senior Festival Manager at the Millennium Commission Press Office (2000), not-
ed: “The Millennium Festival is the largest programme of year-long celebrations ever mounted in
the UK with an opportunity for all communities to come together and celebrate the year 2000.
Throughout the year the diverse programme of events is offering something for everyone and
something happening everywhere.”

One of the largest combined events was the Beacon Millennium Project, whereby 1,400 beacons
were lit across the UK on 31 December 1999, providing the focal point for community-level cele-
brations. Further initiatives included investment of over £1.3 billion in around 200 new buildings,
environmental projects, visitor attractions, and a total of £200 million provided as 40,000 grants,
or ‘Millennium Awards’ for individuals to put their ideas into action for their communities (Mil-
lennium Commission, 2000).

The Millennium Festival caused communities across Britain to pause and reflect on identity
and the past, and to look forward to the future. It also changed forever the nature of our public
celebrations, as a new benchmark has been created against which all future events will be mea-
sured. The millennium also left a legacy of public spaces dedicated to celebrations and events,
and government, both local and central, supportive of their social and economic benefits. For
example, the Millennium Square in Leeds opened on 31 December 2000 as a multipurpose
event and leisure space in the heart of the city – purpose-built to provide a relaxing leisure
space for the people of Leeds, yet incorporating a range of services to reflect the needs of event
organisers.

Major events are continuing into the twenty-first century with increasing recognition of the role
that events can play beyond merely entertainment, linking in to cultural, arts, regeneration, edu-
cation, tourism and other strategies. A series of festivals and events were planned as part of the
SeaBritain Festival 2005, coordinated by the National Maritime Museum, “to celebrate the ways
in which the sea touches all of our lives.” The centrepiece of the festival was the Trafalgar Week-
end in October to mark the two hundredth anniversary of Nelson’s victory (National Maritime
Museum, 2005).

Liverpool successfully hosted the European Capital of Culture 2008. This prompted a series
of events before, during and after 2008, and significant investment in cultural infrastructure,
revitalising the city (Liverpool Culture Company 2005; Garcia, Melville and Cox 2010). The
other unsuccessful bidding cities, including Newcastle Gateshead and Bradford, capitalised
on their bids to take forward the cultural programme in their cities. For example, Newcastle
Gateshead Initiative implemented an ambitious programme of world-class events, festivals and
initiatives in 2003 though the culture10 project (Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, 2010). The
rules for bidding for European Capital of Culture were changed following the UK’s decision
to leave the EU (commonly referred to as Brexit) to exclude UK bids – this taking place part
way through the bidding cycle for 2023 after many cities had invested time and resource into
developing their bids. In response, organisers of LEEDS 2023 decided to continue developing
their programme anyway to deliver a year of cultural events and activities (Leeds Culture Trust
Limited, 2022).

The UK City of Culture competition was created to capitalise on the interest generated by the
European Capital of Culture in Liverpool in 2008, and the earlier Glasgow experience in 1990, to
showcase the cultural activity of cities, regions and groups of towns around the UK thematically
(British Council, 2017). The competition is delivered by the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport working with devolved administrations and aims to use “culture as a catalyst for levelling
up areas outside London and putting new parts of the UK on the cultural map internationally”
16 EVENT CONTEXT

(DCMS, 2021a). Derry-Londonderry was the first in 2013, using the year to explore its “history of
living through conflict and building a peaceful future” (British Council, 2017); followed by Hull
in 2017, with the year used to share the distinctive history of Hull through four seasons within
the theme ‘Everyone Back to Ours’ (Heritage Fund, 2016); and Coventry in 2021, celebrating
Part 1

innovations in transport, activism and moving people (Coventry UK City of Culture 2021, 2021).
Bradford was announced as the winner of the 2025 competition, with their bid focusing on cele-
brating Bradford as a place where people live, the power of diversity and providing opportunities
for all (DCMS and Dorries, 2022). Each UK City of Culture provides the host city/region the
opportunity to run an extensive programme of events and activities that draw attention to their
culture both nationality and internationally.

The business world was quick to discover the marketing and image-making power of events, and
events became established through the 1990s and the early 2000s as an important element of
the corporate marketing mix. Companies and corporations began to partner and sponsor major
events, such as Microsoft and Adecco’s involvement in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth
Games. Other corporations created events as vehicles for their own marketing – for example,
Sundae on the Common, a festival on Clapham Common in London developed for Ben & Jerry’s
ice cream. By the early 2000s, corporate involvement in events had become the norm, so spon-
sorship was perceived as an integral part of staging major events. Companies became increas-
ingly aware of the role that events could play in promoting their image and increasing their
market share, but they also became more focused on event outcomes and return on investment.
It became common for large companies to have an in-house event team, focused not only on the
company’s involvement in public events, but also on the internal role of events in company and
product promotions, staff training and morale building. Events became not only a significant part
of the corporate vocabulary, but also a viable career option with employment opportunities and
career paths.

Challenges face the new industry

However, the path of the modern events industry has not always been smooth, and nationally and
internationally it has faced many challenges in its short history. These include attitudes towards
and impacts of climate change; the September 11 terrorist attack on New York and other terrorist
attacks around the world; the SARS crisis; the Global Financial Crisis (GFC); a major upheaval
in the global insurance industry, resulting in escalating insurance costs and in the need for the
industry to adopt strategies for managing the risks to events; and the novel coronavirus (COVID-
19) from 2020.

As we entered the middle of the first decades of the 2000s, the spectre of climate change began to
affect the industry as the world became increasingly aware of the threat of global warming. Envi-
ronmental sustainability became a key event management concept, with green initiatives adopted
to reduce the environmental impact and the carbon footprint of events. Many events were created
as models to impart awareness of climate change, and to encourage participants to change their
habits and lifestyle. Indicating the development of public awareness of the issue is the remarkable
growth of Earth Hour, an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund to switch off the lights in major
cities to encourage awareness of climate change, starting in Sydney in 2007 with 2.2 million
participants. In 2008, 50 million people participated across 35 countries. By 2018, hundreds of
millions of people around the world in more than 7,000 cities in over 180 countries were partic-
ipating in the event (Earth Hour, 2020). In 2019 the School Strike for Climate mobilised school
children around the world in a massive action that reverberated in the global consciousness and
media (Shine, 2019).
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 17

Much of the rapid expansion of events was fuelled by the longest economic boom in living mem-
ory, and, by the end of the first decade of the 2000s, a reality check was long overdue. This came
with the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (sometimes referred to as ‘The Great Recession’) sparked
by the USA sub-prime mortgage affair in 2008, continuing worldwide into 2009 (Loo, 2023). As
the economy worsened, many corporate clients cancelled events, and those that continued them
tightened their budgets. The mood switched swiftly to one of austerity, and the events that con-
tinued were required to exhibit modesty and thrift – virtues that the events industry now had to
practice in order to survive.

Although the GFC had a considerable impact on the events industry, events, now established
as an integral part of modern business practice, managed to survive the economic downturn, as
they have survived other challenges in the past. A lasting legacy is that event managers have been
called upon to deliver more with less, and to tread a thin and careful line between the twin chal-
lenges of economic and environmental sustainability.

In the decade that followed the GFC, events continued to grow apace and to further entrench
their position as a key part of our cultural life. Event managers and producers have sought to
produce ever more innovative and attractive events in order to win our hearts and minds and
open our pockets. The growth in Australia illustrates this point. In 2009 Vivid Sydney was
born as a smart light festival headlined by Brian Eno and using the Sydney Opera House as a
giant screen for lighting projections. Over the following decade, it has morphed into a giant
festival of light, music and ideas, attracting massive local and international visitation and
bringing Sydney alive in winter. In the same year Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia,
initiated The Light in Winter project, and other lighting festivals have followed around Aus-
tralia, with the White Light Festival in Melbourne, Enlighten in Canberra, the Swan Festival
of Lights in Perth and Field of Light at Uluru in the Northern Territory. Food and wine, film
and music festivals have also continued to proliferate in cities and towns around Australia,
a position replicated in the UK and round the world. This veritable explosion of festivals in
Australia caused Munro (2016) writing in The Sydney Morning Herald to ask, “Have we reached
‘peak festival’?”

. . . between the Sydney Festival, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Vivid Sydney, Sydney
Writers’ Festival, . . . Sydney Design Festival, Laneway Festival, Vibes on a Summer’s
Day, Sydney Comedy Festival . . . you might start feeling festival fatigue.

There’s a festival for every occasion, season and sensation in this city. Could Sydney
finally have hit ‘peak festival’?

However, Westwood (2017) writing in The Australian challenges this assumption:

Ticket data collated by Live Performance Australia shows that 2.5 million people
collectively spent almost $170 million on festivals in 2015, a figure that does not include
film and writers’ festivals, or the huge attendance at the free outdoor attractions of Vivid
Sydney. And there’s no sign of enthusiasm waning . . .

Danton (2016) posed this same question, “Have we reached peak festival?”, concluding that there
were indeed too many music festivals, a theme also highlighted by Wynn (2017) who explored
whether the increasing commercialisation, creeping conformity, consolidation and uniformity
were having an impact on attendance. This theme was picked up in the UK in June 2022, when
Reidy (2022) highlighted that ticket sales for some summer festivals were significantly reducing,
which combined with soaring production costs, was leading to festival cancellations. Whether this
was due to economic factors in play at the time, or the start of a trend due to an (over)crowded
market, will only become apparent in the years ahead.
18 EVENT CONTEXT

EVENT PROFILE
Vivid Sydney: light, music, ideas
Part 1

Vivid Sydney started in 2009 as a smart light festival at Sydney Cove. As the festival devel-
oped, projections on the sails of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge,
the Museum of Contemporary Art and Customs House at Circular Quay helped to define
a unique festival precinct. The use of computer mapping technology and high-quality pro-
jections brought the iconic precinct to life, supported by a series of innovative and often
immersive installations by Australian and international lighting artists and companies to
become the Light Walk. Crowds flocked to the festival, which quickly became a signa-
ture event for Sydney and a tourism drawcard, attracting interstate and overseas visitors
during the normally quiet winter season. Venues were expanded, including by 2018 the
Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, the Rocks, Barangaroo, Luna Park and Darling Harbour,
along with the city’s Kings Cross, Chatswood and Taronga Zoo precincts.

Vivid had a strong music component from the beginning, attracting legendary perform-
ers, including over the first decade Brian Eno, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, The Cure,
Kraftwerk and Pixies, to a programme of concerts focused initially on the Sydney Opera
House. By 2018 this had expanded to include Carriageworks, the City Recital Hall and a
host of music venues across the city, with a wide range of local and visiting performers.

Parallel to this, a festival of ideas was developed, which by 2018 had grown to over 100
workshops, forums and creative events at venues including the Museum of Contemporary
Art, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the City Recital Hall, and the Powerhouse and
Australian Museums. Headliners in 2018 included James Cameron, filmmaker of Avatar
and Titanic; Dare Jennings, founder of Mambo, Phantom Records and Deus Ex Machina;

Photo 1.2 Vivid Sydney

Photo Credit: Taras Vyshnya - Shutterstock.com
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 19

and Dan Goods, strategist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-founder of the
Museum of Awe.

Ever-increasing crowds led to challenges of congestion and transport for the festival.
Organisers responded by extending the duration of the festival to 23 days, encouraging
visitors to explore the newer venues and to visit on the less crowded early weeknights,
with the Light Walk becoming one-way at peak times.

In 2019, Vivid Sydney set a new record with 2.4 million people attending the festival and
contributing over $172 million to the NSW economy (Destination NSW, 2020).

However, Vivid Sydney at the end of its first decade was not without its critics, one of
whom complained that it is too crowded, too repetitive and has lost its creative mojo
(Farrelly, 2018):

Vivid at 10 has proved you can be loud without actually being vivid . . . So, question:
has Vivid become the victim of its own success? Has it fallen into that old Sydney trap
of substituting quantity for quality? . . . Do we really care about biggest? Whatever
happened to best?

In early 2020, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic exploded worldwide, fracturing many
of the norms and structures of society. With the ban on events including mass gatherings, events
were shut down almost overnight across the UK and globally. For long periods of 2020 and 2021
and into 2022, legal restrictions remained for specific event types (and sizes) and particular ven-
ues. Despite innovations such as video/virtual conferencing and Internet delivery of events, the
virus had a devastating impact on the events industry, as it did on the whole of society and the
economy. The events industry has taken a major hit, with many businesses in the events industry
unable to operate from March 2020 to July 2021, or where they were able to run, working with
significant restrictions.

While the pandemic led to rapid change and innovations in online events and working practices,
it also removed the ability for people to meet in-person for an extended period of time. It is
impossible to predict how long the crisis will last around the world, or what the events industry
will look like once it recovers, with the impact of the shutdowns, cancellations and rescheduling
continuing into 2022 and beyond. However, given the importance of events and the crucial role
that they play in society, the industry will rebound and events will continue, albeit modified
where necessary to suit changed circumstances, any prevailing legal restrictions/guidance and
the ‘new normal’.

At various points during peak pandemic, there were concerns expressed that audiences would
not wish to return to in-person events and there would be a permanent change in behaviour.
Early indications are that, as the impact of the vaccination programme enabled restrictions to be
gradually lifted during 2021 and restrictions removed/changing to guidance in 2022 in the UK
and elsewhere around the world, demand remains for live in-person events, with large numbers
of attendees returning to events including festivals, conferences, exhibitions and sporting events.
What the longer-term impact will be on the industry, only time will tell; however, it is clear that
impacts stretched beyond health, leading to some businesses closing and skilled people moving
out of the industry or being made redundant, resulting in a shortage of talent, businesses pivoting
to other areas, and supply chain issues over an extended period. Industry research suggested that
the loss of business could equate to £57 billion in 2021 (from the £70 billion value of the events
industry pre-pandemic), equating to a downturn of 81 per cent (BVEP, 2021).
20 EVENT CONTEXT

Evidence so far suggests that the market for in-person events is rebounding, with event compa-
nies now exploring how to maximise the benefits of virtual and hybrid events going forward. For
example, it appears that selected business events, such as some conferences and meetings, may
continue to be offered in a virtual or hybrid format, as they have proven themselves invaluable
Part 1

for opening up access and bringing people together from long distances (either domestically or
internationally) who may otherwise be unable to meet due to cost, time or other constraints.
However, other types of event have found that demand for virtual events has reduced as the ability
to attend in person has returned. It is clear that the size of the virtual event market has increased
and it is expected to increase going forwards; for example, Market Reports World (2022) forecast
the worldwide market will grow from $115,610 million to $366,450 million by 2028, while Allied
Market Research (2021) noted the UK and Ireland market alone was worth $3.1 billion in 2019
(pre-pandemic) and was expected to grow to $36.1 billion by 2027, offering significant opportu-
nities for development and innovation in this area of the industry.

It is clear that the events industry took a major hit during the pandemic, yet it also showed
remarkable resilience, with the industry working together to recover, while also responding to the
ongoing challenges of climate change, Brexit and other external factors around the world, includ-
ing the economic downturn, cost of living crisis and political instability.

Events on the world stage

This brief outline of the history of modern events relates primarily to the UK situation, but a
similar story has been replicated in most post-industrial societies. The balance between more
traditional festivals and contemporary corporate events changes according to the nature of the
society in a given geographic area.

Nevertheless, there is ample anecdotal evidence to suggest that the growth of events is a world-
wide phenomenon. In 2017 the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)
reported a record number of 12,558 international association meetings taking place globally, the
highest annual figure ever recorded in its yearly analysis of the immediate past year’s meetings
data. It had previously identified a 50-year trend of exponential growth in the number of interna-
tional association meetings, with numbers doubling every ten years. Although this exponential
growth had slowed in recent years, it was described as a more mature, but still solid growth pat-
tern (International Congress and Convention Association, 2018).
Meanwhile, the staging of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and Winter Olympics in Bei-
jing in 2022, World Expos in Shanghai and Dubai, the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010, and
the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 saw these cities use major events to showcase their
emerging prominence to the world. This increasing interest in events in Asia and around the world
is reflected in the establishment of International Festivals and Events Association affiliates, includ-
ing in China, South Korea and South Africa (International Festivals and Events Association, 2022).

The UK continues to be recognised as a leader in the event field; for example, with events such as
Edinburgh International Festival and Glastonbury Festival, the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth
Games, London 2012 Olympic Games, 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the 2022 Bir-
mingham Commonwealth Games – and with success in these events helping shape the future
bidding for events in the UK.

What are events?

Before exploring events in further detail throughout the following chapters, it is important to
clarify the terms used. Many authors have discussed the definition of events and the various terms
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 21

used to describe these, however, there is little agreement on standardised terms or categories to
use. A useful starting point when looking at definitions and terminology is The Chambers Dictionary
(1998, p. 560) which defines event as:

anything which happens; result; any incidence or occurrence esp a memorable one;
contingency or possibility of occurrence; an item in a programme (of sports, etc); a type
of horse-riding competition, often held over three days (three-day event), consisting of
three sections, ie dressage, cross-country riding and showjumping; fortune or fate (obs);
an organized activity at a particular venue, eg for sales promotion, fundraising.

It can be concluded from this definition that the term event may be viewed in a variety of ways,
with other texts and dictionaries offering similar definitions. The Events Industry Council (EIC,
n. d.) ‘Industry glossary of terms’ defines an event as, “An organized occasion such as a meeting,
convention, exhibition, special event, gala dinner, etc. An event is often composed of several
different yet related functions.” Raj and Rashid (2022, p. 3) focus on an event as “a purposeful
human creation.” Following their extensive review of the literature, Dolasinski, Roberts, Reynolds
and Johanson (2021, pp. 558–559) defined an event as, “an occurrence that has a time element,
two or more participants, is planned, and is a unique opportunity.” Finally, Getz (2005, p. 16)
notes that a principle applying to all events is they are temporary and that, “Every such event is
unique, stemming from the blend of management, program, setting, and people.” For the pur-
poses of this text, therefore, an event is defined as a planned, temporary and unique experience,
organised at a prearranged time, with clear objectives established to meet audience needs.

Special events
The term ‘special events’ has been coined to describe specific rituals, presentations, performances
or celebrations that are consciously planned and created to mark special occasions and/or to achieve
particular social, cultural or corporate goals and objectives. Special events can include national days
and celebrations, important civic occasions, unique cultural performances, major sporting fixtures,
corporate functions, trade promotions and product launches. It seems at times that special events
are everywhere; they have become a growth industry. The field of special events is now so vast that
it is impossible to provide a definition that includes all varieties and shades of events. As an early
pioneer in events literature, Goldblatt (2008, p. 5) highlighted the human aspect of events, defin-
ing special events as, “a unique moment in time, celebrated with ceremony and ritual to satisfy
specific needs.” In his groundbreaking work on the typology of events, Getz (2005, p. 16) suggests
that special events are best defined by their context. He offers two definitions, one from the point
of view of the event organiser, and the other from that of the customer, or guest:

1. A special event is a one-time, or infrequently occurring event outside the normal programme
or activities of the sponsoring or organising body
2. To the customer or guest, a special event is an opportunity for an experience outside the nor-
mal range of choices or beyond everyday experience.

Among the attributes that he believes make events special are festive spirit, uniqueness, quality,
authenticity, tradition, hospitality, theming, affordability, convenience and symbolism.

It is clear from the above discussion that whether an event is special or not depends in some
degree on the viewpoint of the practitioner or person experiencing the event, or indeed the author,
researcher or student in the field. However, it is clear that special event is again being used as a
term that includes many other categories.

Jago and Shaw (1998, p. 28) express another view from a tourism context. Based on their research
which explored and developed a definitional framework for special events, they suggested six
22 EVENT CONTEXT

core attributes of special events. These were that special events should attract tourists or tourism
development; be of limited duration; be one-off or infrequent occurrence; raise the awareness,
image, or profile of a region; offer a social experience; and, be out of the ordinary. In their sum-
mary definition of a special event they draw together a number of the above areas: “A one-time
Part 1

or infrequently occurring event of limited duration that provides the consumer with a leisure and
social opportunity beyond everyday experience. Such events, which attract, or have the potential
to attract, tourists, are often held to raise the profile, image or awareness of a region” (Jago and
Shaw, 1998, p. 29).

Categorising events
There are many different ways of categorising or grouping events, including by format, size, form
and content, as discussed in the following sections. This text examines the full range of events
that the events industry produces, using the term ‘events’ to cover all of the following categories.

Format – in-person, virtual and hybrid events

Earlier in this section, an event was defined as a planned, temporary and unique experience, organ-
ised at a prearranged time, with clear objectives established to meet audience needs. Later in this
chapter, events are categorised as they traditionally have been by size, form and content. However,
what the definitions and categorisations do not necessarily capture is the format in which the event
takes place. While the technology involved in delivering events has been rapidly evolving before
and since the first edition of this text in 2001, the recent COVID-19 pandemic redefined how
many people attended or experienced events. This happened as one of the basic assumptions when
organising an event – the ability for people (audiences/attendees) to meet in-person – was, for a
while, taken away (indeed, at some stages of the pandemic, it was illegal in the UK and elsewhere).
The events industry and society quickly responded and adjusted (or ‘pivoted’ as the term became
used), making increased use of digital technology to enable people to remain in contact and to meet
together, whether for business or pleasure, online. During the early stages of the pandemic and
subsequently, terminology has entered everyday use that in the past had been confined to technol-
ogy specialists, specialist providers and perhaps more niche audiences.

In a broad sense, there are three main formats of event: in-person, virtual and hybrid, with a con-
tinuum of activities between the three.

IN-PERSON EVENTS
In-person events are those where attendees are physically present in a location. Sometimes these
may be referred to ‘live events’ (though arguably any event that is not pre-recorded/is running at a
specified time is live), physical, in-person or face-to-face events. A key feature of in-person events
is the value of meeting, celebrating, participating, socialising or networking with others at these
events, and of sharing the experience in-person alongside others at the same point in time. While
many aspects of events may be replicated virtually (for example, communicating information at
a conference or viewing a performance at a concert), the value of being physically present with
many others in the same space should not be underestimated.

VIRTUAL EVENTS
Virtual or digital events are events where attendees attend and access content entirely in an online
format. The Events Industry Council (EIC, 2022) defines virtual conferencing as “Any meeting
where people at two or more distant locations are linked using video, audio and data for two-way
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 23

communication via satellite communications or the Internet. Each party sees and hears the other
through a TV screen or computer monitor and audio speakers.” Events may make use of software
using event or other apps, or provide access through web browsers on a range of devices (for
instance, a computer, tablet or mobile). At a foundation level, virtual events could be as simple
as a business meeting, webinar or social event taking place for two or more people using a video
conferencing solution such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom or Skype. At a more advanced
level, virtual events may be delivered to larger audiences and accessed through a virtual event
platform such as Cvent, vFairs, Hopin, Airmeet, Webex Events, or one of the many other options
that have appeared over recent years.

Virtual events may range from an organiser sharing a web URL for the audience to access a single
webinar/presentation, to a full conference programme delivered on a virtual event platform that
provides a complete online solution. This may cover all stages of the event; for example, ordering/
registration and ticketing, keynote speakers and multiple breakout sessions; full audience engage-
ment and participation through polls, activities, broadcast content, questions and answers, gamifi-
cation and extending involvement through social media; a fully structured or flexible programme;
and evaluation and ongoing access to materials post event. While conferences, meetings, webinars,
workshops and training may have been reasonably well established in this format, with their use
increasing during the pandemic and subsequently, over recent years the range of events available
for audiences to access this way increased, with networking events, award ceremonies, product
launches, team building, exhibitions, concerts, incentives (such as wine tasting or cooking demos)
or other events taking place in a virtual environment. Virtual events may be ‘live’ (synchronous),
with all aspects running in real-time, or may incorporate recorded content being woven into the
experience (for example, a keynote speaker being broadcast to the virtual audience, followed by a
live Q&A). An added benefit of virtual events is that the content can be accessed asynchronously
(that is, if enabled by the organisers, the audience may access content at a time of their choosing).

HYBRID
Hybrid events are events that incorporate a mix of virtual and in-person formats. This may be,
for example, that an attendee can access a version of the same event completely online or attend
in person; an event that has an in-person audience that is then also broadcast to an online/
virtual audience; events taking place in different locations linked together virtually with interaction
between the respective audiences; or it could be an event that has different features of the event
experience that are available to the same audience in-person and virtually. While hybrid events
require both the in-person and virtual events to be planned and managed effectively, depending
on how it has been developed as a hybrid event, and whether it is one or a number of audiences
being catered for, the link between the two also has to be thought through.

The Events Industry Council (EIC, 2021) have produced a guide to help define the event strategy
and make better use of digital/virtual elements to support in-person events, including practical
guidance on risk, finance, technical and design considerations. Further online guides are available,
including content increasingly provided by the digital platforms, such as vFairs (Yousaf, 2022) and
cvent (2020; Howard, 2022). Many of the principles involved in organising in-person events need
considering for a virtual or hybrid event, with the planning process being followed to develop and
deliver the event, and consideration given to the objectives, audience needs, what event experi-
ence is being offered and how it is best delivered.

Size
Events are often characterised according to their size and scale. Common categories are major
events, mega-events, hallmark events and local/community events, although definitions are not
24 EVENT CONTEXT

exact and distinctions become blurred. For example, Ferdinand, Shaw and Forsberg (2017) use
the term international events to draw together hallmark, mega and major event categories. They
go on to define international events as “large-scale events which attract international audiences
and media attention and meet a variety of economic objectives for the destinations in which they
Part 1

are hosted” (Ferdinand, Shaw and Forsberg, 2017, p. 8). Following an extensive review of classifi-
cations, typologies and terminology in use within the literature and published research, Jago and
Shaw (1998) proposed mega-events and hallmark events as subcategories of major events, while
other authors present these categories on a scale according to size and impact. This is illustrated
in Figure 1.1.

While definitions of events have been a feature of the events literature, their use in wider
society has not always been realised. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments
and health organisations around the world produced definitions of events or gatherings based
on size, location, type and purpose, alongside using the definitions to implement restrictions
and measures to contain the spread of the virus. The term ‘gathering’, and ‘mass gather-
ing’ in particular, have featured in guidance beyond COVID-19 for a long time; however, the
pandemic drew the terms to the public’s attention and into regular use. The Health Protection
(Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020 6(a) defined a gathering as, “when
two or more people are present together in the same place in order to engage in any form of
social interaction with each other, or to undertake any other activity with each other.” The
World Health Authority (WHO, 2019) define a mass gathering as, “a planned or spontaneous
event where the number of people attending could strain the planning and response resources
of the community or country hosting the event.” They note that international sporting events
such as Olympics and World Cups would fit the definition, as would international religious
events such as the Hajj, however, lower profile conferences and other events can also meet the
definition as it depends on location, duration and number of participants, with the capacity
of the health system to respond to any issues also a consideration (WHO, 2020). Lancaster
(2022) noted that Asian events industry leaders, at a Joint Leadership Summit in Singa-
pore, proposed that business events should be classified as ‘controlled gatherings’ rather than
‘mass gatherings’ to recognise their highly controlled environments, and to ensure that they
could continue to operate safely in any future situation, while fulfilling a strategic role for
governments.
profile, infrastructure, costs, benefits)

High
Scale of impacts (attendance, media

Low
Local/community Major Hallmark Mega-event

Size of event

Figure 1.1 Categorisation of events

 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 25

LOCAL OR COMMUNITY EVENTS

Most communities produce a host of festivals and events that are targeted mainly at local audiences
and staged primarily for their social, fun and entertainment value. Such events can be found in
almost every city and town in the United Kingdom. These events often produce a range of benefits,
including engendering pride in the community, strengthening a feeling of belonging, contributing
to wellbeing and creating a sense of place. They can also help to expose people to new ideas and
experiences, encourage participation in sports and arts activities, and encourage tolerance and diver-
sity. For these reasons, local governments often support such events as part of their community and
cultural development strategies. Janiskee (1996, p. 404) defines local or community events as:

… family-fun events that are considered ‘owned’ by a community because they use volunteer
services from the host community, employ public venues such as streets, parks and schools and
are produced at the direction of local government agencies or nongovernment organizations
(NGOs) such as service clubs, public safety organisations or business associations.
However, claims that community events can contribute to the wellbeing of the community can only
be realised if the values of the community are considered when developing the values of the event,
otherwise there can be a mismatch and negative impacts (Jepson and Clarke, 2015). Janiskee also
comments that community festivals can become hallmark events and attract a large number of visitors
to a community. Janiskee estimates that community celebrations in the USA have been increasing at
an annual rate of 5 per cent since the 1930s, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is reasonable to
assume that they have increased at a similar rate in the UK, until the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another growing subsection of community is charity fundraising events, which seek to increase
the profile and raise funds for their respective charities. Well-known examples include BBC
Children in Need, Comic Relief ’s Red Nose Day and Sports Relief, Shine Night Walks for Can-
cer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Mornings, and recently
Movember, a moustache-growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds
and awareness for men’s health. While each have their range of supporters and stakeholders,
there are many thousands of further events that could have been used as examples, each on behalf
of a specific worthy cause. Although these events often have key financial objectives, they are
generally seen as part of the not-for-profit community sector.

MAJOR EVENTS
Major events are events that, by their scale and media interest, are capable of attracting significant
visitor numbers, media coverage and economic benefits. The Isle of Man hosts the TT Races and
Silverstone has the British Formula One Grand Prix, both significant annual major events. Cowes
Week, hosted on the Isle of Wight each year, provides a focus on maritime pursuits as well as
attracting international prestige and media. The Open Championship, staged at different links
golf courses each year, attracts strong destination promotion around the world for the host region.
Many top international sporting championships fit into this category, and are increasingly being
sought after, and bid for, by national sporting organisations and governments in the competitive
world of international major events. UK Sport (1999a, p. 4) considers that three elements are
required to be classed as a major sporting event:

1. It involves competition between teams and/or individuals representing a number of nations

2. It attracts significant public interest, nationally and internationally, through spectator atten-
dance and media coverage
3. It is of international significance to the sport(s) concerned, and features prominently on their
international calendar.
26 EVENT CONTEXT

Cultural events can also be contenders as major events, such as the Cheltenham, Brighton and
Belfast festivals, Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in Wales,
Reading and Leeds Festivals, and Liverpool Irish Festival.
Part 1

HALLMARK EVENTS
The term ‘hallmark events’ refers to those events that become so identified with the spirit or
ethos of a town, city or region that they become synonymous with the name of the place, and gain
widespread recognition and awareness. Tourism researcher Ritchie (1984, p. 2) defines them as:

Major one time or recurring events of limited duration, developed primarily to enhance
awareness, appeal and profitability of a tourism destination in the short term or long
term. Such events rely for their success on uniqueness, status, or timely significance to
create interest and attract attention.

Classic examples of hallmark events are Carnival in Rio, known throughout the world as an ex-
pression of the Latin vitality and exuberance of that city, the Kentucky Derby in the USA, the
Chelsea Flower Show in the UK, the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, and the Edinburgh Inter-
national Festival in Scotland. These events are identified with the very essence of these places and
their citizens, and bring huge tourist revenue as well as a strong sense of local pride and interna-
tional recognition. Getz (2005, pp. 16–17) describes them in terms of their ability to provide a
competitive advantage for their host communities:

… ‘hallmark’ describes an event that possesses such significance, in terms of tradition,

attractiveness, quality, or publicity, that the event provides the host venue, community,
or destination with a competitive advantage. Over time, the event and destination can
become inextricably linked, such as Mardi Gras and New Orleans.

Examples in the UK might include the Notting Hill Carnival, the Grand National at Aintree, the
FA Cup Final (mostly associated with Wembley Stadium, apart from during the redevelopment
where it took place at the Millennium Stadium Cardiff) and The Championships at Wimbledon,
all of which have a degree of international recognition. Commenting on the value of The Champi-
onships, John Barrett, author, and Senior BBC Commentator, stated:
‘Wimbledon’, as The Championships are universally known, has become over the years
an established part of the fabric of British life. It is more than a tradition, more than
just the world’s most important and historic tennis tournament. It is a symbol of all that
is best about sport, royal patronage, and social occasion that the British do so well, a
subtle blend that the rest of the world finds irresistible.
(Jones, 2000)

Over recent years, a number of local, regional and national event strategies have started referring to
‘signature events’, where others may refer to hallmark events. Arcodia and Robb (2000, p. 157) noted
the potential use of the term, “linking a particular activity with a particular location … in the con-
sumer’s mind, a particular event is always associated with a particular place.” For example, in their
event tourism review for Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Blue Sail Consulting Limited
(2021, p. 12) referred to signature events contributing to their portfolio of events as “high-quality,
annual/biannual or one-off bid-for events which showcase the area and deliver a strong sense of place
experience, capable of attracting national and international visits and enhancing destination profile.”
From this example, it is clear that academic terms are crossing into professional use, and vice-versa.

MEGA-EVENTS
Mega-events are those events that are so large that they affect whole economies and reverber-
ate in the global media. These events are generally developed following competitive bidding.
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 27

They include the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, and World Fairs, but it is difficult for
many other events to fit into this category. Marris in Getz (2005, p. 18) focuses on specific
features, noting, “Their volume should exceed 1 million visits, their capital cost should be
at least $500 million, and their reputation should be that of a ‘must see’ event.” Getz (2005,
p. 6) goes on to say:

Mega-events, by way of their size or significance, are those that yield extraordinarily high
levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige, or economic impact for the host community,
venue or organization.
Hall (1997, p. 5), another researcher in the field of events and tourism, offers this definition:

Mega-events such as World Fairs and Expositions, the World Soccer Cup Final, or the
Olympic Games, are events which are expressly targeted at the international tourism
market and may be suitably described as ‘mega’ by virtue of their size in terms of
attendance, target market, level of public financial involvement, political effects, extent
of television coverage, construction of facilities, and impact on economic and social
fabric of the host community.

Müller (2015, p. 634) examined the definitions of several researchers in the field and concluded
that:

[m]ega-events are ambulatory occasions of a fixed duration that attract (a) a large
number of visitors, (b) have large mediated reach, (c) come with large costs and (d) have
large impacts on the built environment and the population.

Finally, Jago and Shaw (1998, p. 29) define mega-events simply as, “A one-time major event that
is generally of an international scale.”

In relative terms, by these definitions the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 was perhaps the
UK’s first mega-event. Although belonging to an era of less encompassing media, other early
examples may include the 1908 and 1948 London Olympics, the 1938 Empire Exhibition in
Glasgow, the 1951 Festival of Britain and the 1966 World Cup. Modern events such as the 1991
World Student Games in Sheffield and the Euro ’96 football championships would struggle to
meet all of Getz’s criteria. More recently, the UK Millennium Festival in 2000, if taken as a
national event, would probably qualify, as may the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games
with the associated national Spirit of Friendship Festival, the London 2012 Olympic Games, the
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Inter-
estingly, UK Sport (2017) referred to the 2014 Tour de France (Le Grand Départ), 2019 UCI
Road World Cycling Championships and 2021 Rugby League World Cup (rescheduled to 2022)
as mega-events within their definition – demonstrating that while various authors have differ-
ent definitions, event organisers, government, sporting bodies and other stakeholders may also
develop definitions for their purposes too. For example, DCMS (2017, p. 4) identified the follow-
ing criteria that should be taken into consideration when deciding what constitutes a mega-event
for the purposes of the UK Mega Events Policy Framework, developed in collaboration with the
major events bodies in the UK:

● Event represents the pinnacle of the sport at World or European level

● Event is itinerant – i.e. not considered as permanently resident in the UK
● Event is likely to have a staging cost in excess of £10m
● Event is likely to attract in excess of 100,000 spectators
● Event may require partial or full underwriting by the public sector
● Event may require government guarantees
● Event may entail significant delivery complexity.
28 EVENT CONTEXT

Form or content
Another common means of classifying events is by their form or content. Cultural events, includ-
ing live music and festivals, are a universal form of events that pre-date the contemporary events
industry and exist in most times and most societies. Sports events have grown out of similar
Part 1

roots to become a sizable and growing sector of the events industry. Business events, sometimes
called MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events, are an established arm
of the events industry, and generate considerable income for their host cities and, increasingly, for
regional centres. The following sections explore the form or content further – it should be noted
that boundaries can blur between classifications; for example, with cultural events including live
music (concerts, gigs and festivals), while festivals include music festivals. However, it can be
helpful to consider them from both perspectives.

CULTURAL EVENTS
Cultural events are a major feature of the event landscape, offering live performance, displays,
festivals, concerts, exhibitions or entertainment, based on content including music, arts, drama,
literature, customs, ceremony, culture or tradition. These can range from small-scale local events
through to large-scale major events. For example, major musicals such as Phantom of the Opera,
Mamma Mia, Wicked, Joseph and Cats continue to reap considerable tourism revenue for London’s
West End. Annual events such as Edinburgh Festivals are an important expression of human
activity that contributes much to our social and cultural life, while the hosting of London 2012
Olympics provided further cultural opportunities through the Cultural Olympiad. A further
highly visible example of this was the extensive programme of events for the Liverpool 2008
European Capital of Culture, events as part of the UK City of Culture mentioned earlier, and the
planned programme of events across the UK for Unboxed: Creativity (during development called
Festival UK* 2022), which aims to showcase UK creativity through delivering ten major projects
supported by £120 million of UK government funding (Sherwood, 2021).

Cultural events are also increasingly linked with tourism to generate business activity and income
for their host communities. Council and related organisations, supporting both private and public
sector initiatives, have developed an enviable reputation and tourism bonanza through staging a
wide range of festivals that cater to different market needs. For example, supported by their local
councils, Cheltenham Festivals has developed jazz, music, science and literature festivals, and
Bath Festivals has developed the music and literature and children’s literature festivals. Each area
uses festivals and events to position itself in the tourism markets as well as in the arts world.

Some local authorities and government/regional agencies are taking these initiatives one stage
further, by using events to deliver arts and cultural strategies (e.g. Bath and North East Somerset,
Brighton and Hove, Newham Council) or developing a specific events/festivals strategy (e.g. Der-
byshire Dales, Conwy County Borough Council, The City of Edinburgh Council, EventScotland).
The value and role of carnival within cultural events was recognised with the National Carnival
Arts Strategy (Nindi, 2005), with funding supporting carnival arts made available through Arts
Council England (2018) – prominent carnivals include Notting Hill Carnival, Leeds West Indian
Carnival, Leicester Caribbean Carnival, Luton International Carnival and Bridgewater Carnival in
Somerset. Event tourism and event strategy are further discussed in Chapter 4.

There has been growth in the range of events that enable a shared experience. Fan zones (where
fans congregate to watch a major sporting event in front of specially erected large screens or per-
manent screens in city spaces) have long been a feature of major sporting events, to enable fans
without tickets to the stadia to participate in a shared experience. Increasingly, screened content
has been used as a feature of events. For example, over recent years we have seen growth in event
cinema – where attendees go to the cinema not to view a pre-recorded feature film, but to view live
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 29

events (such as opera, theatre, ballet, music, sport or other live performances) on a large screen,
as a shared event experience with other attendees. For example, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres
concert broadcast live from Buenos Aires in October 2022 set a new record by being shown live
through cinemas in 81 countries, topping cinema box office charts in Argentina, Mexico, Chile
and the Netherlands and reaching number 3 in the UK (Barrett, 2022a). Outdoor cinema has
expanded, some as drive-in (a welcome feature of some events during COVID-19 restrictions),
with select events featuring major musicals that encourage sing-along opportunities, and for
attendees to dress up in costume and participate.

LIVE MUSIC
Live music is a major form of cultural or leisure event, featuring in festivals, but also as stand-
alone concerts, gigs and performances, and creating a major form of entertainment for many. As
a sector within the music industry, and featuring heavily in festivals, leisure and outdoor events,
live music events are prominent in a range of venues including pubs, clubs and theatres, through
to arenas and sports stadia, with concerts and tours (moving concerts/performances around a
range of pre-planned venues) a major source of revenue and promotion for bands and musical
acts. Events range from a single act on a stage/performance area with a sound system, through to
full-scale stage productions featuring staging, light, sound and other aspects of event design and
production.

The UK music industry generated £5.8 billion for the UK economy in 2019, with live music
(music festival organisers, promoters, agents, production services, ticketing and venues) account-
ing for £1.3 billion gross value added, £86 million of exports and 34,000 jobs (UK Music, 2020).
The industry was severely hit due to restrictions in force during the COVID-19 pandemic, with
live music revenues reducing by over 90 per cent and only a small number of socially distanced
shows taking place in-person (UK Music, 2021). Once restrictions lifted, live music events recom-
menced with rescheduled shows joining new shows, creating challenges for venues and the supply
chain, and increased competition in the annual programme for music events. Reynolds (2022)
explores this industry in depth and provides useful guidance and advice on producing live shows.

Over recent years, there has been an increasing use of the term ‘night-time economy’ to draw
together a range of activities, including a trip to the theatre or a meal out, through to attending
events in nightclubs (LGA, 2019). Night-time economies for town and cities are recognised as
generating a significant amount of income for the UK economy (estimates were it contributed
around £66 billion each year), though this was significantly impacted and reduced by the COVID-
19 pandemic (Lord, 2022). While elements of the night-time economy may otherwise be cate-
gorised within the hospitality industry, entertainment, the arts or cultural industries, aspects of
the night-time economy also fall within the events industry. During the pandemic, there were
challenges getting companies involved in the night-time economies recognised, with many oper-
ating in this space falling outside support. Lord (2022) goes on to note that there is a need to
reflect on what culture means and the role that venues, festivals and clubs have in culture and
society, to increase recognition and their importance to not only the economy but also to popular
culture and different generations. It is clear that this is an important area of the industry offering
a range of experiences and events for attendees, while also providing a range of roles in this sector
to support it, including promoters, DJs, entertainers, and venues, security, service, support and
production staff.

Cultural and music events have also been increasingly used as extenders for sporting events or
tourist attractions, with concerts added as part of a package to attend horse racing events (for
instance, Shed Seven at York, The Kaiser Chiefs at Ffos Las Races, and Human League at Uttox-
eter races in summer 2022) and to extend the day at wildlife parks or other attractions (for
instance, a Steps or Russell Watson concert following a day at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in 2022).
30 EVENT CONTEXT

FESTIVALS
Festivals are an important expression of human activity that contributes much to our social and
cultural life. They are also increasingly linked with tourism to generate business activity and
income for their host communities. Newbold and Jordan (2016, p. xiv) highlight that festivals
Part 1

have become the favoured means for delivering cultural products and events, with the ability to
deliver a range of social outcomes. They note that festivalisation “is not only concerned with the
delivery of the arts, traditional culture and community; festivalisation has become a key element
in the endeavours of local government to act out community cohesion policies and give cultural
voices and diversity a platform.” Further, Jordan (2016, p. 6) outlines five key dimensions of fes-
tivalisation from her analysis: festivity (“a time and space for celebration and play that is distinct
from everyday life”), experimentation (“opportunities for audiences, producers and artists to try
out new personas or artistic approaches”), spectacularisation (“highly visual or sensual, surpris-
ing, and often large-scale art works and performances”), theming (“a method of establishing an
intelligible identity for disparate activities”) and participation (“experiences that are immersive
or co-created by audiences”).

Arts festivals share a number of characteristics, including intense artistic output, and a clear
time-specific programme delivered with a clear purpose and direction (Rolfe, 1992). South East
Arts (1998, p. 2) have developed seven categories for festivals within their region based on the
overall purpose and size, which can usefully be applied to classify festivals in other regions.
These are:

1. High-profile general celebrations of the arts – these address an ambitious agenda and a multitude of
aims – to reach the highest standards, to achieve a high media profile, to reach a broad audi-
ence, to generate high levels of income.
2. Festivals that celebrate a particular location – from small villages to large towns, these festivals aim
to bring people together to celebrate their local area, often featuring a large number of local
groups. These festivals subdivide into those run by voluntary groups and those run by local
authorities. Festivals run by voluntary groups tend to be smaller.
3. Art-form festivals – focused on a specific art form, offering unique opportunities for audiences to
see particular kinds of work, and may also address the development of that art form by provid-
ing a focus for critical debate, master classes, commissions of new work etc.
4. Celebration of work by a community of interest – these festivals highlight work by specific groups of
people, e.g. disabled people, young people or women, and often contain a large proportion of
participatory workshops.
5. Calendar – cultural or religious festivals. Indigenous traditions of large-scale assembly have
largely died away in England, but the Asian and Caribbean communities have brought carnival
and melas to enhance the cultural mix of festivals in the UK.
6. Amateur arts festivals – a large but low-profile sector that involves thousands of people. Many of
these festivals are competitive.
7. Commercial music festivals – a hugely popular phenomenon, some local authorities also run out-
door pop music festivals that adopt a similar model.

The most common type of festival is the arts festival, which can encompass mixed art forms and
multiple venues – such as the capital city arts festivals – or single art forms such as the Belsonic
music festival in Ormeau Park, Belfast, the Liverpool Biennial, or the Ilkley Literature Festival.
While single art form festivals may focus on folk music, classical music, literature, jazz or film
(New Leisure Markets, 1995), the most popular form of arts festival is the music festival. Music
festivals can range from classical music festivals such as the London Festival of Baroque Music;
to jazz festivals such as the Brecon Jazz Weekend; to folk and blues festivals such as the Great
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 31

British Rhythm and Blues Festival in Colne, Lancashire, Celtic Connections in Glasgow and the
Bristol Folk Festival; to rock festivals such as Download Festival and Teddy Rocks Festival in
Blandford, Dorset; to a focus on new or experimental music such as Huddersfield Contemporary
Music Festival.

Carey and Chambers (2020) calculate that within the UK, music festivals generate £1.76 billion
and concerts £2.74 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy. Further, AIF (2021)
highlighted that there are an estimated 975 UK festivals. However, festivals and concerts suffered
a major negative impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a significant reduction in
market size from 2020 and taking a long period of time to recover. The Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport Committee (2021b) conducted a review into the UK music festival market, considering the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They explored the financial resilience of the market, supply
chains and return of the market post-COVID restrictions, the economic and cultural contribution
of festivals, and issues such as sustainability, drugs-related harm and secondary ticketing. While
figures on the size of the market change over time, it is clear that festivals continue to be a major
contributor to the events industry.

Another type of festival that has become universally popular is the food and wine festival. These
range from large festivals in the cities (such as Taste of London in Regent’s Park, London) to
local festivals showcasing regional cuisine (such as Ludlow Food Festival). Other festivals such
as Tramlines in Sheffield and Neighbourhood in Manchester have established city centre festivals,
and in the case of Dot to Dot Festival, a multi-city festival taking place across Nottingham, Bris-
tol and Manchester. Regional festivals, too, are a growing phenomenon, with towns both large
and small expressing their unique character and distinctiveness through well-honed festivals and
community celebrations. Some examples of the tremendous variety and array of regional festivals
include the Mary Wakefield Westmorland Festival in Kendal, the Spirit of Speyside in the Moray
area of Scotland, famous for whisky, and the WalkFest in the North York Moors National Park.
Festivals have become a pervasive feature of our cultural landscape and constitute a vital and
growing component of the events industry.

SPORTS EVENTS
The testing of sporting prowess through competition is one of the oldest and most enduring of
human activities, with a rich tradition going back to the ancient Greek Olympics and beyond.
Sports events are an important and growing part of the events industry, encompassing the full
spectrum of individual sports and multi-sport events such as the Olympics, Commonwealth
Games and Masters. Their ability to attract tourist visitors and to generate media coverage and
economic impacts has placed them at the fore of most government event strategies and desti-
nation marketing programmes, with their role increasingly recognised by governments. Sports
events not only bring benefits to their host governments and sports organisations, but also ben-
efit participants such as players, coaches and officials, and bring entertainment and enjoyment
to spectators. The UK government have recognised the role that sports events play in a range of
policies and strategies. For example, Cabinet Office (2015) recognised the role that hosting major
sporting events have in providing the opportunity for athletes to prepare and compete on home
soil, their ability to generate economic impact, providing spectators with the chance to experience
live events and encouragement to take part, and their role in soft power showing the UK in a pos-
itive light (discussed further in Chapter 3). Examples of sports events can be readily identified in
each of the size categories listed earlier. It is interesting to note that UK Sport (1999a) classified
the sporting calendar into four groups within the overall umbrella of major events, including
mega, calendar, one-off and showcase events. UK Sport (2004) reclassified these as Type A, Type
B, Type C and Type D events, based on a typology discussed in Gratton, Dobson and Shibli (2000).
There is some duplication with the points discussed earlier. However, the categories are included
32 EVENT CONTEXT

in order to illustrate the need to clarify terminology before commencing a study into events or
bidding, and provide a useful illustration of potential objectives and means of attracting these
types of events.

Type A (Mega-events) – i.e. irregular major international spectator events generating significant
Part 1

●
economic activity and media interest such as the Olympic Games; includes the Summer Olym-
pics, the Paralympic Games, the FIFA World Cup
● Type B (Calendar events) – i.e. major spectator events generating significant economic activity,
media interest and part of an annual domestic cycle such as the FA Cup Final
● Type C (One-off events) – i.e. irregular one-off major spectator/competitor events generating an
uncertain level of economic activity such as Grand Prix Athletics
● Type D (Showcase events) – i.e. major competitor events generating little economic activity
and part of an annual cycle such as the national championships in most sports (UK Sport,
2004, p. 11).

In the Gold Framework (the government guidance on support available for bidding and staging
major sporting events), UK Sport and DCMS (2015, p. 5) specifically considered support for
four types: large multi-sport events, World and European Championships, other pinnacle inter-
national events and unique high-value events (such as Ryder Cup or Tour de France Le Grand
Départ), and Premium World Circuit events. In the 2018 edition (UK Sport and DCMS, 2018,
pp. 14–15), the funding streams were refined to mega-events, pinnacle programme (events
that have potential to deliver against a number of objectives) and performance programme
(broadly, events that will improve performance in UK sports). It is worth noting that the earlier
UK Sport classification was primarily based on economic impact, media interest and frequency,
while the latter two focus on what they identify as strategically important major international
sporting events.

BUSINESS EVENTS
Business events include meetings, conferences, exhibitions, incentive travel and corporate events.
These industries are sometimes grouped as discretionary business tourism, MICE (meetings,
incentives, conventions and exhibitions/events), MEEC (meetings, expositions, events and con-
ventions) (Fenich, 2019) or a variety of other terms. Internationally, in 2005 the Joint Meetings
Industry Council recommended adopting the term The Meetings Industry as a unifying term at
the launch of its ‘Profile and Power’ campaign which sought to distinguish the activities from
tourism and other industries (JMIC, 2005). This sector is largely characterised by its business
and trade focus, although there is a strong public and tourism aspect to many of its activities. The
following section provides an overview of some of the sectors. Market data should be viewed with
some caution, as much is based on estimates and the methodologies used are not always compa-
rable; however, it is useful in providing a general understanding of the market size.

BVEP suggests that conferences, exhibitions, incentive travel, corporate hospitality and cor-
porate outdoor events combined account for 22 per cent of inbound visitors in the UK. This
equated to an estimated tourism income worth £4.5 billion, not including business travel or
business transacted at the events, with the events industry overall estimated to be worth £70
billion in direct spend, or over 50 per cent of the visitor economy (BVEP, 2021). The COVID-19
pandemic had a major impact on the events industry, with all sectors seeing a major contraction
that will take time to recover. For example, the 29th UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2022
(UKCAMS) (Rogers and Smith, 2022), a reliable study on the size of market and activity taking
place, estimated that 440,000 meetings took place in 2021, up from 195,000 in 2020 but still
significantly lower than in 2019, pre-pandemic. The direct spend in venues and destinations was
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 33

£4.9 billion in 2021, up from £1.7 billion in 2020, but still well below the £17.6 billion in 2019
(Rogers and Smith, 2022).

CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS

According to the Events Industry Council (EIC, 2022), the term meetings is generally used to
refer to “An event where the primary activity of the participants is to attend educational and/or
business sessions, participate in discussions, social functions, or attend other organised events”,
and therefore internationally the term has been adopted by some in industry to cover many sec-
tors; however, in the UK the term is generally used to refer to smaller gatherings. Conferences can
be very diverse, as revealed by the definition in the Industry Glossary (EIC, 2022):

1. Participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact-finding, problem solving and con-
sultation.

2. An event used by any organisation to meet and exchange views, convey a message,
open a debate or give publicity to some area of opinion on a specific issue. No tra-
dition, continuity or periodicity is required to convene a conference. Conferences are
usually of short duration with specific objectives and are generally smaller scale than
congresses or conventions.

Further, Rogers and Wynn-Moylan (2023, p. 25) use a more succinct definition: “an out-of-
office meeting of at least four hours’ duration involving a minimum of 10 people.” While there
will be a clear purpose for why a conference or meeting is organised and why someone attends,
it is recognised that additional benefits arise around the main activity; for example, the oppor-
tunity to network on arrival, between sessions, and during breaks, mealtimes or at a reception
(IEM, 2022).

Conferences can be categorised according to their primary market focus, generally as corporate or
association. The conference market was worth an estimated £18.3 billion per annum in 2019 (BVEP,
2020), though as with other sectors COVID-19 has had a major impact on the market and there-
fore performance will take a while to recover (BVEP, 2021). Many conferences are relatively small
scale; for example, the average number of delegates at business events in 2018 was 72, with most
having 50 or fewer attendees (BVEP, 2020), reflecting previous years, though during the pandemic
these delegate numbers are likely to have fluctuated. However, there are larger examples which
may illustrate the scale of the sector. Labour and Conservative Party conferences typically host
12,000 delegates (Institute for Government, 2020). The World Federation of Hemophilia, World
Down Syndrome Congress, Royal College of General Practitioners’ Annual Conference and the
National Cancer Research Institute Conference combined bought over 9,200 delegates to Glasgow
in 2018/19 (Glasgow Convention Bureau, 2019). Bournemouth International Centre hosted what
is believed to be one of the largest domestic political conferences so far in the UK – around 20,000
delegates, journalists, exhibitors and technicians attended the Labour Party Conference in Septem-
ber 1999 (Barnes, 1999), while 13,000 (including 1,500 media) attended ACC Liverpool in 2018
(Anon., 2018). A further example from the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow was when in Octo-
ber/November 2021 they hosted over 40,000 participants in COP26 (UN Climate Change, 2021).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing use of virtual and hybrid events,
replacing or supplementing live in-person events. With a clearer demonstration on the use and
purpose of virtual and hybrid events, their use is forecast to continue post-COVID. However,
Accor (2022, p. 3) found that although plans for business travel will reduce by 20 per cent in 2022
compared to 2019, due to the impact of reduced budgets and travel patterns and an increased
focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), “there is still a compelling need for face-to-face
meetings because ‘partnerships go above and beyond commercial decisions’.”
34 EVENT CONTEXT

EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions are a considerable and growing part of business events. Exhibition Liaison Committee
(1995) defined exhibition as,
Part 1

… a presentation of products or services to an invited audience with the object of

inducing a sale or informing the visitor. It is a form of three dimensional advertising
where, in many instances, the product can be seen, handled, assessed by demonstration
and in some cases even smelt and tasted.

More recently, it has been succinctly defined as “an event that enables buyers and sellers to meet
together in a market situation” (Exhibition Audience Audits Ltd., 2005) or “an event at which
products, services or promotional materials are displayed to attendees visiting exhibits on the
show floor” (EIC, 2021). Internationally, the terms exposition, expo, (trade/consumer) show,
business-to-business or business-to-consumer show, and trade fair are sometimes used inter-
changeably, though exhibition has been adopted in the UK as the overarching term. Research by
Oxford Economics on behalf of the Association of Event Organisers (AEO), Association of Events
Venues (AEV) and Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA)(AEO, AEV and ESSA, 2019)
suggests that the exhibitions sector had an economic impact of around £11 billion and £5.4 billion
of GDP, supporting 114,000 jobs and attracted 9.1 million visitors. As with other sectors of the
events industry, exhibitions have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with closures and
operating restrictions, and the recovery taking some time as market confidence returns.

Exhibitions bring suppliers of goods and services together with buyers, usually in a particular
industry sector. The Exhibition Liaison Committee (1995, p. 8) identified that there are four main
categories of exhibition in the UK:

● Agricultural shows – held in the countryside on open sites (including purpose-built show
grounds). Normally occur once a year, with attendance ranging from 5,000 to 200,000 at the
largest events within a period of one to five days. Examples include the Balmoral Show and The
Royal County of Berkshire Show.
● Consumer shows – aimed mainly at the general public, although may have a trade element.
Include subjects such as gardening, home interiors, motoring and fashion. These are exten-
sively promoted by the media, for example, the Ideal Home Show (established in 1908), British
International Motor Show or the BBC Good Food Show.
● Specialised trade shows and exhibitions – the product emphasis and target buying audience
are generally defined and controlled by the organiser. These are sometimes referred to as
business-to-business (B2B) events. For example, International Confex, and the Event Produc-
tion Show at ExCeL London, PLASA (Production Light and Sound) Show, The Meetings Show,
Corporate Hospitality Show (CHS) Leeds and Birmingham, and The Showman’s Show at New-
bury Showground all focus on various aspects of the developing events industry.
● Private exhibitions – includes product launches, in-store and concourse displays, which are exclu-
sive to one or a defined group of manufacturers. The audience is normally by direct invitation.

It is worth noting that since these categories were developed, experiential marketing has emerged
as a term, which is a form of marketing that “uses in-person events to promote products” (Digital
Marketer, 2020), with the aim of engaging a customer with the brand through participatory ex-
periences (Kuligowski, 2022). BSI ISO 25639–1: 2008 (BSI, 2008) provides standard terminology
for exhibitions, shows, fairs and conventions for use around the world and to enable international
comparisons, including with data collection. It identifies two main types: the trade exhibition
(primarily open to trade visitors) and public exhibition (primarily open to the general public –
sometimes referred to as a consumer show).
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 35

A further category of show is one which combines trade and consumer markets, which Morrow
(2002) refers to as the combined or mixed show; for example, The Autism Show at ExCeL Lon-
don, Manchester Central or NEC Birmingham, or The Vaper Expo at NEC Birmingham. Finally,
a new term to emerge is the ‘confex’ – an exhibition and conference combined. These take one of
two forms: either professional, scientific and medical conferences that offset their overheads from
income generated by an associated trade show, or an exhibition that enhances visitor numbers by
featuring linked conferences in the show (Exhibition Audience Audits Ltd., 2005).

Exhibitions can also be categorised according to the industry sector that they focus on or by size.
The Exhibition Industry Research Group (Exhibition Audience Audits Ltd., 2005) agreed a new
categorisation system in 2001 using four categories:

● Category 1 – exhibitions held in qualifying venues (a qualifying venue is one offering more than
2,000 m2 of continuous covered space)
● Category 2 – one-day public exhibitions held at qualifying venues
● Category 3 – exhibitions that are primarily outdoor held in qualifying and non-qualifying venues
(i.e. major agricultural and horticultural events attracting more than 50,000 visitors, trade/
public and trade events that are held at non-qualifying, primarily outdoor venues)
● Category 4 – exhibitions held at non-qualifying venues
(venues that offer less than 2,000 m2 for indoor exhibitions).

The modern exhibition industry is clearly structured, taking in venue owners, exhibition organ-
isers and contractors from the supply side, and exhibitors and visitors generating the demand.
Major conference and exhibition centres in the main cities and many regional centres now vie for
their share of the thriving business event market.

INCENTIVE TRAVEL
Another lucrative aspect is incentive travel, defined by the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence
(Rogers, 2013, p.68) as “a global management tool that uses an exceptional travel experience to
motivate and/or recognise participants for increased levels of performance in support of organ-
isational goals.” Rogers and Wynn-Moylan (2023) go on to group this area as Incentive Travel/
Performance Improvement, recognising the purpose is to improve individual and corporate per-
formance. The UK’s unique locations and international popularity as a tourism destination make
it a leading player in the incentive travel market, with the pre-COVID-19 inbound incentive travel
market estimated to be worth an estimated £1.2 billion in 2019 (BVEP, 2020).

CORPORATE EVENTS
A final category that may be included within business events is corporate events, which includes
corporate hospitality, client entertainment, staff entertainment, team building, meetings and
conferences, and depending on datasets, incentive travel/performance improvement (Rogers and
Wynn-Moylan, 2023). IEM (2022) note that this category also includes external and internal busi-
ness engagement, to develop business relationships with stakeholders and employees, business
development and sponsorship activities. Although definitive data does not exist, due to difficulties
with definition and the cross-over with other sectors, the client and staff entertainment aspects
may be reflected in data collected on corporate events/hospitality, which indicates that the sector
was worth around £0.7 billion pre-COVID-19 (BVEP, 2020). In addition, audiovisual communica-
tions is a large industry sector that serves the events industry, with the increasing use of technol-
ogy to support event delivery, including in recent years due to the technical requirements for the
staging, broadcast and delivery of virtual and hybrid events.
36 EVENT CONTEXT

A major issue to arise over the past few years is the role of procurement/purchasing departments
when putting business out to tender, which has led to heated discussions at industry events and
in the industry magazines. The tension has arisen due to a potential lack of understanding about
the role that event management companies play in developing events and the differences in aims
Part 1

and terminology in use. In a bid to increase understanding of the roles of both parties, initiatives
are being developed; for example, with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)
working with EVCOM (Event & Visual Communication Association) to produce workshops to
educate procurement officers about the best way to work with event management companies and
the production of guidelines and checklists (CIPS, 2006, 2013).

One positive consequence of the attention that has been focused on events is an increasing inter-
est in, and application of, return on investment (ROI) methodologies to the industry, with organ-
isations now having a clearer understanding of their objectives when funding events and events
managers now providing more sophisticated evaluation as part of their offering. The Meeting
Professionals International (MPI) Foundation have undertaken research and produced a number
of articles on ROI, Return on Experience (ROE) and Return on Objectives (ROO), together with
industry projects (visit www.mpifoundation.org for further details).

All market data discussed in this section, and to some extent elsewhere in this text, has to be
considered in the context in which it was collected. For example, if before the recession of 2008 or
COVID-19 in 2020, it is likely that the value of the industry overall reduced during the following
period. If during, it is possible that it is understating the value, as the industry has commenced
on the road to recovery. As there continues to be a lack of agreement on what is covered within
particular sectors, any data reported should be considered as an indication of the large scale of
the industry being discussed, and therefore demonstrating that it has a significant impact on the
UK (and world) economies. However, caution should be applied when adding figures together for
each sector to indicate the value of the events industry overall, as there is a risk of at least double
counting. What is clear is that there is a clear need for accurate market intelligence to support the
development of the events industry.

The structure of the events industry

The rapid growth of events in recent decades has led to the formation of an identifiable events
industry, with its own practitioners, suppliers and professional associations. While the boundar-
ies of the industry are still evolving, UKEVENTS highlight that there are two broad categories of
events: business events (those “organised by, or on behalf of, companies, trade and professional
bodies, local and central government, utilities, NHS, and public funded entities”) and leisure
events (those “principally organised for the participation of the general public”) (BVEP, 2021,
p. 5). BVEP (2020) go on to identify eight key sectors (Table 1.2).

The Power of Events (2023) takes a slightly different approach, grouping seven key sectors: be-
spoke sport events, business and brand experiences, exhibitions and congresses, outdoor events

Table 1.2 Event categories

Business Events Leisure Events

Conferences and meetings Arts and cultural events

Exhibitions and trade fairs Sporting events
Incentive travel and performance improvement Music events
Corporate outdoor events Festivals, fairs and shows

Source: BVEP (2020), p. 8

 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 37

and festivals, music events, public and third sector, wedding and private parties. However, while
there are slight differences in categories, what is clear is that there is increasing recognition of an
emerging structure and the role that events play.
The COVID-19 pandemic drew sharp attention to a disparity between what people and organi-
sations referred to as the events industry and what governments and official statistics/datasets
could clearly identify, which impacted on the level of support available during the peak COVID-19
disruption. The events industry does not (at the time of writing) have a clearly identifiable Stan-
dard Industry Code (SIC) nationally or internationally, nor until relatively recently did they have
appropriate Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes (discussed later). The industry is
campaigning to address this through industry organisations such as UKEVENTS (formerly known
as Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP)), Institute of Event Management (IEM) and
others, which has included recommending, as an interim measure, that events industry organ-
isations report their activities under SIC codes 68202 (Letting and operating of conference and
exhibition centres), 56210 (Event catering activities), 82301 (Activities of exhibition and fair
organisers), 82302 (Activities of conference organisers) and 90020 (Support activities to perform-
ing arts) (Barrett, 2022b; BVEP, 2020).

The emergence of the industry has involved the identification and refinement of a discrete body
of knowledge of industry best practice, accompanied by the development of training programmes
and career paths. The industry’s formation has also been accompanied by a period of rapid glo-
balisation of markets and communication, which has affected the nature of, and trends within,
the industry. Further, it has been accompanied by an era of increasing government regulation,
which has resulted in a complex and demanding operational environment. The following sections
describe the key components of the events industry.

Event organisations
Events are often staged or hosted by event organisations, which may be event-specific bodies such
as the Harrogate International Festival or the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing
Arts. Other events are run by special teams within larger organisations, such as BBC Good Food
Shows organised by Immediate Media Co, or ITMA 2003 which was organised by a team within
the NEC Group. Corporate events are often organised by in-house event teams or by project teams
within the companies that are putting on the event.

Event management companies

Event management companies are professional groups or individuals that organise events on a
contract basis on behalf of their clients. The BBC, for example, may contract an event manage-
ment company to stage an event or organise in-house through, for example, BBC Worldwide; or
the Microsoft Corporation may contract an event manager to stage the launch of a new product
such as Windows 11. The specialist companies often organise a number of events concurrently,
and develop long-term relationships with their clients and suppliers.

Events industry suppliers

The growth of a large and complex industry has led to the formation of a wide range of specialist
suppliers. These suppliers may work in direct event-related areas, such as staging, sound produc-
tion, lighting, audiovisual production, entertainment and catering, or they may work in associated
areas, such as transport, communications, security, legal services and accounting services. This
network of suppliers is an integral part of the industry, and their increasing specialisation and
expertise assist the production of professional and high-calibre events.
38 EVENT CONTEXT

Venues
Venue management often includes an event management component, whether as part of the mar-
keting of the venue or as part of the servicing of event clients. Many venues, such as historical
houses, galleries, museums, theatres, universities and libraries, create additional revenue by hir-
Part 1

ing out their facilities for functions and corporate events. Merlin Entertainments Group (2009)
encompasses a wide range of venues including Madame Tussauds London, The London Eye, Alton
Towers Resort, LEGOLAND® Windsor and Warwick Castle. Types of venues that commonly
include an event management component include hotels, resorts, conference, convention and
exhibition centres, sports and fitness centres, sports stadiums, performing arts centres, heritage
sites, theme parks, and shopping centres and markets.

Industry associations, representative bodies and campaigns

The emergence of the industry has also led to the formation of professional associations pro-
viding networking, communications and liaison within the industry, training and accreditation
programmes, codes of ethical practice, and lobbying on behalf of their members. Because the
industry is so diverse, the UK has a multitude of industry associations that represent the various
sectors within the industry, with some serving more than one sector and others competing for
members within the same sectors. Some are international associations with affiliated groups in
countries such as the UK; others are specific to their region or country. Event managers should
identify the association(s) that best suits their individual situation and the needs of their organi-
sation, as some associations promote individual membership, whilst others promote membership
on an organisational basis. Some of the main trade and professional associations covering the
events industry are listed below:

● Associations – Association of Association Executives (AAE), European Society of Association

Executives (ESAE)
● Conferences/meetings – Association of British Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO),
European Cities Marketing (ECM), International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC),
EVCOM, Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM), International Association of Professional Con-
gress Organisers (IAPCO), International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Meet-
ing Professionals International (MPI), Meetings Industry Association (MIA), and Society of
Association Executives (SAE)
● Exhibitions – Events Industry Alliance (incorporating Association of Event Organisers – AEO,
Association of Event Venues – AEV, Exhibition Supplier and Services Association – ESSA),
Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations (ASAO), National Exhibitors Association
(NEA)
● Incentive travel – EVCOM, Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE)
● Festivals – British Arts Festivals Association (BAFA), Association of Festival Organisers (AFO),
British & International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech (BIFF), Interna-
tional Festivals and Events Association (IFEA) Europe, OutdoorArtsUK (OAUK), The Associ-
ation of Independent Festivals (AIF)
● Corporate hospitality – EVCOM (Event and Visual Communication Association), Institute of
Hospitality (IoH), UKHospitality
● Music events/event production – Association of Independent Promoters (AIP), British Association
of Concert Halls (BACH), Concert Promoters Association (CPA), Music Venue Trust (MVT),
Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), Production Services Association (PSA), Profes-
sional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), United Kingdom Crowd Management Asso-
ciation (UKCMA)
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 39

● Event (other) – Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations (ASAO), Event Marketing
Association (EMA), International Live Events Association (ILEA), National Outdoor Events
Association (NOEA), The Showmen’s Guild
● Venues – Association of Event Venues (AEV), Meetings Industry Association (MIA), National
Arenas Association (NAA), UK Stadium Managers Association (UKSMA)
● Miscellaneous/suppliers – beam (formerly Hotel Booking Agents Association – HBAA), Indepen-
dent Street Arts Network (ISAN), Event Hire Association (EHA), Made-Up Textiles Asso-
ciation (MUTA), Nationwide Caterers Association (NCASS), Society of Ticket Agents and
Retailers (STAR), The Event Services Association (TESA).

It should be noted that although categorised above for convenience, in reality many of these as-
sociations work across sectors/categories. In addition, organisations representing the hospitality,
tourism and leisure industries and the professions associated with these – for example, Chartered
Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), the Tourism Alliance, UK
Hospitality, Institute of Travel & Tourism and The Tourism Society – also have a role in the events
industry as the boundaries are not clearly defined.

There has been some discussion over whether there is a need for consolidation of associations to
ensure that the industry can move forward, and its needs be effectively lobbied to government.
Although this has not happened across the board, there are a number of initiatives taking place
where associations are effectively working together, including forming federations and alliances.
EVCOM was formed from the merger of Eventia (itself formed from the merger of the Incentive
Travel and Meetings Association – ITMA), Corporate Events Association – CEA and British
Association of Conference Destinations – BACD) and the International Visual Communication Asso-
ciation (IVCA) in 2014. The Events Industry Alliance manages AEO, AEV and ESSA. The Events
Industry Forum (EIF) has been formed as an informal body to enable discussion on topics of inter-
est for the events industry; for example, the re-write of The Purple Guide (Event Safety Guide). The
European Live Music Forum (ELMF) draws together eight national and European associations
with an interest in the live music industry in Europe, including CPA and IFEA, with the aim of
developing the market and working effectively with the European Union Commission. LIVE (Live
music Industry Venues and Entertainment) is a federation of 13 live music industry associations.

UKEVENTS is the umbrella and advocacy group that represents leading trade and professional
associations and organisations, and government related agencies and departments involved in con-
ferences, exhibitions, meetings and incentives. Launched in 1999 as the Business Tourism Part-
nership (BTP), the organisation evolved as the industry developed and was renamed the Business
Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP) in March 2008, becoming UKEVENTS in November 2022.
Members currently include ABPCO, AEME, beam, BTA, Core Cities, EIA (AEO, AEV, ESSA), EIF,
EMA, EVCOM, ICCA, London & Partners, Meet in Ireland, MIA, MPI, NOEA, PCMA, PLASA,
PSA, Tourism Northern Ireland, Unique Venues of London, VisitBritain, VisitScotland Business
Events, and Visit Wales. It maintains strong links to national and devolved governments, includ-
ing with key UK government sponsoring departments; Department for Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS) and Department for Business and Trade (DBT). For further information, please visit:
www.ukevents.org.uk. The Institute of Event Management (IEM) has been formed to promote pro-
fessional recognition for event managers, to develop professional standards, support skill develop-
ment, accredit courses, and to develop a body of knowledge and resources in support of continuing
professional development. While still evolving as an organisation, the institute formally opened to
members in 2020. For further information, please visit: www.event-managers.institute.

Further, the Events Industry Board (EIB) was formed as an industry-led board in 2019 to help
drive growth in business events and to act as a sounding board to the UK government to
help inform and take forward policies in support of business events (EIB, 2019). It is currently
40 EVENT CONTEXT

a working group of the Tourism Industry Council (TIC) to help support delivery of the Tourism
Recovery Plan and offer input to government on how the sector can support delivery of wider
UK government aims and objectives (EIB, 2022). For further information, please visit: www.gov.uk/
government/groups/events-industry-board. Finally, within Parliament, the events industry has
Part 1

been recognised and is being served by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Events;
a cross-party initiative that highlights the events industry’s value and ensures the industry
remains competitive, through gathering data and engaging with government and ministers on the
industry’s behalf. For further information about the APPG for Events, please visit: appgevents.
inparliament.uk.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in cross-industry collaborations and campaigns

to draw attention to the plight of event businesses as the impact of the pandemic led to the
industry shutting down. Many of the campaigns worked effectively through social media, with
#WeMakeEvents, #WeCreateExperiences, #LetTheMusicPlay, #WhatAboutWeddings and
#SaveNightLife among the many campaigns gaining prominent coverage and support as the pan-
demic evolved. One Industry One Voice (OIOV) was launched to draw together the campaigns,
working with a task force including established organisations such as UKEVENTS and UK Music,
associations and businesses to coordinate campaign timings and amplify key messaging. This led
to the production of a B2B and B2C public relations campaign to demonstrate the power of events.
One Industry One Voice evolved in 2022 to The Power of Events (www.thepowerofevents.org), a
communications hub based on research and gathering robust data to showcase the value, purpose
and power of events and the UK events industry.

External regulatory bodies

As noted, contemporary events take place in an increasingly regulated and complex environment.
A series of local government and statutory bodies are responsible for overseeing the conduct and
safe staging of events, and these bodies have an integral relationship with the industry. Councils
often oversee the application of laws governing the preparation and sale of food, street closures,
waste management and removal. In addition, event organisers have a legal responsibility to pro-
vide a safe workplace and to obey all laws and statutes relating to employment, contracts, taxation
and so on. The professional event manager needs to be familiar with the regulations governing
events and to maintain contact with the public authorities that have a vested interest in the
industry.

Publications
In order to support the development of industry and education, an increasing number of books
have been written, particularly over the last two decades. There has been a significant increase in
the number of books focusing on events planning and management over recent years, including
Watt (1998); O’Toole and Mikolaitis (2002); Getz (2005); Robinson, Wales and Dickson (2010);
Tassiopoulos (2010); Silvers (2012); Van Der Wagen and White (2018); Shone and Parry (2019);
Lee and Goldblatt (2020); Ferdinand and Kitchin (2022); Raj and Rashid (2022); and Dowson,
Albert and Lomax (2023), with Professor Donald Getz (Getz, 2005; Getz and Page, 2020) and
Professor Joe Goldblatt (Lee and Goldblatt, 2020) generally acknowledged as the early pioneers
of the subject with the first edition of their books in the mid-nineties and major contributions to
the literature ever since.

Getz and Page (2020) have also been advancing development of the field beyond events manage-
ment with their exploration of event studies, a move supported by an increasing range of research-
based texts (including, for example, Weber and Chon, 2002; Ali-Knight and Chambers, 2006;
Fleming and Jordan, 2006; Horne and Manzenreiter, 2006; Picard and Robinson, 2006; Robertson,
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 41

2006; Aitchison and Pritchard, 2007; Robertson and Frew, 2008; Ali-Knight, Robertson, Fyall and
Ladkin, 2009; Baum, Deery, Hanlon, Lockstone and Smith, 2009; and Laing and Frost, 2018) and
the development of critical event studies (CES) as an area of research (Lamond and Platt, 2016;
Spracklen and Lamond, 2016; Lamond and Moss, 2020) since earlier editions of this text. Lamond
and Moss (2020, p. 4) note that critical event studies is drawing in academics from other fields of
study and it is encouraging event scholars to consider how their work relates to the wider social
sciences and humanities. There are also substantial handbooks covering sports events (Parent and
Chappelet, 2015), festivals (Mair, 2019), the Olympics and Paralympic Games (Chatziefstathiou,
García and Séguin, 2020), events (Page and Connell, 2020) and business events (Arcodia, 2023),
critically exploring the debates and research underpinning the subject area.

Building on the growth in interest and number of courses studying the subject, five dedicated
series of events books are available: The Wiley Event Management Series (edited by Professor
Joe Goldblatt, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey) and the Events Man-
agement Series (edited by Glenn Bowdin, Professor Donald Getz and Professor Conrad Lashley,
published by Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon) started the early advances within the literature base
and have been joined by the Routledge Advances in Event Research Series (edited by Warwick
Frost and Jennifer Laing, published by Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon), The Management Theory
and Methods for Event Management and Event Tourism Series (edited by Professor Donald Getz,
Goodfellow Publishers, Oxford) and Routledge Critical Event Studies Research Series (edited by
Dr Rebecca Finkel and Professor David McGillivray, published by Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon).
Between these series, together with an increasing range of events-related texts from these and
other publishers, we are beginning to address specific gaps in the events literature, including the
interaction with the range of disciplines, for the professional development and higher education
markets.

The emerging discipline is served by a range of established, dedicated journals, including Event
Management (formerly Festival Management and Event Tourism), International Journal of Event & Fes-
tival Management, International Journal of Planned Events, Journal of Convention and Event Tourism (for-
merly Journal of Convention and Exhibition Management), and the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism,
Leisure and Events, alongside an increasing volume and quality of events and festivals research being
published in journals for related fields such as tourism, sports and leisure, and established disci-
plines including management and marketing.

Finally, this wealth of knowledge is enhanced with a range of periodicals and an increasing num-
ber of websites and e-newsletters providing contemporary articles and industry news, including:
Access All Areas, AV, Conference & Incentive Travel, Conference News, Digital Event News, Event, Event
Organiser, Event & Venue Specialist, Exhibition Bulletin, Exhibition News, Lighting & Sound International,
LiveUK, Meetings & Incentive Travel, MeetingsReview.com, Stand Out, The Main Event Magazine and Total
Production International.

Events management education and training

As the size and needs of the events industry have grown, event management training has started
to emerge as a discrete discipline. In the early years of the industry, the field was characterised
by a large number of volunteers. Those event managers who obtained paid positions came from a
variety of related disciplines, drawing on their knowledge gained from those disciplines and skills
learnt on the job. Many came from allied areas such as theatre and entertainment, audiovisual pro-
duction and film, and adapted their skills to events. Others came from working for event suppliers
such as staging, lighting and sound production companies, having discovered that they could
expand and build on their existing skills to undertake the overall management of events. However,
as the use of events by government and industry has grown, event budgets have increased, and
42 EVENT CONTEXT

the logistics of events have become more complex, the need has emerged for skilled event profes-
sionals who can meet the industry’s specific requirements. Education and training at a number of
levels, from vocational to further and higher education, have arisen to meet this need.
Part 1

Identifying the knowledge and skills required by event managers

Research for the Institute of Management (Coulson and Coe, 1991) identified the qualities that
future managers should possess. These included the ability to communicate, flexibility, adaptabil-
ity, a broad perspective on organisation goals, a balanced perspective overall and an understand-
ing of the business environment. Further, nine out of ten believed that managers should have an
ability to assume greater responsibility, contribute to teams, handle uncertainty and surprise,
be aware of ethics and values, and have a commitment to ongoing learning. Later research by
Katz (1974, cited in Mullins, 2005, pp. 211–212) identified the qualities possessed by effective
managers, which were grouped under the headings of technical competence (specific knowledge,
methods and skills applied to discrete tasks), social and human skills (focus on interpersonal
relationships, motivating staff, effective teamwork and leadership, sensitivity, and style of man-
agement), and conceptual ability (ability to view complexity of situations, decision making, con-
tribution related to objectives of the organisation and strategy). Mullins (2005) notes that as
managers progress within an organisation, more emphasis will be placed on conceptual ability and
less on technical competence. In addition to generic management skills, Getz and Wicks (1994,
pp. 108–109) specify the following event-specific areas of knowledge as appropriate for inclusion
in event management training:

● History and meanings of festivals, celebrations, rituals and other events

● Historical evolution; types of events
● Trends in demand and supply
● Motivations and benefits sought from events
● Roles and impacts of events in society, the economy, environment and culture
● Who is producing events, and why?
● Programme concepts and styles
● Event settings
● Operations unique to events
● Management unique to events
● Marketing unique to events.

Studies by Perry, Foley and Rumpf (1996); Harris and Griffin (1997); Royal and Jago (1998); Har-
ris and Jago (1999); Arcodia and Barker (2002); Junek, Lockstone and Mair (2009); and Padron
and Stone (2019) largely confirm the importance of these knowledge/skill areas. As the events
industry and wider society advance, the skills and knowledge areas required to develop and deliv-
er events evolves – for example, Robertson, Junek and Lockstone-Binney (2012) highlighted the
areas of sustainable development, creativity and innovation, and networking as key competencies
for graduates emerging into this market, while Bladen and Kennell (2014) highlight the need
to develop reflective practitioners and the important role that event design and creativity have,
alongside the management aspects.

An increasing amount of research has been conducted within the events industry to identify
the skills, qualities and attributes of successful event managers, with the work that has been
conducted providing interesting insights. The Business Tourism Forum and the Business Tour-
ism Advisory Committee (1999, p. 36) found that the conference and event industries required
enhanced negotiation skills, higher client management skills and a detailed knowledge of specific
venues. In addition, the industry requires people with an informed understanding of, and ability
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 43

to anticipate, client needs and to suggest solutions to problems and improvements to plans. More
recently, the Business Visits and Events Partnership (2020) drew attention to the Events Industry
Board Talent and Taskforce, which identified skills shortages in sales and business development,
project management, and creative, technical and client handling, thus reiterating the importance
of these for the industry. Further, Goldblatt (2008) highlights six qualities of leading event man-
agement leaders, with integrity being highlighted as paramount, followed by confidence and per-
sistence, collaboration, problem solving, communications skills and vision.

Formal competency standards have been developed internationally and nationally to provide frame-
works for managers, trainers, educators, government and other agencies to develop a shared under-
standing of the event manager role. Tourism Canada (formerly the Canadian Tourism Human Resource
Council – CTHRC) provides a useful insight into the attributes and knowledge required by event man-
agers, with the development of Event Management International Competency Standards (also known
as EMICS) (CTHRC, 2009). Competencies in EMICS are grouped into 12 broad categories:

1. Strategic planning
2. Project management
3. Risk management
4. Financial management
5. Administration
6. Human resources
7. Stakeholder management
8. Event design
9. Site management
10. Marketing
11. Professionalism
12. Communication.

Taking these 12 categories forward, EMICS was further developed for Meeting Professionals In-
ternational to form the Meeting and Business Event Competency Standards (MBECS), which
provides “a comprehensive summary of the knowledge and skills that should be possessed by
experienced meeting and business event experts” (CTHRC, 2011, p. 7). Both standards form the
basis for international certification programmes.

Within the UK, the IEM (2022) professional standards identify the following six key roles for event
managers, with each then broken down into standards, knowledge and understanding, and skills:

● Commercial, creative and technology aspects of events

● Marketing and selling events, products and services
● Planning and managing operations for an event
● Evaluating and improving events
● Managing information for events
● Managing human and financial resources for events.

As witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic with the rapid evolution of virtual and hybrid events,
and the evolving market in e-sport events, developing technical and technological knowledge and
skills, together with social media, risk and sustainability, will all have an increasing role to play, along-
side more traditional project management skills and other considerations, as the industry continues
to develop. David Jamilly, Director at Theme Traders, identified ten key areas of skill and mindset that
event professionals may focus on as the industry rebuilds following COVID-19 (Figure 1.2).
44 EVENT CONTEXT

What sort of skills and mindset will potentially prove the most valuable in a new events arena
as it develops? The following suggestions will perhaps have an important part to play for
events professionals in the reality that is now on the horizon.
Part 1

1. Mental concentration, self-discipline and focus

Much more work will take place from home and diverse settings. The days of huge office
spaces are finished as outlay on offices will be relegated to the lowest budget priority.
Company associates have seen that it is possible and economic to work more remotely
and to pocket the savings.
2. Advanced computer and IT skills
What had previously been the domain of experts will become the norm for all event
professionals including computer troubleshooting, process and interface. You will not
want to fall foul of technology in tomorrow’s marketplace.
3. Mobility/Flexibility
Develop the ability to travel light and move fast. This already is a 24/7 industry and
planning/prep times will shorten even more. The peaks and troughs of seasonality will
exaggerate them even further.
4. Budget/Financial acumen
Work will be more sporadic and budget pressure will be more intense. You will really
need to know your true breakeven and what you honestly and realistically need to exist
both personally and business-wise. You cannot do enough budgets/spreadsheets or get
enough advice on this subject – and stick to the budget!
5. Global mindset
As the world becomes a smaller place in terms of virtuality, with programmes like Zoom,
Teams, Remo etc, it is increasingly important to understanding local customs/protocols
and traditions. It will be a big advantage to have some language skills as well.
6. Creativity and innovative inquisitiveness
Virtual events will continue to emerge in all shapes and forms, and within a few months,
we will be participating in virtual events worlds that we never dreamt of before.
7. Friends you can call on
Working in isolation will become a more frequent occurrence and it will become
increasingly important to have colleagues you can call on and share with and get support/
knowledge from. This is both for mental health and professional reasons! Joining online
forums like the Event Professionals FB group is a good start.
8. Industry experience
Experience in all the stages of event delivery from conception to completion will be a
prerequisite to working with the smaller supply chains that will be the norm of the future.
9. Passion
If your heart is not 100% in the joy of working in the events industry and service sector
(where you happily enjoy serving event’s needs) you will alas, find it very hard to survive
in tomorrow’s event arena.
10. Communication skills
Clear, kind and genuine communication ability has always been one of the corner
foundation stones of events and never more so than now.

Figure 1.2 Ten post-COVID tips for event professionals

Source: David Jamilly, Managing Director, Theme Traders (www.themetraders.com)
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENT FIELD 45

The event management body of knowledge (EMBOK)

The event management body of knowledge (EMBOK) is being defined and developed. O’Toole
(2002) and Silvers (2004) began developing categories for the EMBOK, as described in Chapter 8,
with the work further progressed by the International EMBOK Executive. The purpose of EMBOK
is, “To create a framework of the knowledge and processes used in event management that may be
customized to meet the needs of various cultures, governments, education programs, and organi-
zations.” Figure 1.3 illustrates the EMBOK structure – building on earlier work of O’Toole (2002)
and Silvers (2004), five over-arching domains were identified: administration, design, marketing,
operations and risk management (Silvers, Bowdin, O’Toole and Nelson, 2006), with Table 1.3 pro-
viding a breakdown of each knowledge domain. For further definition of the knowledge domains,
core values, phases, classes and processes, and to view how the EMBOK is developing, please visit
www.embok.org. Despite occasional differing emphases and nuances, the field is beginning to
agree on the specific body of knowledge of best practice appropriate to the training of professional

Figure 1.3 International EMBOK structure

Source: International EMBOK Executive (2005)

Table 1.3 Event management body of knowledge domain and classes structure

Administration Design Marketing Operations Risk

Financial Catering Marketing Plan Attendees Compliance

Human Resources Content Materials Communications Decisions
Information Entertainment Merchandise Infrastructure Emergency
Procurement Environment Promotion Logistics Health & Safety
Stakeholders Production Public Relations Participants Insurance
Systems Program Sales Site Legal
Time Theme Sponsorship Technical Security

Source: International EMBOK Executive (2006)