Event Management Planning
Types of Events, Special Events, Mega Events, Hallmark Events, Major Events, The Event Manager, Qualities of an Event Manager, Strategic Planning, SMART objectives, PEST & SWOT Analyses, Operational Planning, Plans, Organisational Structure, Systematic Planning, Implementation, Post-Event Analysis, Case Studies.
Event Coordination
Staging the Event, Key Suppliers, the Stage, the Venue, Factors to consider, Room Setup, Site Inspection Visits, Contracts and Cancellation Fees.
Exhibition Planning
Definition, Target Audience, Objectives, Features, the Brief, the Budget.
Exhibition Venues
Suitability, Location, Availability, Size and Cost, Facilities, Configuration, Inspection.
Stand Design
Considerations, Rules and Regulations, Floor Plan, Flexibility, Storage and Transport, Lighting, Seating, Audio Visual Equipment, Furniture, Electrics, Graphics.
Exhibition Equipment
A look at the different types of equipment used during an exhibition.
Staffing your Exhibition
Selecting the right team, Preparing the team for exhibition day, Working the stand, Keeping your staff motivated, Subliminal signals.
Exhibitions Abroad
Why hold an Exhibition Abroad?, DMCs, Location, Legalities, Negotiation, Documentation, Health & Safety, Translators & Interpreters.
Art Exhibitions
Types of Art Exhibitions, Objectives, Suitable venues, Preservation, Concerns, Case Study.
Interpretive Exhibitions
Definition, Objectives, Suitable Venues, Types of Interpretive Exhibitions, Logistics, Case Studies.
Commercial Exhibitions/Trade Fairs
Definition, Objectives, Suitable Venues, Types of trade fairs, Virtual trade fairs, Case Studies.
Conventions
Definition, Types of Conventions, Objectives, Suitable Venues, Case Studies.
Suppliers & Vendors
Supplier Selection, Researching Suppliers, Meeting with Suppliers, Considerations, Supplier Negotiation, Contracts, Supplier Relations, Contingency Plans.
Accommodation & Transport
Selecting the Right Location, Legalities, Destination Management Companies, Transport, Travelling by Air, Car or Road.
The Press & the Media
Understanding the Objectives of the Press Conference, Defining the Target Audience that Should Attend, Planning Date and Time, Selecting and Booking Venue, Listing Logistics Requirements, Developing a Speaker and Presentation Plan, Reviewing Presentation Content with your Client, Timelines and Media/Press Invitations, Managing Confirmations.
Exhibition Evaluation & Follow-Up
Closing Your Events, Administration, Evaluation of the Event, Methods of Evaluation.
Eco-Event Management
The Importance of Making your Event Environmentally Friendly; Benefits to your Clients, Benefits to the Environment. Environmental Standards & Eco-friendly Credentials; Schemes you can adhere to, Options Available. Types of Eco-friendly Events/Suppliers; Eco-Friendly Caterers, Eco-Friendly Venues and Questions to ask them; Aspects of Sustainability within a Festival: Office & Event Management, Travel & Transport, Carbon Emissions, Waste Management, Water Management, Local Environment & Land Protection, Noise & Noise Pollution.
Event Risk Management
Budgeting; Forecasting Expenditure; Compiling and Understanding Event Contracts; Managing Health and Safety; Event Risk Assessment; Copyright and Trademark Considerations; Event Ethical Practice.
Advertising
Definitions, Historical Development, the Advertising Industry and Professional Bodies, Codes of Practice, Advertising Agencies, Selecting an Agency and working with it, Advertising Campaign Planning and Management, Advertising Media. Types of Advertisements - Magazines, Newspapers, Posters, Billboards, Ambient Advertising. The Relationship between Advertising and Public Relations.
Marketing
Planning the Event Proposal Strategy with Your Target Market in Mind, Preparing the Event Proposal, Sourcing and Sending Invitations, Budgeting and Buying Advertising, Publicising the Event, Organising Contests and Pre Event Campaigns, Merchandising, Packaging and Sales Promotion, Formulating a Public Relations Strategy, Conducting Market Research, Methods of Measuring Marketing Activity.
Social Media Marketing
Introduction to Social Media and Social Networking, How Social Media is transforming the way we do Business, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and Blogger.
E-Commerce
The E-Commerce module is broken down into two sections. The first one deals with the Theory of E-Commerce and how to set up an E-Commerce solution for a business. It also goes into some detail on the various types of E-Commerce. The second section deals with web site design. This covers HTML, XHTML and CSS and serves as an introduction to web site design and development.
Public Relations
Review the Place for PR in Business Today, Review PR's Relationship with other Functions/Professions including Event Management, Marketing, etc. Professionalism and industry bodies. Sponsorship and Community Relations, Definitions and Historical Development of the Sponsorship Market, Why Organisations engage in Sponsorship, Using Sponsorship to Target Particular Publics.
Online Public Relations
The Social Media Landscape
Blogs, Microblogs, Chatrooms, Delicious, Email, Flickr, Twitter, Instant messaging, Message Boards, Mobile Internet , New Media Releases, Online Conferencing, Online Surveys, Pay per click, Podcasts, RSS, Search Engines, SEO, Social Networking Service Sites, Video Sharing, Virtual worlds, VoIP, Wiki and Widgets.
The Internet as a Media
Commercial Implications of the Internet, Social Interaction with the Internet, Web 2.0 and its Implications, Internet Convergence, the Network Effect, Internet Information Exchange, Internet Audience Size and Exposure, Internet Culture and Communication, Transparency and the Internet.
Public Relations and Search Engine Optimisation
PR tactics, Optimising your Campaign, the Google Factor, SEO Tactics, SEO Guidelines, Factors influencing SEO, on-page and off-page SEO, CMS, Link Building. Link Building guidelines.
Social Media and PR strategy
Local versus Global Communication, Landscaping Platforms, Channels and context, Online PR Organisational Analysis and Segmentation, Developing Online PR Strategies, Online PR Tactics and SEO considerations, Online PR Planning, Managing Online PR Risk and Opportunities.
Online Influences on present PR practices
Internet influence on News, Internet Journalists, Economics of Online News Production, Internet Critics and other influences, the PR Practitioner as an Online Publisher, Ethical Internet PR, Truthfulness and Duty of Care, Online Ethics, Debate, Guidelines and Best Practice. Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Media Discourse, Trends and Value. Policy Influences, corporate speak. Implications of Social Media for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Setting Up & Marketing Your Own Consultancy
The Business Plan, Legalities, Setting Up, the Marketing Strategy, Knowing Your Competitors, Promotional Tools.
MANAGEMENT
Leadership and Communication in the Workplace
Effective communication skills, leadership styles, information gathering and interpretation, problem solving, decision making, workforce planning, conflict resolution, time management, delegation. Understanding group needs and characteristics, knowing and understanding group resources, controlling the group, counselling, setting the example, representing the group, problem-solving, evaluation, contextual leadership, sharing leadership, the project leader as a manager of learning.
Team Building
Team selection, managing the team, the skills matrix, personal work styles, boundaries of responsibility, managing associated strengths and weaknesses.
Gaining and maintaining authority, supporting the team, key people in the organisation (e.g. general management, director of projects, project services manager, chief mechanical engineer, chief controls engineer, drawing office manager, the project support office (PSO), influencing and delegating, sources of power (legitimate, reward, expert, referent, coercive).
Positive Team Environment and Interpersonal Skills
Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the four stages of team building (forming, storming, norming and performing), ways of establishing and assigning specific measurable roles to the team, ways to keep stakeholders motivated, how to build team members morale, managing virtual teams.
Effective Performance in the Workplace
Company organisational culture and structures, building an effective workforce – recruitment, team selection, appointment and termination, training and appraisal, motivational strategies, competition in the workplace. Wage and salary administration, job restructuring.
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills
Negotiation skills overview, pre-negotiation skills, information and leverage evaluation, types of negotiation, negotiation analysis, negotiation process: opening stance, tactics, concessions, resolutions, negotiation closure, documentation and follow-through.
Effective Communication with Stakeholders
Communicating up the hierarchy ladder, communication and attitude, effective communication with the client, effective communication with senior management, optimization of performance reporting, communicating with external stakeholders, conformity and union in decisions and contracts, avoiding misinterpretations, communicating updates in project developments, ensuring two-way communication. Accepting feedback, monitoring and adapting communication, group and individual communication, cost efficient communication, getting the right information to the right people at the right time.
Strategic Business Management
The nature of business, business plans and start-ups, legalities – sole traders and partnerships, limited companies, non-profit organisations, public sector organisations. Vision and mission, objectives, planning and strategy, contingency planning, implementation, change control.
Operations Management
Production methods, cost, revenue and break-even analysis, quality assurance, production planning, project management.
Project Management
Defining and summarising the key elements involved in project management (Project Integration, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communication Management, Project Risk Management and Project Procurement Management).
What makes a project a successful one, the triangle of objectives, the implications of project failure (shortcomings in initial project plan, flaws in costing, time and quality management, inadequate communication across stakeholders, consequences related to delegation and leadership shortfalls, unrealistic aims, lack of prioritization, lack of knowledge in stakeholder interests and concerns, poorly defined expectations), why project success does not always equal success as a Project Manager.
Project Management Software
ProjectLibre is a free open source project management software application. It is designed to manage small to medium sized projects and contains all the tools necessary to manage various types of projects including extensive reporting facilities. ProjectLibre is also compatible with Microsoft Project making transfer of projects easy and straightforward.
Overview of the ProjectLibre Environment
Introduction to ProjectLibre; Downloading & Installing the Application. The ProjectLibre screen environment: Gantt Charts, Using Network Diagrams, the Resources View, the Work Breakdown Structure Chart, the Resources Breakdown Structure Chart, the Reports Screen, the Task Usage Detail Screen, the Resource Usage Detail Screen, the Histogram Screen.
Setting Up and Managing a Project
Setting up a New Project; Creating Sub Tasks, Setting Task Durations, Setting Task Dependencies, Modifying a Task, Adding Notes to a Task, Adding Resources to your Project. Work and Material Resource Types, Assigning & Modifying a Resource, Assigning Costs to a Resource, Adding Notes to a Resource. Inserting Milestones in a Project; Tracking your Project using Baselines, Creating Project Reports. Common Project Management Terms, Resources and References.
PR Strategy
Situation Analysis, Research, Objectives, Publics, Implementation, Budgets, Timetables, Evaluation. Planning and Managing a PR Campaign
PR as a Management Function
Public Relations' role in the Organisation - Internal Communication, Communicating Performance, Counselling the Organisation, Strategy. The role of the Public Relations Practitioner, both in-house and in Consultancies. Business Strategy and Operation.
Crisis Management
Definitions and Typologies of Crises. The Crisis Management Plan and Crisis Management Team. Communicating in a Crisis. The Aftermath of a Crisis, Reputation Management.
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
Managing community expectations. The organisation’s impact on society. The Increasing Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Ethics of CSR. CSR as an Integral Element of Overall Business Strategy. Why Organisations Engage in Community Relations, the Range of CSR Activities.
Entrepreneurial Skills
Innovation, research and new product development.
Business Ethics
Business ethics, business and the environment. Commercial Law, Company Law, Contract Law, Employment Law, Law of Tort.
Presentation Skills
The Importance of Preparation and Research, Understanding your Audience Before you Present, Speech Content (Subject Matter and Objectives), Speech Delivery and Variety, Discuss the Importance of Body Language, Eye Contact etc, Presentation Aids e.g. Visuals, etc. Management of Locations and Audiences, Presentation Structure.
Exhibition Management Projects
The projects are an important part of the course. Each course participant is given 3 project briefs. Participants are asked at the end of the course to produce 3 Exhibition Management Proposals with their recommendations to the examiners. This gives participants the opportunity to use the knowledge they have obtained during the course in a focused way and develops proposal-writing and creative skills.
METHODS OF LEARNING
Online Lecture Modules, Subject Expert Feedback Sessions after each Module, Practical Case Studies, End of Module Assignments, etc.
SUBJECT EXPERTS
The institute maintains a panel of qualified Subject Experts.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
Anyone interested in developing a career in Exhibition Management. Early application is advisable as places are limited.
QUALIFICATIONS
Successful students qualify for the Postgraduate Diploma in Exhibition Management (PG Dip. Exh. Man.). The Postgraduate Diploma is awarded at Distinction, Credit or Pass Level. This course is certified by the Institute of Commercial Management and is industry and internationally recognised in over 140 different countries worldwide.