Unit 38 Business Event Management Assignment Solution

Programme	Diploma in Business (Marketing)
Unit Number and Title	Unit 38 Business Event Management
QFC Level	Level 4
Credit value	15 credits
Unit Code	Y/601/1048

Introduction

The assignment is based on the concept of the business event management. The discussion would be carried out on the complete planning; organizing, delegating and final conclusion of the business event that is being organized business event management. The discussion would be carried out on the complete planning; organizing, delegating and final conclusion of the business event that is being organized for the company. The kind of event that has been chosen in order to discuss on the various learning objectives is the Product Launch. The company has been planning to launch a new product within the market as per the consumer requirements that has been analysed and surveyed earlier. There is only one task in the entire assignment to which various sub-tasks are available. The timescales, documentation, organization of resources, regular reviews and evaluations would be discussed in the event. The allocation of the responsibilities and the setting up of the project would be done. The schedules with the corrective records could be maintained for the said process. Any kind of event demands the team work so that all are able to fulfil the responsibilities and obligations as required. The required team-building skills that have to be planned in the event would also be discussed. The kind of support, resources and actions that are taken would be analysed. It will in the last learning objectives discuss on the business communication systems that are needed for the management of the business event of the product launch.

LO1 Under this task a discussion would be carried out on the business event of the Product Launch and the agreed timescales for it. It will also involve the documentation, resources and the reviews that have to be done regard to improving the situations.

1.1 Carry out an identified event or project within an agreed timescale.

A new product has to be launched into the market by the new company. Before the launch of the product, it is essential to plan the entire event and the associated timescales so that the product is really a success in terms of reaching out to the various customers. The chart showing the various events that would be involved in the product launch along with the various timescales are being listed as under:

S. No	Activity	Details	Timescale
1	Follow Up for signage, branding, advertising Costing Involved: $ 50	This will comprise of the follow up with the vendors, clients and the customers in order to develop an advertisement or the slogan that has to be presented before the people.	This will comprise of 1 month
2	Assigning of the  Roles and responsibilities	Based on the various activities, the roles and the responsibilities would be assigned and allocated to the various team members who are involved in the new product launch by the company.	This would involve 10 Days
3	Developing the market and the arrangements for the seminar or the road shows that have been planned Costing Involved: $ 100	This would involve the development of a team which will be given various responsibilities in organizing the It road shows, trade affairs and the other business level events or the programs.	It will involve a consistent effort of 3-4 months for the promotions and the development of the new product that would be launched.

Based on the above table as per the various activities, various tasks would be assigned and allocated. The timelines and timescales pertaining to them are also mentioned in order to bring about the change in various sub-processes that are involved in the product launch.

1.2 Write appropriate documentation.

The documentation that would be needed is:
Financial costing with respect to the budgets allocated for the product launch – This would involve the budget and the financial planning for the entire product launch activity. It will have to cost implications with respect to the budgets that were assigned in the beginning of the year for the new product launch (Getz, 2000).
Marketing plan or the event planner – This will comprise of all the marketing related activities with the timescales and the responsible persons who may take up the tasks further.
Operational tasks, schedules and the responsibilities – These will comprise of all the operational costs, programs and the activities that would have to be organized with respect to market, customers and even the clients.
The entire documentation would be based on the various formats and forms that are maintained within the company. It is also important that these forms and formats are being updated and maintained on regular intervals.
Activities and plan are:
Follow Up for signage, branding, advertising– This will comprise of the documentation that would be done for marketing.
Assigning of the Roles and responsibilities – This would comprise of laying the job description, tasks, goals and objectives for the employees.
Developing the market and the arrangements for the seminar or the road shows that have been planned– This would be the real time marketing principles and initiatives.

1.3 Organize resources to carry out the event or project.

The resources that are required to carry out the product launch are:
Manpower – These would be the availability of the employees who will initiate planning, organizing, controlling and arrangements that have to be done for the event of product launch. There should be development of the teams and groups. These groups should be as per the skill and competencies mapping and help in fitting the right people for the right activities and at the right time.
Money – In order to organize the product launch there is requirement of organizing the road shows and the other related marketing and promotion activities. This could be done only when the money is allocated for it. The finances have to be planned before the launch so that correct implementation and allocation of the funds can take place (Etzion & Niblett, 2010).
Infrastructure – This is the facility and other related tools and equipment that are required for the organization of the various activities and the project or the product launch event. The planning and the availability of the infrastructure has to be done before so that end time chaos could be easily avoided.

1.4 Perform regular reviews and evaluations including the methods and resources.  

There is requirement of the review and the evaluation of the various processes and programs that are organized for the product launch. This review will help us in taking a control and checking on whether the processes are running as per the requirement or not. The review and evaluation will check on the processes like:

• All schedules are followed as per the timeline.
• The activities are organized with the optimum level of utilization of the resources that were available for use.
• All the employees have been fulfilling the roles and responsibilities.

This next section would discuss on the allocation of the responsibilities, development of schedules, leadership, and time management, monitoring and taking of the corrective actions for the various project tasks. The examples for the review and evaluation process would be development of the assessment and evaluation form would be comprising of all the activities performed and their respective ratings, customer or client feedback and the time required for the action to be taken.

LO 2

2.1 Set up the project, choose the completion date and allocate responsibilities.

This will comprise of the project product launch to start date to be November 2014 and end date would be December 2014. The responsibilities have to be allocated as per the skills and competencies of the various personnel in the marketing and sales team. The responsibilities would be allocated on the start of the day so that the complete job is divided into various sub-tasks and then later fulfilled and completed within the assigned timelines. The various responsibilities are:

• Designing of the standees, brochures, pamphlets and the market road show hoardings.
• Organizing of the operational requirements for the entire team.
• Coordinating with the various clients and the customers on the evaluations and the reviews in order to bring about changes in the complete process in case required.

These responsibilities would be handled and implemented by different people at different times. The various roles will then help in allocation of the further responsibilities and in the end correct implementation of the project. The example of the responsibilities would be: designing of brochures, doing the market analysis and assessment and taking the feedback of the project from the employees and the client to make improvisation records.

2.2 Demonstrate leadership, effective time management and skills of prioritizing and delegating.

It is always essential that the leadership, effective time management and the skills for prioritizing and the delegation are required in order to get the product launch program be successful. These skills will help in the following ways:

• Aligning the team with the goals and objectives – When the entire team would be aware of their individualistic and group objectives then they would be able to concentrate on it in a better way.
• Ensuring all the activities are fulfilled in time – It is important that the chart or a schedule is developed with the various activities and the allocated time for them.
• It will help in solving the issues and the grievances – All the issues and the grievances that persist among the team members would be resolved at the earliest.
• It will help the employees in taking up the tasks and accountabilities and even prioritizing their tasks or the programs (Graham et al, 1995).
• It will even help the leader in successfully delegating and allocation of the various responsibilities.

These skills are essential so that the product launch is done in time and by the right time and right people.

2.3 Support and monitor projects.

All the sub-tasks are to be supported and monitored on the periodic intervals so that the project is never a failure and is achieved in the regular intervals and time. The monitoring action would be performed by the supervisor or the leader of the respective program. The monitoring and support will help in the completion of the product launch in time.
Supporting and monitoring of project is not only the responsibility of Manager rather all the employees are equally responsible for it. It is important that the monitoring is done with the step by step activities and project related tasks that are assigned.

2.4 Take corrective actions if necessary to keep the project on schedule.

When the product launch and its related activities would be done then surely the action plan would be as per the timelines that could be given. There may be loopholes or the weaknesses in the project. In this regard corrective actions have to be planned out so that the areas that has to be corrected. These corrective actions will help in the prevention of any kind of loopholes or the problems that may arise during the project schedules and the dates that have been planned. These will also ensure that all the people have the clarity in terms of their roles and responsibilities.
Corrective actions will ensure that the team is satisfied and gets all the necessary resources management and IT tools for the correct implementation of the plan of the new product launch. These actions can be:

• Regular meetings and update on weekly basis on the status of the project.
• Updating the Management information system report and sent to management.
• Doing discussions and making improvisations in it.

LO3 This section would discuss on the team development, assigning of the responsibilities, skill building, anger management, effective communication and successful implementation of the new product launch by these team members.

3.1 Choose the appropriately sized team with the knowledge and abilities required for the project.

The project will involve three major tasks:
The selection of the team for the product launch – This would involve first of all finding out on the various options and the jobs that have to be done with respect to the new product launch. Once the jobs and the tasks are known then surely the people would be selected who would be doing the various tasks as per their capabilities and the skills. These skills would basically be the competencies that they possess and could be exploited. Mapping of the skills with that of the various tasks involved have to be carried out.
Assigning of the team with their respective roles and responsibilities – This is in line with the selection of the team. This would involve the mapping of the team as per their competencies and skills and assigning them the respective tasks and roles that they could easily accomplish and that too with success as defined for the implementation of the new product launch.
Mapping and setting of an evaluation and checking team – Once the product launch process starts then surely the team has to be followed up and based on the outputs and the tasks that they have delivered, they could be given additional responsibilities and roles. This would also help in the evaluation process and even defining the skills for the people which remain unexplored.
The skills and the competencies that are required to be implemented and utilized for the product launch activities have to be firstly defined. Once these are defined then surely selection of the various people would be done as per that. Once the selection would be done then people would be asked to perform and give their outputs (Record et al, 1994).
The team size would be 12 team members. The abilities and qualities looked forward in them are:

• They should have ability to work and execute the tasks in time.
• They should have ability to work under pressure delivering output or results.
• They should comprise of the necessary technical skills and qualifications that are required for that specific position.

3.2 Demonstrate team building skills and how to diffuse anger.

Team Building Skills are very essential in case the product launch has to be implemented with success. This is due to the reason that there would not be involvement of one person in the launch program rather the departments, functions and the team members would be actively involved in the various activities. The team building skills would help in supporting and aligning the team members with the objectives and the goals that have been set for the program. When people work together, there has to be active participation of each and every member. There has to be introduction of the exercises so that the team remains in the active mode and render support & help to each other’s activities and tasks that have been allocated and delegated. Team Building Skills would help in the following ways:

• Building trust and loyalty among the team members.
• Aligning the team towards the goals and objectives of the product launch program.
• Developing and sharpening their skills to support, help and work in a team with various team members.

Anger obviously can arise when people of various perceptions, culture and demographics work together. This may result in the failure of the product launch. In order to prevent anger to persist the following could easily be implemented:

• Make all team members involved in the product launch to be clear on their respective roles and responsibilities.
• Keep one manager or the supervisor in order to supervise their activities and tasks that they have been performing.
• Development of a grievance cell that may escalate and address the issues and problems on priority that may arise among the team members.
• Impart of the training pertaining to stress management, team building and even the anger management programs.

All these activities will help in curbing the anger or the frustration that the team members may develop due to the problems that may arise as a result of cultural diversity.

3.3 Show the importance of effective co-ordination and clear communication when liaising with the team.

Effective coordination and clear communication is very important especially when the project is being carried out with the team. This helps in giving the clear and concise information to the team so that each and every team member performs his activities very easily. The importance could be highlighted in the following ways:

• It helps in giving the complete idea on the implementation of the activities and the product launch tasks.
• It avoids and removes all kinds of the barriers that may arise during the team work.
• The objectives and goals are also communicated with clarity and in a concise way to all the team members so that they could align them with the other tasks and achieve the objective.

Therefore it could be said that communication plays a very important role in the development of an individual as it helps him in getting the clarity on the role, task and the objectives of self and the team that have to be achieved in a stipulated timeline.

3.4 Plan the actions and resources needed to achieve the success of the event or project.

The actions that would be required to achieve the success in the new product launch are:

• Development of Team.
•  Assigning them their respective roles and responsibilities.
• Providing them trainings pertaining to the skill gap that exists in them.
• Development of a schedule and its clear communication to the team (Scheer & Nüttgens, 2000).
• Evaluation and Check on the process flow and its adherence.
• Assessment of the product response in the market and bringing changes in the process when required and demanded by the market and the consumers.

The resources that would be required to achieve the success in new product launch are:
Manpower and their skill building trainer – The team is required that will help in the correct implementation of the new product launch.
Finances and Budgets – The budgets and finances will surely help in developing and procuring the necessary infrastructure that could be utilized for the successful implementation of the new product launch.
Infrastructure for the organizing of the various activities and programs– This infrastructure would basically comprise of the information technology and related requirements pertaining to the company for launching the new product.
This next section enforces the internal and external communication, use of IT and process of information on time.