EPMS

Planning the Event

A significant part of event project management is the planning. It is a process of mentally fitting all the components together. It includes foreseeing any problems and solutions. However, to see all the problems is an impossibility.
It is more realistic to regard event planning as a method of reducing the number of problems.
In this sense the aim of event planning is to plan all the tasks that can be planned so that changes and unforeseen problems can be dealt with in a focussed way. Although most aspects of the event can be organised, the fluidity of event preparation means there is always the unexpected.

Event Project Life Cycle

The basic tenet of event planning is that there will be changes as the event is organised. The staff will grow as the event nears. Some event companies go from 2 people during the early concept stages to over a thousand staff and volunteers on the day of the event. The concept that the event has a life cycle is a metaphor for the growth and change of the planning and implementation. The diagram below shows the event project life cycle.

The event starts with an idea or concept, the first question to ask is "Is it feasible?". The feasibility is fed back into the concept (iteration) and the concept may need to develop. Once it looks feasible, the event planning can start. This is not a mechanical or linear model. The planning may uncover opportunities or risks that need to modify the event concept. Aspects of the plan may be implemented while other areas are still in the planning phase. For example promoting the event may start well before site planning.

All these processes feed into each each other.

There are some aspects of shutdown that may well begin during set up.
The areas of risk, content and cost as well as the schedule have to be managed along the life cycle. A risk may be very different over the event project life cycle. This means that event plan is not a static document.
The only certainty is that there will be change. Internal change includes the increase in event staff, the increase in contract management as more suppliers are involved. Internal change may also be unexpected. The event company may take on other events while the one event is being planned. External change could be the all-too-common change of venue or it could be on a grand scale with the change in overseas currency exchange rate.
No matter what change occurs the event will need to work within constraints set by the client - such as making a profit - or by legal and ethical issues. The former form the event life cycle objective functions. There may be far more subtle constraints implied by the client's working culture - such as the corporate culture.

Scale

The written event plan can be as short as one page or as long as a book. It depends on the level of detail or scale in the planning. This level of detail will depend on such factors as :

Complexity of the event
Scale of the event
Familiarity of the event management, staff and suppliers with the type of event
Legal and stakeholder requirements
Time and other resources allocated to the task of planning

The process of writing a plan assists in the structuring of the event. It is also a communication tool and a project baseline from which the event can be measured. It is not 'written in stone' and will need revising as the organisation of the event life cycle proceeds.

Risk

There is a risk that a written plan will become the master of the event rather than a method of obtaining a successful event. The Assessment -> Plan -> Implement -> Evaluate procedure is a oversimplification of a complex series of overlapping processes. I believe that this explains the reticence of event managers to create mission statements and objectives. In the volatile environment of event organisation, these can easily become millstones around the neck of the event management. There is enough to do without having to revisit and rework all the objectives.

As well, there is a tendency in academic writings on event management to see planning as the panacea of all event problems. They stress that the major failures of events are a result of poor planning. This is a tautology and a result of 20 20 hindsight. If planning is defined as foreseeing all problems before they arise then ipso facto there has not been enough planning. A good example of turning an historical description into a prescription.
In the real world of event organising, change (and problems) can come from anywhere. A local Prince may dislike the event and cancel it or all the event equipment may end up in Hawaii rather than Houston (personal experience!).

The result of any change in a complex system made up of a fixed number of related variables can not be predicted. For example, if there are 200 tasks to set up an event and one of these tasks changes or a new one is introduced , the relationship between all the tasks may change i.e. 200x 199 relationships, which may well change all the relationships again and so on ad infinitum. In other words a small change can easily have unforeseen results.

As pointed out by Deitrich Dorner in The Logic of Failure, planning can be an excuse for inaction. With a touch of irony he points out:

The attempt to escape the uncertainty of a complex situation can take the form of flight to the high ground of minute , detailed planning, preferably fortified by mathematical formulas, for what we arrive at by calculation is bound to be right.

This section of the web site contain advice on the areas that can be planned. The process is explained in the project management section and the knowledge and terms are spread in the other sections

Event Office

There is a trend in large organisation to consolidate all the event related function into a dedicated event office. As events increase in their importance to the objectives of a company or government organisation, it make sense to have the skills and knowledge easily accessible and accountable. For more information :event office

Reference

Deitrich Dorner in The Logic of Failure - 1997 Addison Wesley MA - a great read on the muddled thinking in prediction.

Kliem R, et al Project Management Methodology - A Practical Guide for the Next Millennium, Marcel Dekker NY 1997 - is an excellent introduction to effective documented planning for projects.

Project Risk Management -Processes, Techniques and Insights Chapman C., Ward S., J Wiley 1997 - introduces the idea of continuous risk management over the project life cycle. A must read for a serious event manager.

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