Contemporary Issue 6: Economic Impacts of Events

(Image from Effective)

Before discussing economic impacts of events it is important to have an understanding of what the term means. There are many definitions of economic impacts but for the purpose of this blog entry, I have chosen to use UK Sport's (2004) definition which states that economic impacts is ‘The total amount of additional expenditure generated within a defined host economy which is directly attributable to the staging of a particular event’. Due to the varying definitions of economic impacts Abelson (2011) argues that there are disputing arguments over which methodology is the most appropriate for measuring economic activities.


Positive Economic Impacts
Sola (1998) states that there are many economic impacts of mega-events which are stated below and to get a better understanding of them I have put them into context using the South African World Cup in 2010.

• Increased tourist volumes both directly and indirectly - Easy Travel (2013) write that since the World Cup, South Africa saw an 8.6% increase in the number of tourists arrivals in the first quarter of 2013. During the World Cup itself, South Africa attracted 300,000 visitors, 60% of which had never visited the country before. The increase in tourists helps the local economy as tourists spend money in local businesses such as hotels and restaurants.

• Publicity for the host nation increasing the knowledge of their culture and by portraying a positive image - Bac (201) stated that hosting the 2010 World Cup altered the landscape for tourism in southern Africa and as a result of hosting the world Cup the country has been branded as a tourist destination which is based around the development of global sporting events. This new brand for South Africa could see an increase in tourists which in turn would see the local economy benefiting.

• Improvements to Infrastructure and building of a new stadia leading to prosperity during and after the event - Humphreys (2010) writes that the South African government spend $1.48 billion, on new football stadium construction and renovation to existing stadiums for the World Cup. He states that five new football stadiums were built to host World Cup matches, and five existing stadiums were renovated and enlarged. Humphreys (2010) believes that this improvement in stadia could benefit the ABSA Premiership due to an increase in the number of seats available for fans to watch the matches.

Negative Economic Impacts of Events
As well as positive impacts, hosting a mega-event can also result in negative impacts and an example of this is the 2004 Greek Olympics. Malkoutzis(2012) writes that hosting the Greek Olympics cost almost €9 billion and as a result made the 2004 Games the most expensive ever at that point and as a result of this large expenditure Greek taxpayers had to pay for €7 billion. Within days of the closing ceremony, Greece warned the euro area that its public debt and deficit figures would be worse than expected. Malkoutzis (2012) writes that the Olympics was not the only factor to bring about the economic collapse in Greece as he believes that public debt which totalled €168 billion also played a high part. However, he argues that the Olympics enlarged the economic problems that Greece was facing.

Implications of this issue for my future career
The economic impacts of an event is something I as a future event manger will need to carefully plan in order to reduce the chances of my event incurring negative economic impacts. The ways in which I can try and insure my event has positive economic impacts is by creating a budget which is managed and referenced throughout the planning stage. In addition, research into similar events could be carried out before the event is planned in order to see if they have encountered any negative economic impacts and whether there are management techniques which can be used to stop them reoccurring. I believe that the economic impacts is an important part of creating a successful event as many events are organised to make a profit.

Contemporary Issue 5: Volunteering in the Events Industry

(Image from International Newcastle)

Volunteering is a contemporary issue that is closely related to the issue of legacy and Bladen et al. (2012) argues that this would be considered by Preuss (2007) as a soft legacy. Volunteering an issue that I have familiarity with due to it being a valuable experience for events management students to have on their CV. Wilson (cited in Bladen, 2010) states that: ‘Volunteering means any activity in which time is given freely to benefit another person, group, or organization.' As an event student, I would add to this definition that volunteering not only benefits the organisation but also the volunteer as it demonstrates to future employers that they have experience in the events industry.

The 2012 London Olympics saw 70,000 Games Makers volunteer to showcase London and the United Kingdom to the rest of the world. The popularity of volunteering at the London 2012 Olympics was evident with 240,000 applicants and this popularity demonstrates how volunteering is still considered to be a valuable experience for individuals. As a volunteer myself, volunteering has allowed me to gain practical knowledge of working on large scale events such as the London Marathon and as a result will benefit me in a future career in the Events Industry.

Volunteering and the future Events Industry
Having recently attended the 2014 Sport Relief Games at the Queen Elizabeth Park, the pride felt by the Games Makers was still evident as there were numerous participants wearing their Games Maker's uniform. The pride of being a volunteer is an issue that the Events Industry need to research in order to find out why the volunteers still feel dedicated to an event that has finished. By having this understanding, the Events Industry may be able to increase the number of people who re-volunteer at reoccurring events or encourage more people to volunteer. Further research also should be carried out into whether the Games Makers have started volunteering at other events in order for LOCOG to see whether a volunteering legacy has been created after the 2012 Olympics.

Contemporary Issue 4: Creating an Event band

(Image from Gracie Collins)

The brand as defined by Kapferer (2003) is a 'focal point for all the positive and negative impressions created by the buyer over time as he comes into contact with the brand’s products, distribution channel, personnel and communication.’ In short, the brand creates meaning and identity for a, for example Apple, the technology company creates the image of professionalism and wealth. In the context of Events, branding can bring about many benefits and Rust et al. (2005) believes that by branding an event, emotional ties are built with the customer which could result in a high number of attendees.

Keller (2009) states that there are six criteria for choosing brands and I believe that three of these can be applied to branding of events

• Memorability – A brand should be easy to remember and this comes as a result of the brand name, logos and symbols being different and easy to memorise. An example of an event that has successfully branded their event in a memorable way is the V festival. Virgin have included the V from their name into the Event’s name and used the same red of the Virgin logo for the festival’s logo and this in turn makes the brand easier to recall for attendees.

• Meaningfulness – The brand meaning should be clear and simple to understand and should also have a link to the event’s overall message. For example, Red Bull is usually thought to be related to danger and energy and by branding the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series with this brand, these connotations are now also considered by attendees as for the event as well. Red Bull would not be a suitable brand for an event such as a charity dinner as the connotations of the Red Bull brand do not match that of the message a charity dinner would have.

• Likability – Choosing a brand that is liked by the attendees is an important part of making an event a success. If, for example WWF’s Earth Hour was sponsored by Shell oil company, attendance may be lower due to the conflicting values of the two companies. A more suitable brand for WWF’s Earth Hour would be one that is liked by the attendees and therefore would be a brand that is promoting sustainability and helping the environment.


Branding and my future career
Creating a brand that is closely related to an event is important for making sure that the right connotations and messages are given. For this reason, when planning an event, it is vital that the planning team have an understanding of the motives of the event in order to ensure that the brand that is chosen promotes the same message. Personally, I do not consider branding to be an issue that will affect my future career significantly. This is because many charity events are of a smaller scale, unless I work for a National charity and therefore they do not have a large enough budget to brand their event.

Contemporary Issue 3: Virtual Events

(Image from IBM Ecosystem Social Explosion)

With new developments in technology, Virtual Events are becoming a popular way of bringing people from all over together to take part in an event without incurring high environmental and economic costs. There has been numerous debates about whether Virtual Events will bring about positive impacts for the Events Industry and Derrick (2013) believes that because of this lack of enthusiasm, Virtual Events have yet to emerge properly.

Opinions of Virtual Events and the implications for my future career
Having spoken to an Event Organiser on this issue, I have been able to see both sides of the Virtual Events argument. The Event Organiser I spoke to was against the emergence of Virtual Events as she believes that if the event she organises becomes ‘virtual’, it could result in her job becoming unnecessary. In argument against this, I believe that Virtual Events should be considered to be a type of event like Sporting and Charity events rather than an event which is going to make other events redundant. This belief that Virtual Events are a typology means that different types of events can operate alongside Virtual Events rather than for current events to be eradicated by this emergence. Bladen et al. (2012) also argue that Virtual Events will not negatively impact the Events Industry. They believe that a change to Virtual Events will not be successful because they do not connect people with each other or with any shared experience and thus Event Organisers will still be needed in the future as in-person event will still remain more popular than Virtual Events. If Bladen et al.'s (2012) argument is true, then the contemporary issue of Virtual Events will not have much impact on my future career within the Events Industry, however if the Events Industry was to become 'virtual' I still believe that Event Organisers will be needed to ensure that these are planned and operated successfully.

Contemporary Issue 2: The Impacts of Social Media on Events

(Image from TheDrum.com)

The Power of social media is becoming more apparent in 2013 than ever before. Within the events industry, social media is becoming an important tool in engaging a wider audience as well as allowing people to give feedback on the event and to share their experiences whilst the event is taking place. Lee et al. (2011) argue that this development of social media has challenged event managers to rethink how they market their events.

Xing Events' 2013 Social Media and Events report found that over 80% of event organisers are planning to increase their social media marketing measures in 2013 compared to 75% in 2012. They argue that social media is becoming an increasingly important marketing tool with 645,750,000 twitter users worldwide and 135,000 new people signing up everyday. The findings from this research concluded that one of the most important objectives of social media activities is to increase awareness of individual events as well as of the brand. As a result, it can be argued that event managers need to ensure that their social media sites are run efficiently and to meet the audience’s needs in order for them to gain more followers and increase awareness.

Below are the three social media websites, that I believe have the largest impact on the Events Industry as powerful tools for the organisation and running of events. These social media websites can also play an important part in the success of my future career in the events industry.

Facebook

Number of active users: 1.11billion

Impact on the Events Industry: The introduction of Facebook pages for companies and public figures in 2007 saw Facebook change from a way of socialising with friends to a way of advertising and raising awareness of different companies. In addition, with the event invitation feature on Facebook being introduced in 2010 , everyone could become an event organiser. Facebook has played an important part in the organising of events as part of my degree as it has allowed us to create event pages which we can then invite our friends to and consequently works as a way of advertisement. 

Twitter

Number of active users: 645,750,000

Impact on the Events Industry: As a user of twitter myself, I have had experience of using it whilst attending an event. The hashtag feature allows users of twitter to be able to search different topics and then read all the tweets that are relevant to this. As an event manager, twitter can play a big part in receiving feedback from the audience as they can read what people are saying during the event. In addition, by setting up a twitter page at the beginning of the planning stage, the audience can use twitter to ask the organisers any questions or suggest any ideas and this in turn may see the number of attendees increase.

LinkedIn

Number of active users: 259 million
Impact on the Events Industry: As an events management student, the importance of having a LinkedIn account has been emphasised by many of my lecturers due to the many features which can help me in my future career within the events industry. Through having a LinkedIn profile employers can view the skills and experiences of candidates as well as allow users to network and find jobs. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, the impact of LinkedIn on my future events career is that it could assist me with finding a job and networking with other event professionals, rather than act as a way of promoting an event that I am managing. 

Contemporary Issue 1: Legacy of Mega Events

(Image from DeadCurious.com)

Legacy is an issue which I, as a third year events management student, have found a great interest in. One of the reasons for this interest is the way in which an event can create different legacies just because of the change in location or day it took place. It has become apparent through reading about legacy in a range of different sources including newspapers, books and journals, that a lot of event organisers focus on the planned, positive legacy and forget to consider the that they cannot plan for all legacies, especially the negative ones. 

2012 London Olympic Legacy

LOCOG (The London Olympic Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) are an example of event organisers that did not successfully create only planned, positive legacies and instead created some negative legacies. Since the winning of the 2012 Olympic Bid until the 2012 London Olympics began, LOCOG put a strong emphasis on the legacy the London Olympics would have on the UK. One legacy that ministers hoped would arise from the hosting of the games was a generation that would be inspired to take up sports. A recent report in the Guardian argues that the effects of the Olympic games may already be decreasing. The Guardian writes that a survey of 2000 children by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport found that almost three quarters of the children under 10 did not feel that the games had inspired them to take up sport and just over half of 11-15 year old's shared the same view. The article argues that this lack of inspiration is due to the fact that many schools do not have funding to run sports clubs, competitions and events and therefore children are not having the opportunities to partake in sports. However, it can be argued that this legacy was not planned as LOCOG put an emphasis on the legacy of inspiring a generation but did not supply the funds that would be needed for this legacy to be created.

How will the issue of legacy effect my future career in the Events Industry?
It is important as a future event organiser, that I have full understanding of the different legacies events can leave. As I hope to have a job in the events sector of the charity industry, I have considered below both the positive and negative legacies an event for a charity can leave and through by doing this, I can see that the finance planning part of the event needs to be carefully managed in order for the the negative legacy to be avoided:

Positive Legacies:

• Improved understanding of what the charity offers.

• Increase in number of people donating money to the charity.

• Increase in number of volunteers working for the charity

Negative Legacies:

• Charity getting into debt through running an event.