Unit 18, P1, P2

In this assignment I am going to identify and explain the roles of an event organiser.  Event organisers are responsible of planning events and making sure that they run as smooth as possible. Organisers divide their time between working in an office, visiting venues and meeting clients. This may result in lengthy periods away from home. Salaries range from around £14,000 to £60,000 or more at senior levels.
Event organisers would need to have had some sort of management experience like: event, hotel, catering, leisure, tourism, business and marketing management.  Candidates that are looking to go into such a job need to have:

·         excellent organisational skills and attention to detail;

·      project management experience;

·         time-management skills and the ability to work under pressure;

·         problem-solving skills and diplomacy;

·         strong communication, teamwork and negotiation skills;

·         sales and/or marketing skills;

·         the ability to manage budgets;

·         a flexible and adaptable approach

An event organiser needs to be able to multi-task as they are in charge of the entire event and also the people involved in making sure the event goes well.  They should also have problem solving skills so that they are able to conquer any issues that may arise before it has a negative impact on the event. Lastly, they should be able to cope under pressure and tight deadlines.

Unit 18 P3,4,5

Business Plan

                 

 

 

Sweet Tooth

221 Gray’s Inn Rd

London

08700609800

 

07718059021

Sweettooth@outlook.com

www.Sweettooth.co.uk

Contents

                                                                                                                  Page

1. Summary........................................................................................................................................ 4

2. Business overview................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction                                                                                                 

Competitive advantage

4. Marketing........................................................................................................................................ 6

SWOT and critical success factors

Market research

5. Team and management structure.................................................................................... 7

Skills, experience, training and retention

Advisors

Management systems

6. Financial budgets and forecasts....................................................................................... 8

Profit and loss forecast

Cash flow forecast

Break-even analysis

Summary

Sweet tooth, is an business which sells cupcakes and milkshakes, the business includes six team members Ali, Mohamed ,Na'Rae, Benedict, Mary and Alban. As a team we have a clear vision statement for our company. In 5 years time we want to make Sweet tooth a European brand which will have branches across Europe countries which will supply the public with the best milkshakes and best designed and made cupcakes. 

 

Our mission statement is for everybody to be aware of our brand this can be through sponsors at main sport events such as the world cup, so that they know what Sweet tooth is and know that the service they sell is better than all the other similar organisations.

 

We value trust, we want everybody to trust us and believe in our organisation and no matter what, we will  keep improving and developing our brand even if theirs setbacks.

 

The industry are organisation is in, is a industry where a lot of the organisation that are in it are doing well, such as milky town which is one of our competitors. Having a good target group (students) we have all ways done well selling, reason is students will always spread your brand through friendships and will spend during school days for a refreshing drink.

 

We believe we differentiate in the market reason being is we value are brand, what we do is we make sure we bring the new customers back in are branches by using McDonalds technique which is the monopoly game, we use the game called tooth game, if you milkshake has a plastic tooth in your cup when you have finished then you can get a free milkshake.

 

The marketing mix is simple we will use a lot of social networking sites to help deliver are message across to the potential customers and try obtain feedback which will help improve our brand. The way we will get in front of competitors and keep staying on top is by the amount of sales.

 

Business overview

 

Introduction

The idea  sweet tooth has come up with is a holding an event at the Westminster Kingsway College, selling milkshakes and cupcakes to other the students and staff at the college. We decided to sell milkshakes because it’s a refreshing drink and we believed that it will be a hit with the students at the college which were are one of our target groups. We also decided to also sell cupcakes with different topics as we believed it will go well together with the milkshakes and the target group will also be interested into buying the cupcakes after having a milkshake. The location was key, we knew that Westminster Kingsway College has over 1000 students, which already gave us a potentially 1000 customers that could buy our Milkshakes and Cupcakes. The college also did not provide their students with the service we had in plan which was a gap in the market which made it easy for us to fit in and acknowledge that the college was the best place because it also had are target group which were the students.

 

The sector we are operating is consumer discretionary because we are going to sell services such as Cupcakes and Milkshakes. Where are business sits in the lifestyle is the mature industry, reason for this is that it’s a business we will take slowing and if we see any opportunities to expand than we will if we don’t then we will carry on being a mature simple business which holds small events.

 

The objectives and goals for are company were set up when we started the idea. The goal was to help the farm ‘spitalfield’ in investing into new stuff for the farm so that the farm draws more attention. We wanted to make at least 300 pounds when holding the event so that  with that money the farm could have bought new plants and a new birds house for there birds. As a group we gave ourselves a target of 2 months to come up with all the market research and hold the event so that we could buy the plants and birds house before the summers holidays so that the visitors that come in the summer could see the new plants and bird house.

Competitive advantages

 When looking at are competitors at the college they gave us a big advantage  because they did not sell Milkshakes, one competitor did sell Cupcakes but they were expensive compare to us, this then helped us identify are market niche. We knew as a student ourselves we wouldn’t want to spend more than 1 pound on a milkshake which gave us an indication of how much we should price the milkshake and then we considered  the type of people were coming to the college, as student our budgets are tight which also gave us an indication on how much we have to price our services.

Marketing

 SWOT and critical success factors

 

Strengths	We used social  networking sites to help expand our brand and service awareness .	We also  asked are potential customers which were students about their views on our idea and how the thought.
Weakness	Not having enough time  made us rush through are market research   which did lead to having unneeded information rather than obtaining needed information	Team leader did not divide the responsibilities equally which resulted in having  team members confused and not giving a efficient input which leads to a bad output.
Opportunities	Looking at the opportunities  we could have analysed the other venue we had the chance to hold are venue which was at the farm.	if we  had time and more members in our group then we should have looked into holding the event at  the college and the farm which would have helped us earn more money.
Threats	The threats which accoutred was that a lot of groups done the similar market research which meant they had the same information  which led to some groups stealing are ideas.	Also a lot of competition at the college which meant a lot of the groups were taking are ideas.

 

Market research

 

When it came to are target market we decided to do look at  stats of ages of the venue where are event was being held. When we decided that the college will be the place were we were going to hold are event we had a clearer idea of the target target we were aiming at. Are target were staff and students between 16-24, we thought staff will be intreseted and invest in are service to support are event, the students age 16-24 are most keen on buying are services.

 

The first type of market research I conducted for Sweet tooth is primary research. Using this research would allow Sweet tooth to find out if the public would be interested in buying the product, this could be done by using questionnaires which is an efficient way of getting quick responses and with these results Sweet tooth will be able to identify their customers needs and adjust their product to suit their customers.

 

Another type of research is secondary research. This research is useful for sweet tooth to carry out as it allows them to compare their similar products that other competitors are selling, this would give them an insight on who their competing with and also how well the product sells in the market. using this type of research can also allow sweet tooth to differentiate their product from their competitors, as they will found out important information such as, price, target market and the design of the product. They could conduct market research through using internet, newspapers and articles.

 

The last type of market research is qualitative and quantitative research. qualitative research will provide sweet tooth with an in-depth understanding of the opinions from the public, they can conduct this research by gathering surveys. Quantitative research is useful for Sweet tooth as it allows them to get statistical data; this could be on old company's reports, for example sweet tooth can research old or existing company’s reports and get an insight on the amount of sales that could be potentially made when selling deserts.

 

If  our budget was higher as a group we would have invested more money on the primary research, to find more specific information based on are target customers.

 

Promotion plan

 

The way we will promote our event is by using posters and leaflets. As a team we are plan is to use the posters as one of are ways to promote the event because we believed that it will be easy for us to place the posters around the college and around the college neighbourhood. We will also use leaflets because they are easy to make and also free because they will be designed by us which will help us save money which we can then put into improving the event by adding another service on the menu. Also we think leaflet will be a good promotion technique because it will be direct marketing to are potential customers because we will be giving out the leaflets.

 

We will also hold an presentation show, to  the students and staff at the college which will indicate what we are going to do, how much money is it going to cost us and the location of are event which will help persuade the students and staff into attending are event, because we will promote the event whilst presenting the event.

 

The way we plan to build a strong relationship with the public is by giving out free sampling when giving out free samples, it will immediately increase the awareness of our brand "sweet tooth' and also our product. As a team we planned to give free samples to our TARGET MARKET and let them spread our brand with others in their friendship group.

Team and management structure

 Skills, experience, and training

 

To function successfully in a small group, our group needed  to be able to communicate clearly on intellectual and emotional levels which is key skill which is learned from past experiences. Effective communicators:

·         can explain their own ideas

·         express their feelings in an open but non-threatening way

·         listen carefully to others

·         ask questions to clarify others’ ideas and emotions

As a group we wanted are team members to feel safe and confident when working in a group with us. What we required the employees to feel when they were in are group is below.

 

Openness: Group members are willing to get to know one another, particularly those with different interests and backgrounds. They are open to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, and the variety of individuals present within the group. They listen to others and elicit their ideas. They know how to balance the need for cohesion within a group with the need for individual expression.

 

Trust and self-disclosure: Group members trust one another enough to share their own ideas and feelings. A sense of mutual trust develops only to the extent that everyone is willing to self-disclose and be honest yet respectful. Trust also grows as group members demonstrate personal accountability for the tasks they have been assigned.

 

Support: Group members demonstrate support for one another as they accomplish their goals. They exemplify a sense of team loyalty and both cheer on the group as a whole and help members who are experiencing difficulties. They view one another not as competitors (which is common within a typically individualistic educational system) but as collaborators.

 

Respect: Group members communicate their opinions in a way that respects others, focusing on “What can we learn?” rather than “Who is to blame?” See constructive feedback in the process section for more details.

 

Management and Legal requirements

 

When holding the event we had to obtain an risk assessment from the college, which stated out if we were allowed to hold the event or not. we also used products which were food which was under the risk assessment.

 

We also had to contact the college to book a place for the event to be held which considered a teacher to be their for health and safety reason because we would use blenders which contained sharp tools which could be misused and cause harm.

Financial budgets and forecasts

 Attach the following financial documents to the business plan, together with brief notes explaining them:-

 

Profit and loss forecast

Cash flow forecast

Break-even analysis

Unit 18 P6

In this assignment I will produce guidelines for dealing with problems.

 1)      What happens if someone arrives at the event and does not have money to buy the products but wants one?

 

As a team we will try avoid problems and not cause a scene because we will then lose customers. What we will do is ask the person to leave are stall and if he doesn’t then we will take matters further by asking one of the staff at the college to remove him from are event area.

2)      What happens if the event needs to be rearranged due to an unforeseen circumstance e.g. snow day / school is closed etc.?

 

If this was to occur then we will have to act quickly because it’s a high chance we will be losing potential customers, so what we will do is announce the change of the location on are social networking sites. We also change the posters location address so that people can see the new address.

3)      What happens people do not buy on the day and you have only half the turn

out?

We will still be happy with the half of turn out because a lot of are materials are from home meaning we did not spend a lot of money. We can still use the money to help meet are goals which were helping spitalfield farm buy new plants.

4)      What happens if you require last minute money change? E.g. if you someone gives us 50 pounds and we don’t have that money to refund them.

What we will do to prevent this is each team member will bring 20 pounds each so that if we need change then we can have enough money to give their change. If not we can ask for change at our competitors such as costa, which will have change to give to us as they are part of the college.

 5)      What happens if a student has paid for milkshake and cupcake but it falls on the floor?

If the accident was caused by one of our team members then we will give the person a refund of the product they have bought for free. If its not our fault then the person will not get a refund from us and will have to buy a new one if they still want to, reason being is we have a small budget and we want as much products to be sold.

6)      What happens if the resources you require e.g. tables / chairs are not set up on the day and you do not have access to more?

What we will do is ask for a free classroom to be given to us to hold our event, if there isn’t any classrooms then we will ask the health and safety and the business department if we are allowed to bring a table from home and set up in the college so we can still hold our eve

Unit 18 P8

I am going to review the success of the business event by answering questions in detail.

·         How successful was your event?

Over the entire event was held successfully as we provided the service we promised which was to provide good quality milkshakes and cupcakes. the running of the event went smoothly.

•   Did you achieve your goals/targets?

All out goals and targets was met in the event, our targets was to make sure we kept on time, which happened as it finished when we said it would. The goals was to make sure the event ran smoothly and to provide a good service.

 

• Did you set enough targets?

In my opinion we could have set more targets as this could have motivated us and made the event more professional and . We could have had higher targets to meet instead of normal standard targets of holding an event.

• Were your goals SMART?

Overall are goals was SMART as they was specific to the event and we was able to achieve these goals for the events.  we was able to meet these targets that we set ourselves.

•   Did you involve other stakeholders – e.g. Charities?

we did not involve any stakeholders. In the future I would try to get a sponsorship

• Were your goals too easy so that the team wasn’t sufficiently challenged?

The group was not challenged enough within the event, it would have been more challenging if we was able to improve our goals and set higher and shorter deadlines , this would of push the group even more and we would of learnt how important it is to meet  deadlines.

• What evidence do you have of the event’s success or even happening?

We also have poster, questionnaires and advertisements

• Do you have feedback from relevant parties? Have you analysed this?

We do not have feedback from relevant parties; this would have been a good idea to know how we could have improved the event and show how it would have helped us in the future.

• How well (and maybe ‘much’ although they are different concepts) did you contribute to support functions, administrative duties?

I would think I contributed quite a lot in both the support functions and administrative duties. I was able to know everyone's roles and what everyone need to do each day, I knew when and where everything was taking place. I also knew how the event was going to be set up and the running of the presentation. Overall I think I contributed well, as I did not just help myself but I also helped others in my team

• Was there effective leadership and management?

There was an effective management and leadership as they knew everything and was able to appoint us when necessary. They also delegated tasks effectively

• Was there a logical schedule that everyone was aware of?

Yes there was a schedule that everyone was aware of and it was even printed and given to everyone.

•  How well did each department perform – e.g. Marketing, finance, HR?

Marketing- They performed well as they were able to advertise the event well and get questionnaires out  

Finance- They did okay but could have managed their money a bit better and understood the cost involved with doing certain activities. they should have also took their time when deciding on the price of our products.

HR- They performed well as any complaints was dealt with effectively and the hiring of security was good.

Product design- They were able to come up with an effective design which helped the process of the event easy and was able to sell it more effectively.

• Was the venue suitable?

The venue was suitable of the event to take place as it was spacious however a better location within the college would have been better as because we were in a classroom we were quiet hidden so some people did not know the event was happening or could not find it. 

• Was there sufficient technical support?

There was a lot of technical support and they were able to help effectively and made sure the running of technology used was smooth.

• Did everyone contribute (important if one of the goals related to teamwork)?

Everyone did contribute some more than others, even if they did one task they was still able to do something which was able to help others not do.

• Could your event have been better? If so, how and why?

The event could have been better, it could have been held in the canteen which is where more people go to in the college, this  would have attracted more people to come to the event.

•     How effective was the process – i.e. everything leading up to the event – as against the end product?

The leading up to the event was a rush, the deadlines needed to be met and no one had done the task that they needed to do. People had to take over other peoples tasks and do them as they wasn’t able to do it themselves, the process worked out in the end as the event was a successful but could have been easier if everyone did the tasks they were delegated

• Did you adhere to organisational and legal (including health and safety) requirements?

Yes we did. 

 

•    Did you have a contingency (back-up) plan?

We did have a backup plan if all else failed.

 

•      Was the event staffed adequately?

The event was staffed adequately as there was plenty of staff at the event.

• Was there follow-up (including letters of thanks, cleaning) with participants?

There was no letters of thanks, which there should have been, there was cleaning staff after the event to clean up.

Unit 18 M1In this assignment I will be talking about the importance of meeting organisation and legal requirement when planning a business event. I will be describing al the organisations legal requirements that are meant to follow when doing an event. I will also link the legal requirements to my business and explain how important they were.

The first legal requirement my team had to be aware was the health and safety risks when holding an event, which could lead to accidents if we the health and safety legal requirements were not followed. As a group we didn’t want any problems at our event so what we did was carry out a risk assessment and a risk control to help us identify any possible risk that can occur during the event. The risk assessment was really helpful because it helped my group analysed the potential hazards which we then took on board and fixed them. The risk control helped us look at the things we can do to prevent hazards/risk from happening.

Food hygiene was an important requirement to follow for our group because the event we were holding included was selling food. The rules set to us were simple and we followed. The rules stated expiry day and us that we had to make sure the food had and was made that day and had to be fresh and made with clean hands. The milkshake were put in refrigerates so that it did not lose it taste and spoil through the day. As a group if we didn’t follow these requirement’s then it could have caused customers to be sick due to are lack of care.

It was important for us to keep a track of our customers and guest we had at our event. The customers and guest had to show us private information such as their full name, id number and home address so that we knew they were from the college. As a group we had to consider the data protection so we made sure no one was able to see their information.

It is import to follow all requirements of the law because if someone is put in danger than we can get persecuted for not following the requirements of the law. As a group it was important that we followed these rules/requirements. The following requirements we had to follow were: legal drinking age, equality act 2010, and fire safety. To add, as part of the equality cat 2010, my team and I had to make sure that there were wheelchair accessibilities, eg- ramps and elevators, subtitles on all presentations for people with hearing difficulties.

Unit 18 M2/ D1
In this assignment I will be analysing the arrangements made by an organiser to plan a business event and evaluate the management of a business event making recommendations for future improvements. I will explain some of the arrangements my team and I made for our business event and describe how we could have improved in the planning of our arrangements.

Is it very important to assess the kind of equipment you might need for the type of event you are putting on. One of our first arrangements was the equipment we would need for the event. This included a good sized area to place our event, two tables; one as a work station to make the milkshakes and the other to display the cupcakes we were selling. Our college had more than enough tables for us to use and they allowed us to borrow their tables for our event. Everything ran smoothly in terms of arranging equipment this was also down to the fact that we had our own blenders and ingredients so we did not have to ask the college to use their appliances.

Another arrangement that is made for a business event is food and beverages. We needed to be certain that we had food and drinks that suit everybody’s needs so that your guests are satisfied and nobody has any allergic reactions.  We made sure that in our questionnaire we asked people what ingredients they would like their milkshake to be made with, so at the event most of the milkshakes suited everyone dietary requirements, we also avoided using nuts in our milkshakes as we knew this is a most common allergy. However we did not put labels on the cupcakes to show what each of them were made with which could have led to someone eating something they were allergic to, in the future I would label each item we are selling so that we would not be held responsible for making someone severely ill.

Security is another main arrangement that needs to be present at an event. Security can control who comes in and out of the premises and they make sure that a bad situation is solved as quickly and calmly as possible to guarantee everyone’s safety. At our event, we did have two security guards that were at the entrance of the building the whole time. However, it would have been better to have security at the doors where are actual event was being, as they would have been able to access and respond to a situation faster if there was a problem.

Lastly, one other key arrangement that needs to be run through is health and safety. All hazards and need to be analysed and taken care of  so the chances of someone getting hurt or sick was low. My team and I had run through all health and safety hazards before the event went on so, there were no problems, this included making sure our event was accessible for people with disabilities and making sure that all electrical appliances we were using were away from our customers. Our security guards were trained first aiders so in case there were any medical issues that needed to be dealt with they were there to help. On the down side, what we failed to realise was that we forgot to put labels on our cupcakes which could have resulted in someone having an allergic reaction.

In conclusion, I have analysed the main arrangements that are to be made by an organiser for a business event. I have done this by explaining some of the arrangements my team and I made for our business event and describe how we could have improved in the planning of our arrangements.

  Unit 18 M3/D2
In this assignment I am going to evaluate how a business event can inform future planning. I will do this by identify different methods of evaluation and how they contribute to identifying problems and providing solutions for future events. I will also evaluate feedback from delegates participating in the event
The meaning of evaluation is the making of a judgement about the amount, number, or value of something; assessment. It is the sum up of the event that has already happened. The purpose of evaluation is to be able to make sure that everyone knows what went well within the event and things that could be improved. It can also reflect on each individuals work and participation and how they can become better next time.

There are different types of evaluations that can be used within an organisation. This can be meetings, which is where a team will agree to meet and analyse objectives that was made and what can be improved for next time. Another evaluation can be questionnaires; this is a useful tool for collecting data quickly and gathering feedback. These must be prepared in advance so that you can get an immediate response. Observation can be an evaluation as participants can observe and take note by watching people’s reaction to the events and asking them questions face to face. Also statistics from quantitative information and help understand how good the event was by comparing them to previous data.

The benefits of setting targets are providing direction for an event.  This helps guide you and your employees in the process of an event. Motivating employees can also be used. If you're looking to increase sales, you can implement an incentive program where your sales people will receive an award. Goals can help reduce stress. Without goals to guide you, you may develop a tendency to jump from one project to another instead of focusing on the most important needs of your business. As a result, you may come to realize that your overall production is suffering and you'll be wondering what you're actually accomplishing.

Throughout the whole of the event the delegation to different people could have been better as it turned out some people were putting in more effort than others. The important tasks were left to the same people who were always reliable and present at all the meetings. Overall the event was successful  in the way that we were able to provide good quality milkshakes and cupcakes like we said we would however we did not sell as much milkshakes as we wanted to which lead to us not making a profit. Our success was down to hard work in the making of the milkshakes. When evaluating each person’s roles, only some people finished their tasks and was 100% committed to the task they were supposed to do, but I think if everyone in the group gave 100% we would have been more successful.

There was only a few including myself that put more effort into the group. I had the job of focusing on marketing but I found myself doing other task to help other members of my team if they weren’t doing it. The reason why advertising took so long was because people were being lazy and where not think of the bad effects advertising late would have on our business. I felt frustrated as if we did not advertise our business no one would have known about our event  

The sales person of our team, put in a good effort when it came to selling our product as they had a lot of confidence to sale our milkshakes. The lack of confidence showed when we were presenting and delivering our pitch this may have been because they were in a pressured situation or they may have had some doubts or felt defeated about our idea

In conclusion I have evaluated how a business event can inform future planning I also evaluate feedback from delegates participating in the event. I have stated the different types of evaluations and gave written evaluation to the event.

 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/evaluate