Reading 1 Responses

Questions in packet (Reading 1, page 18):

1. Why are special events created, and what purpose do they serve in society?

Special events are created to mark a special time in someone's life like a birthday or retirement. They are also created to celebrate key moments and special times of their lives that they wish to remember well. Some events are large enough to create milestones throughout one's life so that someone may "measure their private lives." Examples of these milestones are the millennium, WW2, Australia's Bicentenary, and the Sydney Olympics. Special events play an important role in celebrating one's life and is therefore, very important to society.

2. Do special events mirror changes in society, or do they have a role in creating and changing values? Give some examples to illustrate your answers.

I do believe some events mirror changes in society. For example, rock concerts in the 70s were created through a new kind of hippie culture that developed during the war. In Nimbin, they used to hold a kind of "Woodstock" concert there. It was here that hippie culture began to thrive because of the concert that was held here every year. Since it was such a small town, the same group of people never left. Because these people never leave, the same kind of concerts and special events keep coming to the same place. I also believe that they have a role in creating and changing values. For example, charity walks, protests, and speeches bring people together to state a value or reiterate a value that has already been said. Either way, they are trying to create this value, change the value, or reaffirm the value of the people participating.

3. Why have special events emerged so strongly in recent years in Australia?

Special events have emerged so strongly because Australia is getting more popular since the Olympic games were held in Sydney. The opera house is also a world-known building and is known for being in Sydney, which , in turn, brings more and more tourism, which brings more acts or events to the area. These events also bring writers and journalists, who then write books about the country. In his book, A Sunburned Country (also known as the Down Under), Bill Bryson talks about how his first visit to Australia was through a conference in Melbourne. After arriving here, he wanted desperately to come back. Another one of his visits was through the same conference, this time in Sydney. It was after this that he wrote his book on Australia. In turn, his book would probably make other people interested in Australia so they will want to come here. So, after all that, the main reason why special events have emerged is because each event brings more people here who will then, in the future, hold other events here.

4. Why are the key political, cultural, and social trends that determine the current climate of events in Australia and how would you expect these to influence the nature of events in the coming years?

Usually these trends bring in tourism, which means more people coming in. So with these trends, they hold events. For example, in 1980s, there was an economic boom and with a sport event happening in Perth, the industry took it upon themselves to try to put "Perth on the map," or simply, bring in tourism and business to Western Australia. While big events like the Olympics coming in, the industry has tried to put on other big events to keep people coming in while the site is still "fresh" in the public's minds. I believe that as long as these influences were positive, the nature of these events would be bigger and more popular. Although, with the economy getting worse world-wide, it doesn't look good for the events industry. With people trying to save money, they may not want to 'waste' money on something that happens every year or every other month because they know it will come around again. This could cause money loss for these events and a possibility of being cancelled for good. Also, with Australia going green, many events may become more "green." This may make people more interested. Now, I myself, may not have much insight to how this might change events exactly, but I'm sure that because this is a social trend, public events will slowly change to mirror the public values of going green.

5. Identify an event in your city or region which has the capacity to be a hallmark event and give your reasons for placing it in this category.

I believe the Indy 500 has the potential to be a hallmark event. This race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, IN. This is the largest single-day sporting event in the world. It's so popular that the stadium itself can hold approximately 400,000 people, which includes the infield. For the most part, it has been publicly broadcasted on radio or television ever since it's existence, although it is blacked out in the Indianapolis market. I believe this is due to wanting to keep attendance up at the actual stadium. It only happens once a year over Memorial day weekend, which means thousands of people from all over the country and world come to see this event. People have associated the Indy 500 with Indiana, which means it will never move from this region/state.

6. What characteristics define an 'industry'? Using these criteria, do you consider that there is an 'events industry' in Australia?

Some characteristics that define an industry are marketability and popularity. If an industry has no marketability, it means there is no way to sell it's ideas, products, or services to the public. An industry can only exist if there is a public out there that is interested in it and is able to access it. For example, an industry must also be able to be 'bought.' If an industry markets to a certain group of people, but they can't afford it, it will not last because it is not marketing to customers that can afford it. An industry also has to be somewhat popular. If an industry tries to start, but is not a popular idea in the area it tries to start in, it will not last either. I believe that there is an events industry in Australia because, where there is an abundance of people, there will be events to be held. Whether it be weddings, surf club tournaments, or the Olympics, people will want to hold events as benchmarks in their life.

7. Do you agree with the attributes and knowledge areas events managers believe they require? Create a list of your own attributes and skills based on these listings.

I do agree with most of the requirements of the events managers. Although, I believe networking should be of higher importance on the list than some of the others. In my opinion, networking is one of the most important skills you can learn in your career. It can lead to so many more opportunities and open so many more doors. Another thing I didn't see on the list was safety and liability knowledge. I think this is another very important attribute any manager should have when managing events. Many things can happen during events that are out of your control and managers need to be able to cover themselves and their company. To do that, they will need that knowledge of safety and liability.

Question from on-line topic page:

Identify an event in your city or region that has the capacity to be a 'hallmark' event. Why do you feel that sporting organizations/cities attempt to stage world-class events?

Cities/ sporting organizations attempt to stage world-class events to bring in tourism and businesses to the area. Where there is tourism and events to go to, there will be people, where there will be people, there is potential for businesses. The more businesses you can bring into the area, the more people are willing to stay in the area. For smaller towns, they can use larger sporting events to put themselves "on the map." This statement basically means to make them more well-known and visited more to keep people coming there.

Case Study Questions (page 22):

1. What roles should events play in current society?

Some roles that events should play in society are providing entertainment to the public, providing benchmarks so people might mark their lives by them, give people a chance to gain or change values, provide a way of awareness to social problems or public organizations, and giving people a way to celebrate key moments in their lives.

2. What is the correlation between events franchised by the host community and those developed from the ground up? Do they both achieve different agendas and if so, what? Which is more valuable and why?

I didn't really understand this question. To me, the two kinds of events noted in the first question seem to be the same thing. There is no difference.

3. Are the enormous resources required to develop a grass roots event justifiable? How can such an event be held accountable over the short and long term?

I believe these types of events are justifiable because people should be able to hold whatever special event they would like to hold if it holds true value or purpose. These grass roots events hold just as much value and purpose as any other kind of event so they shouldn't be unjustified. These events can be held accountable by giving the operations to a certain group of people who will put it on each year. Depending on one person could be problematic due to last-minute interruptions or being too busy; but if the job is given to an organized group of people, it would probably last longer and be able to be held accountable over the short or long term.

4. What other agendas should events like Riverfestival be embracing?

I believe Riverfestival should also take into consideration celebrating more than just eating lots of food and setting things on fire. This would be an opportune time to bring up social problems or problems that the city or other groups of people are having with the river. This way, they are making these problems aware to a massive group of people each year. This will take their problem awareness to another level.

5. What are the potential pitfalls of the approach taken by Riverfestival?

This festival plans to get bigger and bigger as the years go on, but it seems to me that this festival already started off pretty big. It's getting so big that eventually the town will not be able to control it. Litter, sewage, police, and space will inevitably become a problem because there will be so many people that the sewers, rubbish bins, police, and hotels will not be able to contain it. It will become out of control before anyone can see it coming.

6. How does a strong fiscal management sustain a good festival? What influence, if any, should fiscal management have on the artistic direction of a festival?

A strong fiscal management can sustain a good festival by being able to provide money for the festival every year. If they didn't have a strong understanding of money management, the festival would go bankrupt very quickly because they wouldn't realize how much money they were spending on entertainment before it was too late. Being conscious of the money situation for a festival is the key to making the festival last for many years. I don't believe there should be any influence on the direction of the festival, although they should have a say on when to cut off the amount being brought in to make it affordable.