Sports Event Management - Problem Experienced by Tough Mudder - Essay Example

SPORT EVENT MANAGEMENT Name Professor Course Institution Date of Submission Problem Experienced by Tough Mudder Tough Mudder event often occur in the State Motorcycle Sports Complex Broadford located in the Australian 260 Strath Creek Road, Broadford VIC 3658. The management has its headquarter in Brooklyn, New York with other offices in London and Melbourne. The 2015 event would occur in October 16th with majorly the local sponsors including Bosch Blue Power Tools, Garmin Australia, Soldier On, Under Armour, and Coaches Hire. Although the event organizer has no sponsors, there is need to ensure that adequate resources are available to accommodate the increasing number of people attending the events. With the changing technological world, the organization needs to invest more in practices that would attract more clients. Most of these issues have close relationship with its operational activities. The major problems surrounding operations are increment in durations taken while queuing, inadequate parking space, poor safety of the clients, and inefficiencies involved in merchandizing. Besides, there are also macro factors contributing to poor results from the events, which include political, social, and economic issues. With tough economic times, few clients are considering attending such events especially with high cost of acquiring the entry tickets and participation attires. To attract more clients, the organization would need to address these issues and improve its operations. With improved safety of the clients and ample and secure place, the event would be more attractive to the clients. Furthermore, the inconveniencies associated with long queues, smaller parking slots, and cost of acquiring the participation attires as the T-shirts also play a crucial in reducing the number of clients. The manner in which the organization conducts its operations might either attract or kill the morale of the clients purposing to attend. Consequently, efficiency play a crucial role in attracting the clients and participants of the events. Literature review Introduction Generally, most event organizers fail in attracting more clients since they invest much in marketing of the event activities but failing to address some of the operational issues that tend to discourage customers. For every successful and sustainable event, it is crucial to consider the welfare of the clients purposing to attend the events. Therefore, purpose of the review would be to explore the underlying factors contributing to poor operationalization of the event. From the theoretical point, the review would view some of the factors contributing to poor organizational performance from its operational activities. Researches with the sport industry have not been able to develop fully operations management despite continuation of sport study in other disciplines. However, most of the research in the event operations have been done through isolation with no relationship with theoretical work. Ticketing Ticketing is one of the activities within an event management considered complex. Considering the millions of people who attend sporting events, efficiency is a factor that plays an important role in attracting the number of the participants. With poor ticketing, the duration taken while queuing might discourage most of the people from attending an event. Globally, most event organizers are embracing the use of technology with an aim of attracting more clients especially those that fear the long queues. Most people like acquiring the tickets at the gates or last minutes rushes, which in turn contributes time wastages while waiting for tickets. The method used for ticketing determines the level of customers’ satisfaction and to some extent, whether they would attend the next event or not. Developing an online ticketing platform has been able to contribute to the growth of most sporting events due to increase efficiency (Parent & Smith-Swan, 2013, 150). The concept of ticketing relates to quality of services offered since the number of people issued with tickets determines the general collection of revenues. From such theoretical work, ticketing is crucial in the event management as it determines the duration of time wasted on the entry points and risks associated with stampedes that might results when the clients become impatient with the ticketing system. As a result, it could be argued that ticketing of any sporting activity needs to be based on efficient, reliable, and effective platforms for easy accessibility by those seeking to attend the event. Transportation It is crucial to that that not all those attending any event might have personal cars. Therefore, to maximize the returns and time, the event’s organizers need to have an efficient transport system for those willing to attend. Besides, some event organizers collaborate with other institutions who offer transport services on their behalf to ferry the clients to the required venue of the event. Transport system would assist in improving customer service that might in turn attract more clients. With issue relating to available parking space and the rising cost of fuels, most event organizers take advantage of such situations to provide alternative transport system to the clients. These provisions to some extent tent to attract even clients who had not planned to attend. To some extent, traffic and fleet management operations might be difficult especially if the expected clients are more than the venue in question. From traffic and transport management perspective, any social event needs to ensure the safety of the participants. The value of offering transport system is crucial especially to clients coming from further places to witness the sporting activities. The duration taken to offer the tickets also depend on the transport system used by the clients. From theoretical point, event organizers are likely to experience losses if the number of planned expected clients are few due to delays caused by traffic congestions or failure to find a public transport that would lead to the venue. Conclusion Generally, all the outcomes of an event depends on the underlying operational activities used in meeting the target. Operational activities determines whether the plans of an event are in live organizational activities or not. The organization might be considerably be busy organizing the event but fail to consider the impact some of its operation would have on the clients. Although the organization has other problems to handle, properly handling operational issues might as well help in managing some of the problems experienced by the organization. Effective operational management could assist marketing and attracting more sponsors to the event. Data collection and finding a) Offering adequate and ample parking space Parking space is one of the factors greatly number of people attending any event. To increase its operations and services, the organization needs to consider increasing the space available for parking. In most case cases, most people especially the rich tend to shun most of the event due failure to have adequate and safe parking spaces. Therefore, having taken the needs of those having the personal vehicles and those lacking, the organization is sure of increasing the number of those attending the event. Providing parking services is not all about locating a space for vehicles but also ensuring that these places are secure and accommodative. b) Effective client involvement To establish a better customer-organization relationship, it is important that the organization effectively involve the views of the clients in the management processes. It is the aim of any business entity to increase its operational base through attracting more clients. However, the only method of attracting more clients is to align organizational event plans with the exact needs of the clients. It might not be easier to satisfy the needs of all the clients, nonetheless, the organization should use its social media platforms to reach to its potential clients and acquire their views on the performance. c) Advanced ticketing service Event ticketing used in any event determines the duration taken by the clients vising the venue at the entry points. In some cases, manual ticketing system often contribute to increasing queues at the entry points especially if there is system failure. Unfortunately, most clients who fear time wastage at the gate waiting for the tickets always avoid visiting such event leading to organizational losses. Moreover, there are other negative effects associated with poor ticketing system. Most people always end up creating stampedes especially if there is agitation of entering the event venue. Advantages and disadvantages of the chosen methods Advantages of offering parking space Through offering parking slots, the organization might attract clients traveling from far places and have their personal vehicles. Besides, parking far from the venue might also create fear among those having vehicles over issues relating to security. The organization might also collect some revenue from those using personal vehicles, which could assist in properly organizing for the next event. Parking slots also assist in saving time for the clients since they do not have to move around looking for parking slots. Offering parking could help attract important personal to visit the event, which might also help in marketing among those who have never attended. Additionally, making the fleet of the clients increase customer loyalty and trust on the even management. Disadvantages The cost of parking might discourage some of the people from coming into the event with their vehicles. From environmental point, parking involves clearance of vegetation and tarmacking the surface. These activities might draw reactions from the environmental sensitive groups. Creating a parking area means hiring more personnel especially those who would manage the fleets, therefore, the organization needs to be prepared to increase it expenses especially on the employees. Besides payment of the employees, the organization would also need to consider constructing different gate for those with vehicles to prevent congestions and time wastage at the main gate. Advantages of client involvement Client involvement might help increase the level of productivity of the organization since it would help align organizational activities with the specific needs of the customers. Moreover, there would be improvement in a two-way communicating between the organization and the client, which could in turn increase the feedback of the customers. Through involvement of the clients, the organization might reduce its operational cost since the amount use in exploring the market would reduce. Most event organizers use many resources exploring the market with an aim of determining the needs of the clients, changing market structures, and upcoming competitors. With all the gathered information from the customers, the organization might improve the quality of services it offers since most of its activities would be aligned with the needs of the customers. Moreover, client involvement might be used by the organization as a criterion of segmenting the customers. As a result, the organization could increase its ability to implement service differentiation strategy. Proper implementation of the client involvement practices could help in increasing the number of referrals received especially through face-to-face communication method. Customer involvement reflects better services, faster delivery, lower management cost, and greater flexibility. Besides, the involvement process plays an important role in coordinating across the supply chains involved in the event management process. Disadvantage The major disadvantage of associated with client involvement is the slow decision making process. Since the organization would want to incorporate the views of most clients while planning for the event, the enforcement process might be slow since the clients offer different opinions. Although participation offers an array of benefits to the organization, to some extend it might be a threat to the security and leaking of the confidential information. When the clients know all the plans of an event including the alternative should any problem arise, there could be a problem especially if the organization requires such confidential information to address an issue at hand. Furthermore, failure of the clients to participate the organizing plans, the organization might find it difficult to deliver the specific needs of the customers. Client involvement could result in disruption in organizational activities making the event planning process efficient and effective. Additionally, physical presence of the customer and expectations of prompt deliveries might contribute to poor timing and poor satisfaction of the needs of the customers, which could pose serious challenge to the management. With the involvement of the clients, many difficulties relating to quality measurement might as well be difficult since the practices could expose the organization to either positive or negative implication. More importantly, customer involve would increase organizational expenses since there is need to have people with greater interpersonal skills. Action plan for modern ticketing method In the modern environments, technology is improving in almost all aspect of lives. From event management software to ticketing methods, technology has been able to reduce the number of challenges initially faced by the organizations. Most organizations are shifting to online ticketing methods especially with mobile applications coining into the market. Improvement in ticketing system might also assist in reducing inefficiencies associated with poor management skills, slower ticketing methods, and embezzlement of organizational funds. However, it is important to align the modern ticketing methods with the underlying ticketing principles. The vision of the new ticketing method would be to offer what the clients need, then they need it, and more importantly reduced transaction cost, which allows the organization to focus on the finite resources while improving the ticketing services. Some of the principles include widespread accessibility to the platform that might increase the number of clients purchasing the tickets without compromising the quality of the services offered. Moreover, the ticketing method help in ensuring confidentiality between the organization and the clients. Since the organization would be aiming to reach more clients from different economic backgrounds, the modern ticketing method would help in offering automatically generating the normal tickets and those for very important people. The clients would be able to access help and advice from the trained personnel. More importantly, the ticketing method would offer both the organization and client a flexible and convenient platform that has limited complexities. Modern ticketing platform that the organization needs to embrace include e-tickets, Facebook sales, and constructing a customer database to allow easy access to the required tickets. To implement effectively the modern ticketing method, the major prerequisite required are the media platforms like e-ticketing platforms and Facebook account. Globally, most organizations are shifting to modern method of ticketing; however, there is need to ensure that potential clients are aware of the newly introduced method of acquiring the tickets. Online ticketing is not about higher event organizers, therefore, the organization should not limit itself to the traditional payment system through provision of printed tickets when it does not cost anything to shift to online payment. Besides, the clients are looking for a convenient method of effecting their payment. Although the organizational already has a Facebook account, there is need to turn such potential platforms ticket shops. While using the social media platforms to advertise or effective the new payment method, it is important to operate from the premise that most people are current using social media to connect. Using modern ticketing method, the organization would create a ticket shop that might assist in improving its image not only from the local point but also from global perspective. Most people attending the events often prefer acquiring tickets during the last minutes. Therefore, to prevent inconveniences related to low server performances, it would be important to implement the ticketing methods some weeks before the event to allow people access the platforms and adjust to the new ticketing method. To improve the new ticketing options, the organization would have to differentiate the payment methods and ticket media, consider the existing sales avenue, integrate management with internet services, and consider value added services. Advantages and disadvantages of embracing modern ticketing method Advantages Modern method of ticketing involve the use of the social media platform and development of mobile applications that allow clients book, order, pay, and validate their tickets remotely without visiting organization facilities. Inline ticketing reduces the number of queues at the entrance points and time wastages. Moreover, it brings forth benefits such as reduction in production and distribution cost associated with traditional method of ticketing that involves papers. It is also environmental friendly as there is no paper work involved in the ticketing process. The method renders the clients with convenient method of acquiring the tickets since it is simple. Simple errors associated with printing and typing are also minimized. The organization would also increase its revenue collection through increasing the level of accessibility of the tickets to the clients. Besides, expenses such as those associated with printing would reduce significantly due to the convenient method of sending and receiving applications for tickets. The organization might as well enhance its capacity of enforcing the no resale condition and engaging the price discrimination activities. The clients would also enjoy the benefits associated printing the tickets at their convenience upon successful completion of the ordering process. Emailed tickets allow the clients to print whenever they want. Lost printed tickets could be resent. In relation to advertising, the organization could enjoy unlimited advertising platform and customized home tickets for the clients. Disadvantages The clients might not have the ability print their tickets at home, which might contribute to inconveniences. In order to use the modern method of acquiring the tickets, the clients would require accessibility to internet connection, computer systems, or phones, which to some extent might be costly to some clients. Besides the benefits associated with technological advancement, it is important to note there are negative practices associated with technology like hacking of the systems. Such practices might result in losses especially if the organizational database is not secure. Using the online system for providing tickets do not guarantee accuracy of the data entered by the applying client. Therefore, the organization need to have inventory managements systems with the ability to validate the entries. Shifting into modern method of ticketing require skilled personnel, so the organization needs to realize that it requires adequate resources to implement fully the new method. Relying on technology might be unreliable especially if there is system malfunction; hence, backup system is crucial to avoid inconveniences during the last minutes. Online ticketing systems require compatible systems like up to date computer or mobile programmes. Using unsupported system might inconvenience the client seeking the ticket. Clients need to understand keenly the organizational platform since there are individuals who might use such opportunities to create almost similar platforms to dupe the clients. Addressing the needs of the clients For many years, the clients have been struggling purchasing the print tickets which in most cases is a process coined with long queues and inconveniences. The method would be offering the clients quicker method of obtaining the tickets especially those that are time conscious and might want to engage in other activities. Besides, the consumers would save on their travelling expenses since most of the activities would be conducted at home. The platforms offer the clients a 24/7 accessibility wherever they are globally. Most people have accessibility to internet connectivity and with the readily available booking platform; the clients are able to acquire the tickets at the time they view most convenient for them. Unfortunately, some customers always prefer last minute application or gate tickets due to challenges that often result from the loss of tickets. Therefore, with the e-ticketing system, the clients would be able to apply, download, and print their tickets at their own time. Copies of such downloads are always available within the system used for the entire process. Through online platforms, the organization is able to determine views and the needs of the clients especially from their reviews about the new ticketing system. Online booking processes help to minimize organizational workloads such as employment of the ticketing staff and printing of the paper tickets. Besides, the clients are also becoming environmentally sensitive especially with organizations coming out to advocate for the aesthetic value of the environment. Online ticketing offer the best method of addressing these environmental concern. Clients are also in fear of walking with the money meant for ticketing activities. Hence, online ticketing offers them a chance to request the tickets without any fear. Customers also able to receive regular feedbacks from the organization since through application for the tickets, the organization would be storing their information in the database. It is important to note problems often result during the application process, which might be easy to change. However, in the tradition system of paper tickets, such changes might be easier to effect. With modern ticketing method, it would be easier to change the details submitted on the application or cancel the entire application should something go wrong during the ordering process. Besides, the information on the clients could be stored and used to reward their loyalty based on the number of application sent. Since the platform has the ability to serve more clients at the same time, there is little time wastage since the ticket numbers are generally generated with each having a unique code. References Parent, M. M., & Smith-Swan, S. 2013. Managing Major Sports Events: Theory and Practice. 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