Understanding The 5Cs Of Events
The activities required
for marketing and managing events require certain steps to be followed
that can be called the five Cs of events. The First is conceptualization
of the creative idea and ambience followed by the costing i.e. calculation
of cost of production and margin on the event. Canvassing, for clients
and sponsors, customers, audience and networking is the next step. Based
upon the preferences of the customers and the marketing objectives
of the organization, customization of the concept is required. Finally,
the most important part of event management is the execution of the event
as planned. We term this activity as carrying out the event.
Event Designing
In practices, each of the Cs may not strictly adhere to the sequence
in which they have been presented above. There is a complex interaction
between the various Cs before the carryout stage, depending on the
requirement of the client, constraints forced by budgets, etc. The final
concepts is arrived at after accommodating change required for a perfect
fit among all other Cs during the conceptualization process . This
process can be termed as event designing.
¯ Conceptualization of the creative idea and ambience
¯ Costing involves calculation of the cost of production and safety
margins
¯ Canvassing for sponsors, customers and networking components
¯ Customization of the event according to brand personality, budgets
etc.
¯ Carrying out involves execution of the events according
to the final concepts.
Conceptualization involves a complex churning in which as many permutations and combinations are worked out a possible. The original concept undergoes modifications on the basis of the inputs obtained from the other Cs. The final concepts get defined once the constraints posed by budget, clients requirements, target audience profile, etc. are objectively stated.
External Reach
from Event Networking
External reach through events is obtained from the networking mix designed
for the event. This is reach in terms of the exposure of an event to the
target audience population. For a sponsor to get enough mileage out of
an event, adequate targeted pre publicity and advertising are essential:
thus making event networking critical for the success of an event. Creation
of a network and making it a success is the main objective of publicity
for the event.
Networking of the events, in relation to the media involved is the most
important point of concentration and is very important that anything else.
With out an adequately planned publicity camping, the benefit of reach
would be lost. The event organizer has to network with other media for
successful conduct of an event. When it comes to the concept of promotion
in events, the different types of components in networking and their important
features and characteristics are discussed in detail.
Actual Event Reach
The number of people from the target audience population who actually
respond to the publicity campaign and attend an event is the external
reach campaign is focused
Interaction
Interaction is a process in which there is an exchange of various types of information between the clients and their target audience. As the audience is directly involved in the proceedings of an event, it strengthens the recall factor. From the view point of the general audience interaction enables in clearing doubts and apprehensions that may exist in their minds since it provides an avenue for air ring these (event grievances). Interaction also creates and builds rapport between the interacting parties by providing an opportunity for live, physical, face to face interaction. Depending on the event objectives, events can also be enabled for live telecommunication or video conferencing between remote audiences and clients via powerful interactive media such as the Internet.
Interaction Points
In all events provide opportunities for interaction. Therefore, these need to be designed to suits the interaction objectives. Interaction points are those designated areas of the venue along with particular time slots, where the interaction is to take place. The place which is often used as interaction points in an event are the stalls. . The magnitude of interaction allowed differs widely due to the restrictions imposed by characteristics of each event category Depending on the location or place of the interaction point the event categories may also differ when it comes to the interaction style or methods.