BOOK LAUNCH

Events Management — fourth edition launched

After much anticipation, we are pleased to announce that the Events Management: A developmental and managerial approach (fourth edition) handbook is published in a hard-bound format and as an e-book. This handbook is a major contribution to research and practice in the management of business events to be applied locally, nationally, and internationally.

By Professor Nellie Swart, CMP, associate professor in tourism at UNISA.

In 2016 Dr. Dimitri Tassiopoulos embarked on the updating of the 2010 and 3rd editions of the handbook. Sadly, he became very sick and passed away on 16 May 2017. Many new and existing authors were advanced in the updating of their respective chapters, which motivated Dimitri’s sister, Irene Tassiopoulos, to complete the updating of the 4th edition. Irene was assisted by Nellie (Magdalena Petronella) Swart to work through Dimitri’s documents and notes in an attempt to honour his hard work and legacy. At the time of Dimitri’s passing, he had already worked through the majority of the chapters. The feedback was shared with the respective authors, and together Nellie and Irene did follow-ups to ensure Dimitri’s comments and suggestions were addressed.

Thirty-two authors contributed to chapters of which fifteen are based in South Africa, meeting the guidelines shared by Dimitri on the South African percentage of contributing authors. The fourth edition remains the first multidisciplinary book of its kind and is guided by internationally recognised key knowledge domains for staging any genre of event professionally. It comes to you as a collaborative approach between experienced events practitioners and academics from a number of academic institutions around the world.

Authors favoured qualitative research methods to provide secondary information-rich content to ensure the most relevant content of a specific phenomenon was investigated and contextualised in a practical way. The book consists of eight parts, to ensure logic and chronological flow of content. A number of new authors ensured the content is updated, relevant, authentic, and adhere to the latest trends in events management, including chapters on eSports and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on events. Therefore, this handbook is intended as an academic and ‘how to’ professional text. Although numerous books are dealing with a variety of applied event disciplines, there is a relative dearth of books that provide the theoretical and methodological management knowledge base which is a prerequisite for establishing and managing events. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first events handbook to be published to address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on events. Further, the need to develop adaptable problem-solving skills, foster professionalism and stimulate event research is seen as an overall outcome of this book.

Events Management: A developmental and managerial approach is about the actual developmental process of understanding what events are, and ultimately planning and managing events for the sustainable benefit of tourism destinations. This handbook will be of value to policymakers, academics, consultants, and business tourism practitioners.

My personal experience

When I was invited by Dimitri to co-author a chapter for the 4th edition of the Events Management: A developmental and managerial approach handbook, I would have never imagined that this project would land on my plate to finish. For the publication team and authors, this has been a long and emotional journey, especially for his sister Irene Tassiopoulos, who was adamant to finish this book. Irene wanted to honour each author who had devoted their time for the writing of a chapter, but also as a lasting legacy for her brother, Dimitri.

To me, it was not only an emotional journey, but we had a great sense of responsibility to honour Dimitri’s legacy. In the book we have tried to pay tribute to Dimitri Tassiopoulos and Julia Silvers, who contributed greatly to the events management landscape. Some of their original contributions were included, as we believed this was the lens through which they wanted to share their knowledge and experience. As managing editor, it was a delicate balance to honour the content Dimitri planned for the book, but also to recognise the challenges the events industry has been through over the last two years.