Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook

Yet another book to help us cope with the whys and wherefores of running an event, I thought. But at least an English text with a European stance (money is expressed in euros, for example) as opposed to most of the literature in this field which originates from America.

This volume is not, however, a re‐working of existing texts – including the all‐time David Seekings’ classic How to Organise Effective Conferences and Meetings, now in its seventh edition (Kogan Page, London, 1999; ISBN 0 749 43977 X; £19.95).

In contrast to Seekings somewhat dry text, Shone and Parry succeed in covering much of the same ground but bring reality to life with numerous examples of actual events – describing their highs and lows. Beginning with the somewhat distant first‐ever Olympic Games of 776 BC, case studies are as varied as the Coronation of Elizabeth I (1559) and the Paris Exposition of 1889 right through to the Berlin Film Festival (2000); the Welsh Garden Festival (1992); event legacies of generally acknowledged failures such as the World Student Games in Sheffield (1991) and the notorious Opening Night of the Millennium Dome – described as a shambles of haphazard ticketing, ineptly managed security and unfortunate late arriving guests.

Chapters are well defined – commencing with a useful bullet point list of aims, followed by an introduction and concluding with a summary and high standard reference list.

Commencing with a chapter defining the events business, the following chapters establish the market demand for an event (using the European Grands Prix as a case study); and consider broader issues (the impact of special events in the community, for example) before commencing Part 11 – the management of events themselves. Detailed aspects of this include “Making a start” (getting organised; feasibility – finding and testing an idea); “Events planning” (especially financial and marketing aspects); an in‐depth chapter on the budget (with useful guidance on break even calculations); “Logistics and support services”; “Marketing and public relations” (how to influence the target market); “Managing the event as a project” (risk management, legalities and insurance); the “Organisational manager” and the “Team” during the event; and, finally, the not to be forgotten “Closedown and evaluation”.

Two surprising omissions are the scant attention paid to crowd control (there is no mention, for example, of the excellent Managing Crowds Safely HSE Books, 2nd ed., 2000, ISBN 0 7176 1834 X £17.50); or registration systems and the important aspects of speaker and programme management. Thus vital components, such as obtaining and hosting VIP speakers and dignitaries; and handling the registration process is either missing totally or gets a passing reference (ticket sales, for example, is covered in two pages and contains one case study reference to online booking systems).

The inadequate treatment of event office management does limit the usefulness of this sub‐titled “practical handbook” and leads me to suspect that the authors have no direct experience of event management themselves. However, it is not claimed to be definitive – and the reader is urged to use it as a starting place. As such it fills a valuable gap in the literature – with the citing of case studies providing much educational and entertaining material.