Professional Event Coordination (The Wiley Event Management Series)

Professional

Event

Coordination

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page i

The Wiley Event Management Series

SERIES EDITOR: DR. JOE GOLDBLATT, CSEP

Special Events: Twenty-First Century Global Event Management, Third Edition

by Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP

The International Dictionary of Event Management, Second Edition

by Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP, and Kathleen S. Nelson, CSEP

Corporate Event Project Management

by William O’Toole and Phyllis Mikolaitis, CSEP

Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events,

Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions

by Leonard H. Hoyle, CAE, CMP

Event Risk Management and Safety

by Peter E. Tarlow, Ph.D.

Event Sponsorship

by Bruce E. Skinner, CFE, and Vladimir Rukavina, CFE

Professional Event Coordination

by Julia Rutherford Silvers, CSEP

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page ii

Professional

Event

Coordination

Julia Rutherford Silvers, CSEP

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page iii

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning,

or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copy￾right Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization

through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center,

Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on

dressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hobo￾ken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, e-mail: [email protected].

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their

best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect

to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any

implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may

be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and

strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with

a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any

loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, inci￾dental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please

contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside

the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears

in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley prod￾ucts, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Silvers, Julia Rutherford.

Professional event coordination / Julia Rutherford Silvers.

p. cm. — (The Wiley event management series)

Includes index.

ISBN 0-471-26305-2

1. Special events—Planning. 2. Special events—Management. I.

Title. II. Series.

GT3405.S55 2004

394.2—dc21 2003012936

Printed in the United States of America.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page iv

the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be ad-

To Larry, my husband, my sailor, my best friend—the one who has

made any and all moon hanging possible.

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page v

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page iii

Contents

Foreword—Edward G. Polivka ix

Foreword—Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter 1 Anatomy of an Event 1

Chapter 2 The Event Element Assessment 27

Chapter 3 Developing the Event Site 63

Chapter 4 Accommodating the Audience 93

Chapter 5 Providing the Event Infrastructure 133

Chapter 6 Safe Operations 169

Chapter 7 Coordinating the Environment 203

Chapter 8 Fundamentals of the Production 231

Chapter 9 Staging the Entertainment Experience 269

Chapter 10 Food and Beverage Operations 293

Chapter 11 Making Event Memories 317

Chapter 12 Ancillary Programs 341

Chapter 13 Vendors and Volunteers 367

Chapter 14 Knowledge Management 397

Chapter 15 Strategies for Success 423

Appendix 1 Sample Client Interview Form 431

Appendix 2 Sample On-Site Change Order Form 439

Appendix 3 Event “Survival” Kit 441

Appendix 4 Sample Site Inspection Checklist 443

Appendix 5 References and Reading List 449

Index 457

vii

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page vii

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page iii

ix

Foreword

In 1976 the president of the university where I was teaching asked me to

take over the direction of a tourism program that was losing enrollment.

His charge was to make the program grow or sign its death certificate. I

began researching all aspects of tourism for a program that would use our

teaching resources, appeal to our students, and give them some leverage

in the job market after graduation.

Our research discovered a subset of tourism called meetings, events,

conventions, and expositions. At that time this industry was contributing

$32.5 billion to the gross national product, but there appeared to be no

formal educational path for young people wishing to enter the industry.

On closer examination we discovered that most of the people work￾ing in the industry had gravitated to it by chance. Some of the most in￾fluential people in the industry at that time had been assigned the task

of producing great events and outstanding meetings by a boss who did

not want to do it himself. We were amazed at the size of the budgets for

many of these events. In some cases they exceeded the annual budgets

of small companies and divisions of large firms. With little or no formal

training available, these people produced creative and memorable events.

Over time, and with much trial and error, a recognizable profession grad￾ually took shape. We pondered, “Was everything they did intuitive?”

Many of the profession’s leading practitioners were surveyed to de￾termine what they considered to be their educational weaknesses and

what subjects they wish they had studied in school. The information we

collected helped us to define our curriculum.

As we grew closer to the launch of our program, we discovered two

things:

■ Most professionals thought that we were embarking on a fool’s

journey. This was one profession that could not be taught in a

classroom.

■ There were no books that could be used in the classroom to teach

these courses.

Times have changed. Meetings, exhibitions, events, and conventions

(MEEC) courses now appear in the curriculum of more than 200 univer￾sities worldwide. In fact, postgraduate course work in these fields is

taught at many of the world’s leading universities. It is quite common for

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page ix

employers to contact universities to request students who have MEEC de￾grees. Clearly, there is a demand for college-trained professionals in an

industry that has tripled in size in the last 27 years.

However, the greatest cause of near failure of our educational pro￾gram in the late 1970s was lack of books for our courses. As in any

emerging industry, codification of rules, techniques, and guidelines is a

critical step in the educational process.

Over the years I have been impressed when I heard that someone was

getting ready to publish a new book for the industry. It meant that some￾one like Julia Rutherford Silvers was going to add to her personal work￾load the task of creating a book about the events industry. In the case of

this book, it is a selfless effort to help others understand the dynamic and

exciting events industry.

I am pleased to have the honor of introducing this book. It represents

another milestone in the educational process. It is a concise guide for

seasoned professionals and will serve as an excellent classroom resource

for students trying to understand the dynamics of this industry. It will

allow students to grasp the complexities that thousands of industry pro￾fessionals accept as a regular part of their jobs.

Julia Rutherford Silvers has taken a no-nonsense approach to a “fun”

industry. She has put another important building block in place to help

event management to be better recognized as a fully developed industry.

What book dedicated to this complex business would not include

checklists? I believe that this book contains some of the clearest, most

concise, and extremely useful lists that have been developed to date.

I know you will enjoy this valuable resource. It will be a great ad￾venture for the novice and yet serve as an effective guide for the seasoned

professional.

Let the event begin!

Edward G. Polivka

x Foreword

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page x

xi

Foreword

Pulitzer prize–winning historians Will and Ariel Durant described edu￾cation as “the transmission of civilization.” In this important and

comprehensive volume, Julia Rutherford Silvers, CSEP, has transmitted

literally hundreds of ideas that will dramatically improve the coordina￾tion of your events.

Ms. Silvers is a leading force in the field of event management edu￾cation and has distilled her many years of professional experience into

an easy-to-use compendium of best practices for modern event coordi￾nators. “On-Site Insights” are presented throughout the chapters, which

immediately enable you to apply her theories through real-world anecdo￾tal examples. Furthermore, this valuable book has dozens of checklists,

tables, figures, and other proven strategies for future success.

Whether you are coordinating a small function for ten guests or a

major exposition or festival with 10,000 attendees, this book and the wis￾dom within can serve as a reliable guide to ensure seamless coordina￾tion. From the opening chapter, which conducts a thorough study of the

anatomy of professional events, to the closing final strategies for success,

this book will soon be among the most important resources you will use

and recommend to others.

One of the best features of this book is the comprehensive appendix

(Appendix 5) citing the numerous resources and texts that were used to

compile this work. This alone is worth the price of the book and much

more.

Julia Rutherford Silvers is one of the leading practitioners, authors,

educators, and consultants in the event management industry. This book

allows you to tap her expertise as often as you wish so as to continually

improve your event coordination practices.

Although the Durants defined education as the transmission of civi￾lization, the American Heritage Dictionary further defines civilization as

“an advanced state of cultural and material development in human soci￾ety marked by political and social complexity and progress in the arts

and sciences.” Ms. Silvers’s book is an extraordinary work of both art and

science that enables you to rapidly and consistently advance and de￾velop your professional career in this field. Throughout human history

major developments, such as the creation of tools, have marked the de￾velopment of humankind. History will soon record that Julia Rutherford

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page xi

Silvers, CSEP, provided us with a major development in our industry

with this book, the foremost resource to produce more civilized events

now and in the future.

Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP

Series Editor

xii Foreword

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page xii

Preface

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a

secret order.

—CARL JUNG (1875–1961)

The modern event industry has grown from a subset of administrative

duties and creative individuals in a variety of fields into a full-fledged

profession that is practiced globally, with all the responsibilities and pro￾ficiency expectations of a modern profession. The tasks and techniques

that have been developed through trial and error over the years have

been quantified, which serves us by providing a clear path of training to￾ward event excellence—mastering that chaos by understanding the secret

order and transforming the “priesthood” of secrets into a recognized and

accessible body of knowledge. I wrote this book to bring together the

hundreds of years of collective experience of that priesthood so that it

will be accessible to you.

Although the industry has identified the skills and competency do￾mains required of an event professional, we have not yet standardized

the titles we go by. In different companies and different parts of the

world we are called event coordinators, event planners, event managers,

event producers, event directors, event designers, account executives,

and countless other monikers. My former business partner and I had our

own unique titles; I was the Grand Poohbah and she was the Vice Em￾press. The titles may be different, but we are all engaged in the business

of creating event experiences that serve the needs of the client or host

and fulfill the expectations of the guest or attendee. This requires due

diligence—the investigation and consideration of all the requirements

and possibilities, both good and bad, for the event.

Whether you are preparing to enter this profession, preparing for ad￾vancement within it, or preparing for certification as a professional, this

xiii

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page xiii

book will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the competen￾cies required of a professional event coordinator. I hope that it will also

become a reference tool you may use throughout your professional ca￾reer. The scope of competencies addressed herein is based on the Tourism

Standards of Western Canada for Special Events Coordinator and Special

Events Manager, and the Tourism, Hospitality & Sport Education & Train￾ing Authority (THETA) National Qualifications Framework for Event

Support in South Africa, as well as the event management competencies

outlined in the Exam Blueprint for the International Special Events So￾ciety Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) certification program.

Each chapter examines a variety of competency points, outlined in

the objectives at the beginning of each chapter, and there are numerous

checklists you may use to refine your skills as a professional event co￾ordinator. On-Site Insights, by various industry professionals around the

world, provide examples to put the content in a real-life context, and

Technology Tips direct you to relevant technology to enhance the effi￾ciency and effectiveness of event coordination, operations, and opportu￾nities. At the end of each chapter you will find Exercises in Professional

Event Coordination to perform that will reinforce the concepts and com￾petencies in practical applications, as well as help to prepare you for tak￾ing the CSEP certification exam.

The book starts by examining the anatomy of an event to establish

the different layers of an event experience and the general process of pro￾fessional event coordination. Based on this foundation, it considers the

assessment of the various elements of an event, which can allow the

event coordinator to visualize, organize, and synchronize the event’s re￾sources and operations through project management techniques. Next it

explores the critical aspects of site selection and development to ensure

that the location and layout of the event meet its needs. Inviting atten￾dees and providing them with the appropriate access to the event site is

considered from the perspective of customer service as the event coordi￾nator plans to accommodate the event’s audience. Although not particu￾larly glamorous, it is important to arrange for the essential services that

provide the necessary infrastructure for the event, as well as mitigate the

event’s impact on its neighbors and the environment. It is also necessary

to make plans for the safety and security of the event’s guests and orga￾nize the services and strategies to ensure safe operations before, during,

and after the event.

As the book moves to a discussion of event design, it examines the

creative, as well as practical, aspects of coordinating the event environ￾ment through theme design, décor, and numerous other staging consid￾erations. It also delves into the fundamentals of technical productions

and entertainment possibilities that set the stage for the event experience.

The discussion provides a taste of food and beverage possibilities and

xiv Preface

1123.chfm 9/9/03 9:05 AM Page xiv