Managing Event Projects
Concept of project and
events as projects,
Perspectives of project
management
Event project organization
and framework
Project parameters
Stakeholder requirements
and needs
The project
objective statement
Project planning
Project optimization
 The project evaluation
and review
techniques
Project crashing
Project risk management
Project implementation
Project
breakdown and shutdown
Competencies of an event
project leader.
 2.1 Events as Projects

 A project is a complex nonroutine one time effort limited by

time, budget, resources and performance designed to meet
customer need. - Gray and Larson
 As projects, events generally have fixed budgets, precise
timelines, and limited resources, including employees,
suppliers, venues and volunteers.
 Organizers of such events are therefore responsible for the
management and delivery of projects.
 Project management has developed processes and techniques
to help plan, organize, lead and control events, and it can be
used to make event projects more successful.
2.2 Characteristics of Events as Projects

Budget

Leade Task
rship

Events
Cross-
Life
Functio
Cycle
nality

Team
 2.2 Characteristics of Events as Projects

1. Leadership
 Events are often the ultimate responsibility of one lead event
manager who coordinates specialist functions.
 The centralized and hierarchical nature of the leadership role
can depend upon the scale of the event.
2. Budget
 Events almost always have specific budgets allocated to
them.
 Based on predictions of fixed and projected variable costs
Should also consider other important project factors, such as
schedules, timelines and project life-cycle stages.
 2.2 Characteristics of Events as Projects
3. Tasks
 Events often require the performance of tasks that will not be
repeated. Uniqueness makes it tough.
4. Cross Functionality
 Event organizations are likely to be required to work cross-
functionally, without formal authority.
 Organizational structure is required for effectiveness and
efficiency of execution.
5. Teams
 Events require working teams to be brought together only for
the duration of a particular project.
 Highly based on event leadership and Organizational.
 'pulsation’ takes place in accordance with the event cycle.
 2.2 Characteristics of Events as Projects

6. Life Cycle
 Events have a distinct timeline and life cycle from initiation
to closure –and the levels of activity associated with these
stages throughout an event's life, from start to finish.

Figure: Event Project Life Cycle

 2.3 Perspectives of Project
Management

1. Task perspective
2. Leadership perspective
3. Stakeholder perspective
4. Transaction cost perspective
5. System perspective
6. Business by-project perspective
 1. Task Perspective

The focus of the task perspective is on the project

object that should be delivered as specified, within
budget and on time.

Key issues include project scope of work, project

targets, project results, and planning and control.

Planning and control methods have a central position

in this perspective.

Example includes: WBS, PERT, CPM.

 2. Leadership Perspective

This perspective focuses on the leadership aspect of project

management and human processes.

Key issues are leadership, communication, uncertainty, and

learning.

This perspective is based on theories of leadership,

communication, process, organizational change, and team
organization.

Methods and tools reflecting this perspective include leadership

related methods, team-based organization, communication
plans, responsibility matrixes, evaluation and feedback, and
decisions process.
3. Stakeholder Perspective
 Stakeholder perspective focuses on identification of key
stakeholder groups and the management of their relations
to ensure event success.
 Key issues include stakeholders, communication,
negotiation, relationships, influence and dependence.

4. Transaction Cost Perspective

 This perspective is based on the assumption that a project can be
considered an economic transaction.
 Transaction, transaction costs, production costs, and governance
structure are key issues in this perspective.
 The most used methods and tools within this perspective are
contract development, contract negotiations, contract execution
incentives and innovation processes.
5. System Perspective
 The systems perspective to event projects views the event as an
overall holistic system, rather than made up of individual,
functional components such as marketing, finance, design and so
on.
 Key issues are systems, element of systems, boundaries and
dynamics.
6. Business by- Project Perspective
 This is a perspective that focuses on project investments and
benefits.
 Key issues include business, project results, project success,
strategy, profit and benefits.
 Significant methods applied in this perspective are the payback
method, the net present value method, the return on investment
method, the strategic analysis, the excellence models, and the
business case.
 2.4 Event Project Organization and Framework

To accomplish the event projects with the various

approaches, the 3 major areas to consider are:

1. Event Organization Structure

2. Project Leader
3. Project Organization
 2.4.1 Event Organization Structure

 Important to consider the most effective type of

organizational structure for the event.
 Event organizations are often temporary and differ slightly,
depending on the project concerned.
 They will have a structure with predefined reporting
relationships, functional ‘departments’ and systems to carry
out the project.

 Major 3 different event organization Structure

a. Functional Organization
b. Project Led Organization
c. Matrix Organization
Functional
organizations
- Group members of
staff who perform
similar tasks into
departments.
- They are grouped
based on their specific
skills and knowledge.
Figure: Functional Event Organization

Advantages: Clear Line of Authority , Familiarity

Disadvantages: May lack Specialist, Many

Responsibilities at a time.
Project Led
Organization
- Group people into
temporary teams for
the duration of a
project
- Personnel are
specifically assigned to
the project and report
directly to the project Figure: Project Led Event Organization
manager.
Advantages: Rapid reaction time and responsiveness.
“Different people on Project teams develop ownership
different events” Disadvantages: Costly, Lacks Career Prospects,
misuse of resources.
Matrix
organizations
- Combines functional
and project-led
structures in order to
perform both focuses at
the same time.
- Matrix based project
organizations allow
program units to focus
on their specific Figure: Matrix Event Organization
technical competencies
and allow projects to be Advantages: Efficient allocation of all resources,
staffed with specialists Flexibility.
from throughout the Disadvantages: Complexity on reporting, Slows
organization. processes.
 2.4.2 Project Leadership

 According to Pinto - project leadership ‘involves inspiring,

motivating, influencing, and changing behaviors of others
in pursuit of a common goal’.
 Kurt Lewin et al. identified three main, prevailing
leadership styles which shaped
a. authoritarian;
b. democratic; and
c. laissez-faire work environments.

a. Authoritarian - led by an autocratic leader who makes decisions on

behalf of the team and divides work tasks and processes accordingly, providing
critique of the team's performance whilst often not engaging closely with either
the team or its activities.
b. Democratic – Environment that have leaders who consult
team members to arrive at consensus regarding important
decisions, offering guidance as required, as well as praise and
constructive criticism throughout.

c. Laissez-faire work – Environment that have little tangible

leadership input, with the leader allowing all major decisions to be
made and executed by the team members themselves. The latter
demonstrate ‘free rein’ and receive little input or feedback from the
leader.
Traditional and useful in general sense.
Turner et al. (2009) found that project success was increasingly linked to
leadership competences rather than tools and techniques.
This finding built on the work of Dulewicz and Higgs
(2005), which isolated three main project leadership styles: goal-
orientated leadership; involving leadership; and engaging leadership

 Goal oriented leadership

• ‘management by objectives’
• More useful in environments that remain mainly stable in nature.
 Involving leadership
• Focus on involving others in both setting direction and, largely, in
determining how goals will be achieved.

 Engaging leadership
• Leader behaviors for this style are focused on facilitating others in
achieving both the nature of the direction and the means of
achieving the necessary goals.
 2.4.3 Project Organization

Event Project manager role to form teams. Its about

selecting and placing the members in functional area that
best works.
Cross Functional activities need to be accommodated.
Effective project teams require:
• Clear goals
• A results-driven structure
• Competent team members
• Unified commitment
• A collaborative climate
• Standards of excellence
• External support and recognition
• Effective leadership
 2.5 Project Parameters
 Project Scope - actual
working content that a project
embraces.

 Project requirement and

constraints
 Constraints need to be
considered
 Plan for contingencies and
alternative.

 The set of project parameters

includes – project scope,
project time, project
integration, product quality,
Fig: Event Planning Process
project risk and project cost.
 2.6 Stakeholder requirements and needs

Stakeholders - individuals, groups of individuals or

organizations that hold a special interest in an event.

Analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the needs

and requirements is must for success of an Event.

 Managing “Power and Resources”

 2.7 The project objective statement

Event objectives form the key direction for the

following stages of the project's planning, delivery
and evaluation.
These objectives provide specifics for concept
screening and feasibility analysis and form the
overall direction for a project.
Doran's popular SMART acronym is often used to
describe effective objective.
 Specific - Specific as possible.
• Instead of: I want my event to be more successful
• Use: I want my event to generate more revenue than last year
 Measurable – Quantitative measures.
• Instead of: I want my event to generate more revenue
• Use: I want my event to generate 100% more revenue than last year
 Achievable- Assignable, Realist, resources to meet the goal.
• Instead of: I want my event to generate 100% more revenue than last year
• Use: I want my event to generate 30% more revenue than last year
 Relevant – Priorities focused
• Instead of: I want my event to generate 30% more revenue by selling t-shirts
• Use: I want my event to generate 30% more revenue from ticket sales
 Time Bound - Goals need a deadline.
• Instead of: I want my event to generate 30% more revenue
• Use: I want my event to generate 30% more revenue from ticket sales in the next
6 months
 2.8 Project Planning

1. Work Breakdown Structure

2. Resource Breakdown Structure

3. Project Scheduling
 Work Breakdown Structures

Variety of interrelated tasks and functions that need to

be broken down into smaller, more clearly
distinguishable and easier-to-manage subsections.

Event Success depends upon- Employees who can

understand the working dynamics of the smaller
elements of event work breakdown.

So WBS enables:

• Clear Link between objective and task required to achieve them
• Tasks to be practically divided into functional responsibilities
• Makes progress more tangible
Fig: Work Breakdown Structure
 Resource Breakdown Structures

 People – including the expertise and skills of event specialists, such as designers,
specialist entertainers, decorators, as well as front-line personnel engaged

 Facilities – including the venue, site and associated amenities, which can also
include location and even destination attributes that contribute greatly to the
success of any event

 Equipment – including all plant and machinery, from transportation vehicles

through to cooking equipment, lighting rigs, sound systems, scaffolds, portable
dance floors, toilets and even personnel uniforms.

 Finance – including all cost and revenues.

 Materials – including anything that can be used to make something else, such as
timber, decorations, foodstuffs and paints.
 Project Scheduling

“Time” - crucial resource

Project scheduling is a mechanism to communicate

what tasks need to get done and which
organizational resources will be allocated to
complete those tasks in what timeframe.

 A project schedule is a document collecting all the

work needed to deliver the project on time.
 2.9 Project Optimization

Project optimization can be defined as finding the

solution, from the available alternative options, with
the most cost effective or highest achievable
performance under the given constraints, by
maximizing desired factors and minimizing
undesired ones.

Two most frequently used forms of network planning

are:
1) Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
2) Critical Path method
 Network Techniques
CPM and PERT Both methods are developed in late
1950s, which exhibit the flow and sequence of the
activities and events.

CPM uses a deterministic approach which suits a project

whose time duration can be accurately predicted. PERT
uses a probabilistic approach.

Expected time of activity in PERT = a+4m+b

6
Where, a = most optimistic (shortest) time, m = most likely time,
b = pessimistic (longest) time
Activities Preceding Expected
Activities Time (Weeks)
A - 5
B - 2
C A 3
D B 4
E A 4
F C,D 3
G E 5
 PERT / CPM consists of four main steps
Planning
 Splitting the total project in to small projects.
 The relationship of each activity with respect to other activities are
defined and established.

Scheduling
 Prepare a time chart showing the start and finish times for each activity
as well as its relationship to other activities of the project.

Allocation of resources
 Allocation of resources is performed to achieve the desired objective.

Controlling
 Critical path methods , network diagram facilitates a better financial as
well as technical control.
 Basis Concepts in Network Analysis
 Critical Path
 The critical path is the sequence of activities between a project’s
starting and finishing time that takes the longest time to complete
projects.
 Here A..E..G is the CriticalPath
path and A, E,Completion
Options
G are the criticalTotal
Time
activities.
Time
A….E…G 5+4+5 14 weeks
B….D….F 2+4+3 9 weeks
A….C….F 5+3+3 11 weeks

 Slack Time
 Slack time is the maximum time an activity can be delayed without
delaying the project completion time
 Calculation: Slack time = LS – ES …………… (i)
Slack time = LF – EF ……………. (ii)
Where, LS = Late start time
ES = Early start time
LF = Late finishing time
EF = Early Finishing time
 EXAMPLE 1
Activity Predecess Duration
or (Weeks)

A - 5 B D
B A 4
A F
C A 5
E
D B 6 C
E C 3 Fig: Network Diagram
F D, E 4

Path Option Completion

Time
A-B-D-F 5+4+6+4=19
A-C-E-F 5+5+3+4 =17

Here, ABDF is the longest path, so A, B, D, F is the critical path and

A, B, D, F are the critical activities.
 5 B 9 9 D 15
Activity Predec Du-w
5 4 9 9 6 15
essor
A - 5
B A 4
C A 5 0 A 5 15 F 19
D B 6 0 5 5 15 4 19
E C 3
F D, E 4
5 C 10 10 E 13

ES Act EF 7 5 12 12 3 15

LS Du LF Activity Du-w ES EF LS LF Slack

Time

A 5 0 5 0 5 0
EF = ES +Duration B 4 5 9 5 9 0

LS = LF – Duration C 5 5 10 7 12 2
D 6 9 15 9 15 0
Slack Time = LS – ES or
E 3 10 13 12 15 2
LF - EF
F 4 15 19 15 19 0
 EXAMPLE 2
Activity Predecess Duration
or (Weeks)
E G
A - 5
A
B - 2
A 3
C
C
D B 4
F
E A 4 B D
F C,D 3
Fig: Network Diagram
G E 5
Path Option Completion Time
A-E-G 5+4+5 = 14
A-C-F 5+3+3=11
B-D-F 2+4+3 = 9

Here, AEG is the longest path, so AEG is the critical path and A, E, G
are the critical activities.
 5 E 9
Activit Prede Du-w 9 G 14
y cessor 5 4 9
0 A 5 9 5 14
A - 5
0 5 5
B - 2 5 C 8
C A 3
5 3 8
D B 4
8 F 11
E A 4
F C,D 3 8 3 11
0 B 2 2 D 6
G E 5 2 2 4
4 4 8

ES Act EF Activity Du-w ES EF LS LF Slack

Time
LS Du LF A 5 0 5 0 5 0
B 2 0 2 2 4 2
EF = ES +Duration
C 3 5 8 5 8 0
LS = LF – Duration D 4 2 6 4 8 2
Slack Time = LS – ES or E 4 5 9 5 9 0
F 3 8 11 8 11 0
LF - EF
G 5 9 14 9 14 0
 2.10 Project Evaluation and Review
 An event project requires ongoing evaluation and review to
avoid delays and to manage ongoing changes.

 Monitoring is the collection, recording, and reporting of

project information that is of importance to the project
manager and other relevant stakeholders.

 Evaluation can be defined as a process by which general

judgments about quality, goal attainment, project/program
effectiveness, impact and costs can be determined. It can
therefore be conceptualized as a review of the whole
project/program in order to assess its overall value and effects.
 2.10 Project Evaluation and Review
Taking
Project Control Cycle: Corrective
Setting a
goal
Actions

Comparing
Actual Measuring
with Progress
Planned
Evaluation
 Different level : project level, program level, sector level, policy level.
 Different phases: ex-ante evaluation, mid term evaluation,
completion evaluation, ex-post evaluation.

The control Function concerns on each functional area

as well as in both micro and macro level.
 2.10 Project Evaluation and Review

Commonly used techniques are:

1. Gantt Chart : A Gantt chart is a ways of showing
activities (tasks or events) displayed against time.
2. Project S Curve : Project S curve consists of presenting costs
and labor hours or quantities plotted against time for both
budgeted and actual expenditure.
 2.11 Project Crashing

 Project crashing in events refers to speeding up the delivery process.

 Reasons for crashing:

 To address the urgency of the project
 To finish project in scheduled time (For example: The project's progress is
behind the schedule. But the project must be completed in given time. So then
it needs to crash the remaining activities to be in schedule).

 Accelerating options:
 Improve the productivity of the existing resources
 Changing the working methods
 Increasing project resources which is most common


 2.12 Project Risk Management

 Projects operate in an environment composed of uncertainty.

Uncertainties regarding fund, necessary inputs, potential
technical problems, political disturbance etc.
 Project risk can be simply defined as any possible event that can
negatively affect the viability of the project. Project risk is based
on simple equations: Risk = (probability of Event)
(Consequences of Event)

Project Risk management is defined as the art and

science of identifying, analyzing, and responding to
risk factors throughout the life of a project and in the
best interest of its objectives.
 Project Risk management Process
Risk identification: It is concerned with identifying risk factors
that a project is expected to face.
Analysis of probability and consequences: To estimate the
likelihood of occurring and possible consequences. Probability combine
with consequences provides a sense of overall risk impact.
Risk mitigation strategies: Different ways of dealing with risks.
These strategies include risk avoidance, transfer, sharing and reducing to
an acceptable level.
Risk monitoring and control: It includes monitoring residual
risks, identifying new risks, executing risk reduction plans and
evaluating their effectiveness.
Risk Documentation: A records of identified risk, method used to
mitigate or resolve them, and results of all risk management activities.
 Classification of Risk
Technical: Requirements, Technology and Quality
 Project Management: Estimating, Balancing, Scheduling and
Communication
Organizational: Funding, Resources and Prioritization
External : Regulatory, government, Sub contractors, Suppliers and
Environments
 Two common ways of dealing with project related risks are:
 Working out Suitable contingency plans
 Using buffers
 Resource buffers: Providing more resources as people, equipment's etc.
 Time buffers: Task expected to finish in four days and one more day as buffer.
 Natural buffers: Usually plan is prepared on normal working day i.e. 8 hours a
day/5days a week, it can be stretched to 10 to 14 hours/day & six days/week.
 2.13 Project Cost

Breakdown structure:
 Total Cost – Forecasted on the basis of fixed and variable cost.
 Cash flows need to be managed.

Cost monitoring
 The event project manager must allocate costs correctly to each of
the project tasks.
 Report regularly
 Ongoing transactions to be focused.
 2.14 Project Implementation

Practical completion of all the processes related to the

tasks with all their associated considerations.

Assignment of responsibilities based on time schedule,

program details, resources.

Ongoing reporting and monitoring is required with

preparation for remedies and contingencies plans.

Evaluated on the basis of delivery tasks, timing and

associated costs.
 2.15 Project Shutdown

 Project also requires planning for finishing work after completion.

 Produce checklist
 Create a specific event close-down ‘task-force’
 Close-down contractors and suppliers
 Frequent meetings
 Release Project Personnel

 Evaluate - Stakeholder management, event objectives and planned

legacies.
 Documentation including problems, achievements, benefits.
 Processes of project closure:
 Analysis of the project
 Complete Paperwork's
 Release resources
 Document Achievements
 Celebrate Success
2.16 Competency of a Event Project Leader
Intellectual Emotional Managerial
Critical analysis and Self-awareness Engaging
judgment communication

Vision and imagination Emotional resilience Managing resources

Strategic perspective Motivation Empowering

Sensitivity Developing

Influence Achieving

Intuition

Conscientiousness