Category: Festival

Introduction

This report outlines the event strategy plan for managing this year’s summer music festival. The purpose of this year’s festival is to raise funds for assisting needy children in England. The target audience includes the people living in London City. However, participation will be limited to people who are above fifteen years of age. The festival will be held on July 13 and 14, 2013 from 12:00 pm to 3:00 am at Hyde Park in London City. The event will provide a memorable entertainment experience to the participants through a live stage performance by artists and bands such as Black Eyed Peas, and Pulp among others. Other activities will include a beer party, food stalls, singing competitions, and interactive games.

Aims and Objectives

The main objective of the festival is to raise funds for the Children Society of the United Kingdom. The festival should be a public event so that it can attract a large number of participants. The financial objective is to raise at least 1,500,000 pounds through the event. The Children Society will use this fund to support needy children by providing them with services such as education, advice, and health care.

To avoid high costs, the event should operate as simply as possible. Nonetheless, the participants must benefit from it by getting value for their money. In this regard, the social objective of the event is to provide a memorable entertainment experience. To achieve the financial and social objectives, the festival will include activities such as a live stage performance by 10 artists, a singing competition by upcoming artists, a beer party, food stalls, and interactive games.

The Marketing Screen

The selected activities for this year’s festival are too many. During the 2012 and 2011 festivals, the number of people who attended the beer party was less than the desired number of participants by 50%. Research concerning the causes of the low attendance indicates that visitors were not ready to pay the extra fee (separate ticket) for the party. In addition, the participants were interested in the live stage performance by artists rather than drinking beer in a separate venue. Thus, the beer party will not be part of the activities that will take place in this year’s music festival.

The Operation Screen

Even though visitors enjoy the signing competition, staging it is usually very difficult. This is because a very large number of artists usually express their interest in the competition. This complicates the process of selecting the competitors because the auditions must be done over a long period. Additionally, we do not have enough judges to select the right competitors for this year’s festival due to time constraints. Thus, this year’s festival will not have a singing competition.

Financial Screen

In the last two years, the festival did not raise much money through interactive games. This is because the games can only take place between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. However, nearly half of the participants usually arrive after 6:00 pm. Consequently, games generate little money because only a few people participate in them. Experience shows that renowned artists usually charge a high fee to participate in the festival. Since the purpose of the event is to make money, the number of artists will be reduced from ten to six to reduce operating costs. Based on the above screens, the festival will include a live stage performance by six artists and the food stalls from which the participants will buy food, drinks, and snacks.

Table 1: Forecast Budget for Stage Performance by Six Artists.

Table 2: Forecast Budget for Food Stalls.

Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder analysis aims to facilitate the identification of the people whose participation is central to the success of an event (Ali-Knight 2008, p. 56). In this regard, the stakeholders of the music festival include the public, charity organizations such as Action-Aid, interest groups such as UNICEF, sponsors such as soft drinks manufacturers, artists, and the local government. The importance of these stakeholders in terms of their power and interests is illustrated in figure 1.

The local government (Municipal of London) has a high power because its officials have the authority to permit and ban the event. However, their interest is low because they are not involved as sponsors or participants. People below the age of fifteen years have low power and less interest in the event because they will not be allowed to participate. On the contrary, artists, patrons, and sponsors have high power and interests. Sponsors have high power since their financial contributions will be used to pay for the costs of the event. They also have high interest because they will get publicity or opportunities to market their products through the event.

Similarly, artists have high power since their participation will determine the number of visitors who will attend the festival. They also have high interest because they will be paid for their participation. Patrons have high power because their participation in terms of ticket and food purchases will enable the event to meet its financial targets. Additionally, their interest is high because they usually enjoy the entertainment associated with the festival. The stakeholders highlighted in green are supporters and advocates, whereas these highlighted in red are critics. The stakeholders marked in yellow are neutral.

Opportunities and Risks

Identifying risks and opportunities is central to the success of an event (Bowdin 2012, p. 113). Opportunities refer to the factors or situations that are likely to enhance the success of an event (Anderson 2010, p. 76). Risk refers to the degree of vulnerability to the adverse effects of future occurrences (Preston 2012, p. 82). Marketing Plan

The target market for the event consists of the youth or people aged between fifteen and forty years. This age group consists of people who enjoy live entertainment and outdoor activities. Additionally, those who are above twenty years are likely to be employed. Thus, they are likely to have enough money to spend during the event. The patrons in the age bracket of between 15 and 20 years are likely to be responsive to prices because most of them are not employed. Thus, price discrimination will be used to set the ticket prices. Concisely, patrons who are between 15 and 20 years will pay 150 pounds, whereas those above twenty years will pay 200 pounds.

The catchment area for the target market is London City. Most of the patrons live in areas such as Dagenham, Greenwich, Southward, and Tower Hamlets. The patrons can connect to Hyde Park by train, cars, taxis, and buses. Hyde Park is approximately three minutes drive from the central business district of London City.

The marketing objectives include the following:

• To attract at least 20,000 patrons in 2 days: 8,000 on 13th and 12,000 on 14th July 2013
• To increase the number of patrons attending the festival by 3,000
• To raise 2,000,000 pounds by selling tickets
• To achieve an 80% satisfaction rating of excellent

Positioning

Positioning involves communicating the qualities and benefits of a product to the target market (Saget 2006, p. 117). The festival will be positioned as a high-quality entertainment event. However, the risk with this positioning strategy is that organizers of a similar event can imitate it. Consequently, some of the expected visitors might attend alternative entertainment events, thereby reducing the attendance of the music festival.

Differentiation

The music festival will be differentiated in terms of its image and the quality of the entertainment services. In this regard, the event will focus on providing excellent entertainment to those who will attend it. This will be achieved by inviting talented celebrities to entertain the patrons. Effective differentiation will distinguish the music festival from rival entertainment events, thereby increasing its attendance (Peters & Donnelly 2012, p. 341).

Segmentation Strategy

Segmentation involves dividing a target market into groups of customers with similar tests and preferences or needs (Winer & Dhar 2010, p. 211). The segmentation of the target market for the festival will be based on demographic and psychographic factors. Demographic segmentation involves dividing the target market according to age groups (Gupta 2004, p. 413). In this regard, the first segment will consist of visitors in the age bracket between 15 and 25 years. This age group has a strong preference for fast foods and snacks. Consequently, stalls that stock this type of food will be available. The second segment consists of visitors who are older than 26 years. This segment consists of people who are likely to demand full course meals. Thus, there will be specific food stalls that sell full course meals.

Psychographic segmentation involves dividing the target market in terms of the consumers’ values, lifestyles, and personalities (Bradley 2007, p. 241). In this case, the target market will be divided in terms of the type of music that visitors like. The three types of music that will be presented include reggae, hip-hop, and rock and roll.

Product Strategy

This year’s music festival will be adjusted to make it more attractive and appropriate to the target market. The first adjustment involves extending its duration from one to two days. This change will enable more people to have adequate time to attend the festival. The second adjustment will involve improving the ambiance of the venue through high-quality decorations.

Pricing Strategy

The markup pricing strategy will be used to set the prices for food and the tickets for the event. Markup pricing enables firms to make a profit by selling a product at a price that is higher than the cost of producing it (Kazmi 2009, p. 267). Thus, it will enable the festival to generate more revenue than the cost of staging it.

Promotion

The promotional tools that will be used to market the festival include advertising, billboards, and celebrity endorsements, as well as, symbols and logos. The music festival will be advertised through print and electronic media. Similarly, it will be advertised through billboards that will be positioned at strategic locations such as highways and high-rise buildings. The adverts will include the symbols and logos of the companies that will sponsor the festival.

Finally, the festival will be marketed through celebrity endorsements. In this case, some of the invited celebrities will use their fame to promote the festival. The benefit of celebrity endorsement is that it will attract new patrons, create awareness, and improve the image of the event. However, the risk of this strategy is that it can be very expensive, and the celebrities might misrepresent the event.

Budget Plan

Table 3 presents the revenues and expenditures associated with the music festival. The table shows that ticket sales will be the main source of revenue. The risk associated with this budget is that a large percentage of the revenue depends on the festival’s attendance. Concisely, the revenue target will be met if the attendance is high and vice versa. Nonetheless, there are opportunities for generating additional revenue. These include photography and merchandise sales. These sources of revenue will enable us to avoid the risk of missing the revenue target.

Table 3: Budget.

Project Plan

Figure 2 outlines the activities associated with the organization of the festival. The activities will be executed in the order in which they appear in figure 2 in order to avoid failure.

Figure 2: Gantt Chart.

Activity time (weeks) cost revenue

Event Project Schedule

Table 4 shows the schedule of the activities that will take place during the music festival. The event will take two days and it will be open to the public from noon until 3:00 am.

Table 4: Schedule of Activities.

Evaluation Methods

The pre-event evaluation of the music festival will be done by assessing the extent to which the progress of the project matches the project plan. Concisely, it will involve examining the success of the organizers in executing all the tasks or activities that must be completed during the planning or managing of the festival.

The post-event evaluation will be done with the aid of surveys that will measure the satisfaction of the stakeholders. In this regard, questionnaires will be sent to all stakeholders so that they can rate the event and give their opinions concerning its quality or suggestions, or future improvements. Additionally, a management audit will be completed to determine the successes and the failures in the organization of the festival.

Summary and Recommendations

This report presented the plan for managing this year’s summer music festival. The event will be held on the 13th and 14th of July 2013 at Hyde Park in London. The purpose of the event is to raise funds to support the Children Society of the United Kingdom. The target market includes the youth in the age bracket of between 15 and 40 years. The main risk associated with the planning process is that the expected revenue might not be obtained if the attendance is low. Additionally, the local government might ban the event if it does not satisfy the permit requirements.

In light of these risks, the planning team should ensure that the event meets all regulatory requirements to obtain a permit to stage it. Additionally, the marketing promotion activities such as advertising should be intensified to create adequate awareness about the event. This will improve its attendance.

References

Ali-Knight, J, 2008, International Perspectives of Festivals and Events, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Anderson, J 2010, Events Management Simplified, Oxford University Press, London.

Bowdin, G 2012, Events Management, Routledge, New York.

Bradley, N 2007, Marketing Research, Macmillan, London.

Gupta, S 2004, Marketing Research, Oxford University Press, London.

Kazmi, S 2009, Marketing Management, Palgrave, London.

Peters, J & Donnelly, J 2012, Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, Upper River Saddle, NJ.

Preston, C 2012, Event Marketing, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Saget, A 2006, The Event Management Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Winer, R & Dhar, R 2010, Marketing Management, John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Executive Summary

A one-day music festival is arranged to take place in Greenwich Park. The project will start on March 28, 2011, and end on June 5, 2011, with the festival taking place on June 4, 2011. The estimated number of attendees is 10,000 people. The current report outlines the details of the project, the tasks, stakeholders, division of roles and responsibilities, and potential risks of the project.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders are individuals or organizations involved in the project, and/or those whose interests are directly influenced by the project’s success and completion (PMI Standards Committee and Project Management Institute, 1996). The key stakeholders in a project of planning a one-day music festival in Greenwich Park are the following:

• UK music promoter – the sponsor of the project.
• Team A – a project management team responsible for the planning process for the music festival.
• Subcontractors – various subcontractors who will be hired during the duration of the project to perform the task involved.
• Customers – the attendees of the festival.

Business Needs

The initiation of the project is based on the business need of the promoter, where the authorization of the project is driven by the tickets’ sales revenues, which are estimated at the maximum capacity of the venue -10,000 people, and the determined ticket price – £ 40. Other sources of expected revenues include advertisers and sponsors.

Scope Statement

Project Justification

The project is concerned with planning a one-day Music Festival that will take place on the 4^th of June 2011, in Greenwich Park. The project is concerned with all steps leading to the festival apart from performers’ contracts and accommodations. Namely, the project will help to prepare areas, such as the development of event site, development of event infrastructure, food and beverages operations, transportation, and security.

The deliverables of the project can be seen through the following:

1. Setting up the venue.
2. Setting up the stage.
3. Sold ticket.
4. Promotion materials.
5. Human Resource Management (HRM) –staff ready for the project.
6. Performers.
7. The event.
8. Post-festival Service.

Specific Project Objectives

The duration of the project is 70 days – 10 weeks, starting from Monday, 28^th of MARCH, 2011, and ending on 5^th of June, 2001, the day after the festival, for cleaning, demounting, and de-installation of equipment. The set date for the festival is Saturday, the 5^th of June, 2011.

Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS)

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the event can be seen as follows:

• Human Resource Management (HRM) (Walton, 2010)
  • Identification of needed jobs.
  • Development of job description.
  • Determination of the number of workers needed.
  • Conduct interviews.
  • Hire.
  • Establish a schedule.
• Promotion
  • Design advertisements.
  • Contact Printing Companies.
  • Select a company.
  • Print posters.
  • Distribute Posters.
  • Put ads in news Papers.
• Tickets
  • Design tickets.
  • Contact Printing Companies.
  • Select a company.
  • Print tickets.
  • Contact distribution centres.
  • Distribute tickets.
• The Park
  • Buy materials.
  • Construct booths.
  • Paint booth.
  • Install booth.
  • Contact suppliers.
  • Deliver supplies.
  • Operate Booth.
  • Decorate park.
• The Stage
  • Contact Companies.
  • Deliver Materials.
  • Set up the stage.
  • Set up the lighting.
  • Setup fences and Barriers.
  • Rent Equipment.
  • Setup Equipment.
• Performers
  • Contact performers’ representatives.
  • Contact transportation companies.
  • Coordinate performers arrival.
  • Sound checks.
  • Provide transportation to the event.
• The event
  • Contact Security Companies.
  • Assign coordinator.
  • Start the Event.
  • End the Event.
• Post Festival
  • Dismantle Equipment.
  • Dismantle Stage.
  • Dismantle Booths.
  • Clean-up.
  • Terminate Employment.
  • Deliver Report.

Assumptions

It should be noted that cells in which 0 days are displayed imply that the tasks will start and end on the same day. Accordingly, several assumptions will be made in outlining the relationship between tasks. The first one is related to the start of the project, in which a constraint is set for the first tasks of the project to start no earlier than 28^th of March, 2011. The second assumption is related to the dependencies between tasks. All tasks are dependent on each except for “Start the Event” tasks, which start is set for the 4^th of June date. Finally, except for the 4^th of June, i.e. the day of the Festival, and the day that follows, i.e. the 5^th of June, all working weeks are 5 days, where the task that consists of 3 days and starts on Friday transfers to the start of the next week.

Roles and Responsibilities

The tasks and the responsibility will be developed with consideration to the number of team members assigned to the project. The team consists of four members and a team director. For convenience team members will be numbered through the process of outlining their roles and responsibilities. The roles and the responsibilities of the project team and the roles and responsibilities of the client team are outlined in the following table:

Project Communication and Control

The role of the team can be seen in planning activities and effective coordination of the tasks and their control. In that regard, effective communication is an essential aspect of the project. The dissemination of information and the total control of the project is the responsibility of the project director. Any changes in the tasks their activities, schedules, and resources e approved through the Project’s director through established procedures and documentation (Gido, 2011). Additionally, the director will hold responsibility for the final report delivered after the project’s completion.

Procurement Management

In managing subcontractors, the kind of purchases made will determine the type of contract used. There are several types of purchases and arrangements during the project, which can be divided into three types:

• Services.
• Materials.
• Labour.

The services include printing the promotional materials, and the services of security and transport companies. For transport and security companies’ unit price contacts will be arranged. Unit price contracts can be defined as contracts in which the seller of the service or the product is paid a pre-set amount per unit of service (PMI Standards Committee and Project Management Institute, 1996).

In this case, the unit of service is an hour for both the transport and the security. The unit of services is attached to a particular product, per car, or security officer in this case. Several companies will be contacted before the implantation of the project, where the company with the lowest bid will be considered. A fixed price or a lump sum contract might be arranged with the security company for arranging the security of the park during the day of the festival. In that regard, the number of security officers required, or the hours of work might be ignored, with the focus being on the final product which is securing the park and the venue during the festival for as long as the festival takes place. Lump-sum contracts can be defined as contracts that involve a fixed “price for a well-defined product” (PMI Standards Committee and Project Management Institute, 1996). The latter can be considered as a form of outsourcing activities (Wallace, 2007). Lump-sum contracts can be arranged for cleaning the park after the festival as well, where cleaning the park can be defined as the product in question, for which a fixed price will be paid.

The materials for the project can be purchased or rented for the duration of their exploitation. The purchased materials those required for the construction of food and beverages booths, their painting, and the decoration of the park. Accordingly, the latter include the supplies needed for booths’ operation, i.e. the food and the beverages. In this case, unit price contracts will be also used, where all of the supplies can be measured in units and the products can be quantified easily.

The labour part of the project includes all staff that had to be employed during the various parts of the project and with various durations. The tasks include designing posters and tickets, distribution of posters and tickets, carpenter tasks (booth constructions), painters, workers (decorations, setting fences, setting the stage, dismantling the stage, etc). The type of contract suitable for such a purpose is a cost-reimbursable contract. Such contracts can be defined as those which involve “payment (reimbursement) to the seller for its actual costs. Additionally, the salaries of the team working on the project will be also classified as cost reimbursable contracts, namely in the category of direct costs.

Risk Management

The risk management plan of the project will identify the main risks in the project, their level, the resources assigned, and a contingency plan in case the risk shall occur. As every project faces a range, responding to those risks is a matter of planning, i.e. acknowledging the existence of those risks and planning how they can be mitigated (Heerkens, 2005). Classifying the response to the risks, it can be stated that the response mainly focuses on risk-mitigating, through either reducing the probability of occurrence or reducing the risk event value, i.e. insurance. The risks identified in this project along with their contingency plans can be seen through the following table:

Reference List

GIDO, J. 2011. Successful project management, Cincinnati, OH, South-Western Pub.

HEERKENS, G. 2005. Project management: 24 lessons to help you master any project, New York, McGraw-Hill.

PMI STANDARDS COMMITTEE & PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE 1996. A Guide to the project management body of knowledge, Project Management Institute.

SILVERS, J. R. 2004. Professional event coordination, Hoboken, N.J., Wiley.

WALLACE, S. 2007. The ePMbook. Simon Wallace. Web.

WALTON, K. 2010. Article Based on WBS structure. Project Management for Festivals. Web.

Recent economic and organizational trends indicate a shift in the area of the experience planning. More and more companies begin to pay attention to the transformative potential when designing and executing the festival experiences. The recent research of the hospitality sector indicates that transformative experience motivates clients to return for the repeat. With the modern diversity of entertainment-focused events, any event manager is aiming to achieve a loyal customer base that would be interested in a repeated experience. Consecutively, the analysis of the key characteristics that determine the transformative component of an event is relevant for the industry professionals.

This paper contains a comparative analysis of the two articles that present separate perspectives on the transformative power of organized events. The first one discusses the subject matter in application to the festival experiences, touching on the well-known worldwide summer entertainment trend. The second one examines the ways transformative power can be found in organized leisure and tourism using the gay ski week in Queenstown as an example. Naturally, the perspectives of the articles differ due to the specifics of festivals and organized sports activities, and the added element of the LGBT community-centric entertainment in the second case. Firstly, this paper depicts and examines the key issues, depicted in two articles, and its approaches to the topic. Then, the analysis aims to compare and contrast these perspectives to enhance my understanding of the transformative potential of the events. I then summarize the findings of the analysis and how those might affect my planning of events moving forward.

The first article’s goal is to develop an understanding of the events as potential vehicles for personal transformation. Not only do the authors recognize the existence of such potential, but they believe it can lead to a deliberately planned and achieved result. Thus, their research is dedicated to how transformative experience can be designed and applied to festivals. Such understanding is of obvious interest to festival organizers and event managers and is within the article conceptually backed by popular psychology and principles of experience economy.

The article’s perspective on the transformative experience can be considered somewhat radical. It defines it as an experience that has an everlasting impact on a person, altering their outlook on life due to the sheer emotional intensity (Riva, 163). This approach includes both positive and negative connotations of life-altering intense memories, that can, depending on the details, be flourishing or traumatic. Said experiences cause an individual to develop epistemically and expand personally in a single rapid transformation. Thus, it is fundamentally different from the gradual psychological change and emphasizes the power behind a singular experience (Jackson, 3312). Logically, in the entertainment industry the goal is to design and carry out positive transformative experiences, as opposed to the negative ones. Within this approach, the personal transformation in question could look like a shift in a lifestyle or an obtainment of a new and life-long passion or hobby.

Other important aspect of the transformative component within the leisure experiences is, according to the article, the contrast between the event the question and the general daily experience of a tourist. To be transformative, an event has to drastically differ from what a client is accustomed to, which provides significant opportunities for the application of the idea in a festival setting (Neuhofer et al., 5). Musical festivals are known for its guests gathering in groups together on a somewhat regular basis to relive the festival experience. The relationship between the concept of transformative potential and the specifics of the festival organization is incredibly organic (Brown and Sharpley, 702). Since the organizers of musical festivals already engage in marketing their events as “one-in-a-lifetime”, if delivered on this promise, transformative power of said event follows naturally.

The article then proceeds to approach the idea of the transformative experience through the lens of positive psychology. If regular psychology deals with consequences of the past failures and attempts to prevent said failures in the future, positive psychology is concerned with the idea of achieving happiness and success (Hwang and Sobin, 2218). Popular psychology is then applied to the transformative experiences of tourists’ through PERMA and its five components: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. It is stated that the PERMA framework can be used as a more detailed objective reference for brainstorming the potentially transformative event ideas.

The article’s understanding of the economic aspect of the framework is tied to the experience economy. It relies on the idea that consumers are willing to pay more for memorable experiences as opposed to simple goods and services, and to return for more (Jahn et al., 332). Such, from a practical point of view, the event organizers are encouraged to invest into the transformative potential of the festivals to generate greater revenue, partially ensured by this principle.

Research methodology used for the first article is its of qualitative variety, with in-depth interviews being conducted with the participants to evaluate and examine their transformative festival experiences. To ensure the maximum possible honestly and information exchange, the interviewer utilized open-end questions and recorded the results directly from participants, without paraphrasing or facilitation. The collected material was then analyzed by the authors of the article through the PERMA positive psychology framework. The overall nature of the research is to act as a guideline for event organizers, particularly for festivals, who would like to incorporate transformative potential in their event design.

The second article discusses the transformative power of tourist experience within a significantly more specific context. It centers the analysis around a Gay Ski Week, organized in Queenstown, New Zealand, and reports on the empirical research conducted throughout the event. Other than simply presenting a study of a transformative power behind a specific experience rather then a group of experiences, the second article focuses on a separate group of tourists.

The topic of LGBT tourism is a separate study field within entertainment studies and event organization. By definition, it caters to the highly marginalized group of clients where an experience with oppression and exclusion from public and cultural life is a unifying experience. It is reasonable to assume, that an emphasis on inclusivity and demonstration of acceptance of non-heterocentric lifestyles in provided entertainment is a key value source for this group of customers. When an event is designed to be inclusive of or even targeted at the LGBT audience, the emotionally charged values of radical self-acceptance and celebration of internal freedom naturally follow. This is the framework in which the second article discusses the transformative power of the exemplary event.

One of the first sections of the article examines the historical context for the emergence of LGBT tourism. It is tied to the in-community necessity for the existence of safe spaces, where the members would not be persecuted for their non-heterosexual lifestyles. Consecutively, for gay people collective socializing and participation in shared entertainment activities is part of the formation of their shared identity. And, when the identity becomes a focal point for social persecution, the response is often the desire to reclaim it loudly and openly, for the world to see (Matteuci, 15). Thus, the LGBT entertainment sub-culture acts as a vehicle for protest and self-celebration that often manifests in “ritualized occasions of collective celebration in the public eye” (Coetze et al., 2). Despite the world becoming more accepting of LGBT identities every year, for tourists from the community the availability of LGBT-specific entertainment is often an important factor in leisure decisions.

Context established within the second article specifies the lack of homogeneity within the LGBT community that puts under one umbrella people from otherwise drastically difficult demographics. It recognizes the limitations of existing studies that have historically been prioritizing cis white gay men as the subjects of research (Collins and Drinkwater, 770). Such tendencies significantly limit the representative value of these single-target studies, as different sub-groups of the community often have different preferences in tourism. Furthermore, these preferences are sometimes largely caused by the varying levels of discrimination applied to different members of the community. Namely, the homogenous research lacks intersectionality and accounts for how gender dynamics, anti-trans sentiments and general anti-LGBT sentiments in many non-White countries shape the priorities of the affected groups.

The article’s key statement is the inherent transformative potential LGBT tourist activities present for its attendees by virtue of being an act of celebration of one’s identity. Firstly, the factor of geographical distance of isolated tourism areas from homes of closeted or semi-closeted LGBT people decreases the stress factors associated with being out. The attendees that are driven to such deliberately accepting and somewhat performatively celebrating spaces the most often experience marginalization in daily life. They are seeking out the opportunity to experience freedom of self-presentation and exploration of sexual identity and consider the opportunities for that an important factor when planning a holiday. Consecutively, for these groups of tourists the sheer nature of tourist event, when executed correctly, provides them with intense positive emotions of internal and external validation. Furthermore, for many these emotions are at least relatively new, and the specifically LGBT tourism for them is a coping mechanism with casual discrimination or event hiding.

Research methodology for the second article combines quantitative and qualitative research with literature review. The review acts as a prelude to the actual analysis, laying up the groundwork of the existing research in the field and highlighting the weaknesses and limitations in said research. The empirical studies based on questionnaires and surveys of the attendees of Queenstown’s Gay Ski Week lie in the core of the paper. These quantitative findings are later built upon with qualitative accounts of the personal experiences of the attendees who recall the validation and internal safety they felt while on the holiday.

I now intend to compare and contrast the key findings and approaches depicted in the two articles by examining the similarities and differences between these two sources. In this section, I also explain the reasons behind choosing these two articles specifically. As future event organizer, I aim to fully evaluate the two perspectives and its relevance to the subject of the transformative power and potential exhibited by leisure activities and events.

Firstly, both articles approach the topic of the transformative potential of the leisure experiences and events and examine how said potential can be explained structurally. Both could be used as a point of reference for the organizer wishing to deliver a transformative, once-in-a-lifetime experience. The sources are equally willing to recognize and research the psychological benefits that can be acquired by a client in a holiday setting, away from their daily routine (Getz, 27). Yet, overall, the number of differences between the two perspectives outweighs the number of the similarities.

To begin, the first article takes into account a much broader group of people, than a second one. Although one might argue that festival attendees are a demographic of its own, the target market of said evens can always be expanded and the qualification requirements are less necessary, than when talking about LGBT tourists. For similar reasons, it is reasonable to assume that the first study would have less difficulties with acquiring a respondent base for the interviews. To contrast, there can be many reasons because of which an LGBT person would not want to participate in a study specific to the activities associated with their identity.

Secondly, the two sources pursue different objectives and incorporate different research methods in the respective processes. The first article aims to be a guide of creating a transformative value within the festival organization process and largely focuses on the appropriate metrics for the job. The second article is more of an exploration of the existing tendencies and patterns and has fewer practical implications, focusing on the academic study of the group of people and its activities instead.

Finally, although both studies discuss the transformative potential of touristic activities, the sources focus on different areas of tourism. Organizationally, there are multiple differences between structures of musical festivals and thematic events held within the established resorts. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume, that different event organizers could find one of the sources more useful in comparison with the other, depending on their area of focus.

In conclusion, the transformative power of events and experiences is a value source that should not be underestimated. Customers across all demographics are willing to pay more for the holidays that would stay with them in the future and provide them with lasting memories. Yet naturally, customers from marginalized and ostracized communities exhibit greater then average interest in such services and can be considered one of the key parts of the target market.

To engage in transformative event planning responsibly, an organizer has to be mindful of the impact intense emotions might have at the audience. For the musical festivals and concerts it is not unheard of, and now increasingly common, to employ medical professionals available at the premises. It is one of the main responsibilities of the event organizer to ensure the safety and comfort of the attendees.

This comparative analysis has helped me to enrich my understanding of the emotional, cultural and even social power event organization might entail. The findings of the two researches equipped me with substantial knowledge of the nature and benefits of transformative experiences in event planning. I therefore hope that going forward I will be able to incorporate these findings into my organizational activities and design impactful and inclusive transformative events.

References

Brown, Alyssa Eve, and Sharpley, Richard. “Understanding Festival-Goers And Their Experience At UK Music Festivals”. Event Management, vol 23, no. 4, 2019, pp. 699-720. Cognizant, LLC. Web.

Coetzee, Willem J.L. et al. “Transformative Potential Of Events – The Case Of Gay Ski Week In Queenstown, New Zealand”. Tourism Review, vol 74, no. 5, 2019, pp. 1081-1090. Emerald. Web.

Collins, Alan, and Drinkwater, Stephen. “Fifty Shades Of Gay: Social And Technological Change, Urban Deconcentration And Niche Enterprise”. Urban Studies, vol 54, no. 3, 2016, pp. 765-785. SAGE Publications. Web.

Getz, Donald. Event Studies Theory, Research And Policy For Planned Events. Routledge, 2020.

Hwang, Johye, and Soobin Seo. “A Critical Review Of Research On Customer Experience Management”. International Journal Of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol 28, no. 10, 2016, pp. 2218-2246. Emerald. Web.

Jackson, Caroline et al. “Discovering Lived Experiences Through Descriptive Phenomenology”. International Journal Of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol 30, no. 11, 2018, pp. 3309-3325. Emerald. Web.

Jahn, Steffen et al. “Temporary Communitas And Willingness To Return To Events”. Journal Of Business Research, vol 92, 2018, pp. 329-338. Elsevier BV. Web.

Matteucci, Xavier. “Flamenco, Tourists’ Experiences And The Meaningful Life.”. Managing Quality Of Life In Tourism And Hospitality, pp. 10-23, 2018, CABI. Web.

Neuhofer, Barbara et al. “Experience Design And The Dimensions Of Transformative Festival Experiences”. International Journal Of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol 32, no. 9, 2020, pp. 2881-2901. Emerald. Web.

Riva, Giuseppe et al. “Transforming Experience: The Potential Of Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality For Enhancing Personal And Clinical Change”. Frontiers In Psychiatry, vol 7, 2016, pp. 162-164. Frontiers Media SA. Web.

Introduction

Why do we do a normal test?

A normal test is usually done to ensure that the data is normally distributed since the test statistics used follows a normal distribution.

Activity One

Data exploring

In this study, we are interested in exploring the festival data if there are normally distributed. In this study, we are going to explore the festival data using the histogram and normal probability plot of the festival data (Ball, 2001). The festival data consist of three variables day 1, day 2, and day 3. We will investigate if all the three variables follow a normal distribution. We will also have the frequency table of the tree variables.

The histogram of day 1 variable

From the day one histogram, we can observe that the value of the mean is equal to 1.79, the standard deviation is equal to 0.944 and the value of observation is 810. From the histogram, we can observe that the festival data of day one is normally distributed about the mean of the data. We can also observe that the festival data is symmetrical about the mean of the day 1 of download festival. This means that the day 1 of download festival can be used to conduct analysis where the normal assumptions have been made.

The normal probability plot of hygiene day 1 of download festival

The trended hygiene data of day 1 of download festival show that the data is normally distributed. This is indicated clearly because the residual p-p plot of the day 1 of download festival data of hygiene are close to the line implying that the errors and the festival data re normally distributed.

The normal probability plot of the hygiene festival data is not normally distributed when the data has not been trended. The plots of the error are very far from the line implying that data is not normally distributed.

The exploring of hygiene day 2 of download festival

From the day one histogram, we can observe that the value of the mean is equal to 0.96, the standard deviation is equal to 0.721 and the value of observation is 264. From the histogram, we can observe that the festival data of day one is not normally distributed about the mean of the data. We can also observe that the festival data is not symmetrical about the mean of the day 2 of download festival. This means that the day 2 of download festival can be used to conduct analysis where the normal assumptions have been made (Kutner, Nachtsheim, Neter & Li, 2005).

The normal probability plot of hygiene day 2 of download festival

The trended hygiene data of day 2 of download festival show that the data is normally distributed. This is indicated clearly because the residual p-p plot of the day 2 of download festival data of hygiene are close to the line implying that the errors and the festival data re normally distributed.

The normal probability plot of the hygiene festival data is not normally distributed when the data has not been trended. The plots of the error are very far from the line implying the data is not normally distributed.

Exploring day 3 of download festival

The histogram of the hygiene day 3 of download festival

From the day 3 of download festival histogram, we can observe that the value of the mean is equal to 0.98, the standard deviation is equal to 0.71 and the value of observation is 123. From the histogram, we can observe that the festival data of day 3 is not normally distributed about the mean of the data. We can also observe that the festival data is not symmetrical about the mean of the day 3 of download festival. This means that the day 3 of download festival can be used to conduct analysis where the normal assumptions have been made. The hygiene data of day 3 download festival has two outliers and for the download festival data of day 3 to be used in any analysis that need normal assumption we need the outliers to be removed and transformed to normal.

The normal probability plot of the hygiene day 3 of download festival

The normal probability plot of the hygiene festival data is not normally distributed when the data has not been trended. The plots of the error are very far from the line implying that data is not normally distributed.

The descriptive statistics of the download festival

The trended hygiene data of day 3 of download festival show that the data is normally distributed. This is indicated clearly because the residual p-p plot of the day 3 of download festival data of hygiene are close to the line implying that the errors and the festival data re normally distributed.

The above table 1 shows the value of descriptive statistics of the variables

From the descriptive statistics, the variable day one had no missing value. The mean of hygiene day one of download festival is 1.7934, the median is 1.79, the variance is 0.892, the kurtosis statistic is 170.45, and the skewness statistic is 8.865. The variable hygiene day two of download festival had 546 missing values, the mean of 0.9609, the median is 0.79, the variance is equal to 0.52, the value of skewness statistic is 1.095 and the value of kurtosis is 0.822. The variable hygiene day three of download festival has 687 missing value, the mean of 0.9765, median is 0.76, the variance of 0.504, the skewness statistic of 1.0033, and the kurtosis statistic of 0.732.

From the skewness value we can say that the day I of download festival is skewed to the right of the mean, the standard error of the skewness statistic is 0.086. The skewness value is 1.095.

The description of numeracy and computer literacy

From the descriptive statistic of table 2, the total sample was equal to 50, the mean value is 4.12, the median is 4, the standard deviation is equal to 2.067, the skewness is 0.512 and the kurtosis statistic is -0.484. From the skewness statistic, we observe that the value of the skewness is negative hence the data is skewed to the left of the mean of the data.

The descriptive statistic of the numeracy and the computer literacy at university of Sussex University

From the descriptive statistic, the total sample was equal to 50, the mean value is 5.58, the median is 5, the standard deviation is equal to 3.071, the skewness is 0.793, and the kurtosis statistic is 0.26. From the skewness statistic, we observe that the value of the skew ness is positive hence the data is skewed to the right of the mean of the data.

The histogram of the numeracy

From the histogram the numeracy of the university dunce town is skewed to the right.

The numeracy data is not symmetrical about the mean. The numeracy contains the outliers.

The histogram of computer literacy

From the histogram of the computer literacy, we can see that the data on computer literacy is normally distributed about the mean. The data on computer literacy has three outliers.

The test of homogeneity

From the test of homogeneity of variance, the levene statistic of computer literacy is 0.064 with a significant value of 0.801 which is greater than 0.05. This means that we fail to reject the hypothesis that the variances are homogeneous. We therefore conclude that the variance of computer literacy is homogeneous. The value of the levene statistic is equal to 1.731 with a significant value of 0.191. This means that we fail to reject the hypothesis that the variance is homogeneous. We therefore conclude that the variance is homogeneous.

We can able observe from the test of homogeneity of variance table that the values of significant are all greater than the 0.05. This mean that we fail to reject the hypothesis that the variance is homogeneous and we conclude that the variance of the computer literacy and the percentages of lectures attended have their variance homogeneous based on both median and trimmed mean.

Assumption violation

When assumption of homogeneity of variance is violated, the data fail to obey the normality assumptions. This lead to contradicting conclusions hence there is over dispersion of the parameters.

References

Ball, K. S. (2001). The Use of Human Resource Information Systems: a Survey. Personnel Review, 30(6), 667- 693.

Kutner, M., Nachtsheim, C., Neter, J., & Li, W. (2005).Applied Linear Statistical Models (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Arranging an event as large as the Made in America Musical Festival can prove to be difficult, as there is a possibility of internal conflicts or challenges due to a large number of involved people and organizations (Fitch and Holt 187). However, careful planning can help to avoid these issues. First, Gwynedd Council outlines the basic procedures for notifying the public of the event: “The first press releases should be sent out 6 months before your event, the next 3 months before and then follow-ups 2 months and 1 month before” (p. 9). Therefore, the first notification about the festival should be made at the beginning of March, with follow-ups in June, July, and August.

Secondly, it would be necessary to coordinate the event with Philadelphia’s Office of Special Events (OSE), which ensures that all events obtain the necessary permits, insurances, and agreements in advance and provides security and EMS coverage of the events. For instance, the PIO might be required to obtain a street closure permit and a special events agreement, as well as an agreement with the Fire Department to ensure full EMS coverage of the festival (“Applications”). To coordinate all the visiting celebrities, it is crucial to contact each press agent to discuss any questions regarding safety, security, and other requirements of the celebrity. Once all the information is obtained, the PIO has to contact the Office of Special Events to ensure that appropriate measures to fulfill the requirements are taken by the festival’s security team. Overall, festival planning involves many steps and stages that are crucial to the success of the event, as well as to the safety and security of all visitors.

Works Cited

“Applications.” PHL Office of Special Events, 2017. Web.

Fitch, Bradford, and Jack Holt. Media Relations Handbook for Government, Associations, Nonprofits, and Elected Officials. 2nd ed., TheCapitol.Net, 2012.

Gwynedd Council. Festival & Event Planning Toolkit. N.d., Web.

It is known that first Greeks appeared in Chicago more that 150 years ago (Chicago’s Greektown, 2010). It was far 1840s when Greeks were able to inhabit Chicago and promote the development of one of the most popular neighborhoods in the city. A festival within the chosen community is a unique chance to demonstrate how unbiased people can be, how eager to destroy boundaries they are, and how interested in new traditions and cultures they may be.

Due to the fact that this district is one of those that make up the community area, the festival offered to its citizens has to be community based. A street festival in Greektown, Chicago is a captivating chance to introduce new tasty food, amazing music, crafts, and advertisements which may attract not only the attention of ordinary people but also the sponsors who may provide appropriate support.

A community festival is a possibility to provide local citizens with the necessary connection and entertain them as long as they can. There are several tasks to be set for this festival. Let us talk about all of them.

First, it is necessary to inform that it will be a volunteer festival to raise some money for local schools and student scholarship. Second, a committee, the members of which support the idea of festival, should be organized. 2 people are responsible for public relations; 2 people take care of an image of a festival; 2 people work with possible sponsors; and 3 people follow how the whole process is organized and inform the leader of the festival about the achievements.

The festival may be organized near the crossroads where Nine Muses are located. There is no need to choose some parks or squares. This community festival should not have any boundaries and limitations but the streets which are available for everyone.

It is necessary to set proper lighting along all streets. A number of street lamps should support an idea that Greek community is always provided by the United States of America with appropriate conditions, and in time light will show the right way to success. To improve the community festival, it is possible to underline that the theme of the party is all about human past and the first attempts of Greeks to conquer US and choose an appropriate place under the sun. Let it be the festival “Come Back to the 1840s”.

Old World traditions and the Greek language (Chicago’s Greektown, 2010) promote a kind of ethical pride among the members of the chosen community.

Pricing for such festival depends on food, drinks, and music background. It is necessary to take care of each detail and elaborate as many streets for the festival as possible. People should have some place to sit, drink, or even dance. Special place for competitions where people could donate money for education should be also defined.

Taking into consideration the theme and the purpose of the chosen festival, the audience will contain people with different occupations: the representatives from the educational sphere should participate to improve their working conditions and take care of their future; parents and grandparents will find the festival interesting to promote the sphere of education for their children and to plunge into the past and enjoy the styles preferred; and even young people will participate in the chosen venue to find out their roots, enjoy their present, and take care of their future.

In general, the community festival “Come Back to the 1840s” in Greektown, Chicago has to be supported by the vast majority of people because it is never too late to address personal roots, become closer to the chosen community, and take the steps which influence the development of the nearest future.

Reference List

Greektown History. (2010) Chicago’s Greektown. Web.

The Richmond Folk Festival is one of the most anticipated music events of the year, visited by thousands of folk music fans. The major goal the organizers of the festival pursue is to present the best traditional musicians found all across the country and to let the audience enjoy their unique talents. There is a local Programming Committee that is tasked to make a thorough selection of the participants. This meticulous preparation makes the festival a truly impressive event to attend.

While visiting Richmond Folk Festival, I shot videos of three bands: Innov Gnawa, Hot Club of Cowtown, and Corazón de Granada: Flamenco Joven y Jondo. The reason for the choice is that all the three bands represent different cultures. Therefore, their performances were totally different, which allowed me to demonstrate the diversity of the festival.

Innov Gnawa is a young band that explores and promotes the gnawa music tradition (originated in Marocco). The group was formed in 2014 and included Moroccan expats, gnawa musicians. All the members are deeply interested in the roots of their culture, which attracts a lot of public interest. The band mostly plays in New York. I recorded them as their performance resembled a ritual and was compelling indeed.

The Hot Club of Cowtown is a different story. This trio (violin, guitar, and double bass), singing in three-part harmony, attracted my attention because their songs united western swing and hot jazz. Besides, the voice of the vocalist seemed charming to me.

Finally, Corazón de Granada: Flamenco Joven y Jondo is a flamenco group from Spain. The reason for recording them was that flamenco interests me as a performing art because it unites elements from different cultures. This intricate blend of Spanish, gypsy, Jewish, and Islamic influences creates really unique compositions.

The process of recording was challenging indeed. The crowd was large and it was not easy to get close to the stage to make the musicians’ emotions visible. Besides, I managed to record the beginning of the festival, its decorations, food offered to its guests, and other aspects not related to music. However, when I was editing the video, I was given a useful tip to speed up these episodes since the viewer is more likely to be interested in music. I believe that it was a good idea to insert them in-between the performances to give viewers time to think about what they have just seen.

Uploading the video was not a difficult task. YouTube instructions are rather simple and comprehensible. However, it is hard indeed to attract attention to the video when it is not professional. I think that artists who do not have big record contracts can benefit a lot from YouTube, which is a perfect channel to promote their music. Yet, they must bear in mind that this will hardly be enough: additional advertizing is required to appeal to a wider audience and get them interested in certain clips or channels. This could be done via social networks.

Non-professional videos have both their pros and cons. On one hand, the quality of sound and video leaves much to be desired. It is difficult to estimate a performance accompanied by shouting, whistling, and other sounds coming from the crowd. Yet, on the other hand, artists who are recorded not in the studio are more relaxed and behave more naturally. This makes them attractive as performers because the viewer feels familiar with them.

The Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival will take place on 25-27 February at the Dubai Media City Amphitheater.

This year, the festival will be headlined by Sting, the former lead singer of The Police and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. He has won 10 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy Award, and has had three Oscar nominations. The 63-year-old Sting has sold almost100 a million albums during his career.

Also performing at the 2015 festival are James Blunt, Christina Perri, John Legend, and Esperanza Spalding. James Blunt, who will be in Dubai for the third time, will perform on the first day of the festival together with Christina Perri. The 40-year-old Blunt is an English singer-songwriter, who has sold more than 20 million albums and 17 million singles worldwide. He is best known for the song You are beautiful, which earned five Grammy nominations in 2007. He has also won numerous other music awards.

Perri is a singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, USA. She has produced two albums and won the Best Music category at the BMI Pop Awards in 2013 for the song A Thousand Years, which was used as the soundtrack for the movie Twilight Saga.

The second night will bring the headline act Sting on stage starting 10:30 pm and he is expected to thrill the audience. Lindsey Stirling, an American violinist, and a dancer will also perform on the day. Stirling is one of the musicians, aged 30 years or younger, who are touted to change the world by Forbes magazine. Forbes cites her great finish in the fifth season of America’s Got Talent, and a second spot on the Billboard 200 for her Shatter Me album as some of the reasons for the nomination. She has 5.8million subscribers on YouTube.

On the third night, all-time great John Legend will take to the stage together with rising sensation Esperanza Spalding. Legend, who has in the past year dominated the airwaves with his ballad All of you, has won nine Grammy Awards. Spalding is an American jazz bassist, cellist, and singer, who has won four Grammy Awards. She bagged the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011, becoming the first Jazz musician to win it.

Tickets are exclusively sold by Ticket Master at Dh295-Dh1,250. The tickets can be purchased from the Ticket Master website, Ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800-86-823.

About the Dubai Jazz Festival

The Emirates Dubai Jazz Festival, popularly known as the Jazz Fest, is an annual music festival held in February in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This year’s edition will be the tenth.

Other musicians who have performed at the event are Deep Purple, Macy Gray, Jools Holland, Stanley Jordan, Kool & the Gang, Santana Spyro Gyra, and Toto.

As the Middle East’s greatest music festival, the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival attracts more than 30,000 visitors annually.

The Emirates Airline, through its Emirates Skywards program, is committed to supporting the growth of music and art by sponsoring the award-winning festival.

For release February 28, 2014

Qasr Al Hosn Fort, Abu Dhabi-the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority are pleased to announce the Qasr Al Hon festival. The festival is a celebration of Abu Dhabi’s history and culture. It will offer participants an opportunity to experience and enjoy various aspects of Emirati culture. The festival will be opened on February 25, 2014, and will display several themes of UAE’s rich history that is of great importance to its members. The festival has been celebrated since the development of the fort in the 1760s.

Workshops will be offered selectively because only a few seats are available. Workshops will include information on the Abu Dhabi Island, the desert, marine life, oases, and the Emirati cultural foundation. The demonstration will take place at 4 pm and 11 pm. Visitors do not require registration. A talk on Qasr Al Hosn will be conducted on February 28, 2014, to explore the history of the UAE.

The Qasr Al Hosn festival

The festival has been celebrated annually and it highlights the most important aspects of Emirati history. Visitors will get an opportunity to visit and enjoy the magnificence of Abu Dhabi’s oldest fort. All the activities and displays at the event will reflect various aspects of Emirati history for the last two hundred and fifty years. Apart from celebrating the Emirati history, the festival aims to give visitors a chance to appreciate the Emirati heritage that is the core of their culture and society.

Activities will include interactive workshops, educative sessions on Emirati art and culture, historical tours, displays, and exhibitions of various artifacts. Besides, participants will enjoy a demonstration of various cultural activities and skills, and get an opportunity to visit the Qasr al Hosn fort.

About Qasr Al Hosn

Qasr al Hosn represents the birthplace of Abu Dhabi because it was where the first royal family lived. The then leader Sheikh Dhiyab Bin Isa constructed it in the 1760s as a watchtower. The erection of the tower encouraged settlements around the area. These settlements created a community that represented the first community of the Emirati. Various tribes settled in different regions. For example, the Bani Yas tribe settled move southwards and settled at the coat. Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Dhiyab turned the watchtower into a fortress fort.

Initially, the fort was constructed with coral and sea stones that made it impenetrable. It would sparkle because of the seashells plastered on the fort’s walls. The sparkle attracted many merchants and the fort became a trade hub. In the early years of the 19^th century, Sheikh Tahoon Bin Shakhbut expanded the fort and consequently attracted thousands of settlers. The traditional village transformed into a flourishing city.

Further expansion took place during the period that involved the discovery of oil. Oil revenues were used to build a palace that comprised the fort. Later, the palace was transformed into a museum that would house various cultural artifacts of the Emirati. Plans are underway to reduce the fort into its original brickwork to reduce the accumulation of corrosive moisture on the walls of the museum.

About Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA)

TCA is a division of the Emirati government that deals with activities and celebrations that involve the culture of the Emirati. It is responsible for organizing the Qasr Al Hosn festival. Its role is to ensure that visitors are provided with the necessary information regarding the schedule of the festival.

Introduction

San Antonio has the highest illiteracy rate in Texas. Poverty is a high risk factor for illiteracy and the rate of illiteracy among poor children is high. The National Research Council found that about 70 percent of children in fourth grade in poor urban schools did not read at the basic level which is required in order to succeed academically (Clark, 1991).

Book fairs have become popular in the America. They are an effective way through which reading is promoted. Books make a big difference both to the individual and the society. Books are especially important in a democratic society as they are ways through which ideas are preserved and discussed (Clark, 1991).

Who is likely to attend?

A book fair in San Antonio would be attended by panelists whose interest would be to discuss the future in books, lovers of poetry who would listen and enjoy recitations and publishers. There would also be book-lovers out to get more information on the books at the fair and authors out to advertise their works (Cuba and Robertson, 2008). Linguists and publishers would also be in attendance. Besides these groups of people, there would be teachers whose interest is collecting information and widening their scope on books that would assist them pass on knowledge to their students. Students are also likely to attend so as to get exposure to books and authors. Parents might also attend so that they get a chance to link with books that might be of assistance to their children. Hence, the bookfair would receive people whose interest is purely the love of literature and reading and others on academic interest. Bookfairs attract readers, publishers, writers, librarians, booksellers, and teachers, lovers of language and literacy groups. The number might however be small despite the diverse group of the attendants. More often than not, book fairs in the city have an attendance of about one thousand people (Clark, 1991).

Problems that could arise

The book fair is however likely to encounter a number of challenges. First, with the current economic difficulties in America, it is possible that though people will be exposed to a lot of material which they would desire to acquire, they may not afford it. San Antonio being a poor city, most of the population can barely afford extras in the home. Purchases might therefore be minimal.

In addition, being a high illiteracy city, Clark (1991) says that people might fail to see the need to leave their comfort just so that they can join a bookfair parade. Readers have a social responsibility to promote reading and therefore the bookfair will have its share of enthusiasts. A majority of the people might however not see the need to attend. Being a non-profit event, organizers will be faced with great financial pressure that goes with arranging the recreational part of the fair.

Sale of books

Not all people will be happy with the idea of book fairs. The people interested in the promotion of books care more about the profits they will make during the event. They have no interest in the intangible gains. For a bookfair in San Antonio, publishers and booksellers might find it difficult to think of the uncertainties of sale of their books (Cuba and Robertson, 2008). On the other hand, readers who think that reading is only for the elites will look at the event as an occasion for fun. They might be involved in conversations about popular and famous writers and controversial works (Cark, 1991). However, the book fair might not make such great sales. This does not mean that no sales will be made. Once readers are moved by upcoming writers and possibly ideas that are provocative, they might order for bestsellers from the local bookshops. Families might however attend just so that they have fun since the book fair will be affordable and not formal. The probability that they will purchase is not so great.

Would it be a success or a failure?

Considering the fuss that comes with book fairs, a book fair in San Antonio is likely to be a success. What with a lot of storytelling and costumed entertainers on the streets. It is a chance for stories to be sung, strangers to argue about novels’ undercurrents and children to meet their heroes of such and such a book. Booksellers are likely to make huge successes out of the event while people will be exposed to a variety of reading material that will be vital in throwing illiteracy out of the state. What the book fair will do is nurture a community of readers.

Most of the population of San Antonio is not book-conscious. A book fair will not be one of those events that might interest them. Nevertheless, committed readers will be on an outreach mission in the community (Clark, 1991). They will tell their neighbors about that writer or printer whom they met at the book fair. This will trigger interest in the neighbors who will ask questions and eventually curiosity will drive them to the fairs. Even if they fail to attend, the campaign done by book enthusiasts will go a long way in reaching out to a great audience.

References

Clark, Bernadine. 1991. Bookfairs and book festivals in North America. Washington: Library of Congress.

Cuba, Nan & Robertson, Riley (eds.). 2008. Art at our doorstep: San Antonio writers and artists. Trinity University Press.