Defining the scope of the event

EVENT INITIATION

By the end of this topic, students should be able to: • Understand the importance of defining the scope of an event and how to avoid scope creep • Prepare a business case, including event justification, understanding the benefits and benefits realisation, ROI and cost-benefit analysis. • Evaluate the importance of stakeholder planning and mapping – who will be affected by the planning of the project?

Defining the scope of the event

Whether you are planning an event or preparing for a project, defining the scope and having a clear view of what you are agreeing to deliver, and what you are not, is crucial. Both the people who have requested the event and those who will be managing it need to agree on the ‘scope statement’ before any work begins. This statement should be referred to throughout the event to make sure that the team is on track to deliver what has been agreed.

For example, during a College Capstone project, students were tasked with delivering an open day for the public. The scope of the event was to define the programme of activities, invite the attendees, source and prepare materials for the day, book the catering and the venue, manage the stakeholders and manage the event on the day.

DID YOU KNOW

Agreeing what you WON’T do is just as important as agreeing what you WILL do. Steve Jobs once said “I’m as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done”, demonstrating the importance of saying no! (Russel, n.d.)

Defining the scope is important to both avoid ‘scope creep’ and to inform the planning phase.

As mentioned in Topic 1, scope creep can be defined as ‘adding additional features or functions of a new product, requirements, or work that is not authorized (i.e., beyond the agreed-upon scope)’ (Larson & Larson, 2009). It is a frequent cause for frustration among both project and event managers, and can result in:

1. Increased costs; it is estimated that over half of all events go over budget and so this is a real issue!

2. Decreased quality and in turn satisfaction; if you suddenly have scope to deal with but the same number of resources and no increase in budget then things will begin to slip.

3. Uncomfortable conversations; these will inevitably have to take place with either the event manager or the client which can strain relationships and jeopardise future work opportunities.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF Challenge yourself: Why do you think scope creep happens so frequently in events? Discuss with your partner and identify at least 3 possible reasons.

CASE STUDY: EVENT SCOPE CREEP

Hamda is an event manager at Creative Events UAE, based in Dubai. A corporate banking client with offices across the UAE have contracted with Creative Events to plan and manage their annual company conference and awards ceremony. Hamda takes on the role of event manager for the conference, which is due to take place in 6 months’ time. Around a month into the planning phase, Hamda goes on vacation for 2 weeks and assigns one of her team members, Ziad, to be the point of contact for the client. Whilst she is away, the client has a regular progress meeting with Ziad, during which they brought up the possibility of transferring the role of managing attendees to Creative Events. Originally, the client’s HR department was going to manage all of the attendee interactions, including invitations, sign ups, answering attendee questions, sending reminder emails and collecting and reporting on feedback after the event. They had now decided that they are too busy to handle this and so would to transfer the responsibility to Creative Events, asking Ziad to also explore the possibility of using a mobile application to support this function. Ziad has only been at the company for 6 weeks and is eager to make a good impression with the client, so he agrees to the additional responsibility. Upon her return from work, Hamda is shocked to find out what has happened as this is a huge responsibility that has not been budgeted for or resourced. She calls an emergency meeting with the client and relations become tense as she tells them that they can only carry out the additional responsibilities if they are provided with extra budget.

QUESTIONS 1.Why is the situation above an example of ‘scope creep’? 2.How could Hamda have handled the situation differently? 3.How could Ziad have handled the situation differently? 4 Suggest how situations such as these can be avoided in the future.

There are plenty of reasons why scope creep happens, some of which we have already discussed. The list below highlights the main reasons for scope creep in the Events industry:

Figure 4: Scope Creep, found at https://www. practiceignition.com/blog/scope-creep, viewed 17.07.19

Demanding clients It is fair to say that the majority of clients will try their best to get more for free; particularly in this region! Often clients will make a reasonable sounding request, without understanding or revealing the full facts. It is easier to say yes than to say no and this is when the scope begins to creep.

Lack of properly defined scope or objectives The importance of clearly defining the event objectives, the scope of the work and obtaining sign off from the beginning can’t be emphasised enough. Often at the concept stage of the event, the client can be unsure of what they are looking for. Make sure you do not rush them along this part of the journey because they might make irrational decisions, regret them later and then want features of the event to be changed.

Lack of defined change process We are not saying that all scope changes are a bad thing. It is important to remember that, quite often, the scope will alter throughout the lifecycle of the event due to unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances. For example, an artist for a music festival falls ill and is unable to perform, or a food and beverage supplier drops out at the last minute. The trick is to have an agreed process in place to deal with any scope changes so that all parties are satisfied.

Inexperienced or ill-informed teams The Events industry can be a transient one in terms of employees, and often staff are employed temporarily to work on a specific event. This can happen if they have unique skill set that the client has requested or if the event is just too large for a company to manage in-house. Whilst this can make working on an event an exciting experience, the downside is that team members may be inexperienced in the sector and may not understand what the company can offer and what they can’t. Ill-informed colleagues who are not aware of the event scope can also make promises to clients that are out of scope.

Example of scope creep :

You have been employed to plan and host an experiential marketing launch for a high end brand’s new Autumn collection. Part of the agreed scope of work is for your in-house graphic design team to create collateral for a marketing campaign including radio, web banners and newspaper ads.

Throughout the lead-up to the launch, the client keeps changing their mind about the details; they want to include store-wide offers, they want a coupon code creating for the newspaper and website ads etc. You agree to take on the changes, but you temporarily hire an extra person to carry out the extra work and include their expense in your final invoice to the client. The client is angry as they did not agree to the extra cost. Scope creep strikes again!

There are a number of tools and techniques from the world of project management that an event manager can adopt in order to prevent scope creep:

1. Educate your team and your clients!

Ensure visibility of the project scope and ensure that both the client and the event team is well versed in its contents. Refer to the scope regularly in meetings and especially when any major milestones are achieved or decisions are made. In events that are planned a long time in advance, it is common for client team members to change or the event team itself may shift and change over time. It is important that new members undergo a formal onboarding process and are aware of what has been agreed.

2. Balance team management with autonomy

Whilst you don’t want to micro-manage your event team, it is important that all client contact comes through one person to avoid mixed messages being sent. Often if a manger is managing more than one event, there might be times when they are busy and the client speaks directly to the team and ask them to do things that have not been agreed. Having an agreed spokesperson who deals with all client communications in the manager’s absence will help to minimise this risk.

3. Manage your stakeholders

This will be discussed in more detail later in the chapter, but proper stakeholder management alongside a thorough communication plan can prevent messages from being lost or misinterpreted. Key stakeholders who hold both power and influence should be met with regularly so that their expectations are managed.

4. Create a Scope of Work document and do not start work until it is signed by all parties

A contract should be signed with the client before any work takes place, but contracts do not always contain enough information. In project management, a Scope of Work document is usually signed and can also double up as a contract. It details all the work packages, what the event company and what the client agree to do, a resourcing plan, a governance structure, a high level project plan, a change process etc. This will really cover your back when working with more challenging clients!

Learning Activity 2.1 - Designing a scope of work

Figure 5: Must Haves for a Scope of Work, found at https://plan.io/blog/scope-of-work/, accesses 16th July 2018

Visit the following webpage and read the ‘nine steps to an effective statement of work’. https://plan.io/blog/scope-of-work/

Your task In groups of two, research a large scale event that is held in Dubai every year. For example, you might choose The Dubai Marathon, RedFest DXB or Taste of Dubai.

Use the steps outlined in the website above as a guide, you must now create a Statement of Work for your chosen event. The steps on the website are very detailed and you may not want to use all of them, but it will give you an idea of what to include.

There will be areas of your chosen event that you will not be able to find access to online, such as the budget or planning timelines, so you will need to estimate them sensibly.

You should complete your Statement of Work using MS Word, with a business style font and it should include appropriately divided sections.