For a variety of organisations, societies, associations, and individuals, event managers are vitally helpful with planning, scheduling, coordinating, promoting events. They are in charge of ensuring that the activities go without a fail. The events are created in accordance with the specifications defined by clients and event managers use their expertise to plan and implement events on behalf of clients – transforming ideas into action and reality. From settling on a theme to organizing practical specifics and
running the operations on the event day, events managers are in charge of each and every pixel of the event picture. (Beech, Kaiser & Kaspar 2014, 28; Stephen 2017, 14.) Event management entails interpreting ideas to reality, financial planning, arranging, coordinating, and conducting activities. Event managers as professionals often get to do many types of events such as fashion shows, concerts, corporate events, exhibits, social events, and product launches, among others. It can be a successful career path that does not cost need a lot of initial investments and provides a lot of freedom and versatility. One can build an excellent career in this field if they enjoy planning activities, have good organizational skills, and are occasionally willing to work long hours. (Beech, Kaiser & Kaspar 2014, 58-59; Stephen 2017.)
Events managers can work for a company or charitable organization, for a professional events management company, or as a freelancer for a range of customers. Events managers can also concentrate in a single type of event, such as wedding planning, fund-raising events, or conferences. An event planner is supposed to have excellent management skills as well as unlimited enthusiasm. Furthermore, since any event is basically a team effort, an event manager has to be a people person who knows how to get things done on time, from the internal team to multiple service providers needed.
(Website of Social Tables n.d.; Stephen 2017, 14.)
Long hours, late nights and carrying lot of pressure are all part of the job. In addition, great crisis management is required. The capacity to create fast decisions and act on them, as well as thorough preparation, are important for preventing any possible problems. Although people with a variety of academic qualifications are welcome in the event management industry, those with a marketing or communications degree have an advantage. As long as they have an enthusiasm for events activities and creativity, individuals from all disciplines can enter event management. (Website of Social Tables n.d.; Stephen 2017, 14.)
5 CUSTOMER DEMANDS AND EXPECTATIONS
Customer expectations can be described as any collection of attitudes or actions that people expect from an organization when they communicate with it. Customers have traditionally anticipated simple things like excellent service and reasonable pricing, but today's customers have far great aspirations, such as responsive service, customized engagement, and interactive consumer insights. Customer demands are then the elements that consumers want from a product or service when they buy it.
(Website of BBC Bitesize n.d; Website of Salesforce n.d.)
To be competitive, enterprises must learn a lot regarding their customers' needs and expectations (Website of BBC Bitesize n.d.; Website of Salesforce n.d.). Maintaining a good level of service and therefore meeting the demands and expectations can be a turning point in making business (Website of BBC Bitesize n.d.; Website of Salesforce n.d.). This makes customer demands and expectations so relevant also for this thesis topic.
To further understand customer demands and needs considering corporate events, one should first understand the weight of corporate environment for the topic. The style and atmosphere of corporate events and immediate needs and expectations of the organizing customer companies derive strongly from company cultures (Jaimangal-Jones, Fry & Haven-Tang 2018, 6; O’toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 2). Company cultures are very different and unique in their own way, even when sharing some similarities with others. (Jaimangal-Jones, Fry & Haven-Tang 2018, 6; O’toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 2). Company culture, simply put, refers to a combination of shared customs, practices, expected professional behaviors and well considered values that are driven throughout a company (O’toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 2). These are some named factors that affect the expectations and needs companies have for their events.
Through realizing the value of understanding companies and their cultures, event managers are able to connect their ideas and offer desirable, well-fitted outcomes for their customers. O´toole and Mikolaitis (2002, 4) have explained that consideration and incorporation of important cultural elements connects and commits the event
participants already from the beginning. This can create a bond that will ensure even better understanding and later lead to a strong, long lasting customer relationship between the event managers and their customer.
According to O´toole and Mikolaitis (2002, 6), events are an important manner of communication in the corporate world as they are a powerful way to connect to employees. The role and extent of events vary, going from a single event to an event cluster with a unified theme. Corporate event customers have many demands, some more straightforward than others. This means that events often possess either visible or invisible meaning and goals that need to be reached. However, most common demands of corporate events are very natural: to provide recognition on different issues, to educate, offer incentives, enhance public relations, note important occasions or milestones to launching and celebrating new products and services. (Fell, Renton &
McCrindle 2021, 5; O´toole & Mikolaitis 2002, 6-9.)
There are some rising topics in customer demands and expectations that are seen true also in the corporate environment when making business. In Salesforce´s 2020 research “State of the Connected Customer”, with more than 15 000 participants, they have come to a conclusion that B2B and B2C expectations are not that different after all, and similar aspects are valued in both worlds. Firstly, the research discovered that from customers, around 80 percent perceive the presented experiences with companies as crucial as their services and products (Website of Salesforce 2020). This tells that surpassing customer expectations as well as demands with a product or service is not sufficient anymore, but the level must be set right from the beginning and even before.
Secondly, according to the findings of the “State of the Connected Customer” (Website of Salesforce 2020) research, firms must understand their customers' demands — and surpass their expectations — in order to stay competitive. The research mentioned above (Website of Salesforce 2020) highlights four expectations that are reshaping the business landscape:
1. Customers expect unified experiences within companies. Therefore, each interaction between customers and a company should be dealt with a similar level, no matter who the customer is in contact with.
2. Personalization is growing as a key in great customer experiences. It is becoming increasingly important for the customers to receive entirely personalized service and according to the study 52% of customers even expect it.
3. Customers demand innovation and pushing the limits. Safe and sound is not the way to go anymore, but customers rather want to see companies taking chances and coming up with new ideas.
4. Transparency and data protection is rising as a priority. A rapidly increasing number of customers, 86% to be exact, want to have transparent, meaningful, and trustworthy connections and interactions.
Products and services that are top of the chain one day can be outdated the next in this era of continuously revolutionising business environments. In this scenario, a company's ability to differentiate itself is becoming extremely relevant. However, the range of customer experience is evolving as well. Companies should not only execute outstanding sales, marketing, ecommerce, and service experiences to win both hearts and wallets, but also demonstrate that they put the customers' best interests at core of their actions. (Fell, Renton & McCrindle 2021, 11; Website of Salesforce 2020.) Customers have high expectations of businesses, and those expectations are rising as they connect with diverse industries. As a result, firms must look also beyond just their own market to grasp the full standards against which they are being judged. This said, customer expectations and demands for B2B interactions are found very similar to those of B2C customers. Customers' demands and expectations for sympathetic, personalized, and transparent engagement do not cease when they return to the office.
Still, business customers, like individuals, find a discrepancy between the expectations that have been set and the reality that they are confronted with. (Website of Salesforce 2020.)
6 LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE OF EVENTS INDUSTRY
The global Covid-19 pandemic that started in the late 2019, has been a driver for rapid development in practically every industry. There is no going back once that old methods of practicing business are being supplanted by dynamic innovations.
Although understandably face-to-face events will reappear in the future, there is more than enough indication that they will appear and operate in a very different way. A systematic change in how customers and providers cooperate with one another to give true quality to all participants, guests, and stakeholders is required for the industry to flourish again in the coming. (Ouimet et al. 2020, 4.)
As discovered, the events industry is a big player in bringing people altogether. People enjoy going to a variety of events to engage in common experience, learning about new things, or being encouraged. Despite the fact that covid-19 dealt a severe blow to a much-loved industry, the events industry has reacted to a shifting environment with creativity and technological reinvention, which will determine the industry's future in the post-covid-19 age. (Fell, Renton & McCrindle 2021, 5.)