Contemporary issues in the world of Events.

Pollution & Zero waste management in events.

Sustainability within events is a topic that is widely spoken about in the industry as things like climate change are becoming more and more important. Events play a huge role in the world as they provide host cities with social economic and cultural benefits however hosting them comes with a big price.

For example, when looking at an event such as the world summit, not only do you have to think about catering you have to think about where the catering is coming from; and In most cases the catering is shipped in from another country and produced in mass. The same goes for attendees, all of the attendees in the world summits come from all over the world which means in order to attend the event they have to travel via plane which adds greatly to the amount of carbon emissions deposited in the air. As well as attendees & catering increasing carbon footprint there is also the mass amount of waste that is left from events. Event managers have to take into consideration how they are going to manage all of these factors effectively to make the events more sustainable so we can continue to run them in the future.

Waste management:

Items for an event are always mass produced and then some. For example, if an event has 100 attendees an event organiser will print 150 programmes in case some of them lose the programmes. However, if they don’t, that’s 50 extra pieces of paper left over which will be wasted

Tackle: One way to tackle the issue with paper is by reducing the amount of paper that is used or going paperless. So instead of printing out the programmes send them to the attendees in an email. Furthermore, you could create an app for the event. Doing so would enable the event to stay in touch with the attendees, guide them where to be or what’s going on at what time and also gain valuable data from attendees.

Another major item that is mass wasted at events is food. It’s impossible to guess the amount of food to provide for 10 people as all appetites are unique. Some may require double of things to be content and others may not eat at all. Due to this, events tend to have a large amount of waste left over as they over cater for their guests. It has been noted by industry professionals that between 15-20% of food is wasted from events.

A way that food waste management can be tackled is by taking the time to donate it to those less fortunate. Some of the food items could be donated to homeless shelters which would mean that they are reducing the amount of food that is being wasted, but this isn’t always possible. Part of the reason why food goes to waste at events is that there are a few legal worries that prevent businesses from wanting to redistribute the food. What if someone falls ill and sues? What if the food gets contaminated in transit? What if it's been out for too long and is already spoiled? So instead of risking a lawsuit companies just throw the food away. However, there are now apps that enable you to legally donate your food to those who are interested in receiving them. Olio is an app available in the UK that focuses on donating leftover food from events to individuals and businesses that are keen in the nearby vicinity. All food gets redistributed in under an hour and its handle by individuals that are trained in food safety, making the process legal and safe.

Do social media influencers increase event attendees?

Instagram, the home of literally everything. What was once an app used to connect and post pictures for your closest friends to see is now a money-making playground. Fixed with getting the best angles and lighting it’s truly a whole new world. Instagram is the source of all these social influencers we see today and for businesses it gave them a new way to market their products to an audience they may have been struggling to reach.

Influencer marketing can be defined a form of marketing in which the attention is focused on specific types of individuals instead of a whole target market. When looking into online marketing as a whole social media is dominating the industry and is the fastest growing mode of online communication. Traditionally an influencer would be categorised as a celebrity in a TV ad or a Billboard but now the game has changed. A social media influencer tends to have a following of 1,000 or more and depending on the amount of followers they possess will determine what type of influencer they are.

All types of influencers are important in the role of influencer marketing it is just dependant on the budgets the businesses have and the product they are trying to sell. For example, I have 3,000 followers on Instagram and are constantly being contacted to be ambassadors for online brands particularly start up jewellery and accessory companies. Whereas those with large followings of 50-100k tend to be contacted to show off big clothing brands such as boohoo or pretty little thing and will be given a promo code to promote on their page. The more people buy from your code, the more money you make. Now it’s evident just by the above explanations that social media influencers have a huge presence in the online world so how do event managers and marketers utilise this?

Facebook gives businesses the opportunity to create event pages for their events and because of this, the Facebook community can identify events that are happening in their local area. Furthermore, they are given the ability to read the reviews and ask past attendees questions easily creating public relations. Having a social influencer repost a Facebook event will give the event wider recognition. These specific factors play a huge role for organisers and tends to increase attendance. It has been noted that launching an influencer marketing campaign around an event that is being hosted is affective for those hosting the event and have a huge impact on those attending the event.

Social media users tend to respond to social media influencers more than the typical celebrity as they can relate to them as they’re seen as ‘normal’. Due to the essence of normality consumers tend to trust what an influencer has to say, so when an influencer recommends an event their followers are likely to attend. Furthermore if their followers emerge into fans and the influencer announces they’ll be in attendance, their followers will attend in the hope of seeing their icon. However, this isn't always a good as some people may attend the events just for the influencer and not for the content of the event or your brand. Moreover many companies have gone wrong by choosing influencers that aren't related to their brand message. Using the incorrect influencers can alter the essence of a brand and cause loyal customers to become un-loyal and therefore it is imperative companies choose their influencers correctly.

A look into the Rio Olympics, Are the Olympic games sustainable?

The Olympic games have been running for centuries bringing cities together for the enjoyment of sport. Originally an event organised to bring together a few countries to encourage peace is now an event that costs millions of pounds, is widely televised and has hundreds of thousands of attendees. The first modern Olympic games were hosted in the Athens in 1896. The Athens games included 241 athletes from 14 nations and set the tone for all the Olympic games to come. Fast forward a century or so and were now at the Olympic games in London 2012. London 2012 saw the likes of around 10,500 athletes from 204 Olympic committees, crazy right? The influx in participants alone shows how much the games have grown and how important they have become to the whole world. However holding an event as such does come with its issues.

For example, the Rio Olympic games. So many promises were made and so many were unfulfilled. In the bid to host the Olympic games one of the things Rio promised to do was to clear up their Guanabara bay. This bay used to be one of Rio’s famous tourist attractions and for the Olympic games it was going to be used as the basis for sailing, rowers and open water swimmers. However it was polluted, real life human faeces were poured into that water through sewage systems. During water tests taken it was concluded that drinking three teaspoons of that water would guarantee you with a virus! – But that didn’t stop them from hosting the games in those waters. Instead they just increased the amount of paramedics on the side lines and told all athletes to shower as soon as they are out of the water - Despicable.

Oh and of course there's the infrastructure that’s rarely ever put to good use. Rewind back 4 years and we’re looking at the Olympic games in Rio. Brand new fresh stadiums, clean roads, new apartments, new jobs a reformed city.

6 months later, we’re no longer looking at his newly beautiful section of Rio we’re looking at pure carnage. Building are completely unused, paint is peeling buildings have been demolished, grass drying out, vandalism everywhere, chairs ripped from their stands, Tv’s stolen, swimming pools drained and unused and the apartments? Well they were practically still empty. The apartments were supposed to be refurbished into luxury condos, however as the economy in Rio isn’t in a good state the residents cannot afford to buy them. So why not offer them up to those who need it? Those whose house they stole to build them? Those who are homeless? Those whose homes are falling apart and have no water? – That would be the logical thing to do right? But instead they remain almost empty. Building the infrastructure and cleaning up the town costed 13 BILLION dollars, 13 BILLION dollars to host 3 weeks of events only for it less than 6 months later, be abandoned and deserted?

As you can see the Olympic games have a massive impact on the host city and it’s not always a positive one. Speaking on infrastructure that is something that is widely discussed in industry and amongst the academics in events. Many believe that the Olympics should just be held in one city every 4 years so they have a host for the summer Olympics and a host for the winter Olympics, which logically makes the most sense. That means no more wasted money on infrastructure that’s unused, it’ll cost a lot less to revamp infrastructure every 4 years than to rebuild it every 4 years and would be much better for the the host city. It’ll also provide long term jobs for the residents surrounding and make the games more sustainable. However, the IOC are against doing so as they believe it’ll prevent other cities from having a chance to rebuild their economy and effect their profits. Alongside this suggestion some say to host parts of the Olympics in different parts of the world so everyone benefits from the tourism revenue and the cost of infrastructure gets cut. However doing this could potentially make the games less sustainable as It would increase the amount of air pollution and congestion as attendees would be flying from city to city to witness the games.

Reflective report

In the first term of my contemporary issues course we were tasked with delivering a workshop on a contemporary issue in the event industry. I was in a group alongside 4 other people and our workshop topic was an academic degree vs practical experience and which one helps more when finding a job. I chose this specific topic as it is something I have battled with whilst completing my degree as I have personally felt that I haven’t learnt enough relevant information to propel me in the sector I would like to get into (which is weddings). Due to this I was already very biased, and I was keen on researching the topic in more depth to see if my opinion could be swayed.

The process before the workshop:

Picking our groups was very stressful and caused multiple anxiety attacks for me. It wasn’t just the stress of finding out who is in your group but the stress of getting the topic you wanted too. However, once that process had been completed and we knew who was in our group, we all got in contact and set up our first meeting. In this initial meeting we brainstormed all of our ideas of how we could make this workshop fun but also enable our peers to learn about the topic.

The workshop:

Belbin denotes that when individuals are placed in a team, they tend to gravitate to roles that are similar to their strongest personality traits however in this instance I’d disagree. I have a very bubbly personality and have many bossy traits so therefor on paper would fall into the ‘leader’ role. However, in this group setting I followed suit. In this instance I opted to act out of my character, I chose to present the first interactive mentimeter activity. I hate speaking in public as I get very nervous so I felt that I should challenge myself to host the activity as it may build up my confidence. Alongside mentimeter I had a slide of information to present. As I had already hosted the mentimeter I then felt comfortable enough to present my slide calmly. My final addition to the workshop was hosting the quiz with two colleagues, I was in charge of controlling the questions and asking them to the audience.

Feedback:

I feel like the feedback we received was very valid and was extremely rewarding to read considering the amount of time and effort we invested into this workshop. One of our areas for improvement was that we spent too long on one of our activities. This was something we had also felt we’d done and discussed as soon as the workshop was over. Another area was also that we were too dependent on our note, but this was due to the amount of time we had to produce the workshop.

Team work:

Overall our teamwork element was great. I had worked in a group with 3 of the members previously so were already aware of their work ethic. Mia was a great addition to the group as she brought new ideas from her placement to the table enabling us to look at things through different lenses. Using Tuckman’s model I can say as a team we powered through all stages just not in the typical order. We bonded as a group straight away however once it came to people doing their tasks on time we began storming. Adair has a similar opinion that all groups go through a negative stage. He states that if the goals and standards set by a team are not met, it has a huge impact on personal satisfaction which is true. As members of the group were not sticking to their tasks, the tasks then became other peoples issues which meant other people had to do extra work affecting their overall experience. Despite all this we still managed to group together and produce a good quality of work.

In the future:

Personally I learnt a lot from creating a workshop as it gave me an insight into how to make learning more enjoyable. It also gave me another opportunity to improve my public speaking and build my confidence which will benefit me in the working world. When reflecting through Kolb's cycle I can say that if I was tasked with this activity again, I’d hope I’d have a little more time to produce better quality content. Furthermore I wouldn’t work with friends as working with friends tends to blur lines and can make certain aspects complicated. I’d also pay attention to the fact that sometimes less is more, I wouldn’t try to cram too much into it as no one enjoys information packed slides.