Special events

SPECIAL EVENTS

EVENT LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW WORLD

FOURTH EDITION

DR. JOE GOLDBLATT, CSEP

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.

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SPECIAL EVENTS

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THE WILEY EVENT MANAGEMENT SERIES

SERIES EDITOR: DR. JOE GOLDBLATT, CSEP

Special Events: Event Leadership for a New World, Fourth Edition

by Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP

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

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, PhD

Event Sponsorship

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

Professional Event Coordination

By Julia Rutherford Silvers, CSEP

The Complete Guide to Event Entertainment and Production

By Mark Sonder, MM, CSEP

The Guide to Successful Destination Management

By Pat Schaumann, CMP, CSEP

Sports Event Management and Marketing Playbook

By Frank Supovitz

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SPECIAL EVENTS

EVENT LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW WORLD

FOURTH EDITION

DR. JOE GOLDBLATT, CSEP

JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC.

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This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞

Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

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

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Goldblatt, Joe Jeff, 1952–

Special events : event leadership for a new world / Joe Goldblatt.—4th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-471-45037-5

1. Special events—Management. I. Title.

GT3405.G65 2005

394.2—dc22

2004008519

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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DEDICATION

For nearly 25 years, she has walked into her first-grade classroom and gently

helped her little caterpillars become beautiful butterflies. In the chrysalis that

is her classroom, these young minds learn to think and feel. When they con￾fidently fly away to second grade, they take with them sweet memories of her

kindness, integrity, and determination. She is my teacher, friend, and coun￾selor. She has shared the major special events of my life and I have shared in

hers. My life is continually enriched by her presence. This fourth edition of

Special Events: Event Leadership for a New World is dedicated with love and

gratitude to a leader who inspires both young and old, my beloved sister, Leah

Goldblatt Lahasky.

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“Remember that life is a celebration or can be a celebration. One of the most

important things is to teach man how to celebrate.”

Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Who is Man?”

“Between God and Man,” New York: The Free Press, 1959.

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vii

CONTENTS

FOREWORD xi

PREFACE xv

Part One THEORY OF EVENT

LEADERSHIP 1

Chapter 1 WELCOME TO EVENT LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW WORLD 3

Chapter 2 MODELS OF GLOBAL EVENT LEADERSHIP 37

Part Two EVENT ADMINISTRATION 67

Chapter 3 DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING THE EVENT PLAN 69

Chapter 4 MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND TIME 117

Chapter 5 FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION 129

Chapter 6 EVENT LEADERSHIP 157

Part Three EVENT COORDINATION 169

Chapter 7 MANAGING VENDOR CONTRACTS 171

Chapter 8 ON-SITE MANAGEMENT 203

Chapter 9 ACCOMMODATING SPECIAL NEEDS 259

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Part Four EVENT MARKETING 269

Chapter 10 ADVERTISING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, PROMOTIONS,

AND SPONSORSHIP 271

Chapter 11 ONLINE MARKETING 305

Part Five LEGAL, ETHICAL, AND

RISK MANAGEMENT 313

Chapter 12 RISK MANAGEMENT: LEGAL AND

FINANCIAL SAFEGUARDS 315

Chapter 13 MORALITY, LAW, AND ETHICS IN EVENT MANAGEMENT 341

Part Six TECHNOLOGY AND PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT 353

Chapter 14 TECHNOLOGY FOR MODERN EVENT MANAGEMENT 355

Chapter 15 ADVANCING YOUR CAREER IN THE

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 367

Chapter 16 CASE STUDIES IN TWENTY-FIRST￾CENTURY EVENT LEADERSHIP 397

APPENDIX 1 ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES 419

APPENDIX 2 INTERNET SITES 429

APPENDIX 3 REFERENCES 433

APPENDIX 4 PERIODICALS 445

APPENDIX 5 DIRECTORIES 449

APPENDIX 6 AUDIO AND VIDEO RESOURCES 453

APPENDIX 7 SOFTWARE 455

APPENDIX 8 SAMPLE CLIENT AGREEMENT 457

APPENDIX 9 SAMPLE VENDOR AGREEMENT 461

APPENDIX 10 SAMPLE CATERING MENUS 465

APPENDIX 11 SAMPLE INSURANCE CERTIFICATE 469

viii CONTENTS

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APPENDIX 12 SAMPLE INCIDENT REPORT 471

APPENDIX 13 SAMPLE PURCHASE ORDER 475

APPENDIX 14 SAMPLE EVENT EVALUATIONS 477

APPENDIX 15 ISES CODE OF ETHICS 483

INDEX 485

CONTENTS ix

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FOREWORD

by Sam deBlanc Goldblatt

WHAT IS A PARTY?

There are several ways to answer this question. A young, inexperienced Event

Management student, or likewise a veteran, embittered event planner might

define a party as the right number of tables and chairs, hors d’oeuvres served

at the appropriate time, neat table settings, pleasing decorations, and fun en￾tertainment. This is no doubt a foolproof formula for a satisfying, successful

party. The term party is derived from the Old French term parti, which means

“divided.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines this term as “a social

gathering or a group of people who have gathered to participate in a specific

task or social activity.”

However, an Event Leader—someone who goes above and beyond the sta￾tus quo practices of the industry—might define a party as a sanctioned period

of escape from the normal rules of society, a time of indulgence, a vacation

from the drudgery of daily life. More than just silverware and tablecloths, a

party represents freedom and release for the invited guests. Parties are about

fun.

I say this knowing full well that the title of this book is Special Events:

Event Leadership for a New World, not Party Planning 101; that much of event

management involves corporate meetings, association meetings, and social

events; and that many professional event managers would resent being called

party planners. Still, my father was planning parties long before he was man￾aging events, and even his major events retained the unmistakable air of a

party.

The Xerox Corporation™ is about the biggest corporate client that an Event

Manager could hope for, and one of the clients my father retained during his

transition from the convention room to the classroom. From such a prestigious

client one might expect elegant black-tie galas with a black-and-white theme

and a string quartet. When I got to peek at the event that my father produced

according to Xerox’s requests, I was shocked to see men and women wearing

shorts and T-shirts and playing indoor sports and games while rock music

played. An Event Manager would know that the evening was an event, but any

xi

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of the middle-aged executives acting like rambunctious teenagers would call

it a party.

I am privileged to say that one of my greatest childhood memories is that

of a gigantic genie’s head talking to Donald Trump. For the opening of Trump’s

Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, my father could have produced a typical

opening ceremony with Trump cutting a red ribbon. Instead, he created a

magic lamp the size of a house, which, when Trump rubbed it, brought forth

a genie via a JumboTron™ screen. The genie summoned an awe-inspiring laser

show (a novelty back in the 1980s), which beamed lasers all over the outdoor

audience and culminated in the fall of a giant red ribbon from one of the

casino’s towers followed by a pyrotechnic spectacular. An event, but also a

party.

My final example of the mingling concepts of events and parties goes way

back to 1988, when I was only 3 and my father produced President Ronald

Reagan’s Congressional Picnic at the White House. Obviously, an event of this

magnitude could not escape the traditional strictures of ceremony, etiquette,

formalities, and elegance, right? Well, I’m sure that the utmost level of for￾mality was observed, but all I remember are circus clowns, musicians, mimes

(one of which was my mother), jugglers, and a man with a monkey roaming

around the White House lawn. I still have a photo of President Reagan sur￾rounded by these colorful entertainers and me in a sailor outfit.

In this best-selling textbook, now in its fourth edition, readers will learn

the best practices in modern Event Management. Basic principles, an insider’s

vocabulary, and industry certification standards are but a few of the many

facets of professional guidance offered. The appendices have been reedited in

this edition to provide the most accurate listings of industry organizations,

publications, and businesses. Furthermore, through career advice, real-life ex￾amples, and an expert examination of the contemporary business landscape,

the book gives the reader a rare glimpse inside the exhilarating, completely

unmatched industry known as Event Management.

The main difference between this edition and the others, though, is the

emphasis on Event Leadership. Whereas previous editions guided readers to￾ward established careers, this edition guides them toward these careers and

beyond. The first edition of this book, published in 1990, introduced many

people to the new career of Event Management. Today, in 2004, the main￾stream visibility of Event Management has grown considerably. As with any

established career, one must surpass expectations in order to succeed—learn￾ing not just event management, but also mastering Event Leadership.

An Event Leader must not only be proficient in industry standards and

practices, but also be willing to go beyond the status quo. An Event Leader

must not only respect corporate clients, but also allow them to have fun. An

Event Leader must enliven ordinary ribbon-cutting ceremonies by making

them spectacular. And, like my mother when she performed as a mime at Pres￾ident Reagan’s Congressional White House Picnic, an Event Leader should not

just be in charge of an event—an event leader should be a part of the event.

xii FOREWORD

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My parents’ Event Management organization was called The Wonder Com￾pany, probably because most people wondered what on earth it was they did

for a living. Officially, they produced events. In reality, they were planning

parties. Now, in 2004, the strange career of Event Management is widely un￾derstood. It is the Event Leader’s job to restore wonder to the profession.

Sam Goldblatt

FOREWORD xiii

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