Читать книгу Global Experience Industries - Jens Christensen - Страница 58

Celebration is as old as humanity.¹²¹ We commemorate birth, life and death; discovery, victory, and remembrance; history, new beginnings, and patriotism; food, shelter, and family; where we come from, who we are, and what we believe; careers, achievements, and milestones; music, sports, military prowess, children, love, hopes, community, beauty, talent and peace on earth. The need to celebrate seems inherent in everything we do.

In the course of time these celebrations have changed. From informal affairs to spectacular productions requiring new sets of skills, experience, creativity, tools, financing, planning and leadership, celebration has often evolved into a business and an industry with professional standards and expectations, academic programs and educational certifications, and with new demands and challenges every day. The events industry has become a worldwide affair, including international organizations for professionals and companies, too.¹²² Globally, it is estimated to include some one million regularly re-occurring events (including community festivals, parades, fairs, air shows, sporting events, carnivals, car shows, art shows, flower shows, corporate events, balloon rallies and more), with an estimated economic impact in the hundreds of billions of dollars and combined attendances that touch virtually every life on the planet. Each person has his events through his life. Each family has its events to celebrate birth, confirmation, exams, weddings, anniversaries, vacations, etc. Each company and organization has its events: meetings, exhibitions, parties, team building, anniversaries, special occasions, annual meeting, etc. Each industry has its events: conferences, trade show, exhibitions, annual meeting. Each local community has its events: festivals, music performance, sports events, elections, etc. Each nation has its events: national championships, elections, royal birthdays, festivals, etc. International events are celebrated, too: World Cup, OL, etc.

Business, culture and sports events therefore are fields of increasing economic and cultural importance – for citizens, business, local communities and nations. Events are of many kinds and sizes, from great international sports, cultural or political events at one end of the spectrum to family events at the other end. Large events are attractive because they create employment and economic revenues for businesses and state and offer people experiences of great quality and excitement. In addition, international events serve to upgrade nations’ and cities’ facilities which qualify for new events and increased tourism, too. Winning in international competition to become the organizer of great events is based on long-term planning, hard and professional work. That includes such international events as the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games and the America’s Cup. Other recurring events include the London Marathon, New York Marathon and Berlin Marathon, the Cannes Film Festival and Vienna New Years Eve Concert.

Although sport events, concerts, music and film festivals and other cultural events are an important part of events per se, there is much more to events than that. Most events actually take place in the business world, such as exhibitions, trade shows, the launch of new products, conventions, meetings, career and job centers, company parties, receptions and other business occasions. Business events are arranged for the same reasons as they are in private and entertainment contexts, except that they are done for commercial reasons. Great experiences will always be remembered. They tighten bonds between friends, customers, employees and business relations. ‘Be in touch’, may be the slogan.

In business events, all kinds of media are used on the one hand, but on the other hand it is the face-to-face communication, which has become part of companies’ marketing activities, that has given rise to many new firms and has encouraged existing marketing companies also to diversify into the business of events. The events industry is large and diverse. Within exhibitions in the UK alone, the industry contributed almost $20 billion to the UK economy in 2005.¹²³ Events must be organized and marketed. Staging an event is a major logistical and organizational undertaking based on creative thinking and business knowledge. Business events have become so important that event management is being taught at universities throughout the world, including the US, UK, Germany, France and Australia. Events companies target many groups: business leaders, employees, people in certain industries, and for different purposes, often team building.

Events are a many-sided business, dealing with special occasions:

- Festivals and special events: have grown into a massive industry worldwide, generating billions of dollars for companies, centers, states and countries. Festivals and special events bring people together to celebrate, to remember, to support and to identify as a community or nation.¹²⁴

- Special interest tourism: is one of the fastest growing segments within the tourism industry. A more mature traveling public is increasingly seeking experiences which satisfy a whole spectrum of interests. Accordingly, there is a need for new tourism products, services and experiences that cater to these markets. Special interest tourism incorporates various sectors such as regional, urban community, environmental, cruise, heritage, cultural, sex and educational tourism.

- Business and management conventions: The MICE sector is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative areas of the tourism industry worldwide.

- Behind the scenes at special events: covers the essentials of designing and executing a successful theme party or special event, from presenting a menu of theme ideas to creating a color scheme to designing and building stage sets.

- Professional event coordination: includes the full event planning process and provides tools and strategies to effectively procure, organize, implement, and monitor all the products, services, and service providers that will bring an event to life: Event design, Project management techniques, Site selection and development, Infrastructure services, Entertainment possibilities, Food and beverage options, Safety and security, Inviting attendees.

- Event marketing: from sales and advertising to public relations and community involvement.

- Event sponsorship: guidelines for attracting, signing, and keeping sponsorship for any event, including festivals, conventions, expositions, sporting events, arts and entertainment spectaculars, charity events, and much more.

- Event risk Management and safety: with any event comes risk, from rowdy guests at a festival or convention to a life-threatening riot at a sports event.