Events Management Process

The first stage of the events management process is the planning stage. It will involve putting togther an objective (the aim of the event) and the formation of deadlines to help control time management. Then the production team need to discuss the Who? What? Where? and When? concepts. This is important because it needs to be clear for everyone what is happening to avoid confusion. The date and time is especially important in getting an audience - hopefully a full one. The age at which the event is aimed at will be considered when setting an appropriate time / day. e.g. children's wont be at 9pm on a Monday night.

The organisers need to know where the event will be and whether it is suitable. There will be a max. audience number which affects the planning. 

The next stage is research. There needs to be research to ensure the event is safe and not copyrighted / is lawful. There must be research done into the location e.g.max audience numbers, how long they have the venue for etc.  Effective research is important to pull of a good, professional event. 

Equipment is important because usually things will need to be hired in for the event or borrowed - everything will need sourcing. 

Health and Safety is a critical element in everything involving events management. If something is done incorrectly or not thoroughly enough, the organisers may find themselves facing hefty fines.  Part of the objective must be to follow the law to ensure the safety of staff, the public and anybody else from coming to any harm. Safety of the workers / audience is the most important thing for a manager to consider. Measures must be put in place e.g. wearing hard hats and gaffa taping wires down / fire exits shown clearly. 

 Risk assessments are an important part of the H&S element and must be carried out thoroughly For example, if there is a trip hazard – the equipment (cables) can be gaffer taped or moved if possible. 

Staffing is also important. There might be a lot of jobs to do so the appropriate number of staff has to be planned.  Depending on the size of an event, some of the duties and responsibilities of certain staff may be separated and shared out between other team members / crew e.g. The Manager may take on some of the responsibilities for the front of house.

Managing is another stage, which involves responsibilities being given out and putting into practise what has been planned. Managers need to organise things like briefings, advertising, signage, insurance, requirements, security and a budget. All of these are important because nothing can be forgotten about because there could be serious consequences. Other elements are first aid, disability parking, setting up (get ins and get outs)

The last stage is the post production stage. including the get out. All hired equipment has to go back to the company it came from safely which will require care. Lastly the final brief / evaluation is done to reflect back on how the event went and how to improve next time. 

Hierarchal Structure

Event coordinator: The events coordinator sits at the very top of the hierarchy; therefore they have the highest level of authority and are responsible for managing all staff members below them. It is their role to coordinate the detailed work required in order to ensure the event runs smoothly and according to plan. They work in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and can work for event management companies, in-house for an organisation or freelance. Coordinators may manage events such as festivals, conferences and promotions. The role of event organiser is usually hands-on and often involves working as part of a team. Event organisers must be able to complete a wide range of activities requiring clear communication, excellent organisational skills and attention to detail. They must work well under pressure, ensuring the smooth and efficient running of an event.

Event Organiser: responsible for a great deal of the important tasks, such as choosing the location, organising transportation, catering and the finance side e.g.budgets. They need a set of skills including good verbal and written communication and the ability to keep calm under pressure. 

Event Manager:  responsible for all team members and there to help their employees if they need it or have any problems. 

Event Assistant Manager: Assists the Manager with any jobs or errands that need carrying out. They may also make phone calls to people who can help advise or help with research. On some occasions they may be responsible for the crew, if for example the manager is busy, the assistant will tell the crew what their job is.

Artistic director: hires the directors and designers which is a big job because they must have confidence that the people they employ will achieve high standard results. They produce the initial brief for all departments involved in the events management process. They need good communication to contact their team. 

Ticket sales manager:  responsible for all ticket related issues, including designing the tickets, printing, data entry, organisation of the tickets and much more. They have to promote the event and believe in it in order to make a sale.  

Catering Management: The catering manager is in charge of hospitality and ensuring guests are treated well during the event. 

Lighting Operator: The Lighting Operator is involved in all rehearsals and plotting sessions. Sometimes they write their own cues and operate the lighting desk on the night of the performance. They can sometimes be responsible for setting up and shutting down equipment at the start / end of the show. 

Sound operator: Like the Lighting operator, the sound operator operates the sound desk (Mac – Qlab) on the night of the performances. 

Director: has overall control of the production, liaising with the designers to create the style and concepts necessary to the production. Directors are responsible for the entire cast and working with them. 

Production Manager: Overall control of the staff ensuring they are trained in a safe working environment. They set up the Risk Assessment, liaise with directors and designers over budgets and designing deadlines and oversee all ordering of materials.          

            Stage Manager (SM): Has overall responsibility for the stage management team and watch the rehearsals and                   run the technical rehearsals with the production manager. The stage manager is in charge of the safe storage and return                of props, sets, costumes and furniture.

Set Designer: creates the visual and stylistic elements of the sets, furniture and props. They will build a scale model of the set, produce a ground plan and drawings to help others to visualise the ideas in the design. They will also oversee the painting and building of sets.

            Props Master: In charge of all props within the budget and keeping them in a good condition. 

                 

            Lighting Designer:

The lighting designer creates the lighting settings for the whole event. They decide on the appropriate types of lights, positions for the lights, auxiliary equipment, effects and other specialist equipment.

           Front of House/Box Office Manager: Responsible for everything outside the auditorium, i.e. looking after                the audience. They sell / check tickets and sell programmes and refreshments. 

               

           Sound Designer: designs the overall sound for the production which may be bought, recorded or sourced. They               also choose the positions of the speakers and look after the auxiliary equipment and have to make sure the quality of                   sound is at a good standard in all situations.

                                          

          

An Events Checklist

Timeline and checklist for event planning from AshleighG

Calendar

This is an example of the over all calendar of the event. On it are deadlines which I had to stick to to ensure I did not fall behind and things werent left until the last day. Deadlines such as my initial designs had to be done by the 20th.

Team Minutes

We had meetings every week to stay on top of our deadlines / the planning process. This was good because everyone knew where we were up to and what was happening. But I think it would have been less time consuming to just have little meetings in our individual teams (e.g. technical team seperate to front of house) We recorded minutes so we had written documents as to what was said so we could look back to confirm something. 

Legal Documentation

Legal documentation is important because it ensured we were protected in the health and safety element and that everything had been done by the law. The risk assessment shows how the risks / hazards were dealt with. 

Evidence of the Arley Hall Event

Here is the news paper article that was written for us by the Warrington Guardian on the night of the concert.

On the night:

Our raffle table.

Front of House Box Office.

Easels with the names of those we had to thank for the raffle prizes.

TV screens playing our Moldova video

Newspaper article.

My specific job role within the Arley Hall event

My job role for A Classical Serenade at Arley Hall was the Lighting designer. As the lighting designer I was responsible for Creating initial lighting design plans with what gels or what code (on the par LED's) e.g. 'CL06' that I would want to be used. firstly to find out a basic theme for the whole show for it be consistent throughout marketing and front of house I would have to liaise with the Marketing manager Jordan and F.O.H manager Gemma. Secondly I had to go through the lighting stock and work out how many lights I could take and how many needed to be left behind as there were other shows at college.

 Once I had worked out the amount of lights that would be needed, I had to go to the blue prints of the rooms that were being used so I could not only decide where the lights shall be placed but also to work out how much cabling aswell as lengths. After I had all the stock that I needed to take I could then make a start on my final lighting designs. This was the easiest part of the process after I had decided on the stock, The only thing left to do was place the lighting where it was going, where the booms would be places and what colours would be used so that on the day of rigging I could direct my team and pinpoint exactly where everything needed to be.

On the day of rigging, it was required that I oversee my team and direct them with clear instructions where things were going. I also had to watch while my team focused the lights around the Halls to ensure everything was highlighted how it was intended to be.

Staffing and Resources lists for Arley

 

 

 

Arley Hall Reflective Evaluation

I believe the event all ran very smoothly; the event itself looked and sounded professional. However the process leading up to it had minor hick-ups. During the set-up we had discovered that Jordi (The Technical Manager) had forgotten the Lighting and set design plans. Although this was not any fault of his, this could have been easily avoided if Both me and Matt had a copy of our own plans aswell. As well as ensuring that I have my plans next time I will have to triple check to make sure we don’t forget anything else. We can make this easier by having a checklist of all the things that we need. There were a few other things that we didn’t bring that later Julie had to make a trip back to college to pick up when she went to pick people up at 4 o’clock. The only thing needed by the lighting department was extension leads as we didn’t bring enough. Which had delayed the setup being complete, it didn’t take long to finish the setup after Julie had arrived with extras.

Another thing that could have helped immensely was documentation such as the colour call. Although I had my lighting design completed within plenty of time I had forgotten to produce a colour call which would have helped us when creating the checklist so we could see clearly which gels we would need and which size they would have to be to fit into the gel frames of certain lights (which wasn’t a huge variety as we only used 2 of the same gels for 2 fresnels of the 6 that we had taken.) this could have sped up the process of getting everything ready to take all at once to Arley. Next time to make sure that this doesn’t occur again I will create this piece of documentation when I find what I want.

Also during the process I had to make a few last minute decisions, such as deciding on which colours I would like to use for the L.E.D par cans. Even though there were decisions on the plan I couldn’t remember which codes were used. I had to improvise by quickly running through the options we had, In the end I decided that I would just keep a consistent theme of colour running through by using purple, The reason I chose those colours were because the original idea I had of using plain whites were too plain and weren’t a vibrant enough colour to light the architecture appropriately as well as looking more tacky the classical. I decided it would be better to add 2 more L.E.D pars in the fireplace using a warm orange to create the feel that the fire was lit. However it was too hot to have it lit while the audience were sat so close.

However, despite the things that went wrong during the process of the setup, The outcome of it all was very good, The set, the lighting, the sound were all setup to a very professional level. It looked classical with the Christmas theme included. The colours that were running throughout the whole event from the marketing side to the lighting and the set all had a consistent theme. The planning up until the night of the event was well organised. The feedback from the audience that we received as a whole was very positive, people would like to come to see the next events that we put on.

On whole I believe the Event was a huge success raising the amount of £1,407 towards our charity, of which we are all astounded with.

Arley Hall Reflective Diary

1/11/2013

 Client Brief:

Type: Charity Concert

Date: Monday 16th December

Venue: Arley Hall

Audience Capacity: 100

Title: A Classical Serenade

Concept/Theme: A professional and elegant evening  that reflects  the setting of the house with a reference to Xmas season. An intimate and welcoming environment for the audience.

We were given our job roles for the Arley Moldova event...

My Role:

Lighting Designer:

My role requires me to create a lighting design for the Arley Moldova event. This will include deciding specific lights that I will want to use as well as the colour that fit within the rest of the colour scheme. I will have to liaise the Technical Manager to discuss my ideas with them.

1/11/2013

During this meeting, the events management as whole discussed how important it was to sort out the marketing as soon as possible. Any questions that required answers through anyone external to our own team would have to speak to the event manager. They would be the point of contact. We have decided to do it this way as it would prevent any confusion between the events management team and Arley hall's staff. Another thing that was discussed in this meeting is the importance of the licensing. Without having all of the correct licensing and legal documents, there was a high chance of the event being unsafe and possibly illegal. We could not take any risks.

4/11/2013

In today’s meeting the topics that were discussed were that of getting the promotion of the event started. This is where my role has to begin. The lighting and set designs were essential as soon as possible because we wanted to have a continuous colour theme present throughout the lighting, set and advertisements and promotion. The marketing couldn't make any final decisions without knowing the colour scheme that myself (Lighting Designer) and Matthew Elliott (Set Designer). Only with this would the marketing team be able to start creating, finishing and handing out their finished product (posters and flyers).  I was set a deadline by the events manager for Friday, by then my first ideas had to be completed. I knew how important it was for an effective planning process that I did not miss a deadline.

8/11/2013
Today we had to have the draft ideas for the set and lighting designs. This was to present the ideas infront of the rest of the team. The colour scheme that we came up with was Golds and Reds. The reason I had to come up with the colours was so I could Liaise with the Marketing Team to discuss the colours and come to an agreement so that we could continue the theme throughout.


11/11/2013
I began to to pick the gels for the lighting so that we could start to create a theme that all departments such as marketing and front of house could agree on and use themselves. I started this today so that I could decide which colours I would need to use, so that I could go and check whether we had those particular gels available in stock.

8/11/2013:

Today we had to have the draft ideas for the set and lighting designs. This was to be presented to the rest of the team. The colour scheme that I came up with was gold and red. I thought that these colours were suitable because they gave a warm, Christmassy feel to the room and fit with the style of the stately home. The other reason why I had to come up with the colours was so I could liaise with the Marketing Team to discuss my ideas and come to an agreement so that we could continue the theme throughout. This was effective communication because we were clear what I wanted and what they could do for the layout and designs of their advertising.                                           

11/11/2013

I began to pick the gels for the lighting so that we could start to create a theme that all departments, especially marketing and front of house could agree on and use themselves. I started this today so that I could decide which colours I would need to use, so that I could go and check whether we had those particular gels available in stock. I used a swatch book to help me pick the right shades of the colours I wanted and to write down the accurate / professional code and name of the gel. I originally picked a pink/red, which I then changed my mind about after speaking with the Marketing manager because his idea for his promotion posters was a deeper, darker red. So I went back and changed the code to a much darker red. Luckily the lights and gels I wanted to use were in our stock, these were as follows:

·         Minuette fresnels x6 ( 3 on 2 high booms either side of the space facing the stage, approx. 7-10m away from the stage)

·         LED Pars x10

I then asked Jordan, the marketing manager, what his opinion was of me using minuette fresnels on booms facing the stage with 1 blue gel on each side and LED flood lights as backlight in a purple colour. He agreed and said that this would work. I asked Jordan for advice because he has more lighting experience than me. I thought that fresnels were good to use for front light because they highlight the performer well. And if they were open white the theme was still professional and had a Christmassy effect. I knew there would be Mark performing, who said he would not move around, but there would also be a choir and a pianist who needed lighting. So I made the decision to light the whole space using these fresnels. 

But before I could begin my proper plan, I wanted to see the space I would be lighting. So in the meeting the events manager said that the technical team, along with other members from other departments would be going to Arley Hall, hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday this week.

14/11/2013:

Today we went to Arley Hall and saw the spaces that would be used on the night of the concert. I found the visit helpful because I got a better understanding of where my lights could go, and I got a better feel for the mood and atmosphere within the house so I knew that my colour choices would be appropriate. I also realised that they had a chandelier and that this could be used for house lights because it was authentic and created a warm atmosphere which linked well with our themes.

15/11/2013

Today we had a meeting to discuss finalised ideas for the Lighting and set designs, that includes which lights and gel colours that we would need, which ones were available to take, how many of each we would need.

I was set a deadline by the events manager to have my final designs completed by next Wednesday. Before I could continue I asked the manager to contact Shelagh at Arley Hall to ask her to send blue prints of the house (a plan showing the sockets around the house.) I needed these in order to be able to know where each light would be plugged in to.

 19/11/2013:

Today I continued working on my plan to ensure I had covered every angle and that it worked. I tested the lights I wanted to use (the LEDS) and experimented with the different colours to see which one worked best.  I particularly liked the steel blue colour because it complimented the snow and the winter effect.  I also decided that I did not just want to light the room where the performance would take place, I wanted to light certain areas of the rooms used before the concert and at the interval. I wanted to do this because it would make the colour theme stand out around the house, not just in the one room.  I drew what I wanted on to my plan.

20/11/2013:

I met my deadline and presented my plan to the technical manager and the events manager. They both gave me good feedback and I went to Julie for the last approval.  She said that the colours worked well and she liked where I had chosen to position my lights and just to be careful not to hit the audience when rigging / focusing.

26/11/2013

During today’s meeting we discussed the use of lanterns on stage. We thought that this would help promote the idea of being warm and indoors on a cold winter night. However other people disagreed due to a risk of a fire. Instead we decided to put them outside leading up to the house to show attention to detail and for the entrance to look aesthetically pleasing.

As my plans are complete, from today I have helped the set designer and the sound team complete their tasks.

2/12/13:

Today I started to put together a checklist of the equipment I needed to take to Arley. I gave my list to the technical manager who kept hold of all of our plans and lists. I think this would have worked better if we all kept our own work because if he wasn’t in on one day, none of my team could do any work because the manager had our sheets. This is something to change next time. 

This checklist I will keep adding to because I will keep thinking of new things to put on it. This is another reason why it is important that I keep hold of it.

9/12/2013:

Today I helped the set designer cut the ‘snow’ he was using to cover the gap between the stage and the floor. We thought this would be a good idea because it made the stage look tidy and well finished. We had to ensure the measurements were right because there was limited ‘snow’ material left and non could go to waste. We had to make sure it reached all the way across the 6 pieces of rostra. Luckily it did and we cut it so it was a waved effect going across the bottom to create a more realistic impression. We also decided to place the fake mini Christmas trees that Mark had bought across the stage just sitting above the snow.

11/12/2013:

Today we had a brief meeting just to discuss what was happening on Monday. We were given instructions by the events manager as to what was going to happen. We were going to meet in p1.10 and leave at 1:15, we were taking 2 minibuses and we were expected to arrive at approximately 1:30pm. When we arrived we would begin to set up and we had until 4pm to get everything ready. Obviously I was in charge of rigging the lights and making sure they worked and were focused properly. I was told that I would have a small team of first years helping me set up.
It had to be done by 4 because Mark needed to rehearse and the Warrington Guardian were coming at 5:30pm. This is as far as the running order went. But it was clearly explained and we understood what our roles were on the day.

13/12/2013:

Today was the last day we had before the day of the event. The technical team helped Julie load the van, using the checklists we had made, to make sure we didn’t forget anything. We loaded the staging, all of the lights, cables, wires, adapters, desks, etc. We also took spares in case some didn’t work or failed. I think it was good that we loaded the van today because it meant that there was less to do on Monday morning and we were more organised. Also if we had forgotten something off the list, it could be double checked on Monday. It reduced the stress of having to pack in a hurry with limited time.

16/12/2013:

Today is the concert. The van was all ready to go and we were told by the events management team what the plan was for the day. We met at 1pm in our classroom and left at 1:20pm. We took the minibuses and when we arrived we had a short meeting to determine and clear who was working with which group. This was more for the first years who were helping us set up. We were responsible and gave them tasks to do.

We all worked hard to set everything up in time and we were very busy. There was not really an organised order of who was doing what; we all just did whatever needed doing. This was good in a way however because things got done and there was a good number of people allowing us to run on time. However it was unorganised and we did not seem to work as a team effectively. I helped rig and plug in the lights this afternoon. And if anyone had any questions or needed help themselves then I stepped in. Everything was ready for 4pm and I think this was a hectic but successful set up over all. I changed my colour scheme around the house on the day. I decided that the white / steel blue was too pale and did not reflect the house well. So I changed to pinks and purples. They were all set to the set colours to keep a constant theme all over the house.

We realised as we were setting up that we did not have enough extension cables. The cables were not long enough. So Julie went back to get them, along with other things other people had left behind. Next time we will have to double check our lists before leaving college to make sure this does not happen again.

When the audience arrived I helped at the door greeting people and showing them through to the next rooms in Arley Hall. A few of us did this to be professional and to make the audience feel welcome. When the crowds got busy, we ushered people through to a room further inside the house to allow more people to enter. This was important for crowd control. We didn’t want our guests feeling uncomfortable or like they had no space.

As act 1 began, I began helping Front of House set up the refreshments, pouring juice into cups and helping arranging them on the table in a decorative way to make it look good and during the interval I helped in the kitchen, providing the team with what they needed and serving refreshments to the audience.  I think this ran smoothly because there was a large group of us helping, which was an advantage because the queues were long and we wanted to provide a quick service so we did not keep people waiting.

After the interval we all helped tidy away so we could leave Arley as soon as possible after the event had finished. We began to clean all the cups and pack away anything that was ours, such as the table clothes, trays and menus. We did this because we were trying to be efficient and it left us with less to do when the audience had left.

When the concert ended we greeted people out wishing them a Merry Christmas and we hoped they liked the performances. We did this because we wanted to remain professional right through until the very end, which I think we did well.

Above is the register that we took and used on the day.  

Everyone signed this student study visit form before we left because we needed their details in case of an emergency.

Code of Conduct template that everybody signed on Monday morning is on the left and on the right is the running order.

 These are the calendars that were created by The Events Manager, Ashleigh Gow, she gave everyone deadlines that they had to meet with the jobs given.