4 x PCMA Convening Leaders – The Story of a Student

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

2013 was my fourth and final year at PCMA Convening Leaders as a Student, although, as my Professor pointed out, I’ll never know for sure. I think I do know, because no matter how much I have enjoyed studying at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, I cannot wait to get out there and get my hands dirty and having attended four PCMA Annual Meetings is most certainly one of the reasons for that.

#1 Dallas, TXConvening Leaders 2010 Dallas, TX

I experienced my first Convening Leaders in Dallas, TX as greenhorn in the meetings and events industry and it was also my first year as a student in a different country, speaking a language that was not my mother tongue. Therefor the predominant feeling was being deeply impressed and a little overwhelmed. The most important thing I learned that year was how to network, which, as an outgoing and interested student, was something I took great joy in. All I had to do was watch our Professor, Joe Goldblatt, do it and repeat after him. I quickly figured out, which icebreakers work best, what professionals were interested in and what the dos and don’ts of networking are. We all agreed that the best thing to include in our elevator speech was to mention that we were from Europe. The professionals, mostly US Americans, loved meeting students from across the pond. So, my ProTip from Dallas is that you should think about what your own personal ‘Europe’ is. It might be a little more difficult, if you are meeting fellow countrymen and women, but there is something interesting about everyone.

#2 Las Vegas, NVConvening Leaders 2011 Las Vegas

In 2011 over 3,000 PCMA members met in Las Vegas, Nevada. In April the year before I had applied for the Student Planner Of The Year Scholarship, which included writing a proposal for one of the official educational sessions during the conference. I pitched my idea for a student panel discussion around the topic ‘Generation Y looks to the future’. I won the award and invited six interviewees, which were students from all over the US and a friend of mine from QMU. Jmichaele Keller, who, back then, was President and CEO of MeetingMatrix International, kindly agreed to lead the discussion. Because of the session I was quite busy during the conference and did not attend many other sessions. However, experiencing Las Vegas itself was impressive on its own and I met very interesting people and, again, our group had lots of exciting additional little trips organised in addition to the conference programme. One of my most memorable experiences was our visit of the MGM Resorts Events facilities where we got a tour of the impressive MGM in-house event company.
The session I organised in Vegas taught me that although us students are the future of the industry, we might not know where we are headed. After all, having experienced the past does matter, if you want to predict the future.

#3 San Diego, CAConvening Leaders 2012 San Diego

In January 2012 six QMU students and Joe met in San Diego. The moment my plane touched Californian soil I felt that there was something different about that place. I just came from a vacation with my family in Florida, which one the one hand is very similar, but simultaneously has a completely different vibe to it. We spent the first night at Lucky D’s Hostel, which is one of the greatest of its kind, before we moved to the Manchester Grand Hyatt for the duration of the conference. The service quality we experienced at the Hyatt was impressive. I have never before experienced such friendly and helpful staff at a hotel. They made our stay very special. Luckily we had the chance to meet up with the HR director, who told us all about the challenges of achieving and sustaining such a high service quality standard. We also met their head of food and beverage, who organised some of the conference’s receptions talking to us about how difficult it was to organise an event for event professionals. I have never actually thought about the PCMA Annual Meeting in that way, but when 3000 industry pros meet up, I can imagine that they won’t miss the tiniest detail.
I have to admit that the city of San Diego, its famous Zoo, the Gas Lamp District and the beach distracted me quite a lot from the conference, but that year I learned how tricky and elaborate it is to run a large business such as the Manchester Grand while making sure that each and every employee is always in top form and reads all your wishes from your lips.

#4 Orlando, FLConvening Leaders 2013 Orlando

Finally, our largest group ever to attend a PCMA conference flew to Orlando, Florida, unfortunately, for the first time without Joe, but he organised a great replacement. Richard Bent is also a lecturer at QMU, who is a Disney specialist. He has written several academic papers about the theme parks and knows his way around the city very well. We also met up with Joe’s best friend, Gene Columbus, who worked for Disney for 40 years and who took us around all the Disney parks constantly running into interesting people he knew and of which he had employed most himself.
That year I was awarded the Chairmen’s Scholarship, which got me into the Chairmen’s reception, which was a great opportunity to network with the big players of PCMA. As sort of a surprise the other recipient and I were offered work experience tailored to our career plans, which we expressed in our application.
Orlando might just have been my overall favourite conference. Sure, Las Vegas had the best opening reception, Dallas the most amazing closing event and San Diego the most delicious food, but Orlando with its theme parks, where we got several behind the scene tours, the conference sessions and our QMU group, which I am very proud of for being so professional and committed, scored the most overall points. One reason, I am sure, was that it was my fourth Convening Leaders and that I felt a little like a student attendee pro by then.

No matter, if you are a professional or still a student; I believe that attending conferences such as Convening Leaders is a great chance for personal and professional growth, as you get a sense of what’s really going on in the industry and you can meet old and new friends that might just open up the door to the next great chapter of your career. So get out there and start networking!

PCMA12 San Diego

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Steve and i

Posted on October 15, 2012 by

Over the past year I’ve been quite busy with personal matters, which is one reason why I haven’t blogged much during that time. However, I have found a topic, which links the two, business and personal affairs, quite nicely together. I started reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, which turned out to become one of my favourite books. It is partly a professional guide, a history of Apple Computers and the story of Jobs, connecting all three aspects, telling an interesting tale about a very special way to conduct business, honest marketing and how to create the most valuable company in history of man kind.

I admit that I was probably particularly thrilled by the book, because I red it in a time of personal self-discovery where “Steve Jobs” gave me the right impulses and answers I was looking for at the time. Nevertheless, I think that every business student and professional should read it, because it gives a very good example of a company whose success is not due to a CEO, who followed everything he learned in business school, but someone who had an idea, a simple set of values and no mercy when it came to compromises regarding quality or design. It teaches you the very important lesson that, if you want to become a successful entrepreneur you have to be true to yourself (no matter how cheesy that may sound).

I am not one of those people, who warship Apple unconditionally like a religion. I simply admire the company Apple Inc.. It is out of question, that Apple and most certainly Steve Jobs are/were not perfect, however, I do not know of a second company that is so passionate about and at the same time so good at what they do on such a large scale. You can learn a great deal about product development, marketing and leading a company from Jobs, although they would have to be very careful, because Jobs was more than a little crazy and you have to be careful which of his qualities you adapt.

Based on what I learned from the book Apple is a company that does not treat its marketing department as a bold-on, but rather tries to bring a message across they truly believe in. Jobs believed in what he did and did not try to trick consumers into buying his products attaching values to them people would aspire to. I heard many people criticising others for buying Apple products, because they were nothing but a status symbol, however, you will not get around the fact that they are of very high quality. After reading Jobs’ biography, I became even more a fan, because I learned about the passion products are designed in Cupertino. I guess wherever there is a cult you will find resistance and scepticism is just something that comes with being so successful.

One thing Jobs believed in was that everyone should stick to what they can do best and leave anything else to the pros. As part of our 4th year event module we have been discussing Marx’s ideas and other texts criticizing consumerism. In my opinion it is important to make conscious buying decisions in a world where marketers are constantly trying to stimulate our emotions creating wants and letting us forget about true needs. Ask yourself the question why you are buying an iPhone and not the more inexpensive alternative. If your honest answer is about functionality and quality and not about prestige and image you made the right choice.

So, be awake, make conscious decisions and reflect on your behaviour. By the way, the reason to read Jobs’ biography is that I did and loved it.

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Football Fever

Posted on September 24, 2012 by

Since the ‘Summer Fairy-tale’ and the Football World Cup in Germany six years have gone by.  2006 was the year the Germans rediscovered their passion and pride of their own nation. Although the black, red and golden flags were taken out very cautiously in the beginning something changed that summer. We became a little more confident showing were we come from and were very proud of our great team.

KIA Fan Fest 2012

It was also that summer when public broadcasts became very popular and we had events in every major city. We actually call it a public viewing when we watch a game on a large screen outside with many other people, but I was told that a public viewing is supposed to be the display of a corpse. So, there’s a little fun fact, but back to business.

Our company organised its first public broadcast in 2006 and it was a huge success, as the atmosphere during the WC was amazing. The heart of the event was the large LED screen hanging inside a stage. Opposite the stage was the business lounge with a large marquee and seats for paying guests. In addition to the VIP seats we had seats for families with children and other visitors, who preferred to sit down. However, the real action went down in the ‘stadium’, the space in between where tens of thousands of fans watched the games. Around the stadium we rented out space to vendors, who offered food, beverages, merchandise, beer, cocktails and so on. In order to add some additional incentives we offered a range of activities such as goal wall shooting, a bouncy castle and some other football and sports related stalls. It was an incredible party with an energy that I have never experienced before in my life.

The first event I worked at was the HYUNDAI Fan Park for the WC 2010 in South Africa. I was in charge of the business lounge, which sounds a lot fancier than it was, as my duties were more hands on rather than running around in a shirt and tie smiling all day. The business area consisted of the main seating area and the two-story marquee with the catering and VIP-reception. We had an additional stand for families sponsored by a health insurance company and a local newspaper. In addition to that our beer sponsor Carlsberg had a separate VIP-area, which was very nicely done and I once caught two mid rank police officers watching the games from there, hiding behind inflatable bottles whenever any of their colleagues would walk by. Finally, we had a beautiful two-story circular media marquee with a spiral staircase to the first floor and a viewing terrace.  My job was to make sure everything would run smoothly in that area. I had to organise drinks for the press, show media people around, fix water hoses and trouble shoot wherever necessary. It was an extremely hot summer and we had to put up water tabs that were freely accessible for everyone.

2012 my job was a lot more complex, I had many more responsibilities and I helped planning the event months in advance. Actually, we did not start as early as usual, as we had troubles finding a main sponsor. Finally, KIA gave us the approval and we could go through after we had already written the whole thing off. My father, who happens to own the company, hired an external project manager, Sandra Mill, who is a freelance event manager. She had a good reputation, as she had been managing another major event in Hamburg for a number of years. My dad later told me that one of the reasons he chose her, was that when he interviewed her, he gave her the worst possible job description and told her how stressful, horrible and hard her job would be, but as she kept calm not letting him scare her, my dad knew that she was the right one for the job.

We became the core team, myself being site manager, although we obviously had a very flat hierarchy being such a small team. Later a former apprentice of the company, Paul, who had finished his bachelor in business administration by that time, joined us. Furthermore, we got help from an intern, who joined in more intensely when the event started.

All in all we were a very good team pulling off such a large event in less than five weeks. I am actually having difficulties believing it myself right now. We had to meet with Police, Fire Fighters, Paramedics, the security firm, the local council etc. As site manager I was in charge of the logistics and all related things such as fences, barriers, containers, marquees, the stage, waste management, security, electricity, water supply and so on. We started setting up a week in advance with the stage, which was the largest element. For that entire week my phone literally rang every five minutes and for most of the time I was alone on site, as my colleagues were still in the office giving it the finishing touch.

It was a great relief, when the first kick-off of the tournament finally came. Of course we still had to get through the whole thing, but that is very different work from planning and building the whole thing up. I had learned in 2010, when I joined the team just for the event, that it is a lot more fun to be involved from the beginning, because you know more about the details and can enjoy watching everything working out.

This year I learned a lot more about sponsorship negotiations, client handling and careful logistical planning. We, the company that was official organiser of the event, financed the event with sponsorship money, vendor fees and beer sales. As the organiser we could simply keep the exclusive right to sell beer at the event, which we pass on to our affiliated company.

Part of our deal with KIA was that we would not be allowed to tell any third party about the content of the contract, so I cannot say much, but the negotiations were very tough and I learned how to represent my/the company’s interests and that even a written contract can sometimes be interpreted in two different ways.

Fan Fest Press Conference

Time will tell whether there is going to be a public broadcast of the WC 2014, as the time difference in Brazil could cause the games to be in the middle of the night, but lets hope for the best.

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A Look into the Future: Trends and Developments of the Meetings and Events Industry

Posted on March 20, 2012 by

This post is my submission for the IMEX Power Of 10 Student Essay Competition

The meetings and events industry will not be the same in ten years time. The quickly growing Asian market, people’s thirst for experience rich trips, business and leisure, and the unbelievable speed with which new technologies evolve will change the meeting, as we know it. The process of professionalization of the events management profession accompanies these developments, which is necessary, as new challenges such as terrorism or higher expectations demand a higher degree of expertise.

The first world fair took place in the late 19th century in London, which is also when the first professional associations where founded. The meetings and events industry has changed and evolved evermore since then. In the following the economic, social and technological trends will be discussed and why we will still be meeting in ten years time.

The current economic climate is rather unstable. Numerous case studies and journal articles written before 2007 dealing with the economic trends of the next five years are now out-dated as the financial crisis caused an eruption in the world’s stock markets that put the world’s economies to the test. Countries such as Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and even the USA were and still are facing huge financial challenges. However, in the long run the credit crunch will be just a small dip in the world’s constantly increasing GDP. According to a study by Yeoman (2008) the global GDP will rise by 129% until 2030 indicating that people will generally earn more rather than less money, however, this trend is predominantly caused by the thriving economies of China and India and the fact that, also in western societies, the gap between rich and poor is growing.

As for any other industry these dramatic economic changes imply challenges as well as opportunities for the industry. The Asian market has to offer new destinations for events and conferences. If in the 20th century tourism between Europe and the US was increasing, the 21st century will be coined by increasing traffic between West and East. The economic advancement in the East will result in the professionalization of their meeting facilities. If in addition to that air travel becomes more efficient and affordable, which is likely, a four-day business conference in Beijing, Tokyo or New Delhi instead of Paris, Budapest or Berlin might become reality. Not only will we have to adapt to the business culture and etiquette of these new destination, but also visitors from Asia traveling to Europe and the USA will influence our culture.

A study by Mair and Thompson (2009) has found that location, networking and cost are the top three factors motivating professionals to attend conferences and conventions. Their research shows that between 1985 and 2007 this has not changed significantly; which allows us to assume that these factors will still be relevant in ten to 20 years time.  Assuming that a trip to India, China or Japan will be economically sustainable and that professional associations such as MPI, PCMA and IFEA will still be competing for attendees, then an annual meeting in Hong Kong sounds much more exciting than a meeting in London.

Exotic conference destinations offer a much more exciting and culturally diverse experience for the attendees. Pine and Gilmore (1999) are well known for their theory on the ‘experience economy’. They state that the demand for adventure, excitement and action during vacations and business trips is increasing. Reasons for that development are higher disposable incomes and consumer’s growing time consciousness. Getz (2008) argues that the expectations of an event rise parallel to the distance the attendee has to travel, which would set the bar for an event in the growing Asian market high. However, the professionalization of the event management profession through international guidelines such as the event management body of knowledge (EMBOK) and the increasing number of universities offering degrees in events management (Bowdin 2006) are satisfying the demand for more professional meetings and events, more intense experiences during such and event tourism as an additional income stream for tourism destinations.

Another variable that is currently subject to change is the constant evolution of people’s values (Yeoman 2008). We are becoming more aware of the environment and our impact on it. Especially air travel is a form of transport with a significant carbon footprint. Although the financial crisis has temporarily extruded environmental policies from the political agenda it will eventually be of high significance once again. Whether or not the climate change will actually prevent people from travelling long distances by plane is hard to tell. What is without doubt is that having an event always has a more negative effect on the environment than not having it.

In addition to tackling one’s carbon footprint events have the opportunity to make a difference for the environment through a sustainable legacy, increasing the event’s significance and positive impact through a long lasting inheritance. This could be achieved through education of the attendees. By doing so events will extend their impact on our society and legitimise their existence, which is of great importance when it comes to governmental funding and sponsorship.

Unfortunately, the globalisation of the world’s economies has negative effects, too. Clashing cultures are the reason for terrorism and thriving extremist groups. It is a threat to any large event, especially if it has political, economic or social significance. It affects travel to a meeting or event and the event itself. The cost of security has become more significant on every mega event’s budget sheet.

While terrorism is one of the results of globalisation, advancing technologies are causing it. During the PCMA Annual Meetings one can sense that meeting and event professionals fear that technology might make face-to-face meetings irrelevant. However, technology will never replace meetings people are attending in person; it is rather an opportunity than a threat.

Firstly, the Internet and it’s increasing availability on mobile devices makes communication more effective. As communication is the core of networking and networking is, according to Mair and Thompson (2009), the second most important factor for conference motivation, technology will increase the attendee’s experience and therefor everyone’s return on investment.

MeetingMatrix International, a company for room diagramming software from New Hampshire, USA, might soon become a new trend setter in meeting technology, as they formulated their noble cause as the long term objective to merge the physical and virtual world of meetings and events. On Mair and Thompson’s motivations ranking personal/professional development and self-enhancement are not a priority for attendees. Therefor watching the live stream of sessions will not replace the entire conference experience. One of the things that could make a difference would be the opportunity to take part in networking sessions as a virtual attendee.

Advancement in technology has recently generated meetings and conference smartphone applications. They have only been around for about two years and are becoming more popular. However, it will take another three years until they have reached their full potential. When that point is reached they will offer an efficient and effective tool for their users to make the most of a conference or meeting. A conference app has the potential to combine the most important motivational factors to attend an event: They will make networking easier by filtering your preferences and interests, so that you can meet exactly the right colleagues to network with, help you with a problem, market your product to potential customers etc. Secondly, it will aid you to find your way through the hotel or convention centre and possibly the host destination, pointing out additional activities.

Another technological trend is the sharing of resources. For example Microsoft has designed a photo panorama app available in Apple’s iTunes store for the iPhone. Many other apps have incorporated social networking platforms and other features making it easier to share information with others or to store them in the cloud. Technology is and will be all about efficiency, all we have to make sure is that it is also effective, doing the right thing. We have to be careful that all our gadgets do not make our experience stressful and that they do not distract us from what actually matters.

More has changed during the past ten year than over the past 100 years since the first conferences and meeting were held. The inevitable globalisation and the merging of cultures, the evolution of new values and the changes in society and technology will have a greater impact on our very young meetings and events industry than ever before. The growing eastern economies are opening up for us; our awareness of the environment will affect our consumption habits and technology will make it possible for event attendees to concentrate on the aspects they consider most important about a conference or meeting. We have to be aware of the role, which we as meetings and events professional will play in the future, as events have the power to change things for the better.

References

Bowdin, G. A. J., Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I. 2006. Events Management. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Getz, D. 2008. Event tourism: Definition, evolution, research. Tourism Management. 29 (3), pp. 403-428.

Mair, J., Thompson, K. 2009. The UK association conference attendance decision-making process. Tourism Management. 30 (3), pp. 400-409.

Pine, B., Gilmore, J. (1999). The experience economy: Work is Theatre and every business a stage. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Yeoman, I. 2008. What will the World look like in 2030?. Tomorrow’s Tourist: Scenarios and Trends. Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 21-32.

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Green, greener, I don’t believe a word you say.

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

I was inspired to write this post during a tutorial of our events management module, Trends and Developments in Planned Events. We were examining environmental forces and their impact on events and how they were becoming stronger as the world faces the climate change, which, in my opinion, in itself is open for discussion. However, how does being green and sustainable and events management fit together, as most events are a one off thing consuming lots of energy and directly and indirectly producing CO2 en masse?

Without any further scientific evidence one can say that there probably is no and in the near future will not be any event that has not even the slightest negative environmental impact. Taking into consideration that attendees will have to travel to the event sight, that suppliers have to deliver and produce goods and that the event will most likely consume energy of some sort.
Now, there are three options here to reduce that negative impact on our environment:

  • Promote your event as an activity trying to engage your audience in something ‘green’ instead of doing something else, which would be bad for the environment. E.g. in my hometown Hamburg we have an annual bike rally involving thousands of cyclists riding their bikes on streets blocked for cars into the city centre. Here the travel to the event is the main part of the event itself. Very green, promoting healthy and sustainable transport but still producing a carbon footprint.
  • Secondly, and probably most obvious, imply sustainability as your overall theme only working with stakeholders who also practice a sustainable strategy. This approach is becoming more and more common; governmental guidelines are being formulated regulating and restricting the use of resources etc.
  • Finally, and to me most interesting, the creation of a green legacy.

Especially with mega and hallmark events legacy planning has become inevitable. Tighter budgets and increased professionalism in the field of events management led to the assumption that events cannot exist for the sake of it but should have lasting significance beyond the duration of the actual event (Matheson 2010). Olympic and Commonwealth Games, European Capitals of Culture, Football World Cups and events of similar scale are now used to initiate change, socially include lower classes and regenerate post-industrial quarters while promoting sustainability. This development constitutes quite a big challenge for event organisers, as the subject has not only a great environmental but political, economic, social and technological significance.

In 2000 Goldblatt wrote in an article for the Australian Centre for Event Management about the ecological trends the events industry would experience. He states that the Sydney Olympic where the first Games which formulated a ‘green’ legacy plan, although they did not succeed, it was a start. There is rumour that London 2012 will actually be the first truly ‘green’ Games. Whether or not Olympic Games have a true legacy depends on the organisers and is strongly determent by the availability of sustainable technologies and processes. Critics argue that all the hype about ‘greener’ practices would be a waste of money, because our industry and technology is simply not ready to relinquish fossil energy sources, yet.

Until we are able to drive our cars on water and light our venues with sunlight we will have to be creative and make the best of it. Acknowledging that one’s event will have a negative impact of some kind is the first step that has to be taken in order to find a way to fill the gap before our independency from oil.

The first book on 'green' Event ManagementHaving done that, you can start thinking about the difference you could make. Legacy planning takes event management to the next level, as it requires planning beyond the limited duration and space of the event. But careful, legacy can be positive as well as negative. Some make the Olympic Games in Athens jointly responsible for Greece’s struggling economy. The same is true for the desire to appear as ‘green’ as Bruce MacMillan, CEO of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) warns us, quoted in Goldblatt (2010). The line between a reputation as being truly sustainable and being a green washer is small. Therefor, it is important not to leave your event’s legacy to chance.

Sustainability can be passed on to your audience and guests, the infrastructure required for your event can be ecological and the content of the message you are delivering through your event is up to you. So, try to find a way to make a difference creating lasing memories and knowledge among your attendees in order to break even with your carbon footprint taking into account the difference your event’s legacy makes for the host destination and its visitors.

So if you want people to remember you, plan for an event legacy and make it green, a green that doesn’t scratch off when examined more carefully.

 

References:

Goldblatt, S. 2012. The Complete Guide to Greener Meetings and Events. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Goldblatt, J. 2000. A Future for Event Management: The Analysis of Major Trends Impacting the Emerging Profession. Events beyond 2000:Setting the Agenda. Sydney: Austration Centre for Event Management.

Matheson, C. 2010. Legacy Planning, Regeneration and Events: The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Local Economy, 25 (1), pp. 10-23.

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QMU Events Management Network

Posted on October 15, 2011 by

The QMU PCMA Student Chapter was the first club I joined when I started my studies at Queen Margaret in September 2009. This club is responsible for some of the highlights of my student life so far: The two PCMA Annual Meetings I attended so far in Dallas, Texas and this January in Las Vegas, becoming the Student Planner of the Year Scholarship winner 2011 and I met some of my best friends I have at QMU. During my presidency over the last academic year I tried to encourage others to join the chapter in order to share the great time I had with the group. However, I was facing several problems, which made it difficult to keep the group together.

After we went to Las Vegas we did not manage to get the chapter back on track. The group was split into those who attended PCMA Convening Leaders and into those who did not. I knew from the previous years that this might happen, but I was not able to prevent it. In order to avoid this situation and to make the chapter more inclusive and attractive for more students Thorben, who has returned from his semester in Canada, and I had the idea to make the QMU PCMA Student Chapter an official society as part of our Students’ Union: The QMU Events Management Network.

The aim of the Network is to share knowledge, contacts and ideas. Younger students can take advantage of older students’ experience, you can help others to get an internship with a firm you might already know and you will be able to share your event ideas and take part in the society’s fundraising events. We will still be attending the PCMA Annual Meeting, but a membership is not mandatory. In addition to PCMA you have the option to join MPI or any other professional body of your choice. These changes take the focus from PCMA, which means the group becomes more attractive to potential members, who are only interested in organising their own small events and meet students from other years.

I am looking forward to working together with the Students’ Union and to seeing the society grow and become a part of the university’s culture.
May 2011/12 be a very special  event.

QMU Events Management Network Facebook Page

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World’s first Meeting and Event Technology Curriculum

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

The following post is from our university internal news letter from August 19th 2011 announcing the new curriculum in Meeting and Event Technology.

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh has completed the development of the world’s first curriculum for meeting and events technology in higher education.

Partnering with MeetingMatrix International and event experts around the world, QMU created a curriculum guide which will equip university students with cutting edge technology skills in meeting and event planning. This is the first time a university level events curriculum received input from industry experts worldwide and integrated technology supplied by a leading commercial company. The new curriculum and technology are offered by Queen Margaret University and MeetingMatrix free of charge to universities worldwide.

The project was funded by MeetingMatrix, suppliers of the most advanced room diagramming programme and venue sourcing technology on the global market. The technology allows event planners and clients to see exactly what their rooms and events will look like even if both parties are in different countries.

Professor Joe Goldblatt, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Planned Events at QMU, explained: “Across the globe, events are becoming extremely sophisticated and often employ increasing levels of technology in order to meet their goals – whether that be in sales, customer satisfaction, business partner relations or costs. For example, The Edinburgh Festivals is always looking to improve its communication with its audiences by employing more advanced technology systems which will ultimately impact positively on sales and customer satisfaction, as well as social welfare and the local economy. The event planner is also under pressure to provide evidence of a successful outcome to event sponsors.   In order to successfully achieve this, event planners need to be technically savvy, whilst also have the ability to innovate and provide direction for the future evolution of events.”

“Together with its partners, QMU has developed a pioneering curriculum which will equip event management students with the technical ability and knowledge to gain a competitive advantage in the fast paced meeting and events industry” said Professor Goldblatt.

Beginning in autumn this year, QMU students will be benefitting from the newly developed ‘MeetingMatrix Meeting and Event Technology Curriculum’.

Kuan-wen Lin, PhD student, has worked solidly on the development of this project for the last year. He said: “In order to ensure that the Curriculum can be utilised by undergraduate students and universities globally, it was reviewed by an impressive range of international event experts from Boston, Las Vegas, New York, Switzerland and Hong Kong.  Thanks to the support of MeetingMatrix, the Curriculum, which is valued at between £30,600 – £91,800 ($50,000 -$150,000) per year, is now available free of charge to universities all over the world.”

Lynne Russel
Press and PR Officer

The Curriculum as PDF

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