M4 – Event Management in Tourist Sector

In recent decades, the terms “event”, “special event” and their derivative term “event tourism” have been increasingly used in specialized tourism vocabulary. This is due to the growing scale, role and importance of various types of organized sports, business and cultural events in tourist destinations, which are gradually becoming a motive for mass tourist visits. Event tourism is a relatively new, rich in content and forms of manifestation type of tourism, which is directly related to meeting the needs of visitors to a particular place to diversify the stay, empathy, search for a more attractive and of high quality tourist product and social group affiliation. Event tourism is a specialized type of tourism, the result of complex activities for organizing and conducting events, which satisfies complex tourist needs and helps to enrich the product portfolio and development of the tourist destination. Events are an important motivator when organizing trips and play a crucial role in the development plans of most destinations. The emergence of event tourism is a good alternative and an exceptional opportunity for development in the tourism sector. Tourists are a potential market for the planned events, and they have a spatial-temporal nature and each of them is unique due to the interaction between people, place and the created organizational conditions for visiting and “consumption” of the event. A global trend in tourism, caused by limited leisure time, is the implementation of more frequent but shorter trips. In addition, due to the lack of time for creative development, the requirements of tourists to the product diversity and experiences, cultural events and attractions are increasing. As a result, there is an increased interest on the part of tourists in event tourism both globally and nationally. The event as a special unit in tourism is built as a tool for economic growth in both corporate and political sense. In the context of the tourism industry, the term “event” is seen primarily as a public gathering that satisfies business, scientific, political or entertainment expectations. International practice and authors describe an event in different aspects – once they define it as an organized event with a specific purpose and a certain period in which a group of people take part, informed by the media through the prism of special events define it as a unique moment in time, ceremony and ritual to meet specific needs (Coldblatt). Glenn Bowdin notes the event as “a tool to describe specific rituals, presentations, performances or celebrations deliberately created to celebrate special occasions or to achieve specific social, cultural and corporate goals”. One of the most interesting definitions of an event, related to tourism, is noted by Getz, who says: “mega-events, depending on their size or significance, are those that contribute to achieving extremely high levels of tourism development, media coverage, prestige or economic impact on the host, community, place or organization “. Event tourism is seen as an opportunity to attract national and international attention to destinations. Events in recent years are gaining momentum and becoming a unit of measurement for international, national and regional sustainable tourism, playing a key role in building tourism marketing strategies. Events are defined as a planned moment that occupies a special place in people’s daily lives. All planned events are created for a specific purpose. Organizing them requires training and practice dedicated to the design, management and implementation of planned events. “Destinations develop, facilitate and promote events to achieve several goals: to attract tourists, especially in off-peak seasons, to serve as a catalyst for urban renewal, to improve the infrastructure and capacity of the destination, to promote a positive image of the destination and to contribute to creating a better place to live, work and invest “(Getz).

Events can be an effective resource for attracting different target groups. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the contribution of events not only in terms of direct financial income, but also in terms of their contribution to creating a positive image of the destination, aimed at creating strong and lasting relationships with visitors. Event tourism is a significant and growing market niche for destinations. It is unique in its ability to attract a large number of high-income tourists. With the right vision and organization plan, event tourism can bring great benefits to locals, including innovation, new and more efficient facilities, more fun and new career opportunities. Every year, many tourists are attracted to different types of events in destinations around the world. In short, the development of tourism in a particular destination is directly related to the development of event management. For example, no one will be interested in visiting a distant island or city unless attractive tourist events are organized there. If you look at the destinations that have gained popularity recently, you will understand that the flow of tourists to this place began after the successful management of events. Therefore, this is the way to attract visitors and travelers to a particular destination. The events provoke a positive impetus for the development of tourism. This is the main reason why the role of event management in tourism is so important. Tourists and travelers need to understand why they need to visit a particular destination. Therefore, event tourism comes to the rescue. The event tourism can be compared with a small stream, which becomes a big river, when supported by the other streams. Good management of tourist events encourages the loyalty of regular customers.

Holding various social events encourages people to communicate and build new relationships. In this sense, event management is beneficial for both tourism and the development of society. Tourism is a recognized engine of socio-economic growth. The main driving force for event tourism and for the development of tourism in general is the derived economic benefit. The economic effects of event tourism are mainly expressed in increased employment and income for the local population. In the social sphere, event tourism contributes to raising self-awareness and social activity, strengthens social cohesion, leads to the preservation of local resources, including tangible and intangible unique cultural heritage. Properly organized, the events have a direct impact on the positive image of the region. There are many positive consequences of organizing events in one community, such as shared experiences, reviving traditions, public pride, introducing new and challenging ideas, expanding culture, promoting the region as a tourist destination, increasing knowledge about investment potential and trade activity in the region, creation of new material and technical base and tourist attractions. The tourist goals and influences of the events are classified based on external and internal (Umnikova, B., 2015). External influences are associated with increasing popularity, improving the image, high attractiveness for visitors and increasing the number of tourists. Internal influences are directly dependent on the achieved external influences and are expressed in the improvement of the infrastructure, economic benefits for the local population and internal marketing.

The main impacts of the events for the host region (Velikova, E., Dimitrova St., 2016) are presented in the following groups: social and cultural impacts, political impacts, economic impacts. The constructed model for assessing the impacts of event tourism is based on two main directions: positive impacts and negative impacts (Fig. 1).

 

Figure 1. Model for assessing the impacts of event tourism

The scope of the first direction includes six measures: infrastructure and development of the settlement, economic benefits, community consolidation, socio-cultural exchange, community visibility and image improvement, knowledge and entertainment opportunities. The second direction includes five main measures, each with its own components: economic value, traffic problems, security risks, environmental impacts, social conflicts (Fig. 1).

Positive Impact

• Infrastructure and development of the settlement
• Improvement of the settlement vision
• Acceleration of the development of the general infrastructure
• Increase of the number of accommodation places (hotels, guesthouses, etc.)
• Development of places for utilization of free time
• Establishment of new commercial sites
• Improvement of sanitary places

Economic Benefits

• Increase of sales of local merchants
• Increase of local population’s employment
• Increase of investments in the region
• Improvement of the general economic situation
• Acceleration of economic growth

Social Consolidation

• Increases the pride of the local residents
• Strengthens the community spirit
• Increases of the social unity of the community
• Improves the quality of life of the local population

 

Social and Cultural Exchange

• Increases the understanding and acceptance of the culture and the differences in the societies of the locals and the tourists
• Supports the preservation of the local culture
• Gives the opportunity to the locals to meet new people
• Increases the interest in other events

Community visibility and improvement of the image

• Gives the opportunity to promote the local community to the world
• Promotes the local community in the country
• Increases the media visibility
• Enhances the image of the location
• Enhances the international visibility of the place
• Increases the local identity
• Generates prestige/image

Knowledge and Entertainment Opportunities

• Increases the entertainment opportunities
• Enhances the volunteering
• Provides new knowledge on the topic of the event
• High level of entertainment
• Generates excitement and strong feelings in the local community

One of the basic prerequisites for the development of sustainable tourism is that it contributes to the development of the local community. The assessment of the impact of event tourism on the infrastructure and development of the settlement is that it mostly improves the vision of the settlement, accelerates the development of the general infrastructure and develops the places for utilization of free time. The rapid development of the common infrastructure is a valuable component of the positive impacts that underlies the fierce competition to host major world sporting events. Among the systematized economic benefits of the most important importance at the present stage are increase of sales for the local business, followed by increase of the employment of the local population and investments in the region. Of course, the economic benefits are of undeniable importance, but the study of the social aspects of event tourism is essential. Increasing the local pride of the residents and strengthening the community spirit are the aspects of community consolidation that event tourism develops to the greatest extent. The role of tourism for cultural exchange is significant. Through the funds provided by it, an opportunity for the maintenance of national historical monuments and buildings is created. The revival of traditions, customs, holidays, local handicrafts, etc. is encouraged.

Negative Impact

Economic Value

• Excessive costs for new infrastructure on the occasion of the event
• Costs for construction of buildings (buildings, facilities)
• Price increase of real estate
• Price increase of produce (goods and services)

Traffic Problems during the Event

• Increased traffic
• Insufficient parking spaces
• Problems while using public transportation
• Road infrastructure damage due to increased traffic

 

Security Risks

• Increased crime
• Increased risk of terrorism (bomb threats, etc.)
• Attracting the attention of terrorists to future events
• Increased risk of cyberattacks
• Disturbance of the population by visitors (hooliganism, riots, vandalism, etc.)

Environmental Impact

• Increased volume of waste
• Increased air pollution
• Increased level of noise
• The establishment of new facilities increases the pollution
• Creates environmental damage to the local community

Social Conflicts

• The locals are not paramount to the event
• Disturbance of the normal rhythm of life of the local population
• It leads to conflicts and antagonism between visitors and locals
• Increases social conflicts between supporters and opponents

Of all the sections in the scope of negative impacts, the most significant place is given to the impacts on the environment. There are many examples of environmental damage from tourist events. The efforts are for the development of such tourism, in which all the tourist activity, the infrastructure and the behavior of the tourists are not at the expense, but are in harmony with the environment, they do not disturb it, but enrich it. Because it is through tourism that man most often touches nature. Natural tourist resources have certain reserves, which in most cases are exhaustible. Sustainable development of tourism requires such natural use and load, which does not violate the possibility of renewal of resources. The main problems with regard to environmental impacts are the increased amount of waste and the increased noise level.

Some of the characteristics of event tourism make it particularly vulnerable from a security point of view: gathering many people in one place, directing the attention of tourists to the attractions, prior knowledge of the place and time of the event and more. In recent years, complex and diverse in genesis and manifestation economic and political processes have developed worldwide, affecting the level of safety of tourists. These processes are a consequence of both objective circumstances and the subjective judgment and behavior of certain people or the action of other factors. It is assumed that the level of security is the result of a complex interaction between values, interests, available risks and threats, means of counteraction and others. At the same time, the security of the destination is essential for the development of tourism. It is known that the more dependent a destination is on the development of tourism, the higher the degree of tolerance on the part of locals to tourists.

The tourism industry develops event tourism, generates employment and economic diversification. Small and rural communities use festivals and events to take advantage of and reap the same benefits as large communities do. Small events require little development investment, as the necessary infrastructure already exists.

Event tourism is a sector that has all the opportunities to develop the image of the tourist area or destination. Managed successfully based on objective information on impacts, it could be one of the effective tools for better destination development. During the years of maturation, a number of classifiers have become necessary in connection with event tourism. We find concepts such as business tourism, conference (convention) tourism, business tourism, cultural tourism, fair tourism. It is right to ask ourselves questions such as – what is the origin of this diversity; what are the factors requiring their use; is there a connection between them, what is their meaning, do they have a unifier. In our reality, with the development of the tourist market, the needs for new marketing and technological tools to achieve satisfaction, prestige and economic growth increase, on one hand, and the traditional techniques for activating supply and demand lose their positions, on the other. Therefore, today, in response to the global market, convention tourism is not seen solely as a type of tourism or part of the tourism industry. The digital environment, the opening of borders, new marketing and sales techniques, the destination development, the growing number of travelers and more, define event management more as project management, including both basic tourism services and ancillary services combined with other various professional units. In this sense, as a unifier of a number of economic processes, event management in tourism is a key driver for sectoral development, revenue, employment and investment. The events have a positive effect on the economy, tourism, society and culture of the host destination.

Resources on the topic:

• Getz, D. (2007). Event Tourism: Definition, Evolution and Research
• Vitor, A., M. Leila, F. Teresa. Events and Destination management
• Velikova, E., Dimitrova “Event Management in Tourist Industry”

Historic Development of Event Tourism

Events can be classified based on their size, type and context. One of their generalizing characteristics is their planning. On this basis, several categories of events are unified worldwide, which can be arranged as follows:

• Corporate events – this includes all types of events and meetings related to staff training and motivation, product meetings, trade conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions, MICE tourism, civic events. Simply put, a corporate event is an activity that is organized by a business and is intended for employees, customers, stakeholders, charities or the public. The audience usually depends on the purpose of the event – for example, to launch a new product or service, to celebrate the achievements of staff members or to demonstrate experience in a specific field. Some corporate events are held quarterly or annually, while others may be one-off activities – they may coincide with an important announcement or for awarding a prize. Corporate events can be very different and very diverse in their audience, theme, style, routes and other activities. Largely they depend on the planned purpose of the event, on the imagination or on the non-standard ideas of the specialist who organizes them.
• Seminar – is a type of corporate event that is organized in order to convey certain information to a target audience. The word “seminar” was known to the ancient Greeks, who studied the laws of mathematics, geometry and became acquainted with the thoughts of philosophers with the help of this technique. Seminars can be seen not only as a method of presenting new information, but also as a method of sharing experiences. The information can be presented by one person or by several people, as a kind of lesson on a topic that has previously been studied by the lecturers for such a presentation. In Latin, the word “seminary” means seeds. As if through a seminar, lecturers can plant the seed of knowledge in the recipients of the message. During the seminars, the speaker gives a lecture material to an audience. Lectures can be illustrated with films and slides. Participants can express their opinions or ask questions on seminar topics, as well as try to apply the information obtained in practice. The main goal of the seminars is the dissemination of knowledge, which is usually done by disseminating new information on a given topic, modernizing the research data, challenging with new ideas and presenting updated data. Seminars are an interactive form of education that allows us to achieve high efficiency. This is why this type of training is so popular. Today, various seminars are being held. They fall into the category of practical work. They are designed to systematize, deepen and consolidate the knowledge acquired on the topics. By actively participating in the seminar, the participant acquires skills for practical application of the available information, develops personal qualities and improves his intellectual level. Some seminars are organized like a classroom lecture, where an expert shares information with the audience in a traditional format. Others are designed as road shows, where retailers spread their company’s message to the public or to employees or partners.
• Conference is a pre-prepared event with a predetermined topic, agenda, guidelines and areas for discussing certain issues, where participants discuss and exchange information with each other. The conference is an official meeting with the main purpose – to discuss certain topics, solve certain problems or consult with experts on the topic. Because conferences have specific goals, they can last for several days. There are different types of conferences, such as academic conferences, trade conferences, business conferences, media conferences, religious conferences and more. An academic conference is a place where academics and researchers can present and discuss their work. A business conference is a conference that focuses on new trends and opportunities in business. Innovative ideas and new information can be exchanged in all types of conferences. It is important to note that some conferences do not allow discussions. The conference usually has an organized format. Speakers and topics are selected before the conference. She has a keynote speaker who delivers a keynote speech. This is often seen in academic and business conferences. In order to encourage discussion, participants are given the opportunity to participate in a platform where they can share their experiences. Conferences usually start with a main session before moving on to interviews, round tables and discussions.
• Trade Shows

A trade show is a physical gathering of people from a certain industry or profession. Whether you are organizing or attending a trade show, this type of corporate event is a great chance to display your latest product and present your brand to other businesses or the public. As a result, trade shows provide a great opportunity to generate leads for sales. Because they focus on displaying or displaying products, they are usually held in large venues. Businesses can sponsor or participate in a trade show to display a product or simply build a network and strengthen their market presence.

• MICE tourism or Business travel

The term “MICE” in the context of travel is an abbreviation for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. Meetings as part of MICE tourism are usually held in the conference halls of hotels or in congress centers. The introduction of specialized MICE services in the tourism industry is a way to ensure additional and long-term valuable growth.

• Virtual Events

Virtual events connect presenters and participants through a web-based interface. Common types of online events include webinars, virtual events and live events. Online events are often cheaper than in-person events. By holding online events, you reach a larger audience. Webinars revolve around presentations, discussions or seminars that take place online. They can occur in real time or on tape and usually last from 30 to 180 minutes. Real-time webinars allow interaction between participants, providing an opportunity to receive and discuss information on a topic that is presented through web-based conferencing tools. Real-time webinars can be interactive on many levels and usually allow participants to ask questions directly to the speakers. Virtual events enable people from different places to participate in a virtual environment that has the look and feel of an offline event by combining education, networking and interactive features.

• Teambuilding – these are team-building events. These are internal meetings aimed at providing fun and interesting ways to connect employees. The goal is usually to make it easier to build relationships so that employees can become better leaders and collaborators. This is also a useful way to get people from departments without direct contact to get to know each other.
• International and mega events – governmental and non-governmental events of the rank of political meetings, thematic and scientific congresses. International events are defined as events that have a global scope, require significant public investment and have an impact on the population and the built environment. Examples of mega events are the Olympic Games, which contribute to extremely high tourist interest, prestige, raising the positive image of the host country, a high degree of international media coverage, stimulating the local economy, positive impact on the local community and the destination as a whole.
• Events, related to people’s lives

This group includes events such as family and personal holidays, anniversaries, weddings. These are the so-called social events. The market for social events, especially birthdays and anniversaries, is expected to continue to expand over the next few years. Through social events, you can get a group of people away from a business or work environment. Social events should talk about someone’s personal interests and revolve around food, having fun, or both.

• Events, related to people’s free time – this group includes all festivals, fairs, fashion shows, beauty contests, and music concerts.

• Festivals are celebrations associated with the marking of an event. With the selection of the place, the tradition, the buildings, and the holiday atmosphere, and with the special works of art, the festivals go beyond the everyday life. Most festivals are held once a year or every two or more years. Festivals happen all over the world.

• Fairs are temporary markets or entertainments held periodically in a town or village, often associated with a particular holiday during the year. There are commercial and non-commercial fairs.
• Sports events – these are all Olympics, marathons, and world cups in various disciplines. The development of modern tourism is unthinkable without sports. Sports activities are an essential part of the daily lifestyle of modern person. Sports tourism is becoming increasingly popular. For its part, sport also benefits greatly from the development of tourism. Sports events are usually associated with traveling and spending free time away from home. No major sporting event can be organized and held without the support of tourism. Often the success of a sporting event depends on the characteristics of the tourist destination.
• Career Fairs and Events – this group includes all events on educational meetings and presentations, career exchanges.
• Political events – debates, rallies, demonstrations.
• Religious events – religious festivals and pilgrimage travels.

In general, all groups of events contribute to the activation of economic activity, but only some of them, the so-called “special events” are of interest to the tourism industry. This is because by themselves, they are a reinforced marketing tool to promote and upgrade. They occupy a prominent place in stakeholder development programs and create preconditions for competitiveness. In the field of tourism, special events have a dual role – on the one hand, they are a reason for tourist travel and are initiated and provided as part of a tourist product or the events themselves are the tourist product. On the other hand, they have a significant role in the promotion of the destination, a decisive factor are the marketing communications in tourism and the importance of the destination. Special events in tourism contribute significantly to the formation of the image of tourist destinations. Special events are a very specific communication with audiences, communicating by creating emotions, getting involved in these emotions and experiencing them, sharing them with close and not so close people, make special events a key element of communication policy of any organization. In the ever-increasing competition between tourist destinations to attract more and more tourists, to extend the season through various events, event marketing uses its full communication tools to influence the public. Special events initiated by destinations are a key element in tourist travel and occupy a central place in the marketing plans of most destinations. The role of special events in tourism is becoming increasingly important for the development of the competitiveness of destinations, and the so-called “event tourism” is imposed and established as an essential part of the tourism industry. The fast-growing event management industry, in whose view tourists are a potential market, should not be overlooked either. At the same time, the tourism industry is a strong stakeholder in the success and attractiveness of special events. The development of special events in tourism plays an important role in the promotion of destinations. The main purpose of most tourist trips is to participate in special events. Special events consist of various elements. That is why they influence many spheres of public life and different interests intertwine in them. The organization of special events is a spatial-temporal phenomenon and each in itself is different and unique.

Resources on the topic:

• Marinov, St., Modern types of tourism. Science and Economics
• Getz, D., Event Studies, Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events

Organizing an event is a complex process. Its successful implementation includes a smooth running of the processes and providing an opportunity for the participants in the event for memorable experiences. Planning and conducting a successful event is possible only if it is based on a detailed and comprehensive plan of organization and strict adherence to the sequence of actions. This requires in-depth knowledge and application of the various stages in the planning and organization of events. Event planning and organization goes through several stages:

1. Development of the goals of the event;
2. Planning a team that will manage the event;
3. Development of a detailed budget and calculation of the event;
4. Elaboration of a comprehensive program plan of the event;
5. Choice of date for the event;
6. Finding a venue to hold the event;
7. Defining and establishing partnerships and sponsors;
8. Creating a publicity plan;
9. Defining the processes on the day of the event;
10. Inspection and control of the preparation;
11. Analysis, evaluation and final activities after the event;

4.1 Development of the goals of the event

Good event planning requires knowing in advance, what the event aims to achieve. The first step in planning an event is to set a specific goal and objectives for achieving it. Before planning the event, time should be taken to consider the purpose. The first question that faces everyone involved in organizing an event is “Why is the event organized and what the goal to achieve with it is”.

“One way to maintain momentum is to have constantly greater goals”  Michael Corda

The goals and objectives of the event determine the desired results of the actions that are implemented within the strategy for its management. If the goals and tasks are not defined correctly, there is a danger that the event will fail. Goals must be set that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

The goals of an event are:

• general
• specific

The general purpose of the event, for example, could be to hold a music concert for children on the occasion of the Christmas holidays. Specific goals can be participation of two orchestras, presence of 100 children, etc.

The goals must be SMART:

S – Specific: What result are you striving for? A specific goal could be “90% of visitors to be children”.

M – Measurable: Where possible, targets should be measured with digital data. For example –  “100 children to attend the concert. “

А – Achievable: We have to set goals that are achievable. What is needed is realism: The presence of 100 children may not be achievable if for example the hall, which is rented, is for 80 people. Targets must be motivating, but should not set goals that are impossible to achieve.

R – Relevant  : The goal must correspond to the interests of the target group. If not, it is not worth chasing.

T – Time-bound: Goals must be limited in time, which means that they have a set start and end date in order to be able to measure whether the goal has been achieved in the set time.

By developing SMART goals, the entire process of planning and conducting events, from site selection to post-event survey questions, can be completed and controlled. The event organizer is the one who benefits the most from setting SMART goals for the event. When determining the results to be achieved, a clear action plan is created that the manager must implement. In addition, achieving the goals of the event gives the organizers a sense of confidence and satisfaction, while failure to meet the goals is a great incentive for improvement in the future. In order to correctly determine the goals of the event, it is necessary to accurately determine the target group to which the event is aimed. In our example, with a Christmas concert with a target group mainly of children, it is unacceptable to plan the participation of two jazz orchestras, for example. If we have participation in such orchestras, the target group should be of a different age and with different interests. Events are created for people. In order to set clear and effective goals, you need to know who these people are, what their preferences and interests are.

4.2 Forming a team for event management

The great team definitely does everything differently. This is especially true when planning an event. It is almost impossible for a single person to plan and conduct an event on their own. It is impossible for one person to take care of the VIPs, to receive guests, to coordinate the food and the activities at the same time. We need a team. The variety and diversity in the qualifications and abilities of the people in the team help to solve the problems of planning and organizing the event. Forming a team is a complex process. Each event has its own identity and characteristics, which often require different skills and qualifications. The number of the team that plans and implements the event is often different for different events. Each team has a manager. He is the team leader. The duties and responsibilities of the manager vary depending on the type of event, its scale and the capacity of the organization that performs it. In general, he is responsible for planning, organizing, managing and coordinating various types of events.

Detailed duties and responsibilities of the event manager:

• Analyzes the requirements and details for each event;
• Studies the needs and desires of customers;
• Plans and organizes events, taking into account financial and time constraints;
• Reserves seats, speakers, moderators and other performers;
• Holds meetings with clients and is responsible for coordination with them;
• Researches and compares different suppliers (catering, decorators, musicians, etc.);
• Negotiates with suppliers to achieve the most favorable terms;
• Responsible for hiring and training staff;
• Monitors and evaluates staff;
• Manages the operations of the event (on-site preparation, invitations, food, drinks, etc.);
• Responsible for planning the budget for the event;
• Monitor costs;
• Monitors the event;
• Makes proposals for solutions for timely problem solving;
• Evaluates the event and the submitted reports.

This complex set of responsibilities and obligations determines the need for the manager to have high qualification and experience. At the same time, a good manager must:

• To know how to work with people – The manager must be confident when communicatging with other managers on higher positions, with subcontractors, colleagues, clients, guests, etc;
• To be flexible – to deal fast, quiet and effective with every situation;
• To be able „to listen“ – to understand what everyone wants; to pay attention to what is said and what is not;
• To be organized – to be able to do many things at the same time; to be able to focus on the whole process while following the smallest details;
• To love their job – if they love their job, they can handle everything despite of the stress;
• To be able to communicate well – the clear, firm and kind communicatgion allows the successful sharing of manager’s views, also strengthens and mobilizes the team;
• To keep self-control when under stress – moments of stress, the last thing a team needs is an unstable leader who doesn’t make good decisions because he succumbs to stress;
• To creatively solve the problems – even with the best plan problems can arise, then ingenuity helps to solve them with the available resource;
• To be determined – The manager must be able to make several decisions simultaneously and to do it fast.

As we have already said, the manager is not able to plan and organize the event himself. It is necessary to engage a wider range of specialists. The manager is responsible for the selection and work of the staff. To this end, he must develop systems that lead to:

1. Recruitment of appropriate staff for the event;
2. Provision of job descriptions for every staff member;
3. Provision of training – this includes the initial as well as the specific training for the event for each of the stanff positions;
4. Creation and use of controlling systems which will:
5. Identify the tasks to be performed;
6. Distribute the tasks among the staff members;
7. Give the staff members the opportunity to control the performance of the tasks;
8. Provide feedback in case of a problem.
9. Conducting meetings (operatives) between the teams and the event manager.

Through them, the event manager will have a look at any problem that may affect the event. The type of team and the number of staff members is determined by the type of event and its scale. A possible version of a team would look like this:

1) Technical administrator/s

2) Specialists in design, marketing and advertising

3) Operational staff

4) Economists

The technical administrators coordinate the entire logistics of the event. Their responsibilities include:

• Choosing a venue;
• Estimation of the number of participants in the event;
• Selection of topics, speakers, moderators;
• Detailed elaboration of the activities;
• Development of a program of the event in detail in time and content;
• Organizing invitations for guests and especially for VIPs;
• Choice of the form and type of catering;
• Development of the menu according to the number of participants;
• Organizing the arrangement and decoration;
• Entertainment planning.

Specialists in design, marketing and advertising form the creative group of the event team. These are the specialists that develop the brand of the event. They are responsible for the visualization. Their duties include:

• Creating and updating the event website and mobile application;
• Designing the logo of the event;
• Creating the brand;
• Development of the design of the materials – program, letters, invitations, menus, signs, posters, advertising materials, etc .;
• Composing multimedia presentations;
• Filming the event;
• Documenting all sessions and program activities;
• Engaging with audiences and media;
• Monitoring and publishing on social media, including creating a hashtag for the event;

The operation staff are the people who mainly serve the event. Their obligations are:

• Arrangement of the hall/halls
• Technical Support
• Equipment inspection
• Distribution of the programs to the participants
• Informing and consulting the participants in the event
• Care for the order in the halls and the safety of the event

The economists are the people who are responsible for the financial part of the event. They must be not only well-qualified but also responsible people. Their role lies in the proper management of financial accounts and the search for creative solutions to optimize costs. Their main responsibilities are:

• Creating the budget of the event;
• Coordination with other members of the team and especially with the manager of the types of costs and their size;
• Revenue planning;
• Budget distribution by types and by units;
• Approval of offers and financial documents;
• Receiving revenues and paying expenses;
• Keeping financial statements;

4.3 Development of the budget

This is one of the most important parts of event planning. Budgeting involves forecasting the costs and revenues that are expected to incurre. It predicts the financial result of the event. On this basis, solutions are sought to improve process management and achieve financial viability of the event. The development of the budget must precede the activities of planning and organizing the event. For the preparation of the budget, it is necessary to identify all probable revenues and expenditures.

Typical costs for an event include senior positions, subcontractors, colleagues, clients, guests, etc.:

• Rent of venue;
• Arrangement and decorations – these are the costs of the artistic design of the venue;
• Travel and accommodation – these are the costs of all possible travel and accommodation, both for the team and for lecturers, moderators and possibly some guests;
• Insurance – includes insurance of equipment, cars, labor insurance;
• Catering – includes the cost of food and beverages for participants in the event;
• Gifts and entertainment – expenses for the guests of the event;
• Overheads – materials, electricity, water, telephone, courier services, printing, etc.;
• Rental of equipment – speakers, frames, shelves, exhibition walls, brochure holders, cars, etc.;
• Value of the equipment that will be purchased for the needs of the event (speakers, frames, shelves, exhibition walls, brochure holders, etc.);
• Transport – fuel and maintenance of own or rented transport;
• Marketing – these are the costs of promoting the event;
• Software – possibly management software that can be used;
• Staff – salaries of staff and due insurance at the expense of the employer, transport and accommodation;
• Miscellaneous – these are additional costs that are outside the groups above that may arise in the process of planning and organizing the event;

After identifying the types of costs, a study of the prices of these costs should be made. In the framework of this study, it is good to collect offers in order to choose the lowest possible price of each cost without compromising quality. An estimate of the estimated costs must then be made. The next step is to compare the costs thus calculated with the estimated revenues in order to calculate the balance. If costs exceed revenues, they must return to the starting position again in order to find reserves that would allow the final balance to be positive. After the event, the actual costs must be calculated and compared with the estimated ones in order to be able to make an analysis of revenues and expenses, which will be useful for future events that will take place.

4.4 Development of a comprehensive plan of the event

Once the budget of the event has been developed and there is a clear idea of ​​all the costs, the planning of activities and tasks can begin. Creating this plan known as the Master Plan will ensure that the entire set of actions required to run the event is taken into account. This will allow you to correctly plan the processes and the conditionality between them. It will facilitate coordination between team members and volunteers recruited to carry out the activities. This plan must cover all aspects of the event, including:

• Location, logistics and catering management (contracts, permits, insurance, etc.);
• Lecturers and presenters (identification, confirmation, logistics and management);
• Activities and entertainment;
• Publicity and promotion (online and offline, such as web page and online promotion; event calendars; print programs; media relations; captions; social media, etc.);
• Registration (online registration, payment and tracking; entry on the spot, etc.);
• Management of sponsors and partners;
• Volunteer management and responsibilities;

4.5 Choosing a date for the event

Conducting each event is time-bound. On the one hand, there is the question: When to take place? On the other hand, When to start the planning process? How long to last?

The start of the process should be early enough to have time to make the necessary preparations. The scale of the event is essential for the decision when to start. Some events are so large that they take a year to prepare. Other events that have a rhythm require the preparation of the next to begin with the completion of the previous one. However, a period of 4 to 6 months is acceptable to start preparing for the larger set of events. This time is enough to plan and review all the details and processes on which the successful conduct of the event depends. This will help to book the chosen place on time without the danger of it being occupied. It will give enough time to provide the desired lecturers, because the schedule of good specialists is too busy. Other events may occur during this time and period, such as conferences, a competing company event, festivals, sporting events, political campaigns, etc., that may require a choice on another date.

The length of time depends on the purpose of the event. There is an established norm that in case of an event of 250-300 people the duration is two days.

The choice of a specific date of the event undoubtedly depends on the nature of the event, but the main emphasis should be on the participants in the event. Birthdays, name days, anniversaries, Easter, Christmas, New Year… these are tied to a specific date, but other events do not have this connection. The exclusion method can be applied to select the specific date. Using thnis method:

CONS:

• Competitors’ dates – there will be better results if the dates do not overlap
• Public holidays – they are generally a bad choice. Usually on these days people gather and celebrate with their families and are reluctant to go to events;
• Political and public events – holding events during referendums, elections and others is unsuccessful. People are involved in these events en masse and it is very difficult to attract participants. The situation is similar with the lecturers. The media presence will also be insignificant; they will be involved in political events;
• Mondays – definitely not an event day. Usually the beginning of the workweek is very busy for everyone and most people do not like going to events;
• Holiday seasons – both winter and summer holiday seasons are bad choices. Usually people have made a reservation for their travels at that time much earlier and there is no way to ensure a good attendance. The days immediately before and after the season should also be avoided, because in one case people will be involved in the preparation of their trips, and in the other – they will be too busy with their work after vacation.

PROS

• Internationally recognized holidays related to the theme of the event are preferred days for organizing events. This will generate more ideas for the theme of the event. Marketing and PR efforts will be facilitated. It will be easier to attract public and media attention.
• Anniversaries – the date of the anniversary has always been a good occasion for holding an event;
• Other days of the week (excluding Monday) – other factors must be considered here. For example, business events are very suitable to be held on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. If the event has a different focus, such as team building, weekends are usually the best option. Consumer and social events should be held on weekends. For business conferences, festivals and other events, the duration is recommended to be a few days and include the weekend.

When choosing a date, the season must be taken into account. Fashion show of summer clothes is unsuccessful to spend the winter in sub-zero temperatures.

4.6 Event Venue

Once a date has been set for the event, the key moment is the choice of venue. The events must have a specific date and place before the start of other activities of the organization – advertising, negotiating speakers, suppliers and more. The choice of venue depends on the type of event, its size, season and time of its holding. For example, for a training seminar, one option is a hotel with conference rooms. Another possible place is a separate building, which has separate rooms, usually with a smaller number of seats and possibly non-standard places, such as galleries, sports complexes with halls, public buildings and more. Therefore, before proceeding with the selection, an analysis must be made of the possible venues for the event, corresponding to the nature and size of the event. The sites should then be inspected to check their suitability.

Adaptability of the place
Area	The Area should be sufficient to gather all participants
	Inside areas must be of sufficient ceiling height.
Outlook and functionality	The venue needs to be attractive to all participants. It has to be well maintained and clean.
	Indoor areas must be well lit and the temperature should be appropriate for the event.
	Seating should be comfortable and provide good visibility.
	Recreation areas must be away from the active work area and provide good conditions.
Facilities and equipment	Offices and meeting rooms.
	Telecommunications – Wi-Fi coverage, internet, telephone, fax.
	Sound systems and equipment, translation booths.
	Halls and areas for catering.
	Tables and chairs.
	Service rooms and toilets.
Location	Accessibility – close to public transport, easy access by car, close to the airport.
	Parking lots – availability of such, size and method of use. Proximity to the majority of participants.
	Availability of shops and restaurants in immediate vicinity.
Cost	Price amount. Advance amount. Consequences of cancellation. Additional costs.

After this analysis has been prepared and the possible venue for an event that meets the set criteria has been selected, talks should be held with the owners, respectively the managers of the venues to clarify the details and obtain the best possible conditions. During these meetings and conversations, it should be investigated whether there may be a side event on the scheduled date of the event. This is necessary in order to assess whether this event will not hinder the technical conduct of the event, as well as whether it is not in conflict with the goals, brand, etc. When an agreement is reached on the parameters for the place, the reservation should be made. The reservation must be made formally with the appropriate means and form to ensure that there is no duplication of reservations or other misunderstandings. When booking large events, it is important to have a contract for this with the penalties provided. Within the time from the reservation to the event, it is desirable to make an on-site inspection, because in the meantime there may have been changes in the interior, lighting, equipment that could affect the event.

Once the date has been finally specified and the venue has been officially determined, they must be announced as soon as possible. The date can be included in the calendar of events on the organization’s website. The event can be announced on social media, personal invitations can be sent, etc. This will allow those wishing to participate in the event to plan their time and commitments in a timely manner.

4.7 Identifying and establishing partnerships and sponsors

The holding of each event is associated with preliminary costs. This requires looking for revenue to cover these costs. Setting a participation fee is one way to generate revenue. Attracting partners, exhibitors and sponsors of the event is the other way to solve the problem of costs. Working with the right partner can change the outcome of an event for the better – it can help attract new audiences, reduce costs and strengthen the brand’s reputation. Very often, these partners may specialize in some of the activities. For example, media partners are very suitable for promoting the event and attracting participants. They can also sell advertising and attract sponsors. Finding the right partner can be done by researching those who have similar interests in the topic and audience of the organizer. Such a partnership is suitable for both parties, because they will mutually reach the audience of each partner, thus expanding the audience of potential participants in the event. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that working in partnership requires great trust, commitment and consistency in the actions of both parties. Very often, attracting the wrong partners is an obstacle to the process. Here the benefits and inconveniences of involving partners must be specified very well, to determine specifically which partner to be invited to organize each event. Having an engagement after an event is the other cornerstone of a partner’s judgment.

Finding sponsors for the event is useful for the budget of the event. Sponsorship can take the form of direct funding, providing prizes, covering specific costs, etc. The financial benefit of attracting sponsors is indisputable. They also affect the image and content of the event. Attracting new sponsors requires a lot of effort. On the other hand, attracting sponsors is not always appropriate. Very often, they require the application of their brand in the layout of the venue of the event, the use of exhibition space and stands, providing the opportunity for public presentations. These things need to be very carefully considered with whether there is enough space and free time in the program, whether their brand is not in conflict with your brand and brand, etc.

4.8 Creating a publicity plan

Attracting an audience is unthinkable if sufficient publicity of the event is not ensured. Promotion should start immediately after setting the date and place of the event. This complete process does not begin or end with the announcement of the date and place of the event. It continues until the event and after it. In addition, the tools and means of ensuring publicity are very diverse, and therefore a plan for promotion and advertising must be created. It can include several components:

• Announcement of web pages;
• Social media;
• Email notifications;
• Press and media relations;
• Printed materials.

An event promotion plan is not complete if there are no post-event thanks, sponsor accolades, and articles about the key messages of the event.

4.9 Defining the processes on the day of the event

Once the logistical organization of the event is specified, the planning of the event program follows in detail. The creation of the program will determine the detailed order of actions on the day of the event. It will provide an opportunity to control the activities and the conduct of the event as a whole. There are many questions in determining the program. How many days to be? How many sessions to include? What should be the duration of the sessions? How to structure the sessions – presentation, discussions? Should there be moderators? How many vacations should be planned, what should be their duration and at what interval? Should vacations include coffee and catering? Which of the holidays should include coffee and which catering? These and many other issues need to be addressed in this program planning. For this purpose, a detailed schedule must be developed from the beginning of the event to its end and the subsequent sending of the guests. Creating a schedule involves several points:

• Compiling a list of activities;
• Determining the duration of the event;
• Creating a time management system;
• Determining the form for presenting the program;
• Break plan.

The list of activities is necessary to determine what activities should be carried out in order to achieve the objectives of the event. For this purpose, it is necessary to make an “inventory” of the moderators, lecturers, exhibitors, sponsors, partners, the team of organizers who will make speeches and presentations to assess how long it will take each of them. The number of breaks and discussions must be specified. It must be assessed whether there will be an organized visit to exhibition halls and stands. The duration of the event will be determined by the timing of all activities – speeches, presentations, discussions, breaks, visits to exhibitions and the like. To do this, it is necessary to determine the duration of each activity. For example: greetings – 5 minutes; presentations – 30 minutes; discussions – 20 minutes; breaks – 15 minutes; session for visiting exhibition halls and stands – 1 hour. The sum of the duration of each action by its number will give the total duration of the event.

When events involve many activities and events for a limited time, a management system can be applied to perform some of the actions in parallel in several halls. The choice of the presentation format of the program must take into account the type of event and the audience to which it is directed. The preparation of a detailed program provides an opportunity for potential participants to be acquainted with the topics of the sessions, the lecturers, the duration of each session, etc. This complements their idea of ​​the nature of the event and the benefits they will receive from participating in it. The break plan is also important because each participant will also need a break. Participating in an event is tiring. Therefore, it is necessary to provide time for rest. It should be structured so that people do not get bored of long sessions. Providing relaxation facilities during these vacations will undoubtedly increase the satisfaction of the participants..

4.10 Inspection and control of preparation

A few days before the event and for some things necessarily before the day of the event, you should check the preparation and the degree of readiness, as well as to clarify the latest details of the event. To do this, a certain set of actions must be performed:

• Meeting and conversation with all speakers, moderators, sponsors, media to check their preparation for participation in the event and the degree of completion of their presentations, materials, etc.;
• Checking the readiness of operational staff to service the event;
• Finalizing the scenario of the event;
• Conducting several trainings to “play” important moments of the event;
• Verification of materials – presentation, information, advertising;
• Verification of registration – confirmed, unconfirmed, reservations;
• Determining the opportunities for photos and interviews with lecturers and VIPs;
• Confirmation of details with the media; • Inspection of the meeting place and its suitability – separate areas, exhibition places, etc.;
• Inspection of equipment;
• Preparation of information and advertising packages;
• Collection and technical preparation of lectures and presentations – compatibility with the equipment that will be used during the event, as well as their printing if necessary.

4.11 Analysis, evaluation and final activities after the event

The work of the event organizer does not end, even after the last participant has left the event. In fact, follow-up activities are an important part of the life cycle of the event. Completing an event is as important as its concept. It is time to gather feedback from participants, assess the quality of the event, suggestions for improvement by participants and organizers, measure the return on investment and create materials with interesting moments for the event to be promoted after the event. This is the time to thank the participants of the event, including staff, volunteers, lecturers, service providers and attendees. In addition to individual thanks, it is good to use other marketing tools to achieve greater publicity of this act. Feedback is crucial for analysis and evaluation of the implementation of the event. It is useful for subsequent events. One of the ways of feedback that can be used is the filling in of a questionnaire by the participants on paper during the event. Questions may include evaluation of speakers, program (topics), catering, and conditions during the event and more. Another way to get feedback from event participants is to use social media. Using social media after the event is very useful for creating engagement by sharing the content of the event and feedback from it. For this purpose, it is necessary to take a lot of photos and videos during the event. After the event, all photos and videos must be selected to select the most important and exciting moments of the event to be published.

Another very important point after the end of the event is to calculate the actual costs and revenues from the event. This will allow assessing the real financial result of the event. Based on this, an analysis of the gaps in revenue and expenditure planning will be made, which will be useful for planning and conducting the next events. After all this, a comprehensive analysis of the event is made. This should be prepared as soon as possible after the event, because then the information and memories are the freshest. Through this analysis, it will be assessed: Have the set goals been achieved? What are the gaps? Who did the work and how? What can be improved in future events?

And finally – rest!

No rest!

The next event is coming up!

Event marketing has emerged as a stand-alone industry for the past 30 years. One of the first to use event marketing was McDonald’s, which linked the image of a fast food chain to Ronald McDonald’s orphanage and regularly held special events using the image of the clown Ronald. This event-marketing tactic has helped the company not only attract a family audience, including their parents, but also to create a positive, vivid, memorable image. At its core, marketing is communication. This is the ability convey a clear message at the right time to the right audience. Live events enable a person to connect directly with stakeholders and clearly convey their message. Event marketing continues to grow as one of the most important marketing strategies for modern companies. Every day a huge flow of information from advertising messages, offers and more, floods modern man. An individual is able to perceive and process only a small part of all information. Under these conditions, it is increasingly difficult for companies to attract the attention of consumers. Direct advertising is a tool that has proven its effectiveness, but today the traditional method of communication is not enough to attract the attention of consumers. Event marketing has become one of the tools designed to solve this problem. This is a way of promotion, which is aimed at building and strengthening the image of a brand or service by organizing non-standard promotions or as they are also called special events. Through special events, companies try to take an active part in the social life of their target audience. The scope of event marketing is extremely wide.

There are several reasons for the powerful impact of this communication on customer relationships. One of them is that people better remember what they experienced on a sensory level. One of the main principles of modern event marketing is the engagement of the target audience in the event. In other words, we can say that event marketing is a complex of special advertising activities. The main purpose of event marketing is to reveal the nature of the brand or service by demonstrating a certain lifestyle. A well-developed marketing strategy is the basis of the success of any event. This applies to both online and offline events. One of the main principles of modern event marketing is the engagement of the target audience in the event. Even with the best guests, speakers and venue, every event needs promotion to be attended by as many people as possible.

One of the key elements for the success of an event is knowing and reaching the target audience. To determine the target audience, you must first define the exact purpose of the event and then find the people who fit into that goal. All events share the same common goal, which is to live up to the expectations of their audience. For example, if we host a fundraiser for a non-profit organization, anyone who supports our cause is part of our target audience. Once we have defined the purpose of the event and the target audience, it is time to think of the best ways to promote the event among these people. Event marketing dramatically increases the responsiveness of the audience, as it tends to be closely related to emotions and provides an element of entertainment. Event marketing uses an occasion – an event, real or imagined, planned or specially organized, widely known or created specifically for a specific audience. By properly using all marketing tools to advertise events as a whole, benefits can be provided for both the event organizers and the participants in the event. For this, large events can be developed and implemented, within which it is important to identify and invite people who are real and potential users of a particular product or service. It is important to involve such people in the event as early as possible. It is better to do this at the stage of the advertising campaign of the event. Event marketing is currently one of the most promising areas of communication policy in any area of ​​business and the non-governmental sector.

Event marketing is a type of integrated marketing communication, which is a set of activities aimed at promoting goods, services, brands in the internal and external marketing environment by organizing special events. The biggest advantage of the events is that they actively affect the emotional state of the participants

„People always want fun because the “child” who wakes up in them pushes them to cross the forbidden border.“. Eric Leonard Berne

Each marketing strategy of an organization consists of a standard set of tools such as media advertising and the Internet, participation in events, communication through social media and others. But the reality around us is changing every day, competitors are using new non-standard approaches in their activities, and consumers are becoming more sophisticated in their choice of goods and services. One way to overcome this crisis situation is to use event marketing by companies.

Various Event Marketing

·       Corporate event marketing

The main task of this type of marketing is to increase labor efficiency and improve the image of the labor market. Such events include corporate anniversaries, corporate anniversaries, games, picnics and various holiday parties. It is important to invite close partners and regular customers to this type of event. The theme of corporate events can be different, but most often it is synchronized with some kind of anniversary, holiday or other significant date..

·       Commercial Event Marketing

These are events and activities for distributors, partners and customers. They include various meetings, conferences, seminars, presentations, various receptions and other thematic events. They are usually included in the company’s activities – for example, a pharmaceutical company holds a seminar for medical professionals and the car factory holds a conference for the car industry. Through trade events, companies can more easily position their products and services on the market.

·       Special Events Marketing

Special event marketing includes promotional tours, festivals, concerts and other entertainment events. This type of event marketing increases the reach of the target audience, has a positive effect on customer loyalty and helps increase sales to companies. Sponsorship is an important part of this type of event. Companies usually sponsor well-known events where they advertise their products and services. An important point in sponsoring events, as a channel for marketing communication, is the format of participation in it. Traditional elements here are the sponsor’s logo on the advertising of the event, the placement of banners at the venue and the sponsor’s competitions. In fact, the opportunities to advertise a sponsor in the form of an event are not limited to this. For example, handing out small souvenirs to all the guests of the event or a small spectacular performance with a presentation of the product or service can be a much more effective and memorable means of communication than the traditional prize draw. In the form of many events, it is possible to hold promotions. The other important thing is to give visitors the opportunity to test your products on site.

·       Themed Events Marketing

Themed events are the main marketing tool that allows companies to quickly promote their products and services. This type of marketing involves:

• Shock promotion – these are original and unusual marketing methods that attract attention and arouse interest in a product, service or event. For example, posters with text turned upside down are part of the shock promotions.
• Contests – they can be conducted for the target group, regular customers, partners or employees. Through this tool, the goals and objectives of marketing are aimed at improving the company’s image in the labor market.
• Conferences – they are usually organized for competing companies or companies with a homogeneous type of activity in order to increase the level of expertise in the eyes of consumers.
• Lotteries – this event has a playful element so it can be used for a wide target audience. For example, you can create your own lottery and advertise it to all customers and buyers to attract entrants.
• Festivals – they are organized for the target audience – for example, a music festival for music lovers or a beer festival for those who are fans of this type of drink.

• Edu-marketing or educational marketing is a concept for creating an educational curriculum and turning it into marketing content for consumers in various forms (articles, videos, magazines, interactive quizzes, email updates, online courses, etc.) Although almost every industry and any topic can technically use the educational marketing strategy, this is especially necessary for industries that have a positive impact on society and the planet. The purpose of educational marketing is to train the consumer to appreciate the product or service they consume. In recent years, this type of marketing is gaining widespread popularity in the market. Through educational marketing, consumers get the opportunity, through traditional educational methods, to understand the essence of a product or service. For example, the famous brewer Budweiser decided to train its customers in the brewing process. For this purpose, they organized a special evening to which beer lovers were invited. On a big screen, the audience watched the whole process of beer production. All attendees received a brochure entitled “Quench your thirst for knowledge.” Production technologists who answered questions and provided professional advice also attended the dinner. After this demonstration, the interest in the beer brand increased a lot.

Here are some interesting examples of successful event marketing

·       One of the most interesting recent examples of event marketing is the organization of a raffle for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, in which the winning participant had the opportunity to accompany the referee to the playing field. The famous brand not only sponsored the championship, but also held an interesting lottery related to the upcoming event. To win the main prize, the participants in the raffle simply had to buy a box of Coca-Cola with a special design, take a creative photo with it and publish it on a certain platform.

• Another good example of event marketing is the Nokia brand. In September 2001, representatives of the brand participated as sponsors in a snowboard competition. The event brought together over 30,000 people in one place. A special “Nokia zone” was created, you could vote for the participants in the competition, get acquainted with the phone models of the brand or get advice on mobile phones. The interest in this area was very high. After the competition, the company’s sales increased dramatically. That is why they have traditionally started to sponsor and participate in this type of event.
• An interesting foreign example is the Nesquik brand. The Nestle brand organizes several mobile attractions around the world. They travel around different cities around the world to make children happy. Each child can take a picture with the symbol of the brand – Roger Rabbit and have a glass of hot drink. This significantly increases the reach of the target audience and improves the loyalty of consumers, including the smallest buyers.

Event marketing has several specific characteristics that deserve special attention. The main feature is that the target group of the company and the target group of the event must match. It will not be possible to sell a refrigerator at a cosmetic event. The second characteristic of event marketing is that the event must promote the product or service. The tools used to market different types of events are limited only by the imagination of the marketer. In order for an event to be successful, regardless of its nature, it is important to build a good marketing strategy to cover it to the public. Without being included in such a strategy, the event becomes meaningless. The following is a sample marketing strategy to promote an event that is compelling and unobtrusive.

Ø  Create a web page of the event

Create a special web page for your event to share with your target audience through news channels. The design of the event website should be as simple as possible. While maintaining the rule of simplicity, the web page for your event should also offer engaging content. The content of the web page should be event-only. The messages on the page must be short and precise. To add more dynamism to the web page, you can set a clock to count down the time to the event itself. This will create anticipation for the event, as well as a sense of urgency for potential participants who are hesitant to register. You can create a pop-up short message on your organization’s website that leads to the event’s website. In this way, you will direct the attention of visitors to the page of the event. Pop-ups are a very effective marketing tool when we want to draw attention to a specific thing. The content you use on the event website and pop-up window are key factors in attracting your target audience.

Ø  Publish press reflease in the media

Your event is already a fact. You have prepared an interesting program, you have invited guest speakers, you have planned interesting things for those present, and you have created a web page for your event and now is the time to create news about it. Press releases should contain concise and clear information about your event. Publications should be presented in an attractive and easy to accept way. If after participating in your event, participants will receive any awards or certificates, be sure to emphasize this to attract the attention of the audience. The media provide direct access to specific target groups. The more authoritative the source of information about an event, the greater the impact it has on the target groups. Therefore, you need to focus on the media that dominate the local market. Also, send individual invitations to local journalists. In the invitation to them, emphasize the guest speakers. Simplify the information in it to help the journalist easily extract key information.

Ø  Invite your audience usikng e-mail

Email marketing is the most popular marketing strategy for promoting events among people. This is one of the cheapest ways to run an internet targeted advertising campaign. When sending invitations to an event by email, be sure to include social sharing links. In order for email marketing to be successful, it is important that messages be sent only to the target groups. The other is just SPAM. Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to reach potential participants in events. The first and most important condition is that the subject of the email be short, clear and catchy. It plays a key role in the success of the email campaign. It does not matter how wonderful your event is if the subject of the email does not get the audience, it is targeted to click and open it. That is why you need to take the time to seriously consider how you will address your emails in order to grab the attention of the target audience. The key is in the title. That is why the title is more important than the content of the letter itself. Nearly 80% of people read the title, 20% read the rest of the text. This pattern also applies to e-mails. If you make a mistake in the title, you will not have a chance to captivate the audience with content, as the letter will be deleted directly. You have to be careful with the words you use in the subject of the email, because words like “free” and “discount” often activate spam filters. There is no perfect and always working title, because everything is perfect relative – the nature of the event, the characteristics of audience and type of campaign.It is good for email to be personalized.People appreciate the personal approach and are more likely to open titles that contain their name.In 2018, 61% of emails are open from mobile devices. In addition, each user uses a different browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla, Opera, etc.) as well as e-mail. Accordingly, you need to comply with this and make your emails easy to open and easy to read on any device. To create eye-catching email campaigns in minutes, you need to choose the right tools – there are many free and paid software that will help you (Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, etc.). You need to have a tool to prepare your campaigns, but also to monitor their effectiveness – how many people have opened the letter, how many have followed the attached link, how many have stopped subscribing, etc.

Ø  Use Social Media

Social media marketing is a form of Internet marketing that uses social media as a marketing tool. The goal of social media marketing is to create content that engages users, makes them share it with their friends, and helps organizations reach their target audiences. In today’s digitally oriented world, social media and events go hand in hand. A survey shows that about 78% of users create digital content for events and that 60% of its participants have shared information about it on their social media channels. Promoting events on social media is a key marketing tool. This is the most effective way to spread information about an event to an audience around the world. Social media is a marketer’s dream come true. They are a new trend in event marketing and through them you have a direct interaction with the target audience. With just a few mouse clicks and minimal costs, you can spread the word about your event in just a few minutes. The use of marketing tactics on social media increases the interest in an event. Facebook is a huge space and a great platform to tell about your event. Ideally, the content for the event should be created at least a month in advance so that there is enough time to spread to the target audience. To start, make a short and intriguing presentation of your event, which you post on Facebook. Focus on creating content that gets people to attend your event. Create a short promotional video with interesting shots from your previous events to show people what a great time they will spend at your event. Publish it it.

You can include images from the preparation for the event. In this way, you will show that you have made every effort to make the event interesting, memorable, fun and useful for all potential attendees. One of the main highlights of each event are the speakers. Therefore, you need to make sure that your speakers are fully relevant to the topic of your event. Explain what you will offer and why your event should be attended. Contrary to popular belief, people are more interested in an event when they feel they will lose something valuable if they are not present. “You don’t want to miss this event” is a simple but effective phrase for email marketing, a social media campaign, or a blog post to generate curiosity about your event. Once you have posted the event on Facebook, it is very important to continue to actively promote it. Reinforce it through advertising. This way, the event will be shown as a priority to users who at some point have shown interest in similar events to yours. When people express an interest in an event, their followers also see it, which activates more people to show interest in it. Keep track of your posts and make sure they have high levels of engagement. This way you will know how long it takes to release the posts. On platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, the stories you create disappear after 24 hours. This content is called short-lived. This type of content is another trend in social media marketing, which has an extremely beneficial effect on social media users. Short-lived content enables users to be more authentic and display quality content and stories in real time. As the content disappears within a few hours, this creates a sense of urgency. As a result, followers act fast, and you benefit from it. For this reason, this content is the new favorite thing for marketers.

Posting stories about your event that come out on top of your followers’ feeds keeps your information in mind. Since millions of stories are published every day, in order to stand out, you have to come up with something impressive that will grab the attention of users instantly. You can use this type of advertising for your event to engage your target audience. Use hashtags to reach a larger audience on social media. According to Wikipedia, Hashtag is a reference tag for social media searches. Use a hashtag for your event and place it prominently on your website. Encourage website visitors and event attendees to use the hashtag when participating in social media. This is a great way to track your commitment to a post. All social media uses hashtags, which are essentially labels to search for your posts. Hash tags are extremely popular on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Having a hashtag to promote an event serves as free advertising. The more the hashtag of an event spreads, the more people find out about it.

Ø  Engage interested parties

To improve the marketing of your event, engage stakeholders. Whether they are speakers, sponsors or exhibitors, encourage them to promote your event through their information channels.

Ø  Use Influence Marketing

Influence marketing is a form of marketing, a channel for promotion and sales, in which visible and influential people in social networks, the so-called Influencers, draw attention to their way of life, in particular to the products or services they use, thus realizing a channel for promotion. In today’s marketing world, influencers advertise products and services through social media posts. Influence marketing is one of the most developed marketing channels. This type of marketing is playing an increasingly important role in the tourism industry. The author of Outside Magazine, Grayson Schaffer, describes it as “a culture that changes the way people travel and plan their trips.” Influencers often benefit from their successful presence on social media by promoting products, services or marketing messages in their accounts. In fact, collaborating with influencers to promote specific products or services is nothing new. As early as 1950, Marilyn Monroe was an influencer for a whole generation. Her fans have been interested in her favorite products and the methods by which she achieves her flawless appearance. Decades later, with the growing role of social media, organizations are realizing the true potential of influencer marketing. Once they have won the trust of their audience, practically influencers have a ready base with different target groups. One of the key points in this type of marketing is the careful selection of influencers on whom the target groups vote the necessary trust. Influence marketing is not limited to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. There is a close connection between influence marketing and trends in video marketing in order to achieve the best possible results. Celebrities seek to gain from their popularity and prestige by advertising a particular event that is of interest to their followers. So the event reaches a lot more people, and people who trust the opinion of the influencer begin to trust you. This is exactly the power of influence marketing, namely the transfer of authority.

All of these marketing tools are a smart investment that can be used to attract a larger target audience. Event marketing has been growing in recent years. Through special events, companies try to take an active part in the social life of their target audience. Special events help to “concretize” the brand, bringing it closer to consumers. Event marketing is the strongest tool for attracting a target audience.

Resources on the topic:

• https://blog.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-guide
• https://marketo.com/event-marketing/
• Getz, D. Event Studies, Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events