Golden Anniversary Celebration: A Program Outline

Assessment 1: Briefing of the event

Discuss about the Event Management report for 50th Wedding Anniversary Event.

The aim of this report is to develop a strategic plan for the 50^th Wedding Anniversary. It is an important milestone in a couple’s life together. This report provides an opportunity for friends and relatives to join the couple in their celebration and a renewal of vows (Raj, Walters and Rashid 2013). The paper provides analysis of the client requirements, stakeholders and theme of the event. The report also provides an event feasibility report covering operational and key issues. Lastly, the communication and operations plan for the wedding anniversary. The action plan of the event is discussed.

Analysis of clients’ requirements

The children of the happy couple approached to plan an event for their parents’ golden jubilee. Upon discussing the client requirements, it is analysed that the client requires a memorable event for their parents. Since the event is a golden jubilee, the client wanted everything in gold such as the invitation cards, decorations, dress codes and gifts. The clients desire to choose a venue in the same city where their parents met for the first time. They wish for a beautiful golden decor to which the guests would be startled. Additionally, the clients hope to gift a memento to the attendees or the guests that would be of some utility. The client put forward their wishes of having a playlist of their parent’s favourite tracks. Also, to capture the loveliest moments a photographer is required (Raj, Walters and Rashid 2013). The music and dance shall help in making the ceremony memorable. The entire venue shall be decorated with yellow lilies, golden curtains, table spreads and crockery with a touch of gold.

Analysis of stakeholders and their needs

The stakeholders for the anniversary party and their needs can be summarised below:

List of stakeholders	Expected needs of the stakeholders
The couple	The anniversary couple would be expecting cheerful surprises. Thus, the theme of the party should include many surprises for the couple. Moreover, special attention to their comfort should also be given.
Host of the event	Since, the children had to spend good sum of money on the celebration, their expectation level automatically risen (Berridg 2012). Their requirements can be fulfilled only by serving the guests with great attention and making the event memorable for their parents as well.
Invited VIPs and celebrities	People belonging to this genre have high expectation regarding their treatment in public forums (Shuai et al. 2016). It is advisable that a band or a badge is given to the VIPs, so they can be easily recognised. Waiters and others responsible for taking care of the guests shall be instructed to pay more attention to these people in respect to their food and comfort level.
Other invitees including friends and relatives	General requirements of invitees include good food, well mannered waiters and availability of help for any kind of issues or queries. Thus, apart from people serving food and beverages, availability of guests’ care executives will add a special touch in guests’ servicing (Silvers and Goldblatt 2012).
Technical helpers	Photographers, videographers, music operators, decorators, electricians and others, responsible for the technicalities of the celebration, should not be avoided regarding their requirements (Napompech 2014). There should be arrangement for everything that is required for their respective jobs.
Others	Others include the volunteers who will be responsible for looking after the arrangements and other related things in the party. They might require co-operation of the guests and other attendees.

The owners of the event or the children have a reason to celebrate this occasion to get across the relatives. This event shall help the relatives in mending the fences and get along well together. Additionally, the aim of this event is to have their family take notice of their abilities. The mission is to conduct an event with creative and broad spectrum of experience and make the occasion memorable for the couple, family members and friends. We hear the work and needs to generate the event of their dreams. Their wishes shall turn out to be the instructions and it would intend to be an achievement (Bowdin et al. 2012).

Assessment 2: Event feasibility report

Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of the event can be supported by SMART criteria:

Specific	·         The main aim of the party is to make it a life time memorable event for the couple as well as the other invitees. ·         Another aim of the event as mentioned earlier is to dilute the bitterness among the relatives and create a sweet bonding among everyone.
Measurable	·         The success of the set objectives can be easily measured by getting feedbacks from the couple and the attendees of the party, whether the event can be regarded as a memorable one (Smith 2012). ·         A positive vibe among the relatives can be naturally observed with the kind of gesture that they would exchange with the members of the family.
Attainable	The goal can be easily achieved if all the guests and invitees are treated with great affection. Personal attention from the host, the children, will definitely add good essence to make the relationship strong.
Realistic	The Goal is very realistic because it can be assumed that everyone will participate heartily in the Golden Jubilee anniversary party of the couple. It is also expected that the relatives will also try to mend the harsh feelings that have ever persisted.
Timely	The objective can be fulfilled timely because it will probably a couple or two long hours’ event. It is expected that the invitees will participate that in turn will help to achieve the targeted objective.

Proposed theme of the event

The theme chosen for this event is a ‘Story Party’ where a comfortable atmosphere shall be put up. A rocker shall be put in the middle of the hall or stage. The guests shall be asked to prepare a story or memory about the couple that they would like to share at this time (Raj, Walters and Rashid 2013). The family members shall also share images on a digital screen where the audience could see their lives beginning from the courtship till present. As event managers, the images sent by the clients shall be arranged in a story-form where the audience shall see the couple beginning their new lives, vacationing around the world, kids coming into their lives, togetherness with family and friends. The story props and photos shall be spread out in the room where people would see memories together.

Proposed venue

Since the couple first met in Paris, the venue shall be chosen within the city. ‘Heritage Hall’ is a one stop venue just west of downtown Paris, Texas. The venue brings a unique and cosy feel for the visitors to the place (Napompech 2014). There are dressing rooms, bars, restrooms and kitchen to meet the basic needs. The hall also consists of chairs, starting tables and vendor bookings as different elements. The venue gives access to both indoor and outdoor packages for conducting the event. There is a large inventory of equipment and supplies to meet the needs (Heritage Hall 2016).

Strategic planning tools

The tools that are necessary for developing the plan of the event can be recommended here:

Visioning the situation	The purpose and the theme of the event have already been decided and thus it is expected that visualizing the same situation all kind of arrangements will be made (Matthews 2011).
Making a mind map	To fulfil the set objectives, it is important to make a mind map prior commencing the arrangements. Step by step requirements are to be jotted down using charts and tables. If required, the planning can be made using computer software and programs (Rothaermel 2013).
Building a team	The team members should be assigned with their respective duties. There should be a leader who will be responsible to take care of those volunteered members.
Thorough communication	There should be constant communication among the team members and the clients as well regarding the palling of the event. This can be achieved by face to face communication or by contacting them by phone calls or text messages (Michalco and Navrat 2012).

After analysing the needs of the clients for the special event, a feasibility report of the same can be made here. Depending upon the various needs of the event, the following can be categorised under the below mentioned heads:

Political need:

Since, the event is a personal anniversary party celebrating 50 years of happily weeded life; there shall not be any inclusion of political matters.

Public support for the event: Since, there will be arrangements of music and other amusement activities such as lighting fire crackers etc. public support of the nearby residents might be required (Kilkenny 2012).

Supportive and teamwork: The members of the event organizer as well as the family members who have contributed in the event should develop a supportive and team work attitude. Each and every person must work together as a team.

Assessment 3: Communication and Operations plan

Human resource needs

Human resource includes those who will have physical presence in the event and is also responsible for making the event memorable and successful. The human resource needs include:

Availability of skilled and professional workforce: It falls under the responsibility of the event organizer to appoint capable and skilled workforce who would perform as a team to achieve the same target and make the event memorable for everyone (Brown 2014).

Availability of supplementary volunteer workforce: Along with specific categorised team members there should be availability of supplementary workforce as well who will act as helpers to the existing workforce (Bowdin et al. 2013).

People who will be participating in the event both as a guest and as a volunteer form the population of the event (Caiazza and Audretsch 2015). Population needs can be fulfilled by:

Presence of the invitees: Assurance should be made that the relatives, friends and others who are going to be the part of the event should turn up to the event. They should be invited with warm regards because without their presence, the purpose of the event will not be fulfilled.

Presence of the volunteers: Other volunteers such as the manager of the event, waiters and waitresses responsible for serving food to the guests, musicians and light man and other staffs are also included in the list of population need required for the event.

Infrastructure needs

Issues related to the venue of the event can be regarded as the infrastructure need of the event. For this purpose, booking of the venue should be made properly.

Booking venues on appropriate dates: The selected date should not clash with any other events.

Enough capacity of the venue: The capacity of the venue must fulfil the requirements. There should be enough space that there remains a comfort zone for every invitee and attendee (Daniels, Lee and Cohen 2012).

Availability of proper arrangements: Proper arrangement including availability of chair, sofas, enough glasses and cutleries along with serving plates, proper lights, well decorated stage and other things should be made.

Financial needs

While planning for the event, it is expected that an estimated budget will be made. The client might be asked for complete or partial payment. But, in all respect, the expenses have to be beard by the client or the children of the couple.

Start up funding: It might not happen that due to scarcity of fund, the planning made on the theme of the event gets hampered. For the start up arrangements, necessary funds can be collected from the host of the event (Getz and Page 2016).

Action plan

Cash flow: For later financial needs of the event, the cost will be borne by the host only. It might happen that the event organizer would invest the money at several point of need and later reimburse the same from the host.

Approval and regulatory needs

There is no such requirement of permission from any regulatory body or authority but certain sustainability factors must be kept in check. These factors shall count the following concerns:

Sustainability and environmental concern: There should not be any kind of activities that would harm the environment. It is advisable that there should not be use of any kind of plastic articles. The glasses, plates and the cutleries must be either made of glass or other materials like steel or silver (Yeoman 2013). The wastes that will be generated after the event that might include wasted food should be disposed of properly.

Risks of the event: If the music or the chaos in the event becomes too loud, then there might raise certain risks to make the event peaceful (Andersson and Lundberg 2013). Again, for burning the fire crackers as well, it is advisable to take prior permission from the nearby authority.

Sponsorship and marketing needs

Since, it is a personal party there is no such involvement of sponsorship for the event. The total expense of the event will be beard by the host or the children of the couple. There should not be any kind of charity as well that might compel the guests to give donation. It is a family oriented party which does not support the idea of sponsorship and marketing the event. At a larger perspective, the news of the event will be known to the relatives and friends because the event will become a topic of discussion among them.

The event is not meant for everyone. Only the relatives and friends of the family are invited so there is no such scope for marketing or promoting the event (Raj, Walters and Rashid 2013). People can be invited by the following ways:

Invitation by invitation cards: Only the desired people will be invited by sending them invitation cards in personal. It can be given directly hand to hand or it can be sent by courier. Along with the invitation card, if a memento or some edible items like dry fruits or chocolates are sent then it can add a personal touch to the invitation method.

Verbal invitation: At many times it happen that few people get missed out and the same thing is realised at the last moment. It might also happen that someone comes across with the host suddenly before the function. In all such instances, all that works is a verbal invitation. Thus, it is expected that few people can be invited by calling (phone call) them or requesting them face to face to attend the party.

This part of the paper deals with communication and operation plan that is an important part for planning anniversary event.

Communication plan

Communication plan should include both internal and external communications. Communicating with the members of the event organizer is considered internal communication, whereas, communicating with the client and the other stakeholders, responsible for complete operation of the event, falls under external communication (Coombs 2014). The communication plan can be broadly classified under three main heads. These are:

Pre-event communication

All the necessary arrangements required for the event must be done prior to the event. These include communication with the client, team members and the people responsible for other arrangements. It must be noted that communication with the client and the team members is to be carried on throughout the three stages of communication and not only in pre-event communication.

With client: The most important part of the communication process is communicating with the client. The event organizer is expected to remain in constant touch with the client. This can be achieved by organizing time to time meetings with the clients. Discussing everything step by step and in details is the foremost requirement for making the event hustle free. Following methods can be used for constant communication:

Meetings: Understanding the requirements and expectations of the client is very important. It can be achieved by face to face or direct communication only. It is important to call for a meeting and discuss everything in detail (Broadbent 2013). At the same time, negotiation regarding budget or any other factor can be also made. Decisions regarding food, decoration, music or orchestra and other arrangements can be discussed in details in a meeting. If required, meeting can be called more than once depending upon the convenience of both the parties.

Conversation by phone calls: Once everything is discussed and decided, there might arise various confusions or thoughts regarding certain alterations in the plan. For such situations, discussing the matter over phone calls can solve any kind of dilemma. Thus, it is expected that both client and the organizer confirm any kind of inclusion or exclusion in the plan by just a verbal talk.

Text messages: In the era of Watsapp and image-texting, photos of the selected materials that shall be used for decoration or the designs of the serving dishes and cutleries can be sent to the client for confirmation (Atefeh and Khreich 2015). This way the arrangements can be made easier and quicker along with confirmation from the clients’ side.

Creating Facebook page: A Facebook page can be created exclusively for the event and up comings of the event can be declared there. Invitation can be sent to as many members as possible and any news related to the event can be posted there (Koolwal et al. 2016).

With the team members: Each member is responsible for their respective jobs and duties. They must be assigned with their respective jobs. The manager or managers of the event is expected to take care that everything remains on track and there is availability of all kinds of necessary materials required for the event (Yeoman 2013). All the team members must stay connected with each other and they keep communicating by the means of phone calls or text messages before, during and till the event ends up successfully.

The guests: Both the VIPs and other invitees must be communicated to attend the event. Invitation cards must be sent to them by post or in personal, as required. They must be warmly invited to attend the party on the proposed date.

With other stake holders: Other stake holders including the decorators, musicians, light man, photographer and videographer, florists, card maker and others who are responsible for the completion of the event. Each and every person must be narrated the theme and the actual requirements of the event. Each and everything should be made clear to each stakeholder. Other discussions regarding payment or timing shall also be made during the communication (Silvers and Goldblatt 2012). Meeting each of them and explaining the scenario could have been the best possible way to achieve success in event.

Communication during the event

Since all the necessary requirements will be met during the pre-event phase, no such communication is required during the event. However, as already mentioned a constant communication with the client and the team members should not be interrupted. Again, the stakeholders who will be present there at the event, such as the musician should be communicated and instructed the necessary things (Coombs 2014). During the event, communication is carried on only with the people who are responsible for the success of the event. However, it has to be kept in mind that a constant communication with the client is very vital in every stage of the event.

Post-event communication

Since, the client, stakeholders and the team members of the organizer are involved in this particular event, post-event communication will be made with these people only.

Feedback from client: The client and the couple should be communicated and feedback from them should be taken regarding the management and overall performance of the team during the event. This is very important because acknowledging both the positive and the negative aspects of the event is very important for the event organizer (Daniels, Lee and Cohen 2012).

Tallying accounts with operational stakeholders: Making payment to the stakeholders responsible for the operational activities in the event is important. Generally, full payment is not made at the beginning and only an advance is given. The remaining amount is given after the event. So communicating with these stakeholders after the event is important. Tallying all accounts and payments to these people is generally done in the post-event communication phase of the event. Thus, it is expected that the same thing will be done properly in the last phase of communication.

Since, the event is a personal family oriented event and not a corporate or political event; any kind of communication with other authorities or political people, is not necessary in the post-event communication phase.

Management and operation plan

It is called ‘Event Management’ because the main aim of organizing an event is to manage the complete operation of the event. Strategic tools play an important role in the management and operation of the event. Moreover, the role of the managers who are responsible for taking care of the whole event holds great importance. The management and operation phase can again be divided into three broad categories:

Management and operation during set up

The necessary requirements that have to be done before the commencement of the event falls under the management and operational function during the set up. The following steps might be included:

Framing the mission and vision statement: It is necessary to frame the mission and vision statement of the event by consulting with the client. It has to be done during the set up phase of the event (Broadbent 2013).

Strategy planning: The main purpose of making a plan is to make everything clear to the people responsible for complete operation of the event. Thus, it is expected that a detail plan of the theme of the event and systematic operation be noted during the set up of the plan.

Jotting down the plan: The manager responsible for the complete operation should jot down the plan. The duties and responsibilities should be given to the people or the stakeholders who are the in-charge of the event (Walker 2014). For the same purpose, a presentation can be made where each and every person will be addressed confirming their respective duties.

Management during presentation phase

Execution of the set plan and keeping a check on the ongoing plan is the major requisites of the management function during the presentation phase. Here, the presentation phase means the time when the event will actually take place. These steps might include:

Execution of the plan: This is the most important stage of the event. Executing the plans properly as per the set up plan should be executed properly. People responsible for every task must acknowledge their respective responsibilities (Daniels, Lee and Cohen 2012).

Keeping a check on the plan: A thorough check on the planning that has been made during the set up phase of the operation should be kept. The manager of the event must be responsible for taking care of every action and operation carried by the members of the team.

Management and operation after pack down

The managerial operation does not end even after the event is finished. Complete responsibility regarding the pack up of the event also falls under the job responsibility of the event organizer. There will be no such operational activities once the event is over but acknowledging the feedback of the event is very important (Getz and Page 2016). The manager is expected to take care of complete pack down of the event. Moreover, it is also expected that the manager of the organizer will approach the client and the guests to get feedback from them.

The above discussion has narrated all the important elements that are necessary to make an event successful. It has to be kept in mind that approaches should be different for different types of events. This particular paper highlights the event management for 50^th Wedding anniversary of a couple. However, the approach would have been different if it was a different event. The above stated plan can be fruitful for the said event if all the steps are taken with proper attention.

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