Event Management

Abstract

History clearly illustrates the prominent role that events have always played in peoples lives. They have the capacity to not only generate economic benefits but importantly, social capital as the facilitate constant rejuvenation of the community experience, bind communities together and establish "... a sense of co-operation, goodwill, reciprocity, belonging and fellowship" (Arcodia and Whitford, 2006:2). According to Derrett (2004), events are like an elixir as they provide us with a vehicle to celebrate a particular date and occasion (Bowdin, Allen, O'Toole, Harris and McDonnell, 2006) which according to Wrathall and Gee, (2011:11) "...is an essential part of human nature". Thus events, such as festivals, fairs, sporting, religious, artistic, cultural and personal events (and others) not only provide us with a means of recognizing significant personal and/or public milestones but they also contribute to defining our personal lives, culture, communities, regions and nations (Bowdin and McPherson, 2006).

This review provides some introductory insights into the global phenomenon called events and event management. Given that event management is arguably, still in a nascent stage of development (compared to industries such as manufacturing, mining, agriculture), there are a multitude of issues that could undergo a detailed examination. The introductory overview in this review first, provides an historical synopsis of events and the event industry. Next, the review covers definitional issues and the categorisation of the array of events that constitute the event industry. This is followed by an overview of the broad research areas pertaining to events and event management before highlighting the future trends in the field of study of event management.