Lecture notes on business communication. Учебное пособие

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6.Find an annual report for a business you would like to learn more about. Review it with the previous reading in mind and provide examples. Share and compare with classmates.

7.Write a report on a trend in business that you’ve observed, and highlight the main findings.

8.Peter called Ann on the telephone and offered to sell his used stereo. Ann agreed to buy it without asking the price. The next day Ann changed her mind and attempted to back out of the agreement. Do the parties have a contract? Explain.

9.Discuss the cases when NDA can be an essential part of a contract.

10.Identify the main elements of contract.

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LECTURE 7. ORGANISATION OF EVENTS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1.Determine the types of the events;

2.Explain all the steps of planning and organizing an event;

3.Coordinate the event projects with useful techniques and tools.

7.1. Types of the events

The organization of events entails a series of steps to follow to make it work perfectly and achieve the desired objectives. With creativity, organization skills, being supported by new technologies, the current requirements, are sure to be solved. Whatever the type of the event to be held, regardless of its size, it always implies a well-coordinated strategic organization that considers various aspects before, during and after the event.

First, let's define what event organization is. The organization of events covers the creation, management, planning, production, supervision and all the logistics of an event, from the idea to the start-up, the feedback, and the achievement of it. Therefore, the work of the organizer is very broad. We shall focus on these topics to find out what a good event planner should be.

Identifying the type of event that is going to be carried out is very important when planning, since each of these types uses different elements and has different requirements. E.g., if the event is an award ceremony, we will need to determine the duration, different blocks to establish for prizes, how the logistics of collecting prizes by the guests should be, etc. The type of the event will set the tone to follow for what comes next. Further let’s take a closer look at the list of most common types of events.

1. Corporate events.

These are all the events where a business, organizational or corporate purpose is pursued.

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Awards ceremony: in this case, we refer to decorations or events the purpose of which is to recognize the merits achieved by a person, group, or organization.

Employee events: these are institutional events that take place inside companies or organizations aiming to bring together, for different purposes, those who are part of them.

Team Building Events: these are formats in which participants are invited to work as a team and pass various tests to promote teamwork.

Product launch: focused on making a product/service known to the community interested in it.

Street Marketing: a Street Marketing event is an advertising action that takes place in the street. It is a way to bring company's products or services to surprising spaces where potential customers can be.

Inaugurations: as the name indicates, inaugurations are events intended to open a space. They are used to announce an expansion of facilities, to open new offices, but also to open new companies or organizations in general.

Fairs: fairs are the events focused on exchange and sale of goods and services and the generation of networking. They are usually sectoral events with representation of various brands.

Press conference: press conference is an event developed by a company or organization in which members of the press are invited.

2.Educational events

Educational or academic events are a set of professional, artistic or technical activities involving some kind of teaching or training. This type of event aims to give the opportunity to professionals from different areas to enrich their integral training. There are different types of academic events, such as:

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Symposium: this is an expert event where a topic is developed and presented in a complete and detailed way through talks or discussions. The topic is focused from various angles or points of view through individual, brief, synthetic and succession interventions.

Congresses: this event is usually held on a regular basis where a group of people of the same specialty meet to discuss issues of various kinds. It consists of an exchange of experiences, opinions and problems. This type of meeting can be applied through conferences, round table, workshops.

Forums: it is an event where a group in its entirety discusses a topic, fact or problem, conducted by a coordinator. The forums can be public, private and protected. Forums are usually the final part of symposium or roundtables.

Workshops: it is a training event where the teacher or instructor transmits the information through various learning techniques. A symposium, reading or meeting often becomes a workshop if accompanied by a hands-on demonstration. It is an event made up of small groups of 10 to 30 people.

Conventions: this is the event where different situations of a general and/or specific topic are presented, and in addition a decision or proposal is reached. Conventions are usually organized by a single company, with a minimum duration of two days and for a group of 50 to 400 people.

Seminars: it is a specialized event that has technical and academic nature whose purpose is to carry out an in-depth study of a certain subject matter and have the participation of specialists. It is an event consisting of at least 50 participants.

3.Leisure and cultural events

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Leisure events are those that aim to distract through social actions, the purpose of cultural events is to propagate and disseminate cultural themes related to some branch of art, culture or values.

Concerts: these are musical events where performances by a group take place.

Music festivals: music festivals usually bring together more than one group, and their duration is always longer than one day. In addition, this type of event is usually accompanied not only by musical performances but also by various activities around the concerts.

Sporting events: sporting events are usually massive events organized by a brand in a sector where professionals and nonprofessionals meet to enjoy sport.

Exhibitions of artistic works: they are mainly related to painting, sculpture, architecture, music, or any other branch of art that is exhibited.

Cultural festivals: those in which a cultural element is involved, such as dance or theatre festivals.

7.2.Planning and organizing the event

When you are assigned to be a designated person for the task of organizing an event or a conference manager, whose task is to unite all the different pieces together and to ensure the objectives of the event are achieved, the first thing to start with is planning. Planning is really one of the most important stages of the event. When you start planning, think about the following things:

1.Resources, both human and financial (can I make it happen?)

2.Assignment and target group (what, when, why?)

3.The objectives (what is the goal?)

4.Options (brainstorming)

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5.The best option (make sure that everybody knows what was decided and everybody is comfortable with that)

6.Your plan (plan the whole process from the research stage to the evaluation)

7.Steps of the process (set middle deadlines)

Remember to always think of a Plan B regarding every aspect of the organizational work, so in case when something unexpected happens and ruins your initial plans, you remain calm and turn the problem into a solution.

The first thing that needs to be done is to find people who want to organize the event and create a team, which is going to be the Organizing Committee (OC). Choose wisely someone who is going to coordinate all activity regarding the project – the Head of the Organizing Committee (HoOC). It can either be you or other member, who possesses a high level of organizational skills, responsibility and commitment. As a team leader you have several important tasks:

•Plan carefully. Plans will always change along the way, but it is important that you have a common road map with the OC.

•Motivate and inspire the rest of the OC. Respect their work and trust that they meet the deadlines you have set.

•Communicate. Choose the way of mobile communication that will make your work easier. It can be a Telegram group or conversation or some special programs.

•It is important that everyone in the OC agrees upon and follows the basic ideas of the event. It is your task as a team leader to see that no one goes beyond what the OC has agreed upon.

•Keep the budget. The treasurer is in charge of the budget, but as

the team leader, you are ultimately responsible. Both of you should see that the budget is not exceeded.

Being a team leader you must carefully choose the other members of your team each having his own scope of activities and responsibilities. The

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number of necessary team members depends on the event you are going to organize. Here are suggestions on how to share the responsibilities:

•Head of Organizing Committee: Coordination, motivation, “source of ideas”, “information centre”.

•Responsible for Academic Program: The academic program, speakers and workshops.

•Responsible for Social and Cultural Program: Sightseeing, parties, receptions, visits, cultural program.

•Treasurer: Set up a budget, approve payments, receive payments, do the accounts, grants.

•Responsible for Marketing: Material and prospects for sponsors, posters, fliers, website, application forms, media contact.

•Responsible for Fundraising: Contact with all partners and sponsors before, during and after the event.

•Responsible for Logistics: Accommodation of participants, meals and drinks, transportation.

•Responsible for Participants: Taking care of the applications, honorary patronages, writing invitation letters for visas, answering

participants’ questions before, during and after the event.

When you have chosen the OC, get ready to gather all of them with enough space for everybody and enough time for brainstorming. Discuss the different parts in organizing the event and explain the aim of it. In order to make your activity easier, you can think of using some programmes, such as Google Tools, which will help with managing the tasks and constant update on your work. Remember to explain how the respective programme works to everybody, so that it can be used as a tool. Split the responsibilities among the OC, having in mind all the stages of organizing an event - before, during and after it. Set the first tasks and deadlines. The main questions when planning any event are the following.

1. What subject to choose for the event?

Before choosing a topic, make sure, you have all the necessary knowledge about the activity of your company or university, taking into

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consideration the internal and external relations. Start with a brainstorming with the OC where you write down all possible and impossible ideas. Here is a list to make the thinking process easier:

•Consider whether you want to organize an event within the international program or for Russian students or colleagues only.

•Find out which are the fields that the students at your faculty and your colleagues are engaged in at the moment. You could use questionnaires distributed at the faculty and have the answers ready for the brainstorming. Make a research of current hot topics and look for something unique.

•List up the fields that your university or company are famous for.

•List up institutions and foundations that could help you to organize the project. Maybe there is a famous university alumnus who could help?

•Consider the project’s financial potential. Is it likely that potential sponsors would support the project?

•Consider the participants at the event when choosing the topic. Will they be only the students from your university? Or is the event meant for a wider group like students from other areas, nonstudents etc., so that the topic could concern issues in the society?

•Has the subject been dealt with before? If yes, then when and who was the organizer. You could organize the event as a continuation

of earlier events on the same topic or broaden it.

You will probably end up with a short list of topics to choose from. Show the list to your lecturers at the university. They will be happy to be asked about their opinion and will get the feeling that they also participate in the organizing of the event. It is crucial to have academic support for your event at an early stage. Think of asking one of the lecturers to become an academic supervisor of the project. The final version of a topic should be compact and exact in order to make an interesting title causing discussions, sometimes in the form of a question. Choose one leading problem.

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2. To whom do we address our project?

We assume that we organize the project for students. Still there are some questions we have to clarify:

•Is the event going to be for beginners, or should it be designed for students who already have knowledge about the subject?

•Is the event meant for “fresh” students, or for those who have studied for a while?

•Do we want only the students of our faculty or university as participants, or should other students have the opportunity to participate?

•Are we opening the event to everyone, even non-students, who wishes to participate?

•How many participants can we accept? Do we accept them on a first come, first serve rule, or do we choose the ones that fulfil the established criteria the most?

•Is the participation free of charge or there is a participation fee?

•Is it a local, national or international project, and which language is used?

3.The date of the event

Try to avoid organizing your event at the same time as another similar group. If you don’t keep this in mind you risk competing with another group for the same participants. This also can happen if you plan an event with the same or similar topic as another group within the same period. Fortunately, these situations are easy to avoid; just take a look into the academic calendar and try to choose the date that is not in conflict with any other event organized at your university.

4. What is the venue of the event?

Use the rule of thumb which states that the closer the arrangements are to each other, the easier it is to organize. Aim to have the lectures, accommodation and meals at the same or at a closeby place, so it is a walking distance between them. If there is no possibility to accommodate participants closely to the venue of the event, think about the easiest way of

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transport they can use and provide them with all the necessary information, such as: the addresses, phone numbers, taxi numbers, information how and which ticket to buy etc. This also applies to the situation when the event lasts more than one day. Be sure to put maps of the city in the participants’ welcome pack, with all the places they are going to visit pointed out. Moreover, you should give participants the show-around tour, in order to reduce the risk of them getting lost.

When it comes to the places where the academic programme is going to take place, the university is an excellent venue. If there is no possibility to use your university, try to find a suitable place nearby. Regardless which place you choose, make sure it has all the necessary equipment for the event, such as: projector, whiteboard, markers, sound system, microphone, Wi-Fi, power supplies. Ask the speakers before the event what they need in particular. Remember to book all the places with the proper time in advance and always have in mind other option, so that when it is close to the event and you meet some problems, you can easily switch into other venue.

Preparing the lectures and workshops

As soon as the speaker or speakers have accepted to hold a lecture (or more), you should ask for his or her biographical note, which you can use to promote the event. Keep in touch with the invited speaker, e.g. send an email a few days before the event with a general reminder and providing all the final information. Remember to prepare the lecture room – turn on the computer and the slide projector to check if it works, place a glass of water for the speaker at the table, etc. Before the lecture starts, welcome the participants and introduce the lecturer. At the end it is recommended to give the speakers a gift of gratitude for their participation – it could be, for example, a certificate, chocolates, or flowers.

7.3. Marketing the event

The person responsible for marketing should have at least some basic knowledge about it or experience from previous events and be full of