EVNT7051 Event Planning & Project Management: A Music Festival

As an Event Manager you are required to produce a complete event project plan for the event below:

The aim of the report is to demonstrate the feasibility of the event both operationally and financially.

Introduction

The chosen event is a music festival that is planned to be hosted in London, England. This festival is planned to be hosted for two days in a weekend and some of the world’s most popular music stars will be invited. In order to host this large scale festival successfully, it is important to develop a suitable event management plan that will follow a standard project management approach.

In this report, a detailed event plan has been developed for the proposed event that includes scope, schedule, budget and other important aspects of a project.

Background and Scope of the Event

This particular event is a music festival that is set to take place is London, England in September 2018. While the main purpose is to bring together a large number of famous and most reputed music artists within a grand stage, the event will also be used as a medium for community service that will include providing entertainment to people as well as donate significant amounts of sum to various charitable organizations like old age homes, orphanages, cancer hospitals and some war torn countries where millions of people are starving. The proposed event will be one of the largest music festivals in the whole world and it is expected a huge number of international music stars will take part in the festival.

The primary scope of this event is to host a large scale music festival at a suitable venue for maximum number of audience. Further scope of the project includes renting of Wembley Stadium for the music festival, arranging seats for allowing around 110,000 spectators in the festival, run the festival over two days in the weekend, inviting popular music stars from around the world and successfully hosting the festival with the best viewing experience, safety and security.

Event Objectives

The main objectives of the event are determined as follows.

• To provide entertainment to people and music fans all around the world
• To prepare a grand stage for music festival
• To raise funds for donating to various old age homes, orphanages and some war torn countries around the world

Entertainment Activities

Since the main focus of this festival is to host music performances from world famous artists, the entertain activities will be based on music. However, keeping in mind the possible number of children taking part in the festival along with their family members, there will be activities for children in the festival as well. Furthermore, in addition to the entertainment activities and events, there will be stalls for food and drinks as well. The event authority also aims to provide maximum safety and security to all the spectators who will participant in this grand festival.

Target Audience

While the event will be hosted in London, England, the event management team aims to make it a global festival that will see the festival being participated by music fans from all around the world. There is no specific target audience for the event as this event has been planned for people of all age groups as well as from different professions including sportsmen, acting and others. While for the adult spectators, there will be the music festival run for two days in the weekend, there will children activity event in the Wembley practice ground where the children will be able enjoy during the festival team.

Event Deliverables

There are several deliverables of the event explained in the following points.

Overall Event Management Plan – In order to deliver such a global scale music festival, a detailed event management plan is necessary. Hence, it is important for the event manager to develop an event charter that will include as aspects of the project including scope, timeline, budget, risk management plan and others. On approval of this event management plan, the entire project will be approved in order to proceed further.

Development of Event Management Team – For hosting a global scale music festival, a huge amount of human resources is necessary. Again, for efficient handling of these human resources, specific teams are to be developed and the human resources are to be allocated to these teams based on their skills and competencies. The entire event management team will include volunteers, stage preparation team, marketing and promotions team, security team, safety and first aid team and others.

Selection of Venue – As per the initial discussions, the festival is set to be held in London, England. However, the exact venue of the festival has not yet been confirmed. The majority of the event management has voted for Wembley Stadium owing to its capacity and central location in the city but the Olympic Stadium has also been considered as an alternative. During the planning phase, a specific venue for the festival has to be selected so that suitable preparations can be made for the festival accordingly.

Preparations for Festival – Since this festival will be a global scale event, detailed preparations are necessary. These should include the decoration of the stadium, preparation of security systems for the festival, installing safety measures, booking 6 star hotels for the music stars and other VIPs participating in the festival, construction of food and drinks stalls, children entertainment areas and others. Finally, funding requirements are to be analysed and sponsors will be contracted for investing in the festival.

Invite Popular Musicians – For performing in the event, the team needs to invite a host of popular musicians around the world. The performances from the musicians will ensure the festival will be of global level and will attract a large number of spectators from around the world. However, inviting a large number of popular musicians will also significantly increase the overall budget for the event and hence, planning is to be done accordingly.

Execute the Festival – The final deliverable is to execute the event over a period of 2 days in a selected weekend. After all the preparations for the festival are complete, the event will be executed as per the plan. Moreover, steps should be taken to ensure safety and security of the musicians as well as the spectators so that every person inside the stadium has a great experience of the festival.

Project Management Tools and Techniques

The work breakdown structure for the project is shown in the following diagram.

Figure 1: Work Breakdown Structure of the Project

(Source: Created by Author)

The proposed schedule for the project is shown in the following table.

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish	Predecessors
Music Festival in London	168 days	Mon 7/2/18	Wed 2/20/19
Event Planning and Discussions Phase	42 days	Mon 7/2/18	Tue 8/28/18
Initial Planning and Proposal of the Festival	15 days	Mon 7/2/18	Fri 7/20/18
Get Appointment with Government	5 days	Mon 7/23/18	Fri 7/27/18	2
Discussion with Government Regarding the Festival	5 days	Mon 7/30/18	Fri 8/3/18	3
Get Approval for the Festival	2 days	Mon 8/6/18	Tue 8/7/18	4
Analysis of the Feasibility of the Festival	5 days	Wed 8/8/18	Tue 8/14/18	5
Prepare Festival Draft	5 days	Wed 8/15/18	Tue 8/21/18	6
Go Ahead for the Festival	5 days	Wed 8/22/18	Tue 8/28/18	7
Detailed Planning and Preparation	38 days	Wed 8/29/18	Fri 10/19/18
Preparation of Event Charter	10 days	Wed 8/29/18	Tue 9/11/18	8
Define Scope of the Event	2 days	Wed 9/12/18	Thu 9/13/18	10
Determine Event Objectives	2 days	Fri 9/14/18	Mon 9/17/18	11
Determine Number of Human Resources Required for Managing the Event	2 days	Tue 9/18/18	Wed 9/19/18	12
Prepare Stakeholder and Human Resource Management Plan	2 days	Thu 9/20/18	Fri 9/21/18	13
Develop Event Schedule	5 days	Mon 9/24/18	Fri 9/28/18	14
Determine Budget for the Festival	5 days	Mon 10/1/18	Fri 10/5/18	15
Analyse Risks of the Event	2 days	Mon 10/8/18	Tue 10/9/18	16
Take Measures to Solve the Risks	2 days	Wed 10/10/18	Thu 10/11/18	17
Prepare Communication Plan	2 days	Fri 10/12/18	Mon 10/15/18	18
Finalize the Charter	2 days	Tue 10/16/18	Wed 10/17/18	19
Get Approval for the Charter	2 days	Thu 10/18/18	Fri 10/19/18	20
Marketing and Promotions	20 days	Mon 10/22/18	Fri 11/16/18
Hire Marketing Team for the Event	3 days	Mon 10/22/18	Wed 10/24/18	21
Start Marketing and Promotion of the Festival	10 days	Thu 10/25/18	Wed 11/7/18	23
Invite Musicians to Perform in the Festival	5 days	Thu 11/8/18	Wed 11/14/18	24
Invite High Profile Guests to Visit and Enjoy the Festival	2 days	Thu 11/15/18	Fri 11/16/18	25
Project Execution	54 days	Mon 11/19/18	Thu 1/31/19
Rent the Stadium for Festival	2 days	Mon 11/19/18	Tue 11/20/18	26
Appoint Volunteers	3 days	Wed 11/21/18	Fri 11/23/18	28
Decorate the Stadium with Lights and Banners	10 days	Mon 11/26/18	Fri 12/7/18	29
Install Large Sound Boxes and Field Televisions	12 days	Mon 12/10/18	Tue 12/25/18	30
Purchase Musical Instruments	5 days	Wed 12/26/18	Tue 1/1/19	31
Prepare Parking Space	5 days	Wed 1/2/19	Tue 1/8/19	32
Prepare Children Entertainment Area	5 days	Wed 1/9/19	Tue 1/15/19	33
Build Food Stalls	2 days	Wed 1/16/19	Thu 1/17/19	34
Build Drinks Stalls	2 days	Fri 1/18/19	Mon 1/21/19	35
Build Souvenir Shops	2 days	Tue 1/22/19	Wed 1/23/19	36
Install Safety System	2 days	Thu 1/24/19	Fri 1/25/19	37
Construct Entry and Exit Routes	2 days	Mon 1/28/19	Tue 1/29/19	38
Finalize the Project	2 days	Wed 1/30/19	Thu 1/31/19	39
Event Execution and Closing	14 days	Fri 2/1/19	Wed 2/20/19
Host the Festival	2 days	Fri 2/1/19	Mon 2/4/19	40
Donate Funds Raised to Charity	5 days	Tue 2/5/19	Mon 2/11/19	42
Review of the Festival	5 days	Tue 2/12/19	Mon 2/18/19	43
Final Closing	2 days	Tue 2/19/19	Wed 2/20/19	44

The Gantt chart of the project is accordingly developed as follows.

Figure 2: Gantt Chart of the Project

(Source: Created by Author)

Project Team Management and Structure

Project team management is necessary in order to ensure all the stakeholders of the project understand and perform the roles and duties assigned to them. The appropriate structure for the project team for this festival will include the following stakeholders.

Stakeholder	Role
Event Manager	To manage and control the entire event
Human Resource Manager	To recruit human resource required for the festival
Marketing Manager	To promote the event for gathering maximum audience
Festival Supervisor	To supervise all the activities performed in the event

Budget for the Project

The budget for the project is divided in two parts – cost for human resources and cost for material resources. The usage rates of human resources are shown in the following table.

Resource Name	Type	Max. Units	Std. Rate	Ovt. Rate	Cost/Use	Accrue At	Base Calendar
Event Manager	Work	100%	£250.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard
Human Resource Manager	Work	100%	£150.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard
Marketing Manager	Work	100%	£100.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard
Festival Supervisor	Work	100%	£175.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard
Volunteers	Work	100%	£1,500.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard
Other Team Workers	Work	100%	£2,500.00/hr	£0.00/hr	£0.00	Prorated	Standard

Accordingly the budget for the project based on the rates of the human resources and using bottom up estimation is shown in the following table.

Task Name	Resource Names	Cost
Music Festival in London		£1,298,400.00
Event Planning and Discussions Phase		£142,800.00
Initial Planning and Proposal of the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£51,000.00
Get Appointment with Government	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Discussion with Government Regarding the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Get Approval for the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Analysis of the Feasibility of the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Prepare Festival Draft	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Go Ahead for the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Detailed Planning and Preparation		£131,600.00
Preparation of Event Charter	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£34,000.00
Define Scope of the Event	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Determine Event Objectives	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Determine Number of Human Resources Required for Managing the Event	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor, Human Resource Manager	£9,200.00
Prepare Stakeholder and Human Resource Management Plan	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Develop Event Schedule	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Determine Budget for the Festival	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£17,000.00
Analyse Risks of the Event	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Take Measures to Solve the Risks	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Prepare Communication Plan	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Finalize the Charter	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Get Approval for the Charter	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor	£6,800.00
Marketing and Promotions		£17,200.00
Hire Marketing Team for the Event	Human Resource Manager	£3,600.00
Start Marketing and Promotion of the Festival	Marketing Manager	£8,000.00
Invite Musicians to Perform in the Festival	Marketing Manager	£4,000.00
Invite High Profile Guests to Visit and Enjoy the Festival	Marketing Manager	£1,600.00
Project Execution		£949,200.00
Rent the Stadium for Festival	Festival Supervisor	£2,800.00
Appoint Volunteers	Human Resource Manager	£3,600.00
Decorate the Stadium with Lights and Banners	Other Team Workers	£200,000.00
Install Large Sound Boxes and Field Televisions	Other Team Workers	£240,000.00
Purchase Musical Instruments	Other Team Workers	£100,000.00
Prepare Parking Space	Other Team Workers	£100,000.00
Prepare Children Entertainment Area	Other Team Workers	£100,000.00
Build Food Stalls	Other Team Workers	£40,000.00
Build Drinks Stalls	Other Team Workers	£40,000.00
Build Souvenir Shops	Other Team Workers	£40,000.00
Install Safety System	Other Team Workers	£40,000.00
Construct Entry and Exit Routes	Other Team Workers	£40,000.00
Finalize the Project	Festival Supervisor	£2,800.00
Event Execution and Closing		£57,600.00
Host the Festival	Festival Supervisor, Volunteers	£26,800.00
Donate Funds Raised to Charity	Event Manager	£10,000.00
Review of the Festival	Event Manager	£10,000.00
Final Closing	Event Manager, Festival Supervisor, Human Resource Manager, Marketing Manager	£10,800.00

Now, the costs for material resources are shown in the following table.

Activity	Expected Expenditure
Rent Fee for the Stadium	£1,500,000
Decorations, Banners, Promotions	£50,000
Seat Arrangements, Centre Stage Set Up	£50,000
White Smoke, Fireworks, Lights, Pyro	£10,000
Musical Instruments and Music Sets	£25,000
Seat Arrangements and Numbering	£5,000
Loud Speakers and Bass	£15,000
Portable Toilets, Food, Drinks and Souvenir Shops	£25,000
Installation of Safety Equipments and Emergency Camps	£15,000
Wages and Payments	£1,500,000
Payment to the Participating Music Performers and Superstars	£5,000,000
Total	£8,195,000

Hence, the final total budget of the music festival is set at approximately £10,000,000.

Awareness of Potential Risk Factors

There are certain risks associated with the festival that need to be mitigated in order to ensure the success of the festival. Some of the potential risk factors are follows.

Very High Budget – Hosting a global scale festival will consume significant amount of budget. Hence, without sufficient funding and investment, the event management team may not be able to pull off the event. Furthermore, since this festival is been hosted for the first time, the team will find it difficult to find a suitable investor.

Safety Issues – With around 1,500,000 people attending the festival per day, it is clear that there is high risk of safety issues occurring especially if the event management team is not aware of possible issues. The team must emphasize on efficient handling of the large crowd as well as make space for emergency exit for people falling sick.

Evaluation and Control of Project

The entire project will evaluated based on the performance of the festival. The performance will be judged by a number of factors including participation of the number of spectators, revenue generated, television and digital media coverage, partnership with a number of business organizations and others. Based on the evaluation of the project, it will be decided whether the festival will be repeated the next year as well.

The control of the project is required as it is a global scale festival. Various operational teams and the event manager will ensure the festival is under control and remains within the limitations of the scope.

Conclusion

This report includes a detailed event management plan for the proposed music festival in London. In order to develop various aspects of the event plan, project management tools like scope management plan, project scheduling, work breakdown structure, Gantt chart and others have been utilized. As per the initial estimations, it will take around 42 days to complete all the preparations for the event and approximately £10 million will be spent as the budget of the project.

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