INDIVIDUAL

ASSIGMENT:
EVENT AUDIT
MARK2060 EVENT MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT

Student name:
Student number:
Table of Contents
I. EVENT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 2
II. EVALUATIONS ON THE MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING OF THE EVENT
.................................................................................................................................................... 2
1. OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................................... 2
2. TARGET AUDIENCE & POSITIONING ..................................................................................... 3
3. MARKETING MIX & SPONSORSHIP ....................................................................................... 3
4. OHS, SECURITY, LOGISTICS ISSUES ..................................................................................... 5
III. EVALUATIONS ON SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES OF THE EVENT .................... 6
IV. OVERALL ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE EVENT
ORGANISER ........................................................................................................................... 7
V. REFERENCE ...................................................................................................................... 9
VI. APPENDICES.................................................................................................................. 10
I. Event introduction

The Annual Gala Concert is a yearly ticket-entrance, musical event organised by Master Piano

Institute (MPI) to showcase the institute's talented performers and tribute to the world's greatest

composers (Master Piano Institute 2019). This year’s Gala recital took place in Verbrugghen

Hall of Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday 19th October 2019 with

the participation of 16 world-class performers on piano, cello, violin and voice featuring calibre

of performance and diverse programme of recognisable and memorable musical works (Master

Piano Institute 2019).

II. Evaluations on the management and marketing of the event

1. Objectives

The primary objective of Gala Concert was to showcase the professional skills and talents of

MPI teachers (Master Piano Institute 2019), which allows the institution to increase brand

awareness and enhance their reputation among the coterie of music-lovers as well as attract and

build trust among potential students. Moreover, the concert also aimed to inspire the current

students through artistic and inspirational performances, so that the future-artists would feel

motivated to continue studying and practising to deliver such high-quality renditions in the

coming times. Additionally, from a short interview with Ms.Yichao Ma - the founder of MPI,

it can be drawn that the event was an opportunity for teaching staff to elaborate work-in-

progress projects in the form of a concert, expand their repertoire by exploring with new ideas

and arrangement as well as to tie up their relationships thanks happy and enjoyable moments

during the preparation stage.

The primary target audiences of the concert were classical music enthusiasts from 18 years old

to 60 years old in Sydney. The secondary target audiences were the current students of MPI

and people from the performers' and students' social network. MPI positioned the event at a

mid-end market with the ticket’s price range of $40 to $60 in order to ensure that the concert

is accessible to all classical music fans. Moreover, the event aimed to build a warm and intimate

image by choosing a small venue and limiting their seat availability, as the purpose of the

concert was to earn profit but to share the love and passion for musical music with all admirer

as well as to express their gratitude to all the supporters.

3. Marketing mix & Sponsorship

Product

As a musical event, the products of the concert were the performances of artists. The concept

of the concert was entertainment with a contemporary theme. The concert offered a diversity

of performances with a different mix of musical instruments, musical drama and voice. The

highlight of the concert was the creativity of the teachers in pieces arrangement that impressed

the audience and brought amazing WOW moments. It was relatively difficult for listeners to

evaluate the quality of performance as it greatly depended on the artistic sense and personal

preferences of individuals. However, the institute strived to overcome the challenge of

intangibility by providing tangible cues for the audience’s assessment, such as prestigious

venue, performers' certifications, performers' outfits, lighting and stage decorations.

The ticket price varies from $40 to $60 depending on seat selection which falls on the medium

price range of classical music concert. The concert's ticket was distributed via the Eventbrite

website which is an online platform that specializes in selling event tickets.

Place

The venue of the concert was Verbrugghen Hall of which is a world-class venue close to the

Sydney Opera House and adjacent by the Royal Botanic Gardens. The location at the heart of

Sydney's cultural precinct assisted the concert to express its artistic class. Moreover, selecting

a venue in Sydney Central Business District made it more convenient for the audience to

participate.

Promotion

For above the line marketing communication, digital platforms were the main mediums that

utilize MPS to promote the event. The institute employed their official website, Facebook Page

as well as media sharing in community websites to air the concert's information (Appendix 1).

The organisers also send newsletters to customers in their database to update and remind them

of the upcoming event. Moreover, word-of-mouth marketing was effectively deployed. The

institute encouraged students and staff to share the concert's contents to their networks and

community on their social media accounts. They also offered sales promotion to their students

to motivate them to come and invite their friends by giving them a promotion code.

Sponsorship

Cornwell et al. (2006) imply that the fit between sponsors and sponsee plays a crucial role in

determining the effectiveness of the sponsorship. In the case of MPI's Gala concert, there is an
apparent link in term of event nature, audience and timing between the sponsee's event and the

sponsors. The main sponsor of the concert was the Australian Piano Warehouse (APW). The

concert delivered various instrumental performances including the piano which completely

aligned with the business of the sponsor. Moreover, the classy and professional image of the

concert can polish the image of APW. As a piano seller, APW could easily reach its brand

among its target customers who were people interested in piano by sponsoring for a classical

music event. Additionally, the event was held in October which was before the festive season,

thus it was an opportunity to promote its brand and enter customer’s evoke set when they

considered purchasing a piano as a gift for their beloved ones.

4. OHS, security, logistics issues

The event was well-executed in general, however, there was a handful of minor issues that the institution

could consider improving the quality of the future concert. In terms of security, the concert did not

have the entailment of security guards. Although it was a medium-scale in-house concert, the security

personnel patrol was essential to ensure the safety of the guests and staff as they had the proper security

practices to deal with complex and unexpected occurrences (Hall et al. 2011). In addition, the organiser

failed to remind the guests about the emergency exit which was a critical safety dimension of an in-

house event before the concert took place. Furthermore, staffing was another issue of the event. The

front-line staff were not professional enough that when audiences ask questions related to the concert's

program, they could not provide sufficient answers. This problem could be stemmed from the lack of

human resource as Ms Yichao shared in the interview that the concert required the voluntary

support of students to run the concert, thereby they might not have adequate knowledge of the

concert. For the logistics aspect, there was a lack of signage and direction boards or standees

to guide attendees to come to the event hall which might cause inconvenience for them to find

the venue as the size of Sydney Conservatorium of Music is substantial.

The institute also took into account sustainability development and implemented many

sustainable practices to organise the concert. Firstly, the event was planned and held at an

appropriate venue that its size precisely fit with the numbers of guests, thus resources and

energy were efficiently used. Secondly, the concert took place in the afternoon, so that the

organisers could take advantage of natural light in the foyer to decrease energy consumption.

Thirdly, the site of the concert was near the city centre with various public transportation

options which were convenient and eco-friendly for the audiences to come. Fourthly, the

concert utilized electronic tickets and phone application instead of a physical ticket to reduce

paper use. Moreover, the institute also prepared separated recycling bins designed for plastic

waste, organic waste and general recyclable items.

Despite the implementation of many sustainable practices, there were some underperforming

areas in the concert that required more efficient planning and monitoring for future

improvement. Firstly, although the concert was supplied with separate bins for recycling

purpose, recyclable items and general waste were all mixed up which could not undertake the

recycling process. It was due to the fact that the organiser did not closely monitor and provided

insufficient signage to classify the trash bins so that the guests put waste into the incorrect bins

without noticing. Furthermore, the concert provided leaflets made from unrecyclable plastic-

coated paper for all attendees, which were unnecessary as many of them were well-informed

of the concert's programme via content provided in online channels. In addition, many guests

left those leaflets on their seats when the concert ended which created a messy look.
IV. Overall assessment and recommendations to the event organiser

The Annual Gala Concert of MPI is deserved to receive an overall mark of 80 out of 100. The

institute has successfully organised a concert which displays congruence in the elements of

concept, design and performance quality. The venue selection was exceptional that its

architecture and reputation entirely aligned with the nature of the concert as well as its location

satisfied the requirement of convenience for attendees. The event decoration and set-up also

represented a decent vibe for a classy musical concert. The performances of artists showed their

professional skills with serious and attentive attitude in preparing and performing. The recitals

impressed the audiences by WOW moments created by creative and unique piece arrangements

of the teaching staff. This factor truly set the concert apart from other classical music events.

Nevertheless, there were a few points that the organiser should pay attention in order to deliver

an excellent event. The institute should put more effort into marketing communication to

promote the concert and attract more audiences. The organiser properly utilized a mix of

different online media and word-of-mouth advertising; however, the media frequency was

limited with simple and plain content which was deficient to increase awareness and appeal to

customers. Consequently, the Verbrugghen Hall was not fully filled. The institute did

implement different sustainable practices, yet they did not plan and manage thoroughly leading

to some underperforming outcomes. Moreover, the organiser should also work on the security

and event personnel aspect to improve the quality of the concert.

MPI could consider the following recommendations to enhance the quality of its future

concerts. The fundamental to execute a sustainable event is that the organiser must exercise a

holistic scope (Ahmad et al. 2013). The institute should build a strategic plan that satisfies all

economic, social and environmental sustainability at once since these dimensions

interdependently impact on the success of an event (Ahmad et al. 2013). Moreover, a

the project is essential. The framework would assist the organisers to recognise most of the

potential environmental issues during the planning and execution stages so that the institute

could prepare a detailed action plan to address those issues (Boggia et al. 2018). For instance,

the assessment framework would help MPI to acknowledge that the catering of drinking water

is a critical element which could lead to the environmental-friendly problem. Thus, MPI should

provide reusable and stainless-steel water bottles and water refill points for audiences to reduce

the usage of plastic water bottles and one-time-use paper cups. Or the framework would support

MPI to realize that the leaflet provided in the concert was a possible risk to environmental

sustainability so that MPI would have another solution to deal with it, such as sending email to

ticket-buyers or placing a standee in the entrance hall to inform the detail information of the

concert's program. Furthermore, staff training is considered a key success factor of sustainable

event management (Buathong & Lai 2019). Therefore, the organiser should provide adequate

training for all the staff and ensure that they understand the environmental initiatives of the

concert and act accordingly. Last but not least, according to Musgrave and Henderson (2015),

attendee engagement with sustainability initiative is also an important element that determines

the success of the sustainable management of an event. Hence, MPI is recommended to

explicitly communicate the environmental practices of the concert on the website, social media,

and on-site communication materials. By making the audience aware of the sustainability

initiatives of the event, they would be more informed and encouraged to follow such initiatives.
V. Reference

Ahmad, N. L., Rashid, W. E. W., Razak, N. A., Yusof, A. N. M., & Shah, N. S. M. (2013). Green event
management and initiatives for sustainable business growth. International Journal of Trade, Economics
and Finance, 4(5), 331.

Boggia, A., Massei, G., Paolotti, L., Rocchi, L., & Schiavi, F. (2018). A model for measuring the
environmental sustainability of events. Journal of environmental management, 206, 836-845.

Buathong, K., & Lai, P. C. (2019). Event sustainable development in Thailand: A qualitative
investigation. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 24, 110-119.

Cornwell, T. B., Humphreys, M., Maguire, A., Weeks, C., & Tellegen, C. (2006). Sponsorship-linked
marketing: the role of articulation in memory. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(3), 312–321.

Hall, S., Cooper, W. E., Marciani, L. M., & McGee, J. (2011). Security management for sports and
special events: An interagency approach to creating safe facilities. Human Kinetics.

Master Piano Institute. (2019). Events. Accessed 19 November 2019,

Musgrave, J., & Henderson, S. (2015). A pathway to sustainable event management. The Routledge
handbook of tourism and sustainability, 384-396.
VI. Appendices

Appendix 1. Media sharing in community websites