BOOK REVIEW

WITH WILLIAM O'TOOLE, CFEE

FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: EVALUATING THE LATEST EVENT MANAGEMENT BOOKS

In these days of AI and ChatGPT (oh, have you met XAI yet?) do we really need books? Short answer, YES! Unlike a blog or a tweet, books are the outcome of months, or years in my case, of working, thinking, testing and refining. As books can be quite a time commitment for the reader, I have created this column “From Theory to Practice: Evaluating the Latest Event Management Books” which will review Event Management Books from the event practitioner’s perspective to assist you in deciding which ones to browse, read or ignore. Let’s start with three hard ones.

• Event Portfolio Management: Theory and Practice for Event Management
Authors: Vladimir Antchak, Vassilios Ziakas, and Donald Getz

• Event Impact Assessment: Theory and Methods for Event Management and Tourism
Author Donald Getz

• Dictionary of Event Studies, Event Management and Event Tourism
Editor Donald Getz

Event Portfolio Management: Theory and Practice for Event Management

The concept of a city or regional events program as a portfolio is an attractive idea. It derived from the management of a group of investments such as a share portfolio. By owning a mixed group of investments, ‘diverse’ is the term, then the up and down times can be better navigated. The words used are ‘integrated’ and ‘efficient use of resources’, because one event in the portfolio often supports other events.

For example, the wine and food festival may lose money in one year, whereas the country concert will make money. One will subsidise the other. The next year it may be the other way around. Hence over the long term the event program is a success.

The basis of portfolio management involves choosing the right investments so that while some are losing value, others are gaining. Hence, risk is part of the model. Of course it is more complex than that and is certainly sprinkled with mathematical magic dust to appear deep, tending towards wish fulfilment. However, the portfolio model does transfer easily to a group of events. I have noticed the terminology of portfolio management has recently crept into government funding of event programs around the world. It fits perfectly with the language of government policy development and centralised planning.

With that in mind, the usefulness of this book is found in the terminology used and defined. But be aware, the book is academic with copious references and frequent citations in every paragraph. If you prefer a summary, the book has it at the end of each chapter. That would be a good place to start and figure out what parts are useful to your events program. If you want to understand how this model is applied there are very good case studies. In particular, New Zealand and Edinburgh are interesting from a festival perspective.

I have followed both since I trained event teams in New Zealand and in Edinburgh in the early 2000s. It illustrates how the events sector has moved along the path of maturity. Both places heavily rely on attracting tourists and were, therefore, the first to develop, apply and improve this rational system. Like New Zealand, Edinburgh has published their strategies and event impact reports online. Three chapters provide an excellent overview of these. Additionally, there is an overview of the IFEA World Festival & Event City Award from the perspective of portfolio management.

In summary, the portfolio model is very attractive to governments once they understand the return on investment of events and the benefit of integrating the allocation of resources. If you want to comprehend and conquer this model to your advantage, the chapter summaries are a good place to start.

Event Impact Assessment

An excellent survey of the impact of festivals is detailed in Donald Getz’s suitably titled ‘Event Impact Assessment’. Don has been the theoretician for the events sector for many years. His first textbook in 1997 was a milestone for academic interest in events. Over the years I have seen many an ‘economic impact study’ (EIS) that tendered towards wishful thinking and ensuring the consultant comes up with the ‘right figures’. It is stunningly complex as there are so many intangible outcomes of a great festival and rarely does the EIS take into account the real political decisions that drive festivals or the total cost of the event.

But, be that as it may, impact assessment is here to stay and if your festival needs such a study, this is a good book to read before you hire the consultant. It covers the definitions, methods used to assess an event, and chapters on the cultural, social, ecological, built environment and economic impacts. Although it is replete with multiple citations and references that takes away from the flow of the writing and ideas, I guess that is part of the mysterious academic world.

Dictionary of Event Studies, Event Management and Event Tourism

Finally, I’ll just have a word or two about the new Dictionary of Event Studies, Event Management and Event Tourism. The theme of this review is ‘terminology’. For a profession to be taken seriously, the professional must be able to describe what they do and what they achieve. This dictionary is not at the event operational level. It is more about the management theory. It is excellent if you have to deal with the government with over 2000 definitions. I am certain you will find words that will impress as well as convey the exact meaning of festival management and impacts. Personally, I submitted over 300 definitions from my work over the years in event and risk management and event strategy development. For example you won’t find out about types of microphone, Fresnel lenses or ticket collection, but you will find the definitions of soundscaping, liminality and standoff distance. Well worth a browse.

These three books illustrate the advance of event management from practical trade skill to a profession. Even though we are all annoyed by the overuse of obscure terminology in the world, these books are a step in the right direction to communicate with other professions, centralised planning and Government strategies. All this is now necessary in the festival and events sector. We can thank Professor Donald Getz for editing this series and writing the seminal textbook.

If you would like more information on the publications mentioned in this review or are interested in other Event Management publications and would like Bill to review them, please contact Bill directly at: events@epms.net

Figure 1. New Zealand, one of the first nations to recognise the power of events and the need to direct their benefits and costs using strategic planning

Figure 2. New Zealand may have a population of only 5 million, but their events development is first class.

Figure 3. Excellent assessment of the impact of Edinburgh’s festival portfolio strategy.

William (Bill) O’Toole, CFEE is an events development specialist consultant who has authored several textbooks on events, risk, and crowds. His recent publications include “Crowd Management: Risk Security Health” (2020), “Safe and Healthy Crowded Places” (Government manual, available for free online), and “Risk Management for Events” (2022). He has trained event teams around the world in project and risk management. He is a member of the IFEA World Board and is currently researching the application of advanced risk tools listed in ISO31010 to the management of events and festivals.