Event Management lecturer: curating unforgettable experiences

Curating unforgettable experiences from inception to execution

Curating unforgettable experiences from inception to execution

Organizing events has always been a passion of mine. When I was a student at EDHEC Business School my friends and I organized a 3 day charity music festival. This amateur event drew an audience of more than 3000 people! To this day this is my best memory of my student life.

10 years later when I worked in Public Relations in India, I started organizing corporate events. PRestival – Asia’s Biggest PR festival – was one of them. Setting it up was a big task, nobody knew us, we had no credentials. But we managed to create a high-end event which to this day is still considered as one of the best PR event in India. Even if everyone in the organizing team parted ways, we are still in touch because we became a family.

As an Event Management lecturer this is the value I try to share to my students. Organizing an event is tough, its a gargantuan task. Many times they are afraid that they will fail. But as a team they can achieve anything. If they put their heart into it, and work in a structured manner they can succeed in curating one-of-a-kind events. And most importantly they will create bonds that will last a lifetime.

Contacting venues, sponsors & speakers

The success of an event depends on the preparation stage. Obviously first the students need to come up with a creative idea and analyze which audience should attend. Then they must narrow down a few venues that would match the requirements in terms of size and logistics.

I then ask my students to list speakers and artists that would bring value to the event. Once they have a general idea of what the event will look like they need to come up with a tentative date. They can now start finding contacts of brands that would be relevant to sponsor the event.

Once everything is ready they can start reaching out to artists and sponsors. I make sure that the students send out customized sponsorship / artist proposals detailing what benefits the speakers and sponsors will get to be feature during the event. I ask them to follow-up with them until they have a final answer (on board or rejection). Once the first artist and sponsor is confirmed, they update their proposals and it becomes very easy to seduce more stakeholders. the content and, the calls-for-action.

Creating a Communication Plan

Once the event is confirmed, the students need to come up with a solid communication strategy. The aim is to build excitement around the event which will convert into attendance.

They need to prepare a detailed communication calendar which includes social media and website updates. The students will post about the venue, the artists, the sponsors and all activities in order to keep the audience on their toes.

Also I insist that the students keep communicating even if the event is finished. This will serve as a base for future students to develop the event into a franchise.

Organizing the Event

The last part of the Event Management programme is obviously setting up the event itself. Once the students have listed all the requirements in terms of logistics, they start contacting vendors. Ideally they will get most of the equipment and collateral from the sponsors.

For this last and most exciting part I prefer to just act as a mentor in case the students require some guidance. I let them run the show and make great memories. It’s always a pleasure to see students who were once petrified by the prospect of organizing an event, take full ownership and be proud of what they have accomplished. Also the event they created will definitely help them find a job. It will show a recruiter that they are well organized and can handle pressure.