Unit 2 : THEORETICAL FOUNDATION of EVENT MANAGEMENT

 

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF EVENT MANAGEMENT

2.1. 

Event management is an application of project management to the creation, development, and execution of events. Project Management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to complete specific project goals and objectives successfully. Management is the planning, organizing, leading, and controlling of the project.

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while adhering to classic project constraints: scope, quality, time, and budget. 

The secondary and more ambitious challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. 

Definition of Project:

A project is a carefully defined set of activities that use resources (money, people, materials, energy, space, provisions, communication, motivation, etc.) to achieve the project goals and objectives.

According to Gray and Larson, “a project is a complex non-routine one-time effort limited by time, budget, resources, and performance specifications designed to meet customer needs.”

“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.”

  - Project Management Institute (PMI)

The event is the deliverable of a management process. The project management of events concentrates on the management process to create the event, not just what happens at the event. Project management is a system that describes the work before the event actually starts, the event, and finally the shutdown of the event.

Project Characteristics

• Projects are unique.
• Projects are temporary in nature and have a definite beginning and ending date.
• Projects are completed when the project goals are achieved or it’s determined that the project is no longer viable.
• Projects are to be completed within budget and with quality considerations.
• Projects are to determine customers’ needs for acceptance.
• Customers allow the contractor to use them as a reference.

Functional Areas of Event Management

• Managing integration
• Managing scope
• Managing time/schedule
• Managing costs
• Managing quality
• Managing human resources
• Managing communication
• Managing risk

Events as Projects

Event management is made up of a number of management areas, including planning, leading, marketing, design, control and budgeting, risk management, logistics, staging, and evaluation. 

Project management can be regarded as integrating all of these disciplines; thus, it covers all the different areas of management and integrates them so they all work towards the event objectives.

Ideal event as a project process

• Research
• Clarify aims and objectives and feasibility
• Design and present a preliminary plan
• Organize and coordinate
• Implement
• Closedown
• Review and evaluate

Events and Projects connection (O’Toole and Mikolaitis, 2002)

They are time-based: every aspect of a project has a time constraint.

They are unique and involve either using new resources or using standard resources in a new combination.

They have start and finish dates. 

They involve considerable unfamiliarity and the possibility of unforeseen risks.

The level of activity varies throughout the project

They constitute a dynamic system subject to change from internal and external sources. 

2.2 Project Planning 

Every project's foundation is project planning, which explains to all parties concerned the goal and the path to achieve it. Project planning involves documenting project plans, defining project deliverables and requirements, and creating a project timetable. It entails developing a set of plans to assist in directing the project team during the project's implementation and closure stages. Project planning helps in managing time, cost, quality, modifications, risk, and other concerns. They will also assist in managing employees and outside vendors to guarantee that the project is completed on time, within budget, and on schedule.

The project planning phase is often the most challenging phase for a project manager, as you need to make an educated guess about the staff, resources, and equipment needed to complete your project. You may also need to plan your communications and procurement activities, as well as contract any third-party suppliers.

To plan a project properly, one must attend to three kinds of activities that may have to be performed during the life of the job.

Strategy: overall method you will employ to do the job, sometimes called a “game plan”.

Tactics: an action or method carefully planned to achieve a specific end

Logistics:  Everything needed for a project. The overall process of managing how resources are acquired, stored, and transported to their final destination

The purpose of the project planning phase is to:

• Establish business requirements
• Establish cost, schedule, list of deliverables, and delivery dates
• Establish resource plans
• Obtain management approval and proceed to the next phase

Project Planning Steps

• Define the problem to be solved by the project.
• Develop a mission statement, followed by statements of major objectives.
• Develop a project strategy that will meet all project objectives.
• Write a scope statement to define project boundaries (what will and will not be done).
• 
  Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Using the WBS, estimate activity durations, resource requirements, and costs (as appropriate for your environment).
• Prepare the project master schedule and budget.
• Decide on the project organization structure—whether matrix or hierarchical (if you are free to choose).
• Create the project plan.
• Get the plan signed off by all project stakeholders.

Project Management and Planning Tools

WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) : It is used widely in human resource management as well as project management to illustrate how a project or organisation can be structured to meet its delivery objectives. This type of structuring involves dissecting all the tasks or job roles of a project to understand and visualize how the overall project may be managed and realized. 

It illustrates the dependency or relationship between one employee and another or one task and another. 

This allows for efficient problem-solving on the part of the project manager, who can quickly see who has line management responsibility in which broad employee/volunteer area.

GANTT Chart: The GANTT Chart is named after its originator, Henry Gantt, an American industrial engineer (1861–1919) (Lock, 2013). A Gantt chart allows project managers to collate the entire project tasks within one document in a manner that measures the tasks to time frames.

These charts display the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Gantt charts show all the key stages of a project and their duration as a bar chart, with the time scale across the top.

2.3 Project Optimization

It can be defined as finding the solution, from the available alternative options, with the most cost-effective or highest achievable performance under the given constraints, by maximising desired factors and minimising undesired ones. 

Optimization implies managed intentional change and continuous improvement.  In Project management, Optimal performance is being able to consistently meet expectations by delivering useful, quality results within time and cost constraints while maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of resources across multiple projects.

When planning projects, there are two generally competing concerns:

• maximization and 
• optimization. 

With maximization, cost is of no concern.  The emphasis is on quality regardless of cost.

Within a maximization perspective, define quality and then go about finding the money necessary to achieve quality

With optimization, the emphasis is on the best quality that one can produce with the money available.

The Projects process can be optimized in the following ways:

• Research and identify the lacking process (interview, collect, and analyze data related to processes)
• Map out processes (Flow chart or Gantt Chart to determine holes that lie within each process)
• Reassemble your process (re-checking tasks for remaining gaps from documentation)
• Execute & Report (kick-off to see real-time performance, take feedback for adjustments)
• Automate and document (revised functioning, new process documented for stakeholders)

2.4 Project Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT)

It is developed by Booz-Allen and Hamilton as part of the United States Navy’s Polaris missile submarine program.  PERT is a method for analyzing the tasks involved in completing a project. In project management, the Project Evaluation Review Technique, or PERT, is used to identify the time it takes to finish a particular task or activity. It is a system that helps in the proper scheduling and coordination of all tasks throughout a project. It also helps in keeping track of the progress, or lack thereof, of the overall project. It helps in estimating the minimum time needed to complete a project,  especially the time needed to complete each task of the project. PERT  dependencies among tasks, and the minimum time needed to complete the total project. 

Project Evaluation and Review Techniques (PERT) is used 

• To plan and schedule project activities efficiently.
• To identify the critical path that controls project duration.
• To minimize project time and resources.
• To evaluate and control the uncertainty and risks involved in project scheduling

Fig: Sample PERT Networking diagram

Fig: Construction of PERT diagram from WBS

TE =  O + 4M + P​

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2.5 Project Crashing 

• Spending more resources to get something done more quickly is called “crashing”. 
• Crashing the schedule means throwing additional resources to the critical path without necessarily getting the highest level of efficiency.
• It is a technique in which resources are added to the project at the lowest possible cost.
• The key is to attain maximum decrease in schedule time with minimum cost. 
• Crashing is the technique to use when fast tracking has not saved enough time on the schedule.
• Crashing refers to a particular variety of project schedule compression, which is performed for the purposes of decreasing the total period (also known as the total project schedule duration).

The common methods used are: 

• Adding additional resources to the critical path tasks: This option has various constraints, such as securing the budget to add the resources and the availability of the resources.
• Reduce the project requirements or scope: This can be done only if the sponsor and major stakeholders agree to reduce the scope
  

Reasons for Project Crashing

• The project is delayed (to avoid penalties/fines)
• Avoiding a delay in an upcoming phase (for smooth operations, using more budget)
• The project team will be moved to another project (moving resources)
• Availability of free resources (adding for acceleration)
• Resources for training (using training resources for acceleration)
• There are time bonuses for quick completion (compensation for over-costs)

2.6 Project Risk Management

Project risk management is the process of identifying, analyzing and then responding to any risk that arises over the life cycle of a project to help the project remain on track and meet its goal. Risk management isn’t reactive only; it should be part of the planning process to figure out risk that might happen in the project and how to control that risk if it in fact occurs.

A risk is anything that could potentially impact your project’s timeline, performance or budget. Risks are potentialities, and in a project management context, if they become realities, they then become classified as “issues” that must be addressed. So risk management, then, is the process of identifying, categorizing, prioritizing and planning for risks before they become issues.

Risk management can mean different things on different types of projects. On large-scale projects, risk management strategies might include extensive, detailed planning for each risk to ensure mitigation strategies are in place if issues arise. For smaller projects, risk management might mean a simple, prioritized list of high, medium and low priority risks.

Project/Event risk management can be carried out by following 7 steps:

Step 1- Outlining Objectives: Outlining objectives is a key step because it sets the foundation for all risk management exercises on a project. It is crucial that project goals are recorded and comprehended by all team members. This includes identifying project necessities and creating an understanding of the achievement criteria for the project. Requirements must be reviewed and tested early on to guarantee they are practical and understood by all team members. Base assumptions associated with the project and key project tenets should also be evaluated.

Step 2 – Risk Management Plan: The motive behind the Risk Management Plan (RMP) is to formalize the risk management process for a project. The RMP is a report that maintains the definition of the selected risk management methodology. It incorporates the goals of the risk process; the organization, roles and obligations of team members; the tools and strategies to be actualized; deliverables; review and reporting cycle.

Step 3 – Identification: The identification of project risks is accomplished using an assortment of methods including conceptualizing, questioning, fishbone outlines, past experiences, categorizing and brain mapping. It should be comprehensive with identified risks being given names that are meaningful to everyone involved. It is difficult to evade all risks on any given project- however, the key goal of comprehensive risk identification is to ensure that risks are known and not a surprise.

Step 4 – Evaluation: Risks must be evaluated objectively so that they can be prioritized and managed effectively. Evaluation techniques include:

Qualitative evaluation – provides a detailed result and enables the relative positioning of risk issues. This is material to projects of any size.

Quantitative appraisal – gives a scientific depiction of risk and produces a numerical consequence (risk estimate). Quantitative appraisal is embraced to address issues that merit a thorough investigation.

Step 5 – Planning: Once risks have been identified, it is critical to develop appropriate mitigation strategies. Risks should be assigned to team members best positioned to manage the issue. Each person must then prepare an action plan with commitments and milestone dates. The project manager must consider the positive and negative responses risk management strategy. Some of the strategies to deal with negative risk on your projects include:

• Avoid and try to eliminate the threat and protect the project from its impact.

• Transfer the impact of the thread to a 3rd party and own the response together.

• Mitigate the likelihood of occurrence or impact.

• Accept the risk and take no action until and unless it occurs.

Some of the strategies to deal with positive risk on your projects include:

Exploit the opportunity and make sure its value is realized.

• Enhance the risk by increasing the likelihood of its impact.

• Share by allocating the responsibility to a 3rd party who can increase the likelihood of capturing the opportunity.

• Accept the opportunity if it arises, but don’t take a proactive approach to make it happen.

Step 6 – Management: Risk mitigation plans must be continually audited throughout the life of the project. This audit includes ongoing analysis of the current risk profile as well as identification of a best plan B. 

Step 7 – Feedback: Constructive feedback is an important vehicle for learning from successes and defeats. Throughout the project, this feedback helps with constant reassessment of the circumstances concerning risk and enables the team to react to guarantee an effective result. Throughout the life of numerous projects, feedback permits organizations to consistently enhance their execution, their planning and evaluation, and the risk management process itself.

2.7 Project Implementation

The implementation phase involves putting the project plan into action. It’s here that the project manager will coordinate and direct project resources to meet the objectives of the project plan. As the project unfolds, it’s the project manager’s job to direct and manage each activity, every step of the way. That’s what happens in the implementation phase of the project life cycle: you follow the plan you’ve put together and handle any problems that come up.

The implementation phase is where you and your project team actually do the project work to produce the deliverables. The word “deliverable” means anything your project delivers. The deliverables for your project include all of the products or services that you and your team are performing for the client, customer, or sponsor, including all the project management documents that you put together.

Phases of Execution and Control:

• Conduct Project Execution Kick-off event, where the Project Manager conducts a meeting to formally begin the Project Execution and Control phase, orient new Project Team members, and review the documentation and current status of the project.
• Manage Project Execution, where the Project Manager must manage every aspect of the Project Plan to ensure that all the work of the project is being performed correctly and on time.

a) Forming the project team

b) Manage the Project Team

c) Manage Project Implementation and Transition

d) Manage Issues 

e) Manage Change Control Process

f) Manage Acceptance of Deliverables

g) Project Communication Management

h) Manage Organizational and Behavioural Change

• Manage CSSQ (Cost, Scope, Schedule, and Quality), where the Project Manager must manage changes to the Project Scope and Project Schedule, and implement Quality Assurance and Quality Control processes, control and manage costs as established in the Project Budget.

a) Manage Changes to Project Scope

b) Control the Project Schedule and Manage Schedule Changes

c) Implement Quality Assurance and Quality Control Processes according to the Quality Standards Revised During Project Planning

d) Control and Manage Costs Established in the Project Budget Tasks

• Monitor and Control Risks, where the Project Manager and Project Team utilize the Risk Management Plan prepared in previous phases, and develop and apply new response and resolution strategies to unexpected eventualities.

• Gain Project Acceptance, where the Project Manager, Customer Decision-Makers and Project Sponsor acknowledge that all outputs delivered have been tested, accepted and approved, and that the products/services of the project has been successfully transitioned to the expected beneficiaries.

2.8 Project Breakdown and Shutdown

• Project completion is often the most neglected phase of the project life cycle. 
• The key activities in project completion are gathering project records, disseminating information to formalize acceptance of the product, service, or project, and performing project closure. 
•  As the project manager, you will need to review project documents to ensure they are up-to-date. 
• When a project goes through the natural sequence till full completion, it is called a project shutdown. 
• All the contractual agreements have to be fulfilled along with the clients’ expectations. 
• Project breakdown occurs when the project has to be terminated during its working phase. 
• The project thus cannot be carried out any further till the end of proper shutdown.

Red Flags to Consider for Event Projects

• To avoid project shutdown, watch out for these warning signs:
• High Cost & Low Value – Too expensive or doesn’t align with goals.
• Competitors Outperform – Others are delivering better results.
• Loss of Control – Project mismanagement or stakeholder conflicts.
• Higher Priority Project – A more urgent task takes over.
• Failed Testing – Critical errors during rehearsals/trials.
• Resource Shortage – Not enough budget, staff, or tools.

Steps to close/Shutdown a Project

1. Analysis and review of the project through feedback
2. Complete paperwork
3. Release resources
4. Archive documents
5. Celebrate success

2.9 Stakeholder Theory

• A stakeholder is any individual or group that has an interest in or is affected by the actions, decisions, or success of an organization, project, or business.
• Daft and Marcic described a stakeholder as “any person or group within or outside the organization that has a stake in the organization’s performance.”
• “Stakeholders generally refer to any individual or group that, either positively or negatively, impacts or is impacted by the decisions and actions of an organization.”  -  GIIRS
• Harvard Law Professor E. Merrick Dodd suggested that businesses had at least four major groups of stakeholders: 
• shareholders, 
• employees, 
• customers, and 
• the general public.
• Shareholders want profits
• Employees want fair wages
• Customers want quality products/services
• Communities want jobs and environmental safety
•  The government wants tax compliance.
• Stakeholder theory is to consider every stakeholder, from shareholders and employees to community members. 
• Its goal is to optimize relationships and communication between stakeholders and the rest of the company, strengthening project initiatives. 
• Stakeholder theory is the idea that an organization’s success depends on how well it manages relationships with all the parties (stakeholders) who can affect or are affected by its operations.
•  R. Edward Freeman popularized it in his 1984 book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.
• Businesses have ethical and practical responsibilities to multiple groups.
• Success is measured not just by profit but by positive impact on all stakeholders.
• It emphasizes long-term value creation, trust, and mutual benefit.
  
  
  
• Value Creation for All – Businesses exist to create value for all stakeholders, not just profits for shareholders.
• Interconnected Relationships – Long-term success comes from managing relationships with key groups, not just financial metrics.
• Ethical Management – Ethical considerations are central, meaning organizations should be transparent, fair, and responsible.
• Sustainability – Businesses have responsibilities toward environmental and social sustainability
  

2.10  Systems Theory

• Systems theory is a science that has the comparative study of systems as its object.
• Project Management views a project as a system made up of interrelated and interdependent components working together to achieve a common goal—successful project delivery.
• A project is an open system that interacts with its internal and external environments (e.g., team, stakeholders, resources, market).
• Project managers must evaluate and manage various types of systems—technical, human, procedural, and informational

Benefits of Applying System Theory in Project Management

•  Better Planning: Encourages the integration of all subsystems for realistic project planning
•  Improved Adaptability: Helps manage change and uncertainty effectively through feedback loops.
• Enhanced Efficiency: Promotes coordination between departments and processes.
• Problem Identification: Makes it easier to trace problems to their root causes within the system.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Ensures all elements and people work towards a common goal.

2.11 Social Exchange Theory 

• Social Exchange Theory is a psychological and sociological framework that explains how people make decisions in relationships (personal or professional) based on perceived costs and rewards.
• It was developed by American sociologist George C. Homans (1910–1989)
  
  
  
• This theory explores how individuals seek to maximize benefits and minimize costs in their relationships.
• Social Exchange Theory reminds leaders to constantly evaluate and balance the costs and benefits for all parties involved. 
• When people feel the relationship is fair and beneficial, they stay engaged, loyal, and supportive.
• In the Event project, Social Exchange Theory helps to explain relationships between stakeholders, like: 
• Organizers and sponsors 
• Staff and managers 
• Attendees and organizers 
• Vendors and clients
• shareholders, 
• employees, 
• customers, and 
• the general public

2.12 Experiential Marketing Theory

• Experiential Marketing Theory is a concept that focuses on creating memorable experiences for customers, rather than just selling products or services. 
• The theory was developed by Bernd H. Schmitt in 1999. He argued that marketing should not just inform customers, but should excite and involve them through experiences.
•  Connect with a brand emotionally rather than giving information 
•  Experience the product or service in a real, engaging, and personal way
• Instead of just hearing about a product (like in ads), customers feel, touch, see, hear, and interact with the brand — making it more meaningful and unforgettabl

Strategic Experiential Modules (SEMs)

👁 Sense – Stimulate five senses (sight, sound, taste, smell, touch)

❤️ Feel – Emotional connection (joy, nostalgia, love)

🧠 Think – Appeal to intellect & creativity

🏃 Act – Influence lifestyle & behavior

🤝 Relate – Connect to social groups & communities

Key Features

• Focuses on experience, not just product
• Customer-centered & interactive
• Emotion-driven branding

Experiential marketing, often referred to as engagement marketing or event marketing, is an advertising strategy that focuses on creating immersive and interactive experiences to engage consumers with a brand. 

• It builds a strong emotional connection between customers and brands.
• It makes the brand more memorable and meaningful.
• It helps in differentiating a brand in a competitive market
• It often leads to word-of-mouth marketing, as people share their experiences
• Experiential Marketing Elements of Event Planning 
• Theme & Concept aligned with brand message
• Audience engagement strategy
• Experience design (venue layout, flow, sensory cues)
• Tech integration (AR/VR, live polls, interactive walls)
• Post-event memory triggers (photos, gifts, digital content)

 ---------------------------------Thank You ----------------------------