An Eventful Career

It includes organising everything from kiddie parties to wedding extravaganzas, but event management is no child’s play. LIGHTS, camera, action...waves of applause are heard as the curtains of any function rise. But not many see the effort put in to organise a fantastic show. The pains belong solely to the event manager - a profession that’s gaining much importance right now. India being the third biggest event country owing to numerous festival celebrations explains the growing need for event managers across the nation.
Event management in itself is a very broad idea and covers a wide range of functions. The field is broad enough to include various components as its bifurcations. These functions range from getting clients, marketing events, organising events/ functions, seminars, etc, to handling the technical aspects of the function like lights, special effects, etc. Events organised by managers can be broadly classified into five different categories of events, which are as follows

HALLMARK EVENTS:
These are the bigger events held on a larger scale, hence requiring greater efforts to be put in. Some of the examples that aptly describe this category of events are the World Cup matches.

EDUCATIONAL EVENTS:
These are events that can be described to be of educational interest or for the exchange of knowledge. Various types of trade fairs, corporate events, seminars, etc fall under this category of events.

MARKETING EVENTS:
These events aim at creating an awareness about a product or creating a market for a new product. Events held for the marketing of products, product launches, etc fall into the category of these events.
CELEBRATION EVENTS:
These events are the single biggest events in the market. They may be award functions or festival events etc. Femina Miss India functions, Filmfare awards functions or the Navratri functions etc. describe this category of events.

MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS:
Some events cannot be categorised into any of the types named above and hence these are slotted in the last category of miscellaneous events. Some of the examples are hospitality events, marriages, parties, tourism events, etc.
FUNCTIONS:
An event manager is like a circus leader who has to perform many different functions. The various functions handled by event managers are organizing seminars, exhibitions, concerts, cricket matches, road shows, functions, events, etc.
An event manager has to, in the initial stages; fetch clients for the organisation.The next stage delves into the conceptualization of the whole show around the theme as required by the client.
The major functions remaining relate to executing the event by creating publicity hype and also marketing the show, guaranteeing awareness among the public about the show to ensure its success. The hype can be created through the print media, TV, etc. The venue has to be booked and properly organized for the show. Other outsourcing aspects like lighting, food, stage, stalls, electric equipment, ticketing etc are to be taken care of. Performers have to be booked in case of marriages or parties according to requirements.