MANAGING EVENT

PROJECTS
BKS 4073

EVENT MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
EVENTS AS PROJECTS
Leadership
Onetime
tasks

Budget
Events

Crossfunctio
nality

Life
cycle
Teams

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
EVENTS AS PROJECTS

Leadership

Budget

Allocation of task for each team members of the event project is important. Each member
should be aware of the responsibility that they need to carry in order to ensure the event will
run smoothly.

Cross-Functionality

Event has the beginning and ending period. There are variety of life cycles proposed in the field
of project management which

Tasks

Events always has specific budgets allocated to them. The accurate calculation of budget is
important and it can be done by predicting the variable costs and number of attendee.

Life Cycle

Events are responsibility of one lead event manager who coordinates specialist functions. The
role of a leader depends on the scale of the event.

Event requires the team members to work cross-functionally without formal authority. However,
it depends on the type of event project and the structure of the organization and the project
itself.

Teams

Events require teams to be brought together only for the duration of a particular project. Most
event tend to vary their approach towards formality of event leadership and the organizational
structure.

Activity

THE EVENT PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Initiation

Start

Planning

Implimentation

EVENT

Closure

Finish

THE EVENT PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Events have a distinct timeline and life cycle.

The graph shows the link between an events
stages from initiation to closure and the
levels of activity associated with these stages
throughout an events life, from start to finish.
This classification is useful for project managers
in order to understand levels of activity required
at the progressive stages of an events conception,
research, planning, delivery and evaluation.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PERSPECTIVES

When considering how to apply project management

to events, a project leader should consider the overall
perspective. There are six major perspectives of
project management:
Task

perspective

Focus on the delivery of the event as specific, on time and within the
set budget. It is important ensure that the event meet the criteria as
the success of the event I based on the execution of the event. Thus
the team members need to clearly know the target, scope of event,
concept and operations of the event so that they can carry their task
accordingly.

Leadership

perspective

It depends on the project managers leadership style, communication

style and processed, decision-making, management of team
characteristics and organisation, clear allocation of team members
tasks and functions.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PERSPECTIVES
(CONTINUE)

Stakeholder perspective

It is heavily used in the events industry and focuses on

identification of key stakeholder groups and the management
of their relations to ensure the success of the event.

Transaction-cost perspective

It refers to the production of an event as a commercial

transaction and mainly focuses on governance of the project
and its cost structure with particular reliance upon contracts
and innovation.

Business-by-project perspective

Views event as individual investment which yield returns or

benefits. It relies upon investment methods and portfolio
management, among others. This approach is more common
with the development of technology through business, larger
event companies and diversity of product and services
provided.

PROJECT LEADERSHIP
The success of an event is based on the leadership style.
Lewin et.al (1939) identified three main leadership
style:

Authoritarian

It is led by autocratic leader who makes decisions on behalf of team

members and divides work tasks accordingly. However, the autocratic
leader does not engage closely with the team members.

Democratic

Will consult team members to arrive to consesus regarding important

decision, offering guidance and give constructive criticism throughout
the project/event.

Laissez-faire

They have little tangible leadership input, with the leader allowing all
major decision to be made and executed by the team members
themselves. The team members received little input or feedback from
the leader.

PROJECT ORGANISATION
Any event project manager must have the ability to form teams,
but simply selecting team members and placing them in
functional groups is not the most efficient or effective way to
allocate the task.
It is important to ensure all team members are able to work in
teamwork because working in team is more effective than
working as individual.
The reasons are:

Being in team allows more to be achieved as they can accomplish a

much wider range of tasks and workloads.
Team members usually have a wider range of skills, specialisation and
thought which is useful in looking for solution of event problems.
Teams often make better decisions.
They often provide a better environment for motivation and can support
each other better.
They are more open to risk-taking as risk is spread across more people
associated with an event.

PROJECT ORGANISATION
According to Maylor (2010), effective project team
require:
Clear goals
A result driven structure
Competent team members
Unified commitment
A collaborative climate
Standards of excellence
External support and recognition
Effective leadership

PROJECT PLANNING

Project Planning involves:

Work breakdown structures

Planning an event is important although the event is small. It involves a

variety of interrelated task and functions that need to be carry out by the
team members of a project. Each team member should be clear about the
responsibility of the task so that the objective of the event can be achieved.

Project schedule

Time is the most crucial resource in the management and delivery of

event project. Once the date of an event had been set, it cannot be moved
thus each members should be able to complete their task and
responsibility during the period that have been set.

Resource breakdown structures

Event project can be broke down into:

People

Facilities

Equipment

Finance

Materials

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Involve the delivery of the event from the
beginning to its close.
Involve practical completion of all process related
to the tasks by each team members.
Each part of events delivery will require ongoing
monitoring and reporting system.
The successful implementation of the event is
based on many factors but the most important
factors are the teamwork and leadership.

PROJECT SHUT DOWN

The following elements can be applied upon the

completion of an event:
Produce

checklists of outstanding work

Hold frequent meetings of event teams to ensure that
close-down problems are identified and solved.
Release event personnel from certain teams as they are no
longer required.
Create specific event close-down task-force to complete
outstanding work.
Close-down contractors and suppliers that are no longer
required to avoid unnecessary cost.
Support the event project manager with a deputy with
finishing skills.

TUTORIAL
Need to be submitted via e-mail (to: jijidianaazmi@unisza.edu.my) before
10 p.m Wednesday 20/3/2013)
Question:
1.

Which of Lewins leadership style would be best for:

Encouraging motivation and participation by event team members?

b) Encouraging motivation?
(Elaborate and give example for each answer.)
a)

2.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of laissez-faire leadership

style?

3.

Among the three type of leadership, which one would you prefer to be
following? Why?