Great Northern Cycling Event: Promoting Fair Competition And Event Management Skills Essay. (70 Characters)

Background

Discuss about the Great Northern Cycling Event.

Events management is the systematic process that entails application of project management skills in handling large events that relate to identification of the target participants, creating the concept, and managing the factors of consideration before the start of the events launch (Bowdin, 2010).

The event will be held during the last week of September 2016, it will bring over a hundred participants. They will start cycling from Townsville to Charter tower which is 118kms away. They will spend their night before coming back the following day. The final event will be held at the Ville Casino.

The very first consideration of an event is the coming up with the mission and vision of the great northern cycling event.  The event aims to promote fair competition from various participants from Calms, Mackay and Townsville. This will also bring together various cyclists who will participate in the competition. The events background is the promotion of competition in Townsville as it has been an event that has been taking place for several years. The participants will be required to be healthy individuals since the distance to be covered is large. They will also be required to come with their cycling gears and their bikes that are of the accepted standard. The cyclists’ age will range from eighteen to twenty five. (Kaszeta, 2012).

The event having considered the course from Townsville to Charters tower and back. When selecting this route, they considered the number of participants, the houses and business places along the place, if the road is used by heavy commercial vehicles, the starting and the finishing points and the overall congestion. This factors are to be considered over twelve months before the launch of the cycling event.  The date of the events is a crucial consideration. This is because there are many events that are planned throughout the calendar. The permit requirements are also crucial for consideration before launching the event so as not to waste time and money. The Great Northern Cycling event needs to do proper marketing and adequate communication, this will be vital to attract the required number of participants. The organizers are also required to have the entry of the participants through an online system so as to avoid confusion by counting of participants or calculating the money for the prize (Bladen, 2012).

Having prepared the budget, it’s crucial to find partners that will help in the realization of the project. The events managers should look for sponsorship from people who are ready to invest for a long-term partnership. This will entail determining their wants so as to enable meeting their goals. This will help in creating confidence in the amount that they have endowed. Sponsorship considerations will include conducting an inventory and valuation, this includes making a catalogue for the assets that the Great Northern Cycling Company holds, and they are composed of the physical assets and non-tangible. This will entail coming up with the current market pricing of the assets. Prospecting is also another condition, this includes having partners who are qualified and have similar objectives to those of the company. This will include understanding the demographic factors of the participants in the cycling event.

Initial Considerations

The management should also discover what the sponsors need. This can be achieved through understanding their objectives and the chances of investment that they are seeking. This will help in knowing the expected return from their investment. The management is also tasked with customization of the proposals, this will enable classifying each sponsor with the discovered goal hence enabling comfortability in the investment. This will demonstrate how each sponsor is supporting the cycling event. Activating the contract is the next plan in action, this will enable the sponsors to utilize the opportunity on the benefits that they are entitled to in the event. This can be through making another investment in the event if there is an opportunity.

The management should then ensure that the benefits they promised the sponsors are fulfilled. This will be by provision of a report on the accountability by indicating each sponsors investment and the manner in which each sponsor achieved his or her benefits (Parent & Chappelet, n.d, 2015).

In the action plan, the project manager is tasked with coming up with the events plan. This is a guide on the implementation strategies of each activity at each particular time. This can be achieved by scheduling the various tasks when they will be performed before the actual event.  The management will then select the partners that they had identified above. The partners must share the same goals as those of the Great Northern Cycling event.  In the action plan, the events managers are tasked to obtain the required permits from the relevant authorities. This will enable them to proceed with the event peacefully (Shone & Parry, 2004).

The management should also conduct recruitment and training of the events supportive staff. These people will assist in the success of the event as the management cannot run the event alone. After conducting the recruitment, the Great Northern Cycling event managers will develop a budget that must be sustainable. This includes ensuring that everything that will be required must be affordable and still enable them to offer the price, pay the investors their benefits and still make a profit. This will include the accommodation at the Chaters tower at the end of event one and the barbeque and paying of accommodation at the Ville Casino (Jones, 2014).

The steering committee of the Great Northern Cycling event will then have a series of meetings. They will discuss on the implementation of the event so as to make it a success. This will include how the event will be run, the requirements that must be provided, and the risk assessment of the Great Northern Cycling event so as to be able to mitigate any situation that might arise. The steering committee will also be accountable to the investors as they will need value for their money. They will later do the booking and commissioning of the event. This will be achieved by making early communication with the relevant authorities. They will also pay for the various permits that will be required so that the event can be successful at the planned date. After securing the date of the event from the authorities, the organizers’ of the Great Northern Cycling event will then do the marketing of the event.

Stakeholders Considerations

This can be achieved through the online media, publications and making announcements over the radio and the television. This will include stipulating the requirements and how those who are eligible can apply for the event. The Great Northern Cycling event management will then do the event building, this will enable gathering the necessary requirement that will make the event a success. The management will then carry out the live event. They will all measures are implemented so as not to jeopardize their efforts and the investments. After the event, they will do a monitoring and evaluation, this will comprise of accountability of how the event was managed. They will document all the information that is required and then later give the report to the sponsors of the project. The report should show the amount each investor invested and the amount that they had made as the benefits during the event (Allen, 2003).

Risk management is a crucial issue that must be considered during the event. This entails foreseeing and determining the causes of particular risks during the Great Northern Cycling event. This will be achieved by including the risk management at each point of the event. Persons that may be at risk during the Great Northern Cycling event include: the events personnel, the spectators that will be at the event, the participants of the cycling competition and those who live near the locality of the event. In risk assessment, the management should include their insurance company. The company will help in assessing by identifying the various points of the event that the risk is expected, determine the risk, and come up with mitigation strategies to curb the risk and to determine the level of the risk.  Some of the common risk factors that are expected in the Great Northern Cycling event are: the profile of the spectators of the event, the weather conditions of the locality, movement of vehicles on the site, buildings at the vicinity of the competition, barriers that will be used in the event, control of traffic in the locality, sound and noise at the Charter tower, fire, terrorism, security of the locality, drugs to stimulate the riders, animals and the ground conditions (Tarlow, 2002).

Prevent accident from occurring to the events personnel, the crowd, the participants and other people in the event. This can be achieved by removing any obstacles that can be perceived as a threat to the event. Obtaining legal permits will also be important. This can be from the insurance company so as to enable full coverage of the cost in case of an accident. Educating the public on the need to avoid risky behavior is also crucial. Reduction of anxiety about a risk happening is also to be considered. Deploying of emergency response personnel is also crucial. The Great Northern Cycling event managers should also devise mitigation measures for each risk that had been identified in the assessment. The management should also enable monitoring of the hazards after a specified period of time. The strategies used in risk management include: avoidance of the risk, retention of the specified risk, transferring of the risk and reduction of the risk.

Legal considerations are the elementary aspects that ought to be considered before running the event. The legal considerations are enforced by the government to ensure public safety and accountability in case of an accident during the event. The Great Northern Cycling Company ought to provide a constitution of the company. This is to prove that it is legally registered and permitted to operate. They should provide a constitution of the company. It should contain the name of the company, objectives the company is set to achieve, the period of service, eligibility of the participants, the financial management of the Great Northern Cycling Company and the timing of the event.

The management should also be able to prove the ownership of the Great Northern Cycling event. Sanctioning can be done to so as to enable a recognized body to manage the Great Northern Cycling event. This sanctioning may be required if the cycling is to be governed by international rules. The management should also contain legal documents on the agreements and contracts. This serves to govern and dispel opportunities of corruption. Licenses and permission must be applied for. They include the entertainment of the public license, trade at the streets license, license on road use or closure, adherence to equal rights, minors protection and the insurance (Slater, 2012).                                                          

References 

Allen, J. (2003). Event planning. Etobicoke, Ont.: Wiley.

Bladen, C. (2012). Events management. New York: Routledge.

Bowdin, G. (2010). Events Management 3rd Edition. Abingdon: Routledge [Imprint].

Jones, M. Sustainable event management.

Kaszeta, D. (2012). CBRN and Hazmat Incidents at Major Public Events. New York: Wiley.

Parent, M. & Chappelet, J. Routledge Handbook of Sports Event Management.

Shone, A. & Parry, B. (2004). Successful event management. London: Thomson Learning.

Slater, R. (2012). The guide to event management. Luton: Andrews UK.

Tarlow, P. (2002). Event risk management and safety. New York: J. Wiley.