Apply the summary event planning process to an event you know, using a specific event example, consider and write a summary of the operational elements used. (500 words)

To create a successful event, a lot of planning needs to be carried out, the process of planning an event starts months before the event takes place. The planning starts with collecting ideas together and getting them onto paper, you can then start to divide your ideas into categories and work out the order of the actions which will then lead to making timescales. You can then start to assemble all the paperwork. All the plans you make have operations for the event to be accomplished.

Santa Dash is an annual fundraising event held by Oakhaven Hospice Trust in December, it is a 3k run along the sea front in Barton-on-Sea, Dorset. You have to run dressed as Santa Claus and is open to anyone, admission is £12.50 for adults and £6.50 for children.

The event is sported by Hobourne Holiday parks and Beachcomber café, Beachcomber café is in Barton-on-Sea so there is a high chance that a lot of people that take part in the run will spend money in the café. The Fundraising Standards Board is overseeing the Santa Dash so the events team will have to send them information about the planning for the event, because the board will want to know that the events team are spending the money on.

The majority of people will drive to the event in their cars and a small number of people will use public transport. There is a car park for the attendees to use but if the majority of people are driving then the car park is going to be full, so the council needs to be contacted so they can open the overflow car park.

The event needs to be advertised among the local community so they will need to print flyers and posters, this is often quite expensive so they will need to figure out how to keep these costs down, they will also need to print some signage for the course so the people taking part won’t get lost. Children often get lost of events because of the volume of people so the organizers will need to set up a meeting point at the end of the race.

The maximum capacity for this year’s Santa Dash is 750 because it is along the sea front and would be dangerous with a lot of people running near the cliffs, the operations for this would be that the organizers would put barriers or tape up. The event co-ordinator would have to do a risk assessment and highlight all these hazards and explain what they are going to do/ they’ve done about them.

The participants get a Santa suit with their ticket so they organizers have to source cheap Santa outfits from somewhere that doesn’t take too much out the budget because it is a fundraising event and they want all the money they can get, they will need volunteers to go around with charity collection boxes and will also need volunteers to steward and give the runners their numbers and costumes, most of the volunteers will be people who work in the charity shops or the hospice but they will need more people so they would have to hire more before the event.

A lot of operations take place even for a small community event like this charity Santa dash, and each operation has to be planned and carried out by an individual.

Referencing

Oakhavenhospice.co.uk

Write a short description (500 words) of how global economics are relevant for the Falmouth Oyster Festival

Macroeconomics is a field of economics studying the workings of a national economy, it mainly focuses on the forecasting of national income and analysis of major economic factors including; level of employment/unemployment, gross national product (GNP/GDP), balance of payment position and prices. Macroeconomics shows the relationships between these factors to understand how an economy is operating.

Falmouth Oyster Festival (FOF) is small seafood festival that celebrates the start of the oyster dredging season. It is a four day event which takes place every October in Falmouth, this year over 30,000 people attended the wide range of different activities in the festival including; cookery demonstrations, shell painting, sea shanties, town parade, a boat race, and live music and performances.

At FOF it doesn’t seem like it would be affected by the economy compared to a festival in London because Cornwall is such a remote part of the UK, but each year the festival gets affected by the current economic climate, and has to deal with new problems. Economic factors like unemployment, inflation, tax and funding influence how the festival is run. Since 2007 when many large banks fell into bankruptcy there has been an on-going global financial crisis, this caused the recession in the UK which made unemployment rise and prices to increase; this makes the public watch what they’re buying and spends less on unnecessary purchases.

Cornwall gets a lot of income in its economy from tourism especially in the summer months, so having FOF in October could mean that there are a low number of tourists visiting the festival, but because vistitcornwall.com helped organize and fund the festival, tourists would have heard about it from the website, this event is a good way of bringing people down to Cornwall in the low seasons when businesses that rely on tourism trade are struggling the most. The sponsors for the festivals are local businesses and organizations, people attending the events will see them advertised for example St. Michaels Hotel and Spa are the major sponsors and will get a lot of promotion so people might eat at the restaurant and use the spa or even stay in the hotel and they may get future clients as well.

The festival needs a wide range of suppliers for it to take place, they need to arrange; marques and equipment, staff, stalls, performers, drinks and food. Using local suppliers is good for the economy of the area and looks good for the festival that’s its bringing together Cornish produce. The FOF is funded by Falmouth Festival Ltd, Vistitcornwal.com and St Micheal’s Hotel & Spa, because it is a free community event it has to get its revenue from individual stalls, opening ceremony box office, raffle tickets, and sponsors.

With the current financial difficulties i.e. the recession and budget cuts, many businesses have to let staff go, so the unemployment rates are going up. This affects the FOF because staffing is an essential part of running the festival, in Cornwall 2.4% of the population are unemployed this is actually lower than the nation average which is 3.6%. These figures were published in July 2010 this is during the summer when there are not as many people unemployed as tourism opens up a large number of jobs.

In summery FOF relates to the global economy because it gets affected by the financial state of the UK and oversees economy.

References

- falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk

- visitcornwall.co.uk

- BBC News article: Unemployment figures for Cornwall show fourth fall http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-10633274

- CEM102 – Lecture 4 Economics Notes
- cornwall.gov.uk