This week I am taking you through the second part of
some of the questions and responses from the panel discussion session of the
Event Planners and Vendors summit held on 22nd September, 2015 at the V. Allen
Hall, Yoruba Tennis Club, Onikan, Lagos.
Question 5
What differentiates an event management company from
an agency, a Public Relations company and a marketing and communication company?
Each of the mentioned company renders different
services though they could have a few related deliveries. It is advisable you
define clearly what exactly your outfit is about and what service they render
professionally. But notwithstanding this
does not stop your company from having affiliations with any of the listed company
as their services could unarguably complement each other.
My
Comment
“Event management is the application of project
management to the creation and development of large scale events such as
festivals, conferences, ceremonies, formal parties, concerts, or conventions.
It involves studying the brand, identifying the target audience, devising the
event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects
before actually launching the event” (Wikipedia). It therefore implies that an
event management company provides the services of managing an event.
For an agency, according to dictionary.com, an agency
is “an organization, company or bureau that provides some services for another”.
Following this definition, it then means that an event management company is an
agency that provides event management services to another company.
Public Relations (PR) in simple terms as defined by
Oxford dictionary means “the professional maintenance of a favourable public
image by a company or other organization or a famous person”. A PR company may
therefore organise a series of events to enable it maintain the image of itself
or a customer. The PR Company should engage the services of an event manager
for the purpose of managing these events.
Marketing Communications “are messages and related
media used to communicate with a market” so I would say that a marketing and
communications company is one that engages in the services of providing
messages and related media for communicating with an intended market segment.
Question 6
Who should design the Event floor plan? The Decorator,
Event planner or Hall Owner?
The Event Planner.
The planner is the chief coordinator of the event and
reserves the right to design the event floor plan. BUT!!! The event planner
will only have an excellent outcome on his plan when other interested stakeholders
are adequately managed and involved in decision making. The consideration of
the decorator and the vital opinion of the hall owner is a major factor needed
in the venue design. The hall owner is more familiar with the facility than the
planner and could tell the flow of process better in the hall, the decorator
surely will have an envisioned view of the hall and could tell where is best to
locate parameters in its deliveries. This goes even beyond this 3 arms but also
revolve round having a periodic VENDORS MEETING with all signed up vendors at
the event hall as everybody have to agree to the plan and learn to manage
allocations as scheduled. With all these the planner still enjoys retainership
of decision.
My
Comment
The above response is superb. The event planner drafts
the initial floor plan for the occasion. This draft should be discussed at the
all service providers meeting to obtain the input of other stakeholders
including the safety and security teams. This should lead to the final floor
plan. Subsequently the planners takes ownership of the agreed floor plan and
ensure compliance by the other service providers.
That’s it for the week. Have fun
Thanks again to Ajibola Olatomirin-Richards of Vivid
Entertainment Ltd who took the pains to take down these notes. The concluding
part will be next week.
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