I learned a great deal about The Business of Special Events from my course work. Here is an example of an in depth report I produced on a book about Event Planning and all that it entails. I really found this book to be very accurate and inspiring.
Laura Page
Book Report #1
ORCO 3250
February 7, 2005
The book I have selected to summarize is titled “The Business of Special Events: Fundraising Strategies for Changing Times.” The authors of this book are Harry A. Freedman and Karen Feldman. The Pineapple Press Publishing Company published it in 1998 in Sarasota, Florida. The book contains 141 pages including the index and 12 chapters. The five most important chapters I found in the table of contents is (are) as follows:
1Finding an Event the Fits
2The Matter of Money
3Locations, Locations, Locations
4The Message and the Media
5Countdown to Success
“FINDING AN EVENT THAT FITS” pg. 1-15
“Creating a special event is like baking a cake. First you decide what to bake, and then you check the list of ingredients and gather them. When you’ve got everything you need, you start baking. Special events work much the same way.” (Freedman and Feldman, 1998) This statement shows you how events work. It breaks it down into the easiest way to understand.
This chapter talks about how to find the event for you and the steps you take to achieve it. It breaks down the main reasons for having an event like raising money, raising the organizations profile and gaining members. Next you decide the types of people you want to attract and ways to get that particular audience to attend. But you have to remember that to pull off a good event requires good ideas, a lot of help, and adequate funds.
After thinking through a number of possible events you could put on, you have to narrow it down to the few that fit into your budget and goals. You then start determining where your event will be held. You have to set ticket prices and make schedules of tasks that need to be completed.
Then you have to make sure you have enough people to help you. This is extremely important in planning your event. If you don’t have enough help, your event may not reach it’s greatest potential.
”THE MATTER OF MONEY” pg. 16-31
“A charity event should operate just like any other business, and just as in business, the goal is to make money.” (Freedman and Feldman, 1998) An event can cost a lot of money and need a lot of people to help out, most of the time more than the organization has on hand. By figuring out the costs first, you know whether you can afford to have the event and what the chances of making money on it are. A budget is a must have. Without a budget you could have a financial disaster. The best way to manage your budget is to make a worksheet with all the possible costs, but do not forget to double-check your budget worksheet because nothing’s easier than to go over budget while trying to impress other businesses.
“LOATIONS,LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS” pg. 67-78
“For a nonprofit group, usefulness, not beauty, is a far better measurement of a site’s suitability. It is much less expensive to decorate a plain room that it is to truck in equipment…to a spectacular site.” (Freedman and Feldman, 1998) The four major site factors you have to consider are location, cost, size, and the facilities that are available at the site. While having a perfect site is a good thing, the most important is to make sure you have all the necessities covered such as enough space for the guests and enough parking for them as well.
“THE MESSAGE AND THE MEDIA” pg. 79-89
Having an event is worthless if you don’t have anybody there to share it with. Once you have your event planned out with a theme, date, and location, you must then advertise it to the group of people you want to attend. Some easy ways to do that are TV, radio, and word of mouth. Word of mouth is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to advertise. Invitations are also one of the biggest ways to advertise. When sending out invitations, don’t forget that you have to send them out early. You always want to make sure you have the correct mailing address and also make sure to follow all postal procedures when mailing out bulk mail.
In most cases, no matter how important you think your event is, the news media won’t. You have to find some kind of creative angle that will interest an editor in writing up some type of advertisement for you. Take advantage of any place that will let you post a notice of your event and get the word out.
“COUNTDOWN TO SUCCESS”pg. 120-125
The most important part of planning an event is the event itself. With all the months of planning, dealing with personalities, and attending to all the details for the event, you don’t want it to fall apart at the end. You have to check and recheck everything. Do not let anything go unnoticed. You have to check with all the people working beneath you to make sure their jobs and tasks have been completed as well. Make sure someone has spoken with the decorator, the band, the caterer, and the guests. If need be compile a list of the key people you might need to reach on short notice.
Registration sets the tone for the event. It’s the first impression you make on your guests. Make sure that registration, or whatever type of check-in you will be having, flows smoothly. If anything problems are to arise with in the time the event begins, and the time the event
ends, make sure that you apologize to all the appropriate people. (awkward sentence) There is nothing worse than to plan a wonderful event and then to offend people. You never want to ruin your chances of building cliental. No matter what happens just smile, take deep breaths, relax, and enjoy your event.
After reading the majority of “The Business of Special Events,” I definitely feel that I have a lot more knowledge about how to plan and event. This book gave me step-by-step information about how to plan my event, how to organize it, and how to implement it. The authors Freedman and Feldman used hands on experience in their writings and explanations of things. They had real paperwork from their own events they had planned previously, which made it a whole lot easier to understand. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in planning any type of event. I find myself wanting to finish reading the book now that I have had to chance to really get in it and pick it apart.
WORKS CITIED
Freedman, Harry A., & Feldman, Karen. (1998). The Business of Special Events: Fundraising Strategies for Changing Times. Sarasota, Fl: Pineapple Press Inc.
