A public gambling house was legalized for the first time in 1626 in

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One of the most significant developments in the hospitality industry during the past two decades has been the astounding growth of the casino industry and its convergence with the lodging and hospitality industries. What has emerged from this development is an entirely new arena of hospitality known as the gaming entertainment industry. With its rapid expansion in North America and throughout the world, new opportunities have been created for hospitality careers. This chapter explores the gaming entertainment industry and details exciting developments yet to come in this dynamic and controversial segment of the hospitality business.

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Gaming Entertainment

For the purposes of this chapter, the term gaming entertainment refers to one subset of the gaming industry, that is, the casino industry. What used to be known as the casino business is now known as gaming entertainment. The dramatic growth of this part of the hospitality business has brought with it significant changes in how businesses in this industry operate and what they offer their guests. The changes have been so great that a new name needed to be created to accurately describe all the amenities this industry provides.

The gaming industry includes 445 casinos in eleven states.1 The industry includes both land-based and riverboat casinos, card rooms, charitable games, lottery-operated games, and greyhound and horse races. The gaming industry as a whole is larger than most people can believe. Approximately $70 billion is wagered, or bet, on games or races every year.

That is more than seven times what is spent on movie tickets. The total amount bet is called the handle in the gaming industry, and it is often a misunderstood concept. When a customer places a bet in any type of gaming activity, sometimes that

customer wins and sometimes he or she loses. The total amount of all bets is the handle, and the net amount of spending by the customer is termed win by the gaming industry.

What is the difference between gambling and gaming? Gambling is playing a game of risk for the thrill of the "action" and the chance of making money. True gamblers spend a great deal of time learning and understanding a favorite game of risk and enjoying its subtle attributes, and they find an enjoyable challenge in trying to "beat the house," or win more than they lose from a casino.

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Chapter 11

It is true that the nearly 40 million visitors who visit Las Vegas and the more than 30 million in Atlantic City and the hundreds of thousands who frequent other casino operations love the green felt tables, the whirling roulette wheels, the feel of the chips, and the thrill of the game. The rows of colorful slot machines sounding out musical tones and flashing lights, the distant sounds of someone hitting a jackpot, and bells ringing and guests shouting create an environment of excitement and anticipation that can only be found on the casino floor. The gaming industry has exploded from just two jurisdictions in 1976 to include some form of legal gambling in forty-eight states.

Not long ago, the presence of a slot machine or a blackjack table was all that was needed to bring in the visitors. However, with the rapid spread of casinos throughout North America, this is no longer true. The competitive nature of the casino business has created a bigger, better product to meet the needs of guests. As Steve Wynn, owner of the Wynn Hotel and Resort, puts it, the casino floor is "a thing which people pass on their way to visit the things that really matter to them." The product that has evolved over the past decade is what is called gaming entertainment.

Gaming entertainment offers games of risk only as part of a total package of entertainment and leisure-time activities. Gaming entertainment serves a customer base of "social gamblers," customers who play a game of risk as a form of entertainment and a social activity, combining gambling with many other activities during their visit. Social gamblers, by this definition, are interested in many of the amenities of the gaming entertainment operation and take part in many diverse activities during a stay.

Gaming entertainment refers to the casino gaming business and all its aspects, including hotel operations, entertainment offerings, retail shopping, recreational activities, and other types of operations in addition to wagering on the gaming floor. It is a dynamic new tourism product that serves as a destination attraction. Gaming entertainment is the business of hospitality and entertainment with a core strength in casino gaming, also known as the global hospitality—gaming— entertainment market.

According to this definition, a gaming entertainment business always has a casino floor area that offers various games of risk and that serves as the focal point for marketing to and attracting guests. Next in importance to the guests is high-quality food and beverage operations.

Gaming entertainment is one of the last hospitality concepts to support the full-service, table-side gourmet restaurant, in addition to the lavish buffets that many casino locations offer. The number of foodservice concepts is wide and diverse—from signature restaurants featuring famous chefs, to ethnic offerings, to quick-service, franchised outlets. The gaming entertainment industry offers unlimited career opportunities in restaurant management and the culinary arts that were unheard of just a decade ago.

Gaming entertainment also goes hand in hand with the lodging industry because hotel rooms are part of the package. Full-service hotels are part and parcel of gaming entertainment. Rooms, food and beverage, convention services, banquet facilities, health spas, recreation, and other typical hotel amenities support gaming entertainment. Most of the largest and most complex hotels in the world are found in gaming entertainment venues, a number of which are described in detail later in this chapter.

So far, we have discussed gaming entertainment as a place to gamble on the casino floor, eat and drink, have a place to sleep and relax, and maybe do some business. But gaming entertainment offers much more. The entertainment offerings range from live performances by the most famous entertainers to production shows that use the latest high-tech wizardry. Gaming entertainment includes theme parks and thrill rides, museums, and cultural centers. The most popular gaming entertainment destinations are designed around a central theme that includes the hotel and casino operations.

Unlike its predecessor, the casino business, the gaming entertainment business has numerous revenue-generating activities. Gaming revenue is produced from casino win, or the money guests spend on the casino floor. The odds of any casino game favor the house, some more than others. Casino win is the cost of gambling to guests, who often win over the house in the short run, and are therefore willing to place bets and try their luck.

Nongaming revenue comes from sources that are not related to wagering on the casino floor. As the gaming entertainment concept continues to emphasize activities other than gambling, nongaming revenue is increasing in importance. This is what gaming entertainment is truly about—hospitality and entertainment based on the attraction of a casino.

Gaming entertainment takes different forms. The megaresorts of Las Vegas and Atlantic City garner the most publicity as the meccas of the gaming entertainment industry. However, there are smaller properties throughout Nevada and there are other casino-based businesses in forty-eight states and seven Canadian provinces. These casinos take the form of commercially operated businesses, both privately and publicly held. Some are land based, meaning the casinos are housed in regular buildings. Others are riverboats that cruise up and down a river, or barges that are moored in water and do not cruise, called dockside casinos.

Casinos are also operated by Native American tribes on their reservations and tribal lands. These are land-based casinos and are often as complex as any operation in Las Vegas. Gaming entertainment is also popular on cruise ships as part of the cruise vacation product or on what are called "cruises to nowhere," where gaming and entertainment on board the ship are the main attractions.

There is strong support for gaming in the marketplace as an entertainment activity. According to Harrah's Entertainment/TNS polling data, more than one-fourth or 54.1 million U.S. households gamble in casinos. U.S. households make 371 million visits annually to casinos.2

The demographic makeup of the typical gaming entertainment guest has remained consistent during the past several years. In comparison to the average American, casino players tend to have higher levels of income and education and are more likely to hold white-collar jobs. The customer profile of Las Vegas has gotten younger, and people who spend money want a total entertainment experience.

According to the latest Las Vegas Visitor Profile study, the average visitor to Las Vegas stays three to four nights; budgets $651 for gaming; and spends $107 per night on lodging (nonpackage visitors), $260 on food and drink, $68 on local transportation, $140 on shopping, $47 on shows, and $8.49 on sightseeing (www.lvcva.com/getfile/vps-2006).

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Two decades ago, gambling in the United States was permitted in only two states. Today, only two states, Hawaii and Utah, do not permit some form of gambling!

Historical Review of Gaming Entertainment

Today, the precise original of gambling is still unknown. We know that gambling occurred in ancient Egypt. Senet was a game considered to be the forerunner of backgammon. A Senet board was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, but the oldest known record of Senet is shown in a tomb painting from the Third Dynasty, in the 27th century B.C.3 Chinese records show that a game called Wei-gi was probably developed during the third millennium B.C. The Romans were also gamblers. They placed bets on chariot races, cockfights, and dice throwing.

In the seventeenth century, casino-style gaming clubs existed in England and central Europe. In England King Henry VIII, a gambler himself, outlawed gambling when he discovered that his soldiers spent more time gambling than improving their battle skills. A public gambling house was legalized for the first time in 1626 in Venice, Italy, and Baden Baden in Germany opened in 1748 and is still open today4. Soon the upper class met in so-called casinis to socialize and gamble. In the first half of the nineteenth century, organized gaming casinos started to develop. |

Las Vegas—the name alone summons images of millions of neon lights, elaborate shows, outrageous performers, and bustling casinos—is a place where millions are won and lost every night. Las Vegas is all of that, and much more. The city represents the American dream. A dusty watering hole just over 100 years ago, it has been transformed into one of the most elaborate cities in the world and one of the hottest vacation spots for the entire family. Las Vegas is second only to Walt Disney World as the favorite vacation destination in the United States.

The gaming entertainment business has its roots in Las Vegas. From the early 1940s until 1976, Las Vegas had a monopoly on the casino business, not the gaming entertainment business. Casinos had no hotel rooms, entertainment, or other amenities. The hotels that existed were just a place to sleep when a guest was not on the casino floor.

Las Vegas is rich with tales of Benjamin Hymen Siegelbaum, better known as Bugsy Siegel. Bugsy was born February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York, to a poor Austrian Jewish family. It is said that Siegel began his career by extorting money from pushcart peddlers, at a very young age. Eventually, he turned to a life of bootlegging, gambling rackets, and murder-for-hire operations. In 1931,

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Bugsy was one of the four men that executed Joe "the Boss" Masseria. Several years later, he was sent West to develop rackets. In California, Siegel successfully developed gambling dens and ships. He also took part in narcotics smuggling, blackmail, and other questionable operations. After developing a nationwide bookmakers' wire service, Bugsy moved on to build the well-known Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Upon completion, the casino ended up costing $6 million, which forced Siegel to skim profits. This angered the eastern bosses, and Bugsy died at his Beverly Hills home late in the evening of June 20, 1947, hit by a barrage of bullets fired through his living room window. At the same time, three henchmen walked into the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and announced that they were the new owners.5

During the 1970s, Atlantic City was in an impoverished state. It was experiencing high amounts of crime and poverty. In an effort to revitalize the city, New Jersey voters in 1976 approved casino gambling for Atlantic City.6 Following the referendum, casino gambling was legalized in the state of New Jersey by the Casino Control Act. The state looked to the casino hotel industry to invest capital, create jobs, pay taxes, and attract tourists, thus revitalizing the economy and creating a financial environment in which urban redevelopment could occur.

The act initiated a number of fees and taxes specific to the casino hotel business that would provide revenues to support regulatory costs, to fund social services for the disabled and the elderly throughout the state, and to provide investment funds for the redevelopment of Atlantic City. The Casino Control Act created the Casino Control Commission, whose purpose was not only to ensure the success and integrity of the Atlantic City casino industry, but also to carry out the objective of reversing the city's economic fortunes.7

Sensing that the objectives of the Casino Control Act were being fulfilled in New Jersey and wanting similar benefits for its state, but not wanting land-based casino gambling, Iowa legalized riverboat casinos thirteen years later. This was followed in rapid succession by legalization of gambling in Illinois, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, and Indiana. With the spread of the casino industry throughout the United States and Canada, the competitive nature of the industry began to create a need for what is now known as gaming entertainment with the addition of noncasino attractions. Gaming entertainment is, therefore, a natural evolution of the casino industry.

Native American Gaming

In California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians et al. (1987), the Supreme Court decided 6 to 3 that once a state has legalized any form of gambling, the Native Americans in that state have the right to offer and self-regulate the same games, without government restrictions. The state of California and the county of Riverside had sought to impose local and state regulations on card and bingo clubs operated by the Cabazon and Morongo bands of Mission Indians. These court decisions were clear in their recognition of the rights of nations and tribes with regard to certain gaming activities.8

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FOCUS ON GAMING (continued)

These giants of corporate America started a new trend in casino management styles and corporate cultures. The casino was divided into two parts: the casino side and the administration side. The casino side revolved around what happened on the casino floor: the daily grind of securing the casino and tracking the money. The administration side handled the marketing, accounting, human resources, and the like. With this split, new emphasis was placed on education credentials such as MBAs. People with no background in gambling began to work on marketing plans and run the financial enterprise. Computers and statistics became the guiding decision makers. For example, the authority for "comping" decisions switched from floor people to computers. When this old school of traditional casino managers lost their "comping" privileges to a computer, it was a confusing time. How could a computer know who were the right people to comp? How could a machine build a rapport with the players so that they would come back? Old-time supervisors issued comps to whomever they pleased. It gave them power. But now the computer decided.

Two Cultures Collide

The clash of traditional culture versus new corporate culture was inevitable. The traditional casino culture was characterized by statements like, "The guys upstairs don't know the business" and "How can an MBA know anything about the way a casino works?" By the same token, the new culture examined these traditional views and found them lacking. The new corporate culture became characterized by statements like, "The traditional managers want to micromanage and keep everything to themselves" and "Managers do not want anyone else to know what is going on" and "What does a dealer know about marketing or accounting?"The collision between these two cultures would lead to inevitable changes.

However, it wasn't just the ownership switch that altered the traditional corporate culture. When Las Vegas and Atlantic City found themselves inundated with new kinds of gaming venues, the competition for employees became intense. Finding trained employees was a big problem. Anyone with any qualifications or experience quickly climbed the corporate ladder. Employees always had the enticement from the next casino or riverboat for higher wages. There were too many jobs and not enough workers. As a result, the casino employment department changed into human resources to reflect an emphasis on improving employee-employer relationships. Instead of hiring, disciplining, and firing, their responsibility shifted to keeping employees. "Employee satisfaction" became the new buzzwords. Now retention and motivation have become the new service management foci. Empowering, educating, and recognizing workers improve the chances for a company to build employee loyalty and reduce the costs of turnover.

Instead of the traditional casino view that "your job is a privilege," the new corporate culture view is that a casino should strive to "be the place of choice." Instead of looking for abilities, the new corporate culture searches for personality first: someone who is friendly, personable, and stable. A person can learn many skills, but he or she cannot be taught to be outgoing and friendly. These new views in corporate culture reflect the emphasis on the satisfied employee. As researchers study the best corporations, they are finding that good service management pays. There is a strong relationship between employees who like their jobs and customers who are treated with both enthusiasm and awareness of bottom-line profits. Understanding this connection is the key to winning a competitive slot in today's business environment.

Congress, which some observers say was alarmed by the prospect of tribal gaming going out of control, responded to these court decisions by passing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA). The IGRA provides a framework by which games are conducted to protect both the nations and tribes and the general public. For example, the IGRA outlines criteria for approval of casino

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management contracts entered into by nations or tribes and establishes civil penalties for violation of its provisions. The act clearly is a compromise in that it balances the rights of sovereign tribal nations to conduct gaming activities with the rights of the federal and state governments to regulate activities within their borders.9

The three objectives of the IGRA are to (1) provide a statutory basis for the operation of gaming by Native American tribes as a means of promoting tribal economic development, self-sufficiency, and strong tribal governments; (2) provide a statutory basis for the regulation of gaming by a Native American tribe adequate to shield it from organized crime and other corrupting influences; and (3) establish an independent regulatory authority, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), for governing gaming activity on Native American lands.10

IGRA defines three different kinds, or classes, of Native American gaming activities: (1) class I gaming, consisting of social games played solely for prizes of minimum value or traditional forms of Native American gaming; (2) class II gaming, consisting of bingo, games similar to bingo, and card games explicitly authorized by the laws of the state; and (3) class III gaming, consisting of all forms of gaming that are neither class I nor class II gaming, and therefore including most of what are considered casino games.1'

The significance of the definition of class III gaming activity is that it defines the games that (1) must be located in a state that permits such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization, or entity and (2) are conducted in conformance with a compact that states are required to negotiate "in good faith" with the tribes.

Gamblers Playing Poker at the Foxwoods Resor t Casino in Mashantucket, ConnecticutOften tribes give local governments voluntary payments in recognition of services the tribe receives, and some pay revenues in exchange for permission to maintain a casino gambling monopoly in a state. In Michigan, Connecticut, and Louisiana, tribes have agreed to make payments to the state as part of their comprehensive compacts for casino gambling. In almost all the states, the tribes make payments to the state for state costs incurred in the process of regulation of the casinos as provided for in the negotiated agreements.

There are 354 gaming facilities on reservation lands in twenty-eight states, and Native American gaming has been the fastest-growing sector of casino gaming in the United States. Cherokee in North Carolina has been voted Travel Attraction of the Year by the Southeast Tourism Society. Not only is there a new casino but the natural attraction of the Smokey Mountains and all the thousands of years of rich culture of the Cherokee nation. Additional Native American gaming is also conducted by the First Nations Bands of Canada.12

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► Check Your Knowledge

1. Define the following:

a. Bet

b. Handle

c. Win

2. Briefly describe the history of the gaming industry.

3. Where and when does the first official account of gaming practice date back to?

4. What does the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 consist of?

Size and Scope of Gaming Entertainment

Why is the gaming entertainment industry growing so quickly? Basically, because people like to wager and, historically, there has been more demand than supply for wagering opportunities. As public acceptance of legalized gaming has grown, and state and local governments have permitted gaming entertainment establishments to open, supply is beginning to meet demand.

The gaming entertainment industry pays billions of dollars per year in gambling privilege taxes to state governments. Casino development has been credited with revitalizing economies through new capital investment, job creation, new tax revenue, and increased tourism.

Casino gaming has created thousands of direct and indirect jobs with billions paid in wages. When unemployment is high and an area is in economic despair, casinos create jobs. Casino gaming companies pay an average of 12 percent of total revenues in taxes. Casino gaming companies contribute to federal, state, and local governments through gaming-related and other taxes. Direct taxes include property, federal/state income, and construction sales and use taxes, which all industries pay, and gaming taxes, which are levied only on the gaming industry at rates ranging from 6.25 to 20 percent of gaming revenues.13

Key Players in the Industry

Today, there are only three industry giants: MGM Mirage, Harrah's, and Boyd Gaming. Changes in the industry happen in the wink of an eye. They all have diverse property portfolios, solid business practices, and are well respected by Wall Street.

MGM Mirage, one of the world's leading and most respected hotel and gaming companies, owns several casino resorts in Nevada, Mississippi, Michigan, and Australia. Recently, it bought out Mandalay Resorts Group

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Someone has to manage this incredible event, the Super Bowlfuture career opportunities. You will find information on the skills and abilities required to be successful in the field. Information on special event organizations, strategic event planning, and the future outlook of the industry will allow you to take a glimpse into this exiting, rewarding, and evolving field. As Frank Supovitz, Vice President of Special Events for the National Hockey League in New York, says, "The stakes have never been higher. Sponsors are savvier. Audiences are more demanding. And, event producers and managers are held accountable by their

clients to meet their financial and marketing goals more than ever before. . . . So before the lights go down and the curtain rises, reach out for the experience and expertise in these pages . . . and explore the opportunities in special event management. "2

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What Event Planners Do

Event planning is a general term that refers to a career path in the growing field of special events. Its forecast includes a growing demand for current and future employment opportunities. Like several other professions, event planning came about to fill a gap—someone needed to be in charge of all the gatherings, meetings, conferences, and so on that were increasing in size, number, and spectacle among business and leisure sectors. Corporate managers had to step away from their assignments to take on the additional challenges of planning conventions and conferences. Government officials and employees were displaced from their assignments to arrange recruitment fairs and military events. Consequently, the planner became a person whose job description did not include "planning" whenever a special event was planned.

The title event planner was first introduced at hotels and convention centers. Event planners are responsible for planning the event, from start to finish. This includes setting the date and location, advertising the event, providing refreshments or arranging catering services, speakers, or entertainment. Please keep in mind that this is a general list and will vary depending on the type, location, and nature of the event.

Associations can be a valuable resource for students interested in a career in event management. Many offer scholarships and provide a great networking opportunity.

Karen Harris

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A VGM Career Book, Opportunities in Event Planning Careers, has the following to say about a good candidate: "In addition to good organizational skills, someone with a creative spirit, a flair for the dramatic, a sense of adventure, and a love of spectacle could expect to flourish in this field." Highlighted skills and characteristics of a future professional in this field include:

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Computer skills

Willingness to travel

Willingness to work a flexible schedule

Experience in delegating Willingness to work long hours Negotiating skills

Verbal and written communication skills

Enthusiasm

Project management skills

Follow-through skills

Ability to work with high-level executives

Budgeting skills

Ability to initiate and close sales Lots of patience

Ability to handle multiple tasks

simultaneously

Being a self-starter

Ability to interact with other departments3

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Event Management

Event management can be as small as planning an office outing to something larger like organizing a music festival and on up to a Super Bowl or even the Olympics. Events can be on-off, annual or perennial (happening each year), or every four years, as for the Olympics. Things just do not happen by themselves; it takes a great deal of preparation to stage a successful event. To hold a successful event, the organizer should have a vision and leader-manager skills in the key result areas: marketing, financial, operational, and legal. Getting good sponsorship is a big help. Sponsors provide money or in-kind contributions and receive recognition as a sponsor of the event, including use or display of their logo in the event's promotion. Sponsors expect to get something in return for their sponsorship, so give them something tangible that will help their corporation or organization. Each year thousands go to festivals and events of all kinds, and most, if not close to all, events receive some sponsorship because it is too costly to stage an event without sponsorship.

Event management requires special skills in marketing and sales (attracting the business in the first place); planning (to ensure all details are covered and that everything will be ready on time); organization (to make sure all the key staff know what to do, why, when, where, and how); financial (a budget needs to be made and kept to); human resources and motivation (the best people need to be selected and recruited, trained and motivated); and lots of patience and attention to details and endless checking up on them. To gain business, event managers prepare a proposal for the client's approval and contract signature. There are some important how-to's in preparing an event proposal: Find out as much information as possible

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about the event (if it has been previously held) or what the client really has in mind. Ask organizers, attendees, providers, and others what went right and what went wrong or could be improved on next time the event is organized. Write the proposal in business English, no verbal foliage. Get creative—do something different and better and give them something to talk about; finally, do the numbers—nobody wants a surprise—do a pro-forma invoice so that the client will know the costs, and surprise them by being on time and on budget.

An event can be costly to put on; in addition to advertising there is a location charge, security costs, labor costs, and production costs (this may be food, beverage, and service, but also the staging and decor). Usually, the event manager has a good estimate of the number of ticket sales expected. She or he then budgets the costs to include the entertainment and all other costs, leaving a reasonable profit.

Event management also takes place at convention centers and hotels, where event managers handle all the arrangements after the sales manager has completed the contract. The larger convention center events are planned years in advance. As stated earlier, the convention and visitors bureau is usually responsible for the booking of conventions more than eighteen months ahead. Obviously, both the convention and visitors bureau and the convention center marketing and sales teams work closely with each other. Once the booking becomes definite, the senior event manager assigns an event manager to work with the client throughout the sequence of pre-event, event, and postevent, activities.

The booking manager is critical to the success of the event by booking the correct space and working with the organizers to help them save money by allocating only the space really needed and allowing the client to begin setting up on time. A contract is written based on the event profile. The event profile stipulates in writing all the client's requirements and gives all of the relevant information, such as which company will act as decorator/subcontractor to install carpets and set up the booths.

The contract requires careful preparation because it is a legal document and will guarantee certain provisions. For example, the contract may specify that the booths may only be cleaned by center personnel or that food may be prepared for samples only, not for retail. After the contract has been signed and returned by the client, the event manager will from time to time make follow-up calls until about six months before the event when arrangements such as security, business services, and catering will be finalized. The event manager is the key contact between the center and the client. She or he will help the client by introducing approved subcontractors who are able to provide essential services.

Two weeks prior to the event, an event document is distributed to department heads. The event document contains all the detailed information that each department needs to know for the event to run smoothly. About ten days before the event, a WAG meeting (week at a glance) is held. The WAG meeting is one of the most important meetings at the convention center because it provides an opportunity to avoid problems—like two event groups arriving at the same time or additional security for concerts or politicians. About this same time, a precon-vention or pre-expo meeting is held with expo managers and their contractors— shuttle bus managers, registration operators, exhibit floor managers, and so on. Once the setup begins, service contractors marshall the eighteen-wheeler trucks

to unload the exhibits by using radio phones to call the trucks from a nearby depot. When the exhibits are in place, the exposition opens and the public is admitted.

The following information provides the stages in the event planning process.

The first stage of event planning is to answer these simple questions:

1. Why should a special event be held?

2. Who should hold it?

3. Where should it be held?

4. What should the focus of the event be?

5. What outcomes are expected?

Once answers to these questions are available, you can move to the second stage.

Design

The second stage in the event planning process can be the most exciting and challenging at the same time. It is the area that allows freedom in creativity and the implementation of new ideas that support the objectives of the special event. The design process is a time when an event manager or team can brainstorm new innovative ideas or develop adaptations to previous events to make them better, grander, and more exciting for the attendees. The design process seeks to obtain original and fresh ideas that will create an event worth investing in. The event may be a corporate meeting or it may be a beachside wedding, yet the design of the event will have a lasting impression on those who attend it.

Planning

Planning, the third stage in the event planning process, is often led by the determined budget for the event. The planning process includes contracting out services and arranging all other activities that will become part of the event. The planning process may include the following tasks:

· Determine event budget

· Select the event site

· Select hotel accommodations

· Arrange transportation

· Negotiate contracts

· Arrange catering

· Arrange speaker, entertainment, music

· Organize audiovisual needs

·

· Create marketing plan for the event

· Prepare invitations or event packets

The type and size of the event will ultimately determine the necessary steps required for the planning process. The information you obtain about planning from your other courses and studies will help you if you choose to pursue a career in event management.

Coordination

The process of coordination can be compared to a director leading a band. The band may have rehearsed a piece of music countless times, and yet during a concert the director still has the ability to "direct" or control the performance. Similarly, the event manager engages in the process of coordinating the event as it unfolds. This may be a stressful time because of unforeseen problems occurring, or it may be a truly rewarding time with a flawless execution. Regardless, coordination of the event may involve decision-making skills and abilities as the event progresses.

Coordination also relates to the human resource aspect of the special event. Event managers are leaders who through example motivate others. As an event manager, you will engage in coordinating staff and/or volunteers to carry out the special event's planned objectives and goals. As mentioned earlier, empowering your staff will create a positive environment and will make your job of coordinating their efforts that much easier.

Evaluation

Evaluation should take place during each of the stages of the event planning process and is a final step that can measure the success of the event in meeting the goals and objectives. If you take a look at the event planning process diagram in Figure 13-1,

Research

Evaluation

The Event Planning

Coordination Process

Design

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Planning

Figure 13-1 Event Planning Process Diagram.

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you will notice that it is a continuous process. Outcomes are compared to expectations and variances investigated and corrected.

Challenges for Event Planners and Managers

If you are at this point considering a professional career in event management, there are event planning tools that you can use to your advantage as you pursue a career in this field. There are four primary challenges professional event managers face: time, finance, technology, and human resources.

Time management plays an important role in event planning, and it is an element that can be used effectively by budgeting your time the same way that you would your finances. Delegating tasks to the appropriate people, keeping accurate records and lists, preparing agendas before meetings, and focusing on what items deserve top priority are all examples of how to use time management effectively.

Financial management becomes important for an event planner when it becomes necessary for you to evaluate financial data, management fees, vendor fees, and so forth. This does not mean that you have to be a financial wizard; however, knowledge in this area will greatly enhance your opportunity to make profitable and sound decisions. There are resources that can be used in this area such as obtaining help or counsel from a financial professional and using technology that will help with event accounting.

Utilizing technology as a tool in event management can be a great opportunity to assist in the previous two areas. Software programs for word processing, financial management, and database management can help in daily tasks and event planning. Other technology products that are used by event professionals include laptop computers, cell phones, handheld devices, event management software, and the Internet.

Guests mingle at a Charity Event in Coral Gables, FloridaThe final tool relates to the effective management of your human resources. Empowering your employees is the key to success. As a manager and leader you must train your employees and/or volunteers, and give them the necessary information to perform their jobs. It is critical to select the right people, "empower" them, and develop their skills. This will ultimately help you succeed in accomplishing your goals. Empowering event staff can be used to allow them to make important decisions— successful events require many decisions to be made, and you as a manager will not have the time to

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make all of them. Empowering your team is the greatest tool you can utilize to become an effective leader and improve the performance of your staff.

Check Your Knowledge

1. Give some examples to distinguish the differences between a daily event and a special event.

2. What are event planners responsible for?

3. Name the stages in the event planning process.

Classifications of Special Events

The development of the special events industry has been divided up into the following classifications:

· Corporate events (seminars, workshops, meetings, conferences)

· Association events (conventions, trade shows, meetings)

· Charity balls and fund-raising events

· Social functions (weddings, engagement parties, holiday functions)

· Fairs and festivals

· Concerts and sporting events

In a poll taken from a wide variety of event professionals in the industry, Event Solutions Black Book lists the following as the most popular types of event sites used:

Hotel/resort

62.0%

Convention center

32.5%

Tent/structure

32.6%

Banquet hall

29.0%

Outdoors

21.8%

Corporate facility

28.4%

Museum/zoo/gardens

12.4%

Arena/stadium/theater

18.0%

Restaurant

16.1%

Private residence

22.8%

Club

16.7%4

With those figures in mind, take a closer look at the various classifications that make up this exciting industry. Each category has its own unique characteristics,

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Chapter 13 Special Events 443

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