Mice Case Study 1[1]

Overcoming the Challenges ahead during Event Planning: A Mini Case Study of the 3rd Entertainment Stakeholders’ Conference The Author Abbey Mutumba, Department of Leisure and Hospitality, Makerere University Business School- MUBS , Uganda Abstract The need for capacity building workshops and conferences has been identified from Uganda’s music entertainment which is starting to attract a lot of academic interest in areas such as even planning, event sponsorship, media management, stakeholder /public relations, venue management, event proposal writing, and event franchising. Findings on the performance of the previous 2 music-entertainment stakeholders’ conferences are presented in this article. The purpose of this case study is to provide you-the reader with an opportunity to test/practice your ability to effectively plan and deliver an annual event that involves several stakeholders. Article Type: Case Study Key Words: Entertainment, Conference, Media, Stakeholders, Sponsors, and Venue Journal:

The music entertainment industry which has been growing into one of Uganda’s leading areas of business hope continues to indicate a strategic need for professionalism and competitive skills development. From this trend of growth, Abbedax Entertainment and Hospitality Ltd (Abbedax) has discovered a niche for its training and capacity building portfolio which it is exploiting through organizing training workshops and conferences for practicing stakeholders from such upcoming industries of Uganda. Abbedax in conjunction with Makerere University Business School’s Executive Development Programs (EDP) office and PAM Awards have successfully organized the 1st and 2nd Entertainment Stakeholders’ Conferences in 2006 and at the beginning of 2008 respectively. These series of annual events usually attract a good number of leading musicians, TV/Radio presenters, marketing professionals, brand managers, sports personalities, government officials, and other entertainment stakeholders. The above 3 partners are preparing for the next conference. These event organizers are challenged to ensure that the coming conference becomes more successful than the previous 2 conferences especially in terms of number and status of participants, media coverage/publicity, and word-of-mouth. Current Situation This time round, Abbedax is to do most conference planning, sourcing for

funds/sponsorship, specifications to be used during the outsourcing of events services, and most of the conference coordination. The EDP and PAM Awards are funding 40% of the conference budget besides the other intangible contributions like the customerfocused innovations that need to be presented to the potential corporate sponsors, financers of group attendees, and the exhibitors. Mr Kabogoza Joe who is in-charge of the conference planning and coordination has just joined Abbedax’s events management team as the company’s management assistant to the managing director (MD). Fortunately Joe is also determined to make this 3rd conference a big success that is why he is using his formal authority to attract more MICE/CCM graduates who are also passionate about becoming leading event managers through events like this. He has managed to attract 6 top BLHM finalists who want to put what they have learnt in events planning and management during their CCM classes into practice through volunteering at this momentof-truth/3rd conference. The event planners and organizers need to convince the musicians and other target participants to attend since they have always complained about this series of annual events always being held at MUBS instead of venues like the National Theatre or Hotel Africana. These potential participants now prefer a venue where they will not fear to speak their mother tongues especially luganda even during the conference sessions. Abbedax prefers MUBS’s Walusansa House which benefits MUBS as the institution because it where the company’s MD and other top management members studied from. Meanwhile Prof Balunywa who is the CEO of MUBS and Mr Mulindwa Isaac who is the chairman of the PAM Awards have convinced Abbedax that the conference should be accompanied with an exhibition of the artists’ entertainment products, and an incentive tour to Ssesse Islands where the participants may identify and exploit some future business opportunities. Convincing the key stakeholders to come back to MUBS and preparing a convincing conference proposal that will attract more leading sponsors and media houses compared to the previous conferences remain the main challenges to Joe and team. Only 3.5 m/= from the 3 partners is expected because apart from corporate sponsors like NIVEA’s Equator International Distributors , Uganda Germany Cultural Society , and Lindsay Cottages Ltd, most sponsorship is in kind not in cash. Attracting more 3.5m/= cash sponsorship from other corporate sponsors to fully fund the 7m/= budget for the next conference is another challenge ahead. The organizers may need to cut the budget because the event has to take place since the media is already publicizing this event. The Event Management Team and Reports Mr Kabanda Dan (Director of Marketing and Events Operations) who stands in for the MD is one of the resourceful people available for Joe to seek advise on how to go about the challenges in order to successfully manage this 3rd conference. Mr Kabanda has contributed to the previously successful conferences through his excellent event coordination and marketing competences that he developed while still a BLHM student at MUBS and a supervisor at Hotel Diplomate in Muyenga. Ms Rehema, an Administrative Assistant in the EDP Office who also greatly contributed to the previous 2 conference has dedicated 3 weeks to ensure that the event is a bigger success. From the conference evaluation reports compiled by the EDP through the questionnaires and participant comment forms that were filled in during the pervious conferences , the 90% of participants were satisfied with the selected themes/topics and the way the discussions were handled by the session chairpersons and the other facilitators. 65% were appreciative of the tea/coffee breaks and the meals served. 30% of the respondents

complained about the delays in serving the lunch. Only 40% of the participants want the next conference to be held at MUBS. The others simply want to rotate the venues each year while some are scared about the rampant laptop thieves and other thieves who vandalize people’s vehicles. However, no participant’s vehicle has ever been vandalized during the previous conferences because special security and parking is always allocated to the conference participants by the MUBS authorities. Consider these results;

A Table Showing the Actual Performance of the Previous Conferences 1st Conference Targeted Achieved

Conference Newspaper/MUBS TV News Participants News Letter Items Articles 80 10 4 63 7 7

2nd Conference Targeted 50 15 7 Achieved 36 10 3 Source; Abbedax Conference Reports of 2006, 2007, and 2008

Radio News Items 6 2

Sponsors

4 5

13 10

20 8

Besides the above named sponsors, other corporate and media sponsors like the Coca Cola franchise, Radio Simba, Radio Sanyu, MUBS News, Record TV, NBS TV, WBS TV, The Daily Monitor, The New Vision, and The Red Pepper have supported the previous entertainment stakeholders’ conferences that the above organizers have accomplished. Maintaining such sponsors while attracting new ones is one of the goals the Joe wants to achieve for the 3rd conference. At the moment, the 3 organizers still enjoy good media relations with most of these organizations. However some of them want at least 3 of the managers and/or staff members to attend at no cost as part of their benefits as conference sponsors. Meanwhile this 3rd conference is targeting 60 to 90 participants, 40 % of whom are to attend free of charge as PAM Awards winners, 15% are to attend at no pay as representatives of the National Council of Sports, and 10% will be representatives of the MUBS Students Guild. Besides the remaining % age of participants who will have to pay looking small, only 30% to 60% of the entitled PAM Awards Winners usually attend. Even those who usually attend like H.E Bobi Wine, Ronald Mayinja, Eddie Yawe, and Phina Masanyalaze need to be called so many times in order to finally come and attend their conference at MUBS. There are other non-PAM Awards artists who have consistently attended the previous conferences like Boyz N’ September, and The Dream Girls. The organizers are still confident that at least 55 participants of the targeted attend. The Challenge Ahead The Abbedax Management team is not yet sure of the exact number to expect moreover it needs to outsource for inputs like catering (tea/coffee breaks, and lunch), cleaning and venue set- up in case MUBS is chosen to continue as the host venue, tour and travel services, tents, printing of participants’ certificates and other paper work, and hiring the stage for the music-artists performance. Prof Maggie Kigozi-the Executive Director of

UIA is expected to be the chief guest and she is to deliver her usually motivational speech during the closing cocktail. Some media houses have wrongly reported about the previous conference due to various reasons, some of which are due to the relatively ineffective event planning and coordination on the side of the organizers. Up to now, some funders/sponsors have not yet paid for their debts from the recent conference. However, Abbedax and EDP have managed to clear all the external debt from their other individual sources of income. On other side, 25% of the previous supposed-to-pay participants have not yet cleared their debts. Allowing some participants to attend on credit is another income-related issue that needs to be resolved by the organizers due to the history of bad debts from this category of participants. Media houses and client organizations like Dembe FM, Radio Kitara , and Masindi Youth Programme among others have always cleared their debts which encourages the organizers to allow participants from such organizations to attend on credit. Since, the more the number of participants especially in terms of the brands involved, the more attractive the next conference. It is the desire of Abbedax, MUBS-EDP, and PAM Awards to attract more leading music-entertainment stakeholders from Uganda’s up-country towns, including those from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi to attend. This desire explains why booking/sourcing for accommodation for at least 20 of foreign participants who have been invited to attend free-of-charge by the organizers is another task ahead of Joe and team. Confirming such bookings requires paying at least a 30% deposit to the accommodation establishments, and 50% on the exhibition space charges is needed by most of the potential venues for the conference in case the event is not be held at MUBS. Any live performance will require seeking permission from the local authorities at MUBS or any other out-door venue. As all is being prepared, only 2m/= has been raised from the 3 partners, while 1.5m/= is expected next week. Securing the remaining cash to fund the required inputs will depend on how the event proposal will be convincing to those it will be send to, how the media will support this upcoming conference, and how the organizers will handle the various pre-event challenges ahead.

Sample Case Questions The organizers indeed need your advice, and you need to competitively to prove your practical relevancy and career competitiveness. 1) Basing on your knowledge of the event planning process, draft a proposal for the 3rd conference. 2) Draft order specification for 4 of the services that are to be delivered by different event suppliers. 3) Explain how the organizers can effectively coordinate with themselves as partners, with the media, service providers, sponsors, and the potential participants. 4) How can the up-coming annual event be turned into a franchiseable brand that can

be expanded into other parts of East Africa where there is more and more entertainment industrial growth.