All learning outcomes will be covered.

1. You have applied for the position of an Events Operations Manager at Premium Events London Co. They are considering organizing either an indoor or outdoor Event and have asked you to identify a possible venue for both.

2. The company have asked you to provide a report in the format of a manual setting out the key operational issues and risks that could be faced in both the indoor and the outdoor venue.

3. This will be fed back to the events company in your conclusion which is based on the findings of your report. Based on your analysis of the key operational issues and risks you should propose the best option – either the indoor venue or the outdoor venue. This will then be fed back to Premium Events London Co.

4. The Event will be a small bespoke wedding with no more than 50 attendees.

5. Your report should justify your choice of venue by constantly linking it to the Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) for the event

Additional Guidance:

1. The event of your choice could be based on a visit or reflection notes on a similar event , or based on an interview with an experienced events manager or based on any voluntary work experience you may have had in past events.

2. It is highly recommended that you use the EVENTUM Resources Handbook for Events

Management.

3. It is recommende d that you use the squaremeal website for your choices. – A suggested report/manual structure will be provided in class and will be discussed with the Lecturer.

Indoor venues:

1. You are free to choose a venue from the squaremeal website

1.0  Introduction:

The aim of the paper is to outline a Wedding Event and propose an indoor as well as outdoor location for the event. The report will be based on the perception of an event manager working for Premium Events London Co. The paper will evaluate the different perspectives of selecting an outdoor or an indoor event for Wedding purpose. In order to understand the most appropriate choice of the venue, a detailed investigation will be carried on. Issues related to licensing the event venues and other things related to the event will be evaluated (Del Chiappa and Fortezza 2013). In addition to this, a proper risk management strategy will be proposed. Depending on the analysis, a number of recommendations will be made that shall remove any kind of hindrance that might occur during the event.

It is a Wedding Event consisting of no more than 50 attendees. The proposed venues for the event are Kensington Gardens, a Royal Parks for the outdoor event and Radisson Blu for the indoor event. Below, a comparison will be made of selecting either of the venues for the purpose of the proposed Wedding Event.

2.0 Outdoor Venue:

             Kensington Garden, one of the capital’s eight Royal Parks has been selected as the outdoor venue for the wedding event. Kensington Palace, the Italian Gardens, Albert Memorial, Serpentine Galleries and the Peter Pan Statue are all located within the area of 265 acres (Royalparks.org.uk 2016). The Park is an appropriate venue for major events because it is decorated with magnificent trees and ornamental flower beds and others.

2.1 License and Legal issues:

As stated by Heck (2016), legal formalities should be given the most priority at the time of selecting a venue for any kind of event. When it falls under the responsibility of an Event Organizer to organize the event, acknowledging the legal issues related to the location or other part of the event happens to be the most important thing under consideration. A number of legal issues can be discussed here:

2.1.1 Premise License:

The premise should be safe and in a good position that it might not cause any kind of accident or injuries to the attendees of the party (Beirman et al. 2014). It has to be checked that the proposed event does not have any legal issue related to its area of function. Other facilities like car parking or in case burning of fire crackers and other kinds of fun activities that might take place at the wedding should be permissible at the proposed wedding spot (Capell 2013).

2.1.2 Wedding Laws:

As commented by Dowson and Bassett (2015), outdoor weddings outside Scotland are not legal but it is actually not illegal if the complete wedding event takes place under a same roof. Therefore, in case of selecting the Kensington Garden as the proposed wedding space, it is expected that a marquee is created in the garden and the complete event takes place only under the covered area.

2.2. Risk Management:

            Any kind of risk can occur at any point of time, irrespective of taking every possible kinds of precaution. In an event where many people are invited as guests, it becomes crucial to look into the situations that might create hindrance in the ongoing event (Del Chiappa and Fortezza 2013). For an outdoor event, below mentioned are the expected risks:

2.2.1 Weather condition:

The old British weather is risky for every instance. A pleasant weather can turned into a chaotic situation for people (Capell 2013). In case of an outdoor event, the risk of changing weather situation is high. Rain and storms can occur at any time and the event will be turned into a massacre. There is no such escape from this type of distress.

2.2.2 Availability of washrooms and toilets:

            Usually, the washrooms happen to be located at a remote location in case of outdoor locations. If the same thing is observed in case of Kensington Garden, it has to be said that the washrooms are a longer distance than expected (Daniels and Loveless 2013). Therefore, for the guests as well as the bride and groom, this would become a big risk. In fact, there is less scope to overcome this risk as well.

2.2.3 Increased expenses due to lighting and other decorations:

            In order to decorate the minimum area of the outdoor location, it will require huge expenses for decorating the place with lights or other things (Jiang and Schmader 2014). It has to be mentioned in this respect that the number of attendees are comparatively low and thus, there is no need to increase the expense on decoration and other things.

2.3. Health and Safety:

            An event should ensure proper health and safety to the attendees of the event. A number of issues can be highlighted in this respect:

2.3.1 Contamination of food:

Due to the open area of the venue, the food might get contaminated with germs. This can create health hazards to the people. Moreover, the water used for consumption can get contaminated easily in the open area (Jiang and Schmader 2014).

2.3.2 Security issues:

            It has to be understood that the Kensington Garden is a public place and thus, there remained the risks that other people who are not the attendees might enter the premise (Capell 2013). This is a serious security issue that can create havoc situation at the wedding event.

2.4. Supply Chain Management:

            Supply chain management holds an important role in the success of an event. Availability of the required resources at the correct time is indeed important for any kind of event (Bladen et al. 2012). Therefore, for the management team looking into the supply chain of the resources holds true importance.

2.4.1 Availability of resources:

            The main job is to make the resources available by the time when it is required. A list is prepared of all the things required for the event and each thing should be supplied efficiently at the right time when required. The main resources required for a wedding are related to food items, serving and other resources for decoration (Still 2014). These resources should be rightly available at the time of need.

2.4.2 Proper supply of the resources:

            The resources bought and collected should be supplied to the desired location for use. Arrangements related to transportation of the goods and the resources to the event location. The team of management should be efficient enough to supply the necessary things at the right place and at the right time.

2.5. Waste Management:

            It falls under the responsibility of the event organizer to manage the waste that is generated from the event. The possibility of generating the waste related to wedding is related to the wastage of food. The leftover of the food and other wastes generated by the usage of different things are the major waste products that can generate at the wedding (Jiang and Schmader 2014). It is expected that there will be proper disposal places. These places should be covered that the risk of contamination is overcome. In addition to this, there should be sweepers and keepers available to clean the surrounding whenever required. It has to be said that since the number of attendees are less, there remained less chances related to waste hazards.

2.6 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

            Issues and risks related to corporate social responsibility will be high fir the wedding event in outdoor venue. This event does not fall under the category of charity and that is why CSR activities are not ensured at any stage of the event. This would be a personal event and that is why it is not possible that a community will receive benefits because of it. On the other hand, number of attendees for this event is only 50. Therefore, there is no need to select an outdoor venue for this event as it would be unnecessary. According to June et al. (2013), wedding events are highly responsible for carrying out activities that are not sustainable.

3.0 Indoor Venue

            A wedding event will be carried out by Premium Events London Co and the most suitable indoor venue for this event would be “Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester”. It is located in Great Manchester. It is not a fund raising or charitable event and that is why number of expected crowd is quite low (Ramaswamy et al. 2015). That is why; it would be better to organize this event in an indoor venue. If the event is organized in this venue, then the chances are high that it would be completed successfully. This venue has several accommodations and well-equipped arrangements for any type of event.

3.1 Legal and License Problems

3.1.1 Consumption of Alcohol

            As mentioned by Bellers et al. (2013), all the indoor venues that are located in UK are connected with consumption of alcohol irrespective of the type of event. However, (June et al. (2013)) stated that mostly volunteers and attendees of an event are responsible for alcohol consumption in the events. As it is a wedding event, the chances are high that attendees will consume alcohol. That is why; it is important to develop correct license arrangements. It can be done by ensuring that someone is present as the Personal License Holder. However, as it is a wedding event, consumption of alcohol will not be seen as an ethical issue and it will not deteriorate the motivation of the cause.

3.1.2 Insurance related to Public Liability

            Indoor events, specially wedding events are related to accidents from slippery and falling objects. However, according to Malik et al. (2012), accidents in an indoor event depend on the type of infrastructure that the venue maintains. Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is a well organized venue where the main room is quite big that can easily host more than 200 attendees. That is why; chances of any type of accident are extremely low. However, it is obvious that older people can face accidents from falling objects in case of indoor events. These people are not cared properly as venues in London or in UK do not cover insurance for such accidents. Therefore, it is risk for the event manager as the entire responsibility is limited within the management and they have to stand the losses (Chung and Chung 2016).

3.2 Risk management

3.2.1 Chances from the venue

            As mentioned by McNeil et al. (2015), in case of an indoor event most of the risks come from different stakeholders such as staffs and the venue itself. The management of the venue is responsible for providing technological equipments, foods, sitting agreement, air conditioning and all other resources. In this situation, problems arise if provided technological equipments are backdated, sitting arrangements are organized and food quality is not classy. These types of problems will create negative sense on the audience.

3.2.2 Food hygiene and parking

            It is important that the food prepared by Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester must be stored according to the food hygiene policy. For this, Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester management must appoint staffs who have the food hygiene certificate to monitor the entire procedure of preparing food. Absence of staffs holding food hygiene certificate can affect the quality of the food. On the other hand, another common issue that might occur in the wedding vent is parking problems (Glendon et al. 2016). Event organizers never promise the number of vehicles that will be acceptable to park at the day of the event. As a result, staffs of the venue allow limited number of vehicles that creates management risk. However, in this wedding event number of attendees is only 50. Therefore, it is expected that issues related to parking will not be seen.

3.3 Health and Safety

3.3.1 Fire

            As mentioned by Pritchard and PMP (2014), most of the indoor venues are extremely affected due to breakage of fire. This type of incident can take because of inapt infrastructure and wiring. On the other hand, if a fire breaks, the exit section of a venue gets crowded and as a result attendees suffer injuries which are related to health and safety. However, Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is a well organized indoor venue where wiring is done properly that minimizes the risks of fire breakage. On the other hand, this venue also has more than one emergency exit that minimizes the risk of chaos and unnecessary accidents.

3.3.2 Recruitment and Safety

            Employees or staffs of Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester will only handle internal securities of the wedding event where the staffs of Premium Events London Co. will deal with the protection of audience. As mentioned by Hanson and Rainey (2014), risks arise when staffs are not well-trained to handle security equipments and security systems. It might facilitate accidental scenarios. Besides, staffs should also have ample knowledge about how to handle children. Most practical risks related to venue staff and security comes from absence of first aiders. However, selection of Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is appropriate as staffs are well trained and have ample amount of knowledge about security equipments. Security alarms are located accordingly and fire extinguishers are also present in the venue.

3.4 Supply Chain Management

            In any venue, not all the resources and supplies are provided by the venue management. That is why; event management will have to arrange resource from the outside. Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is not an exception as the management will only provide some of the supplies (Hanson and Rainey 2014). However, venue management team will ensure the quality of provided resources and they will also help the event management team to contact with the best supply chain organization to get extra resources. Therefore, chances of risk in supply chain management are comparatively low in case of selected venue.

3.5 Waste Management

            The procedure of waste management is well organized in Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester. As per the rules and regulations of UK, indoor event venues must abandon all their wastes through their vans in the corners of the city after completion of each event (Haimes 2015). This ensures hygienic services which is not only beneficial for the attendees but also beneficial for the communities living around the venue. On the other hand, event management team will not be dealing with the waste management procedure as event management will handle this department.

3.6 Corporate social responsibility and Sustainability

            Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is well known for their services that ensures protection for children and elderly people (Chance and Brooks 2015). Staffs of the venue will make sure that CSR and sustainability is maintained throughout the event at the utmost level.

4.0 Preferred location for the wedding event

            After discussing both the indoor and outdoor venues, it is found that outdoor venue which is Kensington Garden is not appropriate for this wedding. If this event is arranged in that location, then CSR and Sustainability activities will be hampered. On the other hand, it is also seen that the location is vulnerable to security issues and issues related to health and safety. Besides, the event management team will have to carry extra expenses due to lighting and other decorations. On the other hand, Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester is a well organized indoor venue where the management ensures that CSR and sustainability is maintained. Besides, the security arrangements are advanced that ensures safety of the attendees. On the other hand, in case of Kensington Garden, the event management team will have to get resources related to food and technology from outside which will increase the amount expenses. However, Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester will provide food and relevant technological equipments to the event management team which is another big advantage. Therefore, after analyzing both the venues, it can be said that Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester would be best venue for this wedding event.

5.0 Conclusion

            In the end, it can be concluded that the best option for Premium Events London Co. would be Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester which is an indoor venue located in Manchester. Kensington Garden which is an outdoor venue has several risks related to health and safety, CSR and overall cost. Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester will provide all necessary equipments and services to help the event management team and that is why; that would be the perfect place to arrange the event.

6.0 Recommendation

            Licensing: Premium Events London Co. will have to collect Public Liability Insurance from the management of Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester. Other licenses such as hygiene license, disabled license and child protection licenses must be ensured from Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester management team.

            Resources: As Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester will not provide all the resources, event management team must make sure that they select the best supply organization to collect other resources from them.

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