Events Feasibility and Development: From Strategy to Operations, Second Edition, outlines the best practice in event development and the global events sector. Tools and techniques from the first edition have been refined and expanded through their use in over 20 countries, including the USA, France, UAE, Malaysia and South Africa. These include strategy development and implementation, asset management, portfolio management, return on investment, management process mapping and the feasibility study.
Fascinating current examples illustrate these professional management techniques. The second edition elaborates on the events sector maturity model as a measurement tool for cities, regions and countries. This has been tried and successfully tested in developing economies and assisted in the rapid development and sustainability of events in Dubai and many other destinations.
Each chapter contains exhibits, questions, bullet points and clear explanations of the tools and techniques. Brand new material includes:
• A full explanation of the maturity model including post-pandemic solutions
• New case studies and exhibits
• A new section on teaching and training in event management.
The chapters are fully supported by further current case studies and examples on the publisher’s and the author’s website. Online material also includes 11 lesson plans for a semester course, containing assessment items, learning objectives and teaching tips for each topic, and event photos and author videos explaining the topics. This will be essential reading for all students of Event Management.
William O’Toole is a consultant working around the world as an events development specialist for organizations such as the European Commission, Deloitte and the United Nations as well as national and state governments, private companies and cities.
Events Management
Edited by Glenn Bowdin, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
Donald Getz, University of Calgary, Canada
Conrad Lashley, Nottingham Trent University, UK
Management of Event Operations
Julia Tum, Philippa Norton and J. Nevan Wright
Innovative Marketing Communications
Strategies for the Event Industry
Guy Masterman and Emma H. Wood
Events Design and Experience
Graham Berridge
Events Management, 3rd Edition
Glenn Bowdin, Johnny Allen, William O’Toole, Rob Harris and Ian McDonnell
Conferences and Conventions, 3rd Edition
Tony Rogers
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
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Events-Management/bookseries/EM
Events Feasibility and Development
From Strategy to Operations
Second Edition
William O’Toole
Second edition published 2022 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge
The right of William O’Toole to be identified as author 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 electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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 Elsevier Ltd. 2011
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: O’Toole, William, 1951– author.
Title: Events feasibility and development: from strategy to operations / William O’Toole.
Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2022. |
Series: Event management series | “First edition published by Elsevier Ltd. 2011” — Title page verso. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025655
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025656
ISBN: 9781032000930 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032000879 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003172703 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003172703
Typeset in Iowan Old Style by codeMantra
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032000879
Case studies
Foreword
Dubai’s development has been driven by a number of factors. One of these is the events. We have always been creative and open to new ideas. This stunning development does not just happen, it occurs when intelligent people sit together and chart a course.
I met Bill when I came to his first training event in Dubai in 2004. I could see straight away his concepts, style of thinking and enthusiasm would be a benefit to our country and the city of Dubai. Immediately as we sat down, he took out sheets of paper to draw the concepts. From that informal discussion, on behalf of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, I asked Bill to train staff and review our strategies for events.
I believe this book is one of the results.
There can be no doubt that Dubai has charted the course found in the maturity model. It was only a matter of time before word got out about his development model. His event training classes in Dubai were always full. People arrived from Africa, Asia and Europe to take part. From those classes, he was asked to consult in many other countries and develop their events strategy.
Over the years, we have met up every time he passes through our city on his way to another consultancy. It was amazing to watch as his model was adopted by other developing countries. I know it all came from those sessions with the paper and the hand-drawn flow charts. I can even recognise some of those in this textbook.
Marwan Bin Beyat Al Falasi Director General at a HHS Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid’s Office Former Head of Events, Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM) 1998–2006 Dubai
The United Nations is involved in Africa to grow the development of the countries. In our work in Uganda, Sudan and Liberia, we invited William O’Toole to develop a course and train our staff and the local people in the creation of events. These countries have seen the ravages of war and my idea was to use events and festivals as part of the social healing through local engagement. William describes this unique experience in this textbook. I hope that the students and general readers will benefit and assist
the UN in furthering the development of the means of celebration and the creation of business through events and festivals.
Andrew Robertson
Chief General Services, UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) United Nations
The European Commission granted funds for the development of Aqaba in Jordan. At the top of the Red Sea, this ancient city had enormous potential. My position was the head of tourism development and I realised we needed events and festivals to complement the infrastructure being built. We searched for an events expert and found William (Bill) O’Toole. His work was to help us develop the events capability of the town and region. He trained the teams and assisted with the creation and delivery of our event strategy. It was a great success and became the foundation of our events to this day.
Habeeb Habash
Tourism Component Manager
European Union, Institutional Support to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority
In 2004, I met Bill as part of our Tourism Commission project to develop the event industry in Saudi Arabia. We had big challenges. The one import is to empower the staff and managers of event companies. We trusted Bill as the event expert to help us. We called Bill the “Event Man” or the “the father of events”. With Bill, we developed a great development action plan that we executed over several years. It was a success as we were able to go from less than ten event companies to more than 200 companies. We also managed to lead the creation of very successful big public events in Saudi Arabia. Those events played an important role in the tourism development in Saudi Arabia and the local communities’ involvement and tourism sustainability. Thank you very much, Bill.
Hamad Al Sheikh Director, Tourism Product Development
Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bill O’Toole has been on the pulse of the modern approach to the Event Industry and Event Education since the discipline started firming up as a separate entity early in this century. Events have varied in size and complexity since those early times and in recent years have grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
At the International College of Management, Sydney (ICMS) we were among the leaders in Australian university-level instruction and Bill O’Toole was a leading proponent in the creation process of our prestigious degree program. It is noted that this was long before the subject area was fashionable. The connections he made with the European academics at the time were a clear game changer.
O’Toole’s steadfast insistence that practical skills be injected into the curricula placed the graduates at the forefront of the industry in the world.
In this latest book, he proves his mettle, over two decades later, at a juncture where the industry now goes through a needed period of re-invention. The Events Sector now ushers students into the new world of managing mega events, the COVID pandemic and terrorism concerns.
Interactive case studies, modern checklists and effective risk reminders are all part of the modern strategy dispensed with operational nuances – which are proven time and again to be invaluable to any event manager.
Dr Dominic Szambowski
Dean – Swiss Hotel Management School Switzerland
Former President – International College of Management, Sydney
We’ve been privileged to have Bill join us in South Africa four times over the last 20 years and to have presented with him in Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Uganda, the USA and Dubai.
His insight into the strategic role and benefits of festivals and events in and for local communities is legendary – highlighting the critical role that events play in contributing towards active communities.
Bill shares the importance of the strategic objectives of local, national and international events and the contributions they make towards nation building through the networks of common interest.
He reinforces the critical role that events and festivals play in strengthening communities through working together for a common goal – whether it is a celebration, cultural event, civic function – promoting tolerance and understanding and showing the various cultures under the light of celebrations.
Bill addresses the critical strategic objectives around the use of assets and services, attractive and liveable cities, respecting the environment and sustainability and the role of events in continually improving the workforce.
From history and heritage, to social unity and diversity, this 2nd Edition of Events Feasibility and Development highlights the critical role that events play at every level as communication channels to local communities.
Imagine if every aspiring event organiser, every local, regional, national and international authority could use it with their communities to plan, prepare and produce events that can get the job done and make a difference in the lives empowered in the process.
Janet Landey
International Festivals & Events Association, Africa Institute of Event Management at Skills Village 2030 Johannesburg South Africa
SECTION I Strategic feasibility and development
The journey starts with the big picture. In the next chapters, we examine the events sector that has grown from a multitude of disparate events scattered around the world to a thriving, interconnected industry. The themes introduced in this section come from the first edition of the textbook. They are repeated in this edition with current examples. In various forms, these have been taken up and adapted by cities and countries since the first publication. They are:
• Return on Investment: social, goodwill and commercial.
• Events programme as a portfolio of events.
• Events unit or department within a government or company.
• Events development strategy.
• Events as assets.
• Introduction of the maturity and competency model.
As a result of the application of the list above, the events sector has moved over the last 11 years.
The events sector maturity model is the overall pattern, and for this reason, we start with it. This enables countries, cities, regions and companies to examine their events portfolio and their part of the sector. The questions to ascertain the maturity level will be found on the accompanying website. All the topics listed above fit within this model. The events development strategy described in the first section is a pathway to the next phase in the model. It opens the gate.
Once the overall sector maturity model is described, the section describes the development of the events development strategy. Each country and city has moved towards a common methodology in creating and updating its events strategy. Of course, there are many places, such as in the USA, where the event
strategy is not a common published document. They do follow it. From my work in the USA in assisting the development of event proposals and examining the event strategic plans of cities such as Arlington TX, Dublin OH, Des Moines IA, Memphis TN, Philadelphia PA, Greater Palm Springs CN and Grapevine TX, all the above list are found. They are often disguised by a different approach, distributed in many documents and described by different terminologies, but, hidden or obvious, they all fit the model.
The events development strategy, whether a purposely created document or spread over many departments, has a number of headings. We examine each of these in detail. This should allow a city/region or country to compare their strategy to what is described here. Each of the headings is illustrated with examples from around the world at various stages of development.
The question of feasibility is central to the decision to support events and create a full programme of events and festivals. This section considers the event and events programme feasibility from their point of view. It includes the host’s or client’s objectives, the process of support, the levels of support and the application process. As events and festivals grow in their economic visibility, these decisions are central to the economic robustness of a region or company. Exhibit 1.1 illustrates the concerns of a large annual event and is an example of an event’s growing pain. Most of the operational issues have been solved over many years of the event. The issues that come to the fore are long-term management problems such as stakeholder management and knowledge management. These are strategic issues as they affect the sustainability of the event.
ExHIBIT 1.1 SAMPLE OF THE STRATEGIC ISSUES AND GOALS OF A MAJOR EvENT
• the event has had enormous growth and the event organisation must be able to manage this growth.
• it needs the best ‘structure’ for the organisation to ensure long-term viability.
• the event organisation must move away from the ad hoc arrangement of the past.
• Contingency staff and committee strategies, i.e. if a committee person leaves, then there should be backup as the event team loses their knowledge and experience. every committee person has a role and looks after an area such as concert, trade sites and catering and merchandise, when they leave, their skills and knowledge go with them.
• there must be the ability to get major funding in the near future.
• the local authority’s role should be more defined in relation to the event. their level of assistance and future support should be described and agreed upon.
• At the same time, the event should stay true to its origins and should always be memorable.
• the legal entity of the event must be decided by comparing various models, such as company, association or part of the local authority.
• one goal of the event is to become international.
Chapter 1 Events sector maturity model
Introduction
If one were to take a snapshot of the events sector around the world, the image would be very confusing. Huge sports events and mega festivals right down to micro meetings and parties. A concert in Entebbe to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Billion dollar festivals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and street soccer game in the back streets of Jeddah. Where does it all come from? Where is it going?
This is the limitation of a snapshot view of the sector. It is static and does not show the history and development. To paraphrase Heraclitus, it assumes that a photograph of a flowing river tells you all about the river. It does not show the connections, the dynamics and the ever-changing processes.
These are only visible when the sector is examined over time and around the world.
It is the connections that create development. Understanding the connections and processes is the way to forecast the direction of the sector. Street soccer is related to the FIFA World Cup. These mega events, for which countries breathlessly compete, started as very small gatherings of people with a common interest. They didn’t suddenly appear in response to the strategic policies of a government. By observing events over time, the longitudinal view, we can see a number of patterns emerging. This book is about those patterns.
We now realise that events and festivals are an economic and social driver of many companies, cities, regions and countries. They need to be assessed for their benefits and placed in the development plans of the organisation. The only way to achieve this sensibly is to devise a framework for the development of the events sector. By understanding this development pattern or model, cities, countries, companies and
regions can make informed decisions as to the next step. At this stage, in the development of the events sector, these questions need to be asked:
1 Will we introduce more standards, rules and regulations?
2 Do we need to scale and adapt these according to the types and size of events?
3 How can we develop the sector and still keep it fresh and innovative?
4 How can we be agile in response to changing situations?
5 Do our current risk management policies stifle event development?
6 How can we realistically measure the return on investment?
In any other international sector, these questions are fundamental. All of this is new to events. This textbook is an attempt to assist those responsible for events development to answer these questions and many more.
The model revealed in this chapter is based on three pillars:
1 Other sectors: The development of other professions and sectors in the modern world. These include engineering, medical, project management, software development, marketing and accounting. When viewed from above, all these and many more have followed a path.
2 Maturity model: The model of maturity originates from the US Department of Defence and the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. The CMM is set out as a prescriptive model to ensure optimisation of software development.
3 Experience: The experience of the author as a consultant and manager in events in over 40 countries. This includes each of the phases of the model in various countries. The consultancies included probing, testing and assessing the advice given as part of the work. Although a model is often removed from day-to-day operations, this was ‘heat’ tested in each of the phases in many cities and regions. Many of the ‘exhibits’ in this textbook are from the author’s frontline experience.
The overriding emerging model based on the three pillars is displayed in Table 1.1 and explained in the section below.
The phases
The phases or levels in the events sector maturity model are determined by the experience of the author combined with various published maturity models. It is called a maturity model as each phase depends on the previous phase. The previous phase creates the capacity and capability (and contradictions) to enable and drive movement along the maturity path.
Phase one
The first phase is described as ‘ad hoc’. There is no integrated events sector or standards. Events are a response to the immediate needs of business or the needs of a community as interpreted by people within the community. In other words, it is driven by big personalities. These are talented people who are willing to take risk to reap reward . There is no recognised management system. Experience and reputation are what counts. Any management files or documents are hidden as the method of creating and delivering a successful event is the competitive edge for the event company, and they do not want their competition to have it. A large part of this phase is about the reputation of the event company. It is the reputation of the company and the key ‘personality’ that is used as proof of the ability to successfully deliver the event.
Plans are one input to decisions. decisionmaking is distributed and networked. best practice is studied at all levels. Competency is measure of staff. risk is also an opportunity. events are seen as dynamic over time and not as permanent fixture. Codes, standards and other regulations are scaled to ensure stability, growth, renewal and innovation. there will be a higher level of ‘churn’ –new events tried out some failing and some succeeding.
Mandatory standards. Codes, regulations and rules. event specific laws. decision hierarchy and objectives with complete accountability. Primacy of mega and major events. small events become uneconomic. bureaucratisation.“ box ticking”. inflexible. Fragile, open to disasters.
repeatable events. solid organisation structure. Management is seen as an asset. each event improves the planning. Codes and guidelines are introduced. events strategies are developed. growth of mega events. government subsidises large events and bids for international events. Major venues are constructed. good plans become the objective.
Cannot be repeated or sold. unaccountable decisions. single areas such as marketing and schedule use plans. delegation is formalised. Venues are being built. not fully accountable.
Characteristics
Limits no formal plans, quick to set up and flexible. often driven by one personality.
Maturity path
The advantage of this phase is that it is competitive and anyone with a ‘name card or a website’ can organise an event. It is a bit like the law of the jungle where successful companies survive as the lesser companies disappear. The methodology of working is based on informal networks of suppliers. Reputation is the key to success. There is no need for detailed contracts as the survival of the fittest and those who are networked the most ensure a mutual understanding throughout. The competitiveness of the companies and the events kept them agile and quick to respond to opportunities.
In all countries, this has created the foundation for growing the events sector. It created suppliers such as companies specialising in supplying sound systems, lights, stages, fencing, tents, food and beverages. As well, it created the need for venues, such as the ballrooms and conference centres in large hotels, concert halls, parks used for community festivals and the roads used for parades. The variety of event management styles reflected the personality of the owner. Interestingly, the company was often named after the owner, and when the next phase arrived, it became the initials for the owner.
This phase began with the informal associations of event people primarily aimed at keeping up with new ideas and dealing with suppliers.
This phase has not disappeared around the world. It is very effective and agile. In the experience of the author, it is found in many countries. As the events sector moves along the maturity path, the skills and knowledge of the event managers in this phase are valuable to the whole events sector. As will be stressed in the following chapters, operational experience is vital as it is on-site risk that is the greatest. During the ad hoc phase, operational experience in event management is essential.
Why did it move to the next phase? The companies became very successful and grew. The events have become much bigger. This all needed some sort of formal planning. The plans had hitherto been hidden to protect the methods and ideas of the company or city. In particular, if government entities, such as the local council or police, were involved, they knew little about events, and therefore, certain event plans, such as a traffic management plan, became their way to ensure the event company or events unit within a larger company were competent. It also became a way to “shift the risk’. Insurance companies also became involved. Although the rigours of public liability, professional indemnity and even ‘loss of enjoyment’ insurance had yet to surface, the insurance companies began to realise that temporary mass gatherings were a special class of insurance. It was unclear whether events were covered in their standard policies.
There is a strong legacy from the ad hoc phase as the personalities are highly experienced and necessary in developing new events. From Uganda to Singapore to Melbourne, it is the same, the original personalities in events are still there. The development of the sector has happened so rapidly that the history is still alive.
Phase two: isolated plans (informal)
The next phase is the beginning of formal planning. The event companies and various authorities and departments need certain plans in order to deal with various stakeholders. Sponsorship by a major company may require a marketing plan. The client or city may require a design plan and site layout map. Budgets (“a plan in numbers”) are always there but kept close to the chest. To reveal the budget would give competitors an advantage. This does not reflect an accountable management system.
Interestingly, the first “how to” and event textbooks started being published. These were focused on marketing, sponsorship and design of the event. In addition, they focused on one type of event, such as special events, meetings and entertainment events. Two excellent examples of this phase are Lena Malouf’s Behind the Scenes at Special Events: Flowers, Props, and Design (1998) and the Dr Joe
Jeff Goldblatt’s Special Events (1997). The hands-on experience of these authors make these manuals highly relevant to this day. Even conferences and meetings were mostly focused on suppliers and new ideas and started delivering training sessions and presentations in marketing, the latest ideas and sponsorship.
Phase three: integrated plans (formal)
As the events grew in importance and size, the authorities required more detailed plans for the operations of the event. The simple product launch at the beach now requires formal and written approval from the Road Authorities and Police. The client of the special event company wanted to ensure all the compliance issues were taken care of. In some countries, this coincided with legislation concerning ‘duty of care’ and board liability. The latter meant that any disaster at an event could be traced to the individual members of the board of a company. They were not immune from prosecution.
A large part of this was driven by the adoption of risk management policies by the local authorities and the companies, such as the sponsors. During the ad hoc phase, issues such as accidents at the event were often covered up or an agreement was made with the people involved. Future work for the event company or unit depends on their reputation and, if possible, any incidents are hidden from view and history. Events now have a choice of insurance companies. Companies such as Marsh and AON required the event to use a risk management methodology.
At this point, the event textbooks started to change, and event management textbooks included planning techniques adapted from other disciplines such as project management, risk management and logistics. The three areas of management require integrated planning. Written plans become the preferred internal and external communication channel.
The professional development courses in these subjects flourished and were included in the association meetings.
Now that the event management methodology has been exposed, different methods can be compared. Event management software has started to appear in the more stable parts of the sector, such as meetings and exhibitions.
The EMBOK, a forward-thinking model of event management described in later chapters, included risk management as one of the five knowledge domains. The importance of risk management is that it is meant to be ‘embedded’ in all aspects of management and has a well-known planning methodology. As a result, the event companies and organisers needed to ‘integrate their planning’. The sponsorship plan and marketing plan were linked to the financial plan. These were all under the project plan or schedule. These had to be linked to the risk management plan.
The integrated planning phase produced the event guidelines or event manuals. These are recommended ways to manage events generally published by the local authorities. For larger events, the Road Authorities put out guidelines such as USA Special Event guidelines. The local authorities and governments developed guidelines for their events in their jurisdiction. There is a list of examples in the references, and many samples are found on the accompanying website.
An early example of this is the Safe and Healthy Mass Gatherings, A Health, Medical and Safety Planning Manual for Public Events developed by interested parties in 1999. It was highly operational-based with copious tips and checklists developed from experience. It was not a compliance document. This can be compared to the 2018 update of this manual now called, Safe and Healthy Crowded Places, that is replete with standards, codes and regulations that must be followed. This was a bare 19 years later and demonstrates how quickly the next phase was reached.
The quote below from Coventry in the UK illustrates the push from the local authorities for integrated planning.
Where appropriate, after completing the booking form you will be asked to provide:
• Evidence of public liability insurance cover
• A risk assessment
• A site plan
• A contact list
• An operations schedule
• Noise action plan
• An organisational structure
• A security and stewarding plan
• Traffic management plan.
Phase four: standards
(From: Event Safety Guide (City of Coventry, 2013))
The next phase in the model is the ‘Standards’ phase. At this point, the governments are actively involved in the development of the events sector. The guidelines, such as Visit Scotland (2019) Event Management Guide: A practical guide to managing your event and Sauga Celebrates Guide and Requirements for Hosting Festivals and Events in 2017, describe the mandatory standards, rules and regulations as well as tips of event management. Local authorities and local councils use their ‘gatekeeper’ role to allow only events that have followed the standards and codes to occur in their region. The integrated planning now must include compliance as a major section of the plan. The rules often require submission of detailed plans long before the events in order to gain permission from various authorities.
The return on investment for the government is enormous just from the tax income generated by events. They turn their attention to attracting mega events as they have the most immediate financial benefit and media clout. In addition, the governments realise that their population is travelling to events in other countries and this is a significant loss. The leakage can be corrected by hosting the events in-country. This is the same for the region or states and the city. The competition for international and touring events is intense. The government, who had an interest in event venues, now develops large event-specific venues, and there is an explosion of building and upgrading conference and exhibition venues and sports stadiums.
The major events, the mega events, have now started to define the events industry itself. During the ad hoc phase, anyone could call themselves an event organiser. Now it has changed to being an employee of a major organisation. The mega events create the mega event international companies such as Jack Morton and Live Nation. The way of working of these international companies has an effect around the world and significantly contributes to standardisation.
Events such as the Olympics are so powerful that they can demand special government legislation before they decide who will be the host. Major events are now subject to specific acts such as Major Events Management Act 2007 of New Zealand,
The Major Events Management Act 2007 is intended to apply to one- off internationally significant major events where protection from ambush marketing is a requirement for the award of hosting rights. It’s not intended for annual or regular events that New Zealand hosts as of right.
