The modern events industry

The scale and scope of the event industry have grown significantly in recent years, with increased professionalism, new innovations in event education and a wider recognition of the event industries political, social, cultural, economic impacts. Events today touch all our lives and it is important to recognize the full range of business within the event industry. Every business sector relies upon the events industry for meeting, conferences and product launches. The non-profit sector utilizes events for funding and awareness raising purpose. The term event covers a multitude of activities, including:

Concerts                                    Charity events  

Family events                             Celebrations

Wedding                                    Product launches

Festivals                                    Conferences

Theater performances                 Sports events

Meeting                                     Trade fairs and exhibitions

The modern industry is synonymous within innovation – new ideas to create increasingly impressive events using state of the art production technologies. At the same time, events are often consumed by strong emotional attachments that are linked to past through ritual, nostalgia and traditional. An event that does not have these is likely to be in search of them. At the same time the events will be expected to provide financial returns on its investments and ensure that it is novel, that it retained its relevance to the market and that the production is of a contemporary standard. 

Event managers and marketing must understand these ambiguities and adopt a perspective that is consistent with the events social, cultural and commercial context.

When considered together, it is evident that commercial logic and economic rationality are often at odds with the romantic visions, passion and emotion present in an event. This is the paradoxical nature of events and it is these paradoxes and points of difference that justify event industry  as a legitimate profession.

These tensions are placing more demands on the skill levels of those people who work in the industry. There are a number of entry points into the events sector and each has corresponding level of qualification and skill. For e.g. someone involved in the implementation of sound and lighting at an event will have a different skill set and professional background from the person responsible for negotiating government / corporate sector support for the event. It is important that event organizations are not assumed less complex or that performance outcomes are more easily achievable when compared with other organizations.

The growth and development of the events industry worldwide has created opportunities for management professionals in a wide variety of settings. Boosted by advances in telecommunications, increased government and corporate sector investments, the industry continues to develop new products that provide quality experiences for consumers. Demand for competent manager in this area, underpinned by tertiary qualification, has grown rapidly in recent years.

Because the events industry is perceived as an exciting and dynamic industry, it attracts people with a diverse array of experiences and qualification, acquired outside of the events context.