Meetings, Incentives Conferences & Exhibitions

Aim:

“To organize a conference for World Association of Travel Agencies in order to put strong emphasize on the contemporary issues within MICE sector and its emphasis on corporate social responsibility where they attract 250 international audiences.”

Research Objectives:

• To determine contemporary issues within MICE sector.
• To evaluate emphasis of on corporate social responsibility.

Research questions:

• What are the contemporary issues within MICE sector and how corporate social responsibility leads to better performance?

Research methods

The researcher of the study uses qualitative research methods in order to determine contemporary issues within MICE sector and how corporate social responsibility leads to better performance.

The meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event sector is considered to be one of the most crucial segment of the tourism and hospitality industry (Banu, 2016). The MICE sector in turn helps in giving greater touristic and also results in the economic growth where the event has been carried out. Meeting is considered to be an occasion where people come together for a particular purpose. Incentives is referred to as the encouragement within the companies by effectively rewarding employees. Conferences is considered to be as the large official meeting which in turn last for few days. Exhibitions is referred to as the collection of work which in turn has been showcased to the public. MICE sector is considered to be one of the niche group of tourism which aids on planning, facilitating conference, bookings, carrying out seminars and business events. World Association of Travel Agencies focuses on promoting travel trade and in turn also act as a common platform which in turn helps in sharing problems (Lee and Fenich, 2016, April). Get Assignment Examples.Talk to our Experts!

It also tends to provide information associated with the travel and in turn also focuses on controlling and regulating the travel trade organization. World Association of Travel Agencies also in turn focuses on preserving and protecting the cultural tourism resources. It also helps in promotion of ethics of standards and focus on formulating guidelines in order to support the travel sector. The report carried out is based on three day conferences which in turn is supposed to be held in summers in the year 2019. This conference event is supposed to attract 250 international audiences which comprise of government representatives, key stakeholders, personnel, leading figures, etc. the guests will come from across the globe and the gender split is fifty- fifty. Albert hall conference centre, Nottingham in United Kingdom has been selected to carry out the conference of World Association of Travel Agencies (Nistoreanu and Stoian, 2017, July). The budget for each delegate is £250 excluding flights and accommodation. The first day of the conference event mainly constitute of team building activity. On the second day of the conference, optional set of leisure activity tends to carry out alongside the conference. On the last day of the conference event, a formal dinner in the evening with several entertainment activities and performance.

Destination and venue

The World Association of Travel Agencies conference event will take place at Albert hall conference centre, Nottingham in United Kingdom on 27, 28 and 29 February, 2020. The timing for the event will be 1:00 p.m till 9:00 p.m. Albert hall conference centre is considered to be perfect for the World Association of Travel Agencies conference event because it tends to attract national and local conference which in turn is used to carry out conference events, banqueting and entertainment venues. The venue mainly constitute of Great hall and 10 conference rooms of varying sizes. Albert hall conference centre tends to have huge seating capacity with improved ventilation, proper bar and restaurant facility, effective backstage areas and better technical facilities (Smagina, 2017). The seating area of the Albert hall conference centre tends to have appropriate legroom, soundproof auditorium, proper lighting and improved sightliness. It also has facilities like access to the AV packages, removable arena seating, technical specifications, etc. This is considered to be the perfect destination and venue in order to attract 250 international audiences which comprise of government representatives, key stakeholders, personnel, leading figures, etc. from across the globe.Order assignment help from our experts!

Costing recommendation

The estimated cost to book the Albert hall conference centre is approximately £800 per day. The estimated cost associated with the catering for 250 delegates is approximately £3500 per day. For accommodation hotel will be booked with the sharing of 2 people in each room. Around 125 rooms will be booked in order to accommodate 250 guests. One room on an average will cost around £120 for one night. The transportation cost associated with city tour, pick up and drop is estimated to be £300 for one day. Cost associated with the additional leisure programs and activities is estimated to be £500 per day.

Proposed budget

The budgeted plan to effectively carry out the conference activities conducted by The World Association of Travel Agencies is estimated to be around £250 per person i.e., £62500 for 250 delegates. The estimated budget plan to carry out the conference event are as follows:

Marketing plan

Marketing plan in turn is considered to be one of the most comprehensive document which in turn helps in providing a blueprint which in turn effectively outlines the marketing and advertising efforts for the World Association of Travel Agencies conference event (Kelly, Marsh and McNicoll, 2019).

• Creating personas (Targeting)

This helps in determining people who will be attending the World Association of Travel Agencies event. Around 250 international audiences which constitutes of government representatives, key stakeholders, personnel, leading figures, etc. from across the globe will come and attend the conference event which will be held at Albert hall conference centre, Nottingham in United Kingdom on 28^th February 2020.

• Establishing clear set of goals

The World Association of Travel Agencies event tends to focus on putting more emphasis on the key aim of the conference event (Pearlman, 2016, January). This is where they need to focus on by putting strong emphasis on the corporate social responsibility of the World Association of Travel Agencies.

• Selecting the best marketing tools

World Association of Travel Agencies tend to focus on attracting customers by advertising and promoting the conference event through social media marketing platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, search engine optimization, etc.

• Making people aware about the venue

With the help of advertisement on social media platform proper description about the destination, venue, date, time, event details, entertainment activities, accommodation, services, etc. must be mentioned clearly (Cousins and et.al., 2019).

• Articulating events value proposition

The key value proposition of attending this event is mainly associated with the World Association of Travel Agencies event is to examine the contemporary issues associated with the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event.

• Creating visuals from the previously conducted events

The key marketing strategy is to effectively provide clear visuals associated with the conference event which in turn has been conducted earlier (Soler Sancho, 2018). This helps in attracting audience for the current conference event.

• Coordinating events with co- marketing initiatives

An effective plan is to collaborate with the co- marketing agencies which in turn helps in delivering more leads, awareness and buzz (What You Haven't Learned About Marketing a Conference Center, 2019).

• Measuring the performance of conference event with appropriate key performance indicator

Lastly, the World Association of Travel must in turn focus on integrating software and key performance indicators such as event check in, live polling, social media engagement, etc. in order to assess the performance of the conference event.

Tentative schedule for carrying out conference event

The World Association of Travel conference event will take place at Albert hall conference centre, Nottingham in United Kingdom on 27, 28 and 29February 2020. The timing for the event will be 1:00 p.m till 9:00 p.m.

Internal and external analysis

Internal analysis for effectively carrying out The World Association of Travel conference event is done with the help of SWOT analysis.

Strength: The key strength of this conference event is that, The World Association of Travel is considered to be one of the leading association which aids at providing information related with the travel (Abdullah and Margono, 2017). It also focuses on controlling and regulating the travel trade organization. Another key strength of the World Association of Travel Agencies is to focus on preserving and protecting the cultural tourism resources.

Weaknesses: The key weakness associated with the World Association of Travel conference is associated with poor infrastructure and existing collaboration network in countries.

Opportunity: The key opportunity is that, the World Association of Travel conference event aids to corporate social responsibility by effectively addressing contemporary issues associated with the event (Smagina, Magomedov, and Buklanov, 2017). This in turn helps in better collaboration and working of the various travel companies and agencies associated with the association. This helps in gaining more information to perform better.

Threat: Improvement in integration of advanced technology and other companies taking over results in lower market position and threat to the association.

External analysis

External analysis for effectively carrying out The World Association of Travel conference event is done with the help of PESTLE analysis.

Political factors: These factors mainly comprise of several trade policy, funding grants, labour laws, tax policy, political instability of the destination, terrorist, war, etc. in turn largely affects the conference event within the hospitality industry (Nistoreanu and Stoian, 2017, July).

Economic factors: Factors which in turn largely affects the operations of the events within hospitality industry is mainly associated with the disposable income, economic growth, inflation and interest rate, interstate taxes, etc. in turn largely affects the conference event within the hospitality industry.

Social factors: These factors mainly comprise of demographics, cultural trend education, image of the organization, attitude of the employees, emphasis on safety, growth in the population, etc. in turn largely affects its business operations.

Technological factors: Factors which in turn largely affects the operations of the events within hospitality industry is mainly associated with the continuous advancement in the technology, rate of terotechnological change, technological incentives, cost associated with the research and development activity, etc. in turn largely affects the conference event within the hospitality industry (Kelly, Marsh and McNicoll, 2019).

Environmental factors: Ecological factors like accessibility to geographical locations, environmental legislations, weather and climate, etc. in turn largely influence the conference event within the hospitality industry.

Legal factors: Factors which in turn largely affects the operations of the events within hospitality industry is mainly associated with the employment law, health and safety law, consumer law, anti-trust law, discrimination law, advertisement standards, future legislations, competitive legislations, etc. in order to perform in a legal manner.

Recommendation

The effective recommendation strategy to overcome understaffing of the employees at the time of carrying conference event is to determine ways that aids in identifying optimum staffing levels. In order to resolve issues associated with the overspending. The World Association of Travel tends to prepare a proper budget plan which in turn helps in allocating cost to each activity and operations of the conference event. Selecting the right destination and venue helps in attracting customers from across the globe (Abdullah and Margono, 2017). Selecting the right venue with proper facilities helps in successfully carrying out the event. Continuous integration with the advanced technology in turn helps in making the event more worthwhile. Change in environmental and political condition, proper back up plan must be there for successful carrying out of an event. Prioritizing of the networking activities in turn is considered to be one of the most effective recommendable action in order to take timely decision. Keeping check on the confirmation of the guest in turn helps in keeping track and make proper estimated budget plan.

Literature Review

According to Lin and Taylor (2017), to be positive and optimistic is good but in the event planning, it is important to make sure that everything runs smoothly. To make sure everything is perfect it is important to review the common event problems that may come across and what are the solutions to it. There are number of issues faced in event planning but it is not important that all the problems have negative impact only, these problems can have positive aspect also. First is budget, sometimes budget provided by the client is little small which might seem to have made it difficult to carry out the activity. But this can be taken in a positive way also, as working in a limited budget will lead to a development of tactical ways to meeting with the clients choice. Next is picking the right venue, client sometimes selects the venue which is not suitable for the respective event so it is advisable to do a research on the venues the client is interested and visit that place together to avoid any confusion. The other challenge is technological challenge. The changes in technology has also impacted the event management. The implementation of latest technology in the event makes the event worth it and attractive and memorable for the guests and visitors. This advancement can be in the form of new development online RSVP, online new marketing trends, changes in presentation skills etc. As per Leigh (2019), in the last decade there has been a vast expansion in the technology. So, it is duty of event managing teams and professionals to develop regular insight on this pool of opportunities. Partnering with event tech solutions and services providers will have a positive impact on the efficient management of event management business.

Another issue that author raise is the ambience of the events, i.e., it is very important to meet with the décor of the venue and provide such an environment and ambience that will make guests and visitors more excited about the events. This can be used in a positive way which will also help in promoting business. Taking care of little things in an event, makes it special. Data privacy is also the issue that is faced but with the introduction of data privacy compliance laws like GDPR, event managers are putting more efforts on compliance and privacy concerns. So, above discussed are positive impact of the contemporary issues that are faced in relation to meetings, conferences and other events.

The author Baxter, Flinn and Picco (2018), has criticized the above view and have detailed a variety of challenges that are faced during event planning. First problem is understaffing, which comes to the light when only on the day of event. To prevent such situation it is better to determine the ways that will help in identifying optimum staffing levels. It is often better to have required number of staffs to make the event run smoothly but at the same time it is of disadvantage that large number of people will lead to more delegation of roles and responsibility which will make it difficult to find the specific person and a chaotic situation gets created. Second problem highlighted by author is overspending on the event. Budget is the most common problem and challenging aspect in the event planning. Budget is mostly prepared using the past data, to get an idea about how much it will cost and little extra is always taken to meet the uncertain change. Preparing budget is the best way to plan the things as it helps in assessing all the things that will be required and will also helps in meeting up with the changes that may affect the budget.

According to Bharath and Ashoka (2017), third challenge is not prioritizing networking activities. For business professionals networking is the primary factor that helps them in taking decisions regarding whether to attend the event or not. To make the event even more effective it is important to incorporate some important ideas such as providing opportunity of networking during break or lunch and a special lounge for people to communicate and interact. Fourth major challenge is no backup in case of bad weather. The changing weather conditions has created a problem for all, so it is better for all to take caution about it even if it is a sunny day. To deal with such situation its is better to have a second venue in mind which can be used at last minute. Fifth problem is lack of real world experience, it is mainly for the beginners. It is difficult for beginners to know everything in every situation which may cause many issues in event planning. Sixth challenge is changing organizational culture, not only the shrinking budget but the shift in organizational culture is a big concern. Millennial attendees wants something new and are not satisfied with the typical ambience. Another challenge is having more guests than expected. Even if the tickets are sold out, there are plenty of other ways to attend the event. Events planners needs to review the different platforms on which advertisement is done about the event and number of people engaged with the event.

As per Muskat and Deery (2017), unstructured event management process also causes major problem. It includes streamlined workflow and effective communication which are required to make an event successful. Other problem is neglecting the other local events which may impact the gathering at the event. Most of the event planners fails to understand the need to research before planning any event as it may cause the failure of the event. A very important issue is managing multiple events. Event management teams sometimes manage more than one event at a time which makes them engaged in multiple tasks and responsibility. This handling multiple task may impact the current event as event planners may not be able to provide full attention to each event. So, all these are the contemporary issues that are faced in relation to conferences and events, meetings and exhibition.

Soler Sancho, (2018) sought to examine the fact that, managing accommodation contract in turn is considered to be one of the major contemporary issues who in turn largely affects the operations and activities associated with the conference events. Another major contemporary issues which affects the functioning of the conference event is time pressure. This in turn results in far seeking consequences which in turn largely influence the success of the conference event. Insufficient time results in creating chaos in the operations of the business. Lack of creativity in turn largely influences the flexibility of the business environment. Pushing the boundaries in turn helps in creating effective meeting experience for the event planners and for people attending the event. Integration of effective team building activities in turn aids to new experience which helps in higher sustainable growth. One of the major key issue associated with the conference events is related with the lack of world class infrastructure. This in turn hampers the success rate of the event. Smagina, Magomedov, and Buklanov, (2017) argued that, one of the key challenge associated with the conference events is increasing complexity and high degree of rising cost linked with the food and beverages. Growing awareness associated with the sustainability issues and growing awareness related with the wellness in turn is considered to be one of the key challenge which in turn largely affects the business operations. Better management related with the food ordering in turn helps in keeping cost of the business low and it also helps in eliminating waste. Non- compliance with the effective social media platforms in turn helps in addressing the issues associated at the time of promotion and advertising of the specific conference event. The management of the company must in turn focus on effectively identifying the key contemporary issues related with the functioning of the particular conference event. Recent terrorist activities and various other political factors will in turn largely affects the performance of the specific conference event within the hospitality industry. Lack of proper marketing within the MICE destinations in turn largely is considered to be the contemporary issue within the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event sector. Kelly, Marsh and McNicoll, (2019) determined the fact that, negative perception associated with the protection and safety of the tourist is also considered to be one of the most significant contemporary issues which in turn affects the activities of the conference events. Lack of trained employees and manpower in order to mange the big events associated with the conference events are considered to be the contemporary issue within the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event sector. Inadequately trained employees results in lower operational efficiency of the events associated with the hospitality industry. Negative perception associated with the protection and safety issues associated with the conference events. Ineffective manpower planning and integration with the various policies and standards of the country in turn is considered to be one of the most influencing contemporary issue related with the meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event sector. Struggling with your dissertation, get dissertation help from our experts!

Conclusion

From the carried out study it has been summarized that, MICE sector, i.e., meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition event sector is useful in collaborating various groups and bringing people together at one place which in turn is very useful in sharing effective information and solve various issues. This study concludes about emphasize on the contemporary issues within MICE sector. This study summarizes that, The World Association of Travel Agencies conference event will take place at Albert hall conference centre, Nottingham in United Kingdom on 27, 28 and 29 February, 2020.

This study has prepared an appropriate budget plan by effectively assigning cost to each functional and operational activities. Furthermore, this study concludes with the effective marketing plan by targeting key personas which mainly constitute of government representatives, key stakeholders, personnel, leading figures, etc. from across the globe. Creating proper marketing and promotional activities social media marketing platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, search engine optimization, etc. Furthermore, Internal and external analysis for the conference event has been carried out using SWOT and PESTLE analysis. Furthermore, this study also concludes by effectively by carrying out the literature review on the contemporary issues associated with the MICE sector.

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