Adelaide Festival Analysis - Case Study Example

Reflective Report on Adelaide Festival Student’s Name: ID Number: Date: Part A: Event Experience LOG Name of event Adelaide Festival Type of event Arts and Entertainment Location of event Adelaide Date of event experience With whom did you go to the event? Experience Log 1. Briefly describe your event experience. (150 words) The event was well organised in terms of performance and facilitation. The program indicated various performances which took place as per the schedule. Since the main event took place in theatre, arrangement was excellent in every aspect. There was a clear view of stage performance and selection of pieces was satisfactory. Staff and guide provided relatively good service to visitors except several hiccups when attending to Non-English speakers. Nevertheless, they provided a good service in directing visitors within the venue. Organisers also provided food and drinks in the venue hence creating convenience. However, prices were not fair enough to most visitors especially students. There were signboards conveying essential information in the venue which were of great assistance to us as visitors. Posters on the walls also helped a great deal thus making the operation smooth. However, Non-English speakers had a challenge with these posters and signboards. All other issues went on well and the event was good anyway. 2. How would you rate your level of satisfaction on your event experience? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely likely Extremely Likely 3. How likely is it that you will return to this event? Extremely unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely likely Extremely likely 4. How likely would be to recommend this event to a friend? Extremely dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely satisfied Extremely satisfied 5. What exactly made you feel this way (Explain what your emotional response was and why it was elicited)? (150 words) Good flow of activities without wasting much time. There were different dances and other art works and they all performed. Their performance was exciting and entertaining. It was an event that exposed me to diverse cultures through social interaction with foreign and local attendants. 6. Identify a relevant concept (from the list of concepts) and briefly explain how the relevant concept is applicable to this experience (argue for it). (200 words) Festivalscape is the most relevant concept in this case. It puts emphasis on the need to provide effective service to the customer during the event. It enumerates several areas that matter to customers hence providing satisfaction. According to this concept, successful event is a result of consistent improvement in these areas. They include program content, communication and guidance, interaction among visitors, provision of essential services among others. Combination of all these factors determines whether visitors receive satisfaction or not. Festivalscape ensures that management is aware of areas it needs to concentrate its efforts for the sake of providing quality customer service. Customer satisfaction is the central focus of this particular concept. Part B: Reflective Report on Adelaide Festival Executive Summary Understanding a particular experience is vital in developing managerial skills. In respect of this fact, it is important to have a critical analysis of an event and come up with reliable information on how to improve the same in future. Successful event management requires real experience and application of relevant concepts in case analysis. This reflective report uses Adelaide Festival to develop students’ management skills applicable in future. Learning from the past event, the student comes up with possible ways of improving service delivery in future events. Introduction Adelaide Festival is one of the popular global arts and entertainment events. The event takes place in South Australia and brings together top writers, artists and performers. It is the event that many people who love art dream to attend and participate. Being a breath-taking event, it leaves participants longing for more. In this regard, it provides a learning opportunity to upcoming artists and performers. They are able to see what and how other artists do hence a great experience. Personally, I had an opportunity to participate in the recent Adelaide festival. This reflective report aims at providing reliable information concerning the whole event. It gives a reflection of major issues that took place during the festival and what I was able to learn from the experience. Note that the major goal of the reflective report is to portray clear understanding of the event which is a core component of proper management of similar events in future. Using the festivalscape concept, the reflective report focuses on physical environment of this event and tourists experience towards the same. Consequently, as future event manager, it will provide a better platform to create customer satisfaction from festivals. It provides a necessary information on the areas that manager need to improve in order to enhance customer satisfaction. Discussion Festivalscape at Adelaide Festival This reflective report focuses mainly on the concept of festivalscape in particular reference to Adelaide festival. The concept provides overall description of all relevant elements that make the event successful. In general, festivalscape implies physical environment of particular event and how visitors experienced the same. To explain the concept clearly, it is important to critically analyse all issues concerning the event. These include the program, attendants/staff, facility and surrounding features among others. In regard to Adelaide Festival, there were plenty of dance performances, writings and other artworks. Visitors were able to enjoy wide range of traditional meals. The sitting arrangement was satisfactory and there was proper guidance from the staff. Consequently, the performance satisfied most tourists who witnessed the event. Application of Festivalscape in reference to Adelaide Festival The program for Adelaide Festival included variety of entertainment pieces from different parts of Australia and beyond. It also provided sufficient time for writers’ forum which enabled them to present their artwork to enthusiastic audience. Besides program, the facility was spacious and arrangement was good enough. Theatre has adequate facilities to offer maximum comfort to occupants. I also noticed that the stage arrangement was classic and satisfactory. Air-conditioners were functioning well hence contributing significantly to my satisfaction with the performance. There was an aspect of organised facilitation of the event. There was good coordination among staff members who conducted the program effectively. I could notice good communication among facilitators and every member of staff had a name tag for identification purposes. They provided excellent service to all visitors thus enabling tourists to enjoy fully. The only limitation was communication barrier since not all visitors came from English speaking countries. They had a difficult task in guiding non-English tourists although they were able to cope with such challenges. On hospitality section, the organisers provided wide range of traditional meals. I was able to taste different menu during those days I participated. There was different cuisine which provided visitors with options. One could choose his or her favourite meal from available menu and service was quick and excellent. There were posters in strategic positions with information concerning special menu available and its cost. Others provided direction to the necessary facilities such as washrooms. The organisers provided both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in plenty and wide varieties. There was no shortage of food and drinks in all restaurants thus contributing towards convenience in the event. Interaction with other visitors and performers made the event enjoyable and colourful. I was able to meet and mingle with people from different backgrounds, nations and cultures. The experience widened my knowledge on inter-personal relationship and communication skills. Besides, interacting with dancers and performers provided me with learning platform concerning few issues on performing arts. I realised that culture and personal discipline play a key role in shaping an artist. Through social interaction during the festival, I was in position to note that many people were satisfied with the festival and the way it was organised. However, there were several limitations on my part. Being the first international festival to attend, it was challenging to mingle and interact with non-English speakers. Some of them could not even express themselves thus limiting mingling and socialisation. The few that understand little English offered assistance whenever we engaged on a simple conversation. It could also be hard for staff to offer assistance to such attendants thus a major hindrance to service delivery. Foreign visitors relied on their fellow countrymen who could understand English for help. Again, the services provided were extremely expensive hence preventing many people from attending. Meals were also expensive hence I could not afford some favourite menu. Note that meals and drinks are essential part of such event and making them expensive is hindrance to its success (Yoon, et al 2010, p.337). Significance of the Experience to Visitors The concept of festivalscape refers to an aspect of physical environment and its effect on customer satisfaction (Yang, et al 2011, p.33). During the recent Adelaide Festival, this aspect played a crucial part in delivering satisfaction to visitors. In most cases, satisfaction comes as a result of combination of factors. They include variety of performances, theatre arrangement, staff service, availability of food and drinks, communication aids and service charges. Festivalscape helps the organisers to meet or even exceed the expectation of visitors. Note that everything is usually done to ensure visitors are satisfied hence convincing them to attend the festival in future (Gration, & Raciti 2012, p.98). The visitors need comfortable seats which enable them to enjoy performance for long period. Failure to facilitate comfort may make the event boring and tiresome thus discouraging them from attending future festivals. Foods and drinks should also be provided in wide variety to ensure visitors get what suits them best. Besides theatre performance, most visitors also attend such festivals to have a different experience away from their home. In this regard, event manager should ensure consideration of various menus in order to allow visitors enjoy delicious and tasty meals. Having sufficient guides and staff is also important during popular events such as Adelaide Festival. The event attracts people from different countries and may not be familiar with the surrounding. Such visitors need proper guidance in the facility hence need for adequate staff. In this particular case, it is important to have staff members that can speak different languages to enhance service delivery (Bruwer 2014, p.82). Any element of communication breakdown compromises quality in service hence the need to consider non-English speakers when hiring staff to guide visitors during such event. In addition, there should be posters written in other languages such as French and Spanish among others. Visitors also get tired and need to relax during the event. Organisers should provide adequate rest rooms to allow clients have ample time whenever they are exhausted. Besides, a good number may have vehicles which need spacious and safe parking lot. Organisers should bear in mind that visitors prefer to park their vehicles near the event due to convenience purposes. Availability of such facilities contributes significantly to satisfaction. It is the sole responsibility of event management and organisers to ensure there is sufficient facilities during the festival for effective service to customers (Lumb 2014, p.49). Festivalscape emphasise on physical environment and how it relates to customer satisfaction. It implies that whenever such issues are ignored, visitors are not satisfied hence may not attend festivals in future. Customer satisfaction is the major reason behind this concept hence need for the management to consider it whenever organising an event. Note that every facility or a service is provided with an aim of meeting customer expectation (Yeoman, et al 2012 p.27). Organisers of the recent Adelaide Festival were fair and they tried to cover most aspects under this concept. Although there were some limitations, visitors were satisfied to a great extent. Significance of the Experience to Event Organisation With such experience, it is easier to manage an event due to possession of relevant information. The experience is based on satisfaction which is the major factor that contributes towards successful events. Customer satisfaction leads to profitability of the event organisation. As an event manager, I am aware of things that make customers satisfied. The experience at Adelaide Festival provided me with an opportunity to realise essential areas to focus in any event. In a nutshell, the experience enhanced customer service skills within me thus making me a better event manager. It is important to point that interacting with visitors especially from other countries gave me an opportunity to know what customers value most in any event. I realised that communication is the key aspect when it comes to service delivery. It is essential to have signboards around the venue of an event portraying important information in different languages. When customers get the right information, there is always smooth flow of operations during the events (Morrow 2012, p.79). Signboards are ideal tools that event managers may use to communicate essential information thus making staff work much easier. An issue of pricing is also significant to event organisation. Some items such as food and drinks should be provided at a fair price to enable customer enjoy varieties. It is a fact that when the cost of food is low, visitors may consume more thus raising overall profit (Hixson et al 2011, p.97). Organisers of the recent Adelaide Festival missed this particular point and visitors did not consume food in high quantities. Recommendation In order to have successful events in future, there are various areas that managers need to improve. These areas include communication with visitors, offering affordable meals and drinks as well as providing adequate restrooms within the event venue. Note that improvement in all these areas implies better customer service and subsequent satisfaction. Visitors’ satisfaction is the prime yardstick through which one can measure event’s success. It is not all about how much money an organiser is able to generate but how customers are satisfied. Ability to attract more visitors in future should be the focus of management in any event. To facilitate effective communication, I would hire staff members that are proficient in more than one language. Having staff who can speak German may do well when serving visitors from Germany and vice versa. It is important to first conduct a survey on target market before making this decision. If the target market is locals only, there is no need of looking for people who can speak foreign languages. However, getting a foreign language speaker is not a big deal these days since many people have leant them. Availability of affordable meal increases consumption hence high revenue and low wastage. It is important to ensure that visitors consume all meals available and prepare fresh ones the following day. This enables the organisers to avoid storage cost and possible wastage when food is not consumed in large quantity. I would prefer providing meals at relatively lower rates and ensure they eat everything available. Conclusion Customer satisfaction is the key aspect that determines success of entertainment events such as Adelaide Festival. Organisers should strive to meet and exceed expectation of visitors in order to realise desired goals. Besides meeting short-term goals, it is more important to look at ways in which the organisers can achieve long-term goal as well. To realise this, there should be continuous improvement in areas that matter to visitors. It calls for consistent improvement of facility and services at the venue to encourage more visitors to attend the events. Failure to provide quality service at affordable rates may hamper event’s success in future. Concept of festivalscape provides ideal information on critical areas that matter to visitors hence making an event successful. Reference Bruwer, J. (2014). Service Quality Perception and Satisfaction: Buying Behaviour Prediction in an Australian Festivalscape. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(1), 76- 86. Gration, D., & Raciti, M. (2012). Festivalgoer personal values and the blended festivalscape: A pilot study. In Advances in Event Management Research and Practice Proceedings from V Global Event Congress (pp. 94-106). University of Stavanger. Hixson, E., McCabe, V., & Brown, G. (2011). Understanding Event Attendees: An Examination of Involvement. In CAUTHE 2011: National Conference: Tourism: Creating a Brilliant Blend (p. 292). University of South Australia. School of Management. Lumb, J. (2014). South Australia. Art Monthly Australia, (266), 74. Morrow, C. (2012). Into cosmos: Adelaide festival artists' week 2012. Artlink, 32(2), 132. Yang, J., Gu, Y., & Cen, J. (2011, February). Festival tourists’ emotion, perceived value, and behavioral intentions: A test of the moderating effect of festivalscape. In Journal of Convention & Event Tourism (Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 25-44). Taylor & Francis Group. Yeoman, I., Robertson, M., Ali-Knight, J., Drummond, S., & McMahon-Beattie, U. (Eds.). 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