Organising An Event: Market Research Essay

INTRODUCTION There is a proverb that says ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ This is very true, I will support this theory. Planning is an essential part of everyone’s life. I will look at a time schedule of a typical school child. For instance, a school pupil will set his or her alarm clock to go off at 7.30am. This is so that he or she can give him or herself around half an hour to use the shower and get ready for school. He or she will then be ready to have breakfast and leave for school around 8.30am in time for school at 9am. The pupil’s time has been valued and organized in such a way that he or she can make it on time for school lessons, otherwise if the pupil did things in their own time, he or she would never make it on time for school and miss out in what the teacher has already taught (This is the negative consequence and therefore in this case, failure). Even school lessons are planned. For example, a student may be in school from 9 to 3pm i.e. 6 hours. Therefore, the school may plan the students’ timetable in such a way that the student gets half an hour for break, an hour for lunch and about 50 minutes for each subject. This way, the tutors can plan what they want to say in the 50 minute interval and not spontaneously run into other tutors time and students’ breaks. Similarly when holding an event, in this case a business conference, it is important that every aspect of the event is well managed, analyzed, rehearsed and assessed to ensure that everything goes according to plan. Some of these aspects can include the consumers. The consumers are the ones who are going on the trip to the conference so firstly, their safety is the trip administrators’ top priority. For example all aspects of the consumers’ health and safety have to be reviewed like if they have any medical histories, current/past allergies and many more. This is the nature of things that have to be carefully considered in order for trip to go well. The intentions of this essay is to successfully report upon all stages of the business conference planning process from the start i.e. whether the event has the potential and the required resources to enable it to go all the way to the end, i.e. giving an account on personal experiences from the trip and future recommendations. Simply it will be divided into three parts: a beginning, middle and an end. These three stages will be: 1. Market Research: This will lead to whether the event has the potential to go on at all or not. 2. Planning: If it is confirmed that the event can go on, it will then be safe to proceed. Planning and analyzing all aspects of the event from start to finish can then occur. 3. Finalizing the event, the event and finalizing the report: Once the event is flawlessly planned, it can successfully take place. Once the event is over, post-event experiences and remarks can be included in the report to conclude it. STAGE 1: MARKET RESEARCH- VIABILITY & FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT CONSUMERS The people who are going to use the service (i.e. the AS level business studies students who could potentially want to go on the trip) need to be aware of this upcoming event. Therefore it is important that they are aware of the reason for the event being held at the first place, to let as many people as possible understand why they need to come to this conference trip. In order to find out this information from people, a survey will need to be carried out focusing on the target population researching whether or not anybody will be interested in coming on this trip. This target population is the AS level Business Studies Class of Marlborough school in St. Albans. However, this can be time-consuming to carry out and the decision of whether the AS level students can travel abroad for the business conference trip is down to their parents. So waiting for the students to ask their parents to grant them permission and give them the green light can waste time especially when they forget. Also, if the students cannot find the survey researcher to answer whether or not they can go on the trip can throw away even more precious time. Therefore it can be deduced that, an even more tangible, more effective method of communicating this message and obtaining this information as soon as possible without hesitation would be required. FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS Previously before the school summer vacations i.e. 18th June 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided on a financial aim at the meeting. This was to obtain the most cheapest yet superb value for money costs going towards the trip. Therefore, they brainstormed capitals of the world that would meet their goal, also which would offer a great diversity of businesses, for the year twelve business studies class to obtain case studies from. Capital destinations which were suggested and seemed suitable included Prague, Cape Town, Budapest, Rome, Barcelona and New York. Due to Travel and Tour companies including â€Å"European Study Tours,† language barriers can be prevailed over, meaning that the trip could still be feasible in any of these locations, making the short listing and elimination process a little more difficult. Theoretically, the further the location from Marlborough school, the more expensive the trip will cost to travel too. This meant that destinations such as New York will have to be eliminated from the potential choices list automatically since it is the furthest away from the United Kingdom, although the city has a wide range of medium to large sized organizations. As a result, the choices of destinations were narrowed down to those either in Asia or Europe. Budapest, as opposed to Prague and Rome which were all located in Europe, did not seem like they had much to offer in terms of business diversity. Therefore, it remained Europe: Prague, Rome and Barcelona. Since these three locations were large cities and also located in Europe, them being the nearest to England, they all seem convenient. However, due to the costs the travel and tours companies would offer for them, as well as the length of stay the trip required and the dates, Prague was selected. This was the most affordable and convenient at two hundred and twenty- nine pounds for three nights offered by â€Å"European Study Tours.† Therefore, the event organisers had obtained a budget covering the compulsory costs including travel to Prague, accommodation and the conference event. At first meeting back after the school summer vacations i.e. 24th September 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided that the Prague trip should take place in the spring term. This will be at the middle of the 2007-2008 academic years i.e. February 22nd 2008, where the gaps between the spring season will be occupied by some examinations mainly taken by the target consumers of the trip i.e. The lower sixth form business studies students. Financially, this is ideal. If the trip was to take place in the Autumn/Winter term, due to the Christmas Holidays, the costs of the travel to Prague by air travel will rocket up due to popularity. Likewise, if it were to take place in the summer term, costs of air travel will, again shoot up because of the long summer vacation approaching just around the corner. Therefore, by selecting Prague, travel costs have been minimized. FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT Quotes have been obtained from â€Å"European Study Tours,† and so it is safe to reveal the news about the Prague conference trip to the lower sixth form business studies class. It was needed to know the popularity of the event, despite the budgets. Also, on the 24th September 2007, the event organisers discussed revealing this news to the target consumers. Notice was given to the whole group by the event head organiser, that the lower sixth form business studies students were divided into two separate classes at two different times; an afternoon class and a morning class due to their great size in total. Therefore, the event head organiser proposed that three group members must inform the morning class and another three people must inform the afternoon class. The reason being was for a confidence boost since making a speech to a large number of people can possibly intimidate some of the event organisers. So, group members without assigned responsibilities at the time, volunteered to reveal the news concerning the Prague trip to the lower year business studies students. To inform the morning class were the assigned informants: Laura Port, Adam Mead and Sunil Rajput. Also, to inform the afternoon class were the assigned informants James Dillon, Joe Medlin, and Adrian Daniels. In addition, unexpected informant, Louise Conyard, also joined the other three informants. As a result, the morning class informants reported that â€Å"a majority of the wanted to go.† (I.e. Laura Port, Adam Mead and Sunil Rajput). Also, the afternoon class informants responded that â€Å"the whole class put their hands up to go on the trip. † (i.e. Joe Medlin, James Dillon, Adrian Daniels and Louise Conyard). Therefore, it can be deduced that the conference event trip to Prague is highly feasible in terms of popularity. SMART AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Therefore, it was now necessary to establish SMART (i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound) objectives. These objectives will act as a guide for the whole group of event organisers, to monitor their progress on meeting certain deadlines. These are: * To provisionally book sixty-five year twelve business studies students including the supervision staff and the year thirteen event organisers with ‘European Study Tours’ by Monday 15th October 2007: This will secure places for the approximate number of people who would like to go, but not certain can afford to go on the Prague trip. * To plan and implement all fundraising activities by Wednesday 31st October 2007: The current travel and accommodation budget of two hundred to two hundred and sixty pounds is not affordable by everyone. So, therefore the bar needs to be raised as much as possible before informing the parents of the final cost of this in the letters. * To have raised sufficient funds to pay for the coach fees by Tuesday 20th November 2007: Funds will need to raised, to pay for the coach. This is a fixed cost and not variable, so including it among the travel and accommodation costs will be difficult and it will make the trip seem even more expensive. It is difficult because it cannot be calculated exactly how much the coach will cost per student, since at the end of the day, the number of students going on the Prague tip can vary. * To have all letters to the Parents of the year twelve business studies students concerning the Prague trip, by Wednesday 30th November: The parents need to be aware of the cost of the trip at this time as the holiday ‘Christmas’ is rapidly approaching. Some people spend money to purchase Christmas gifts in advance, and so informing them about the year twelve business studies students Prague trip a month before, can encourage Parents, guardians or whoever will want to pay for the trip, to monitor their finances carefully. * To have all sixty-pound deposits in by Thursday 20th December 2007: As the Prague trip will be a couple of months away, the number of students going will have to be certain by paying deposits, so the planning process of the trip can proceed. * To have secured by Monday 15th January 2008, four guest speakers (ranging from medium to large sized organizations), to share their perspective of business planning and a typical day for them: People in Businesses have tight schedules, and so most people need to be conscious of things in advance otherwise they may make other plans to fill up their schedule. In this case, the potential guest speakers will need to be contacted and arranged for suitable dates, to give their inspirational speeches to the year twelve business studies students. * To have arranged an evening for Parents to discuss matters concerning the Prague trip for the year twelve business studies students, by Thursday 31st January 2008: As around this time, the trip will be rapidly approaching with only two to three weeks to go. Therefore, final preparations will have to be made including the parents of the year twelve business studies students, to discuss any problems they have concerning the trip, as well as hearing the Prague trip’s programme in detail. * To have designed and printed out guest speakers’ programme and evaluation and feedback sheets by Monday 11th February 2008: The year twelve business studies students will need to be aware of what the guest speaker is going to emphasize on, so that they will know what to listen out for when taking notes, making it easier for them to organise them. At the end of the conference, the year thirteen students will need to obtain remarks based on the event, and so the easiest way to do it, instead of asking everyone who participated later, is to hand out feedback sheets for them to fill in straight after the event. Since the ‘SMART objectives’ have been established, the ‘SMART aims’ can now be stated as well, as all the objectives contribute towards these. These aims are: * To plan and execute the Prague Trip (from start to finish) within twenty-seven weeks. * To ensure that the Prague Trip is feasible in terms of the year twelve business studies students. * To ensure that the Prague Trip is viable in terms of the year twelve business studies students. * To provide the year twelve business studies group with an abundance of case studies to apply in their end of year examinations. * To arrive in Prague to run conference event safely, and to return to Marlborough School safely. VIABILITY AND FURTHER FEASIBILITY OF THE EVENT Since that a majority of the lower sixth form Business Studies students wish to take part in the trip. This may mean that fixed costs will be more difficult to meet; compared to having a few consumers i.e. the lower sixth form business studies students. However, having numerous consumers can be advantageous when it comes to bulk purchase of the â€Å"European Study Tours† service, as this could qualify for a discount eventually reducing the costs per person. Although there is a possibility of a discount from the travel and tours, it is not worth taking a risk and waiting till all the finances are in before finding out. Pressurizing the consumers i.e. the lower sixth form business studies students, to pay within an unreasonable deadline is unethical. This will not be fair on them since the event organizers who have proposed the idea of the trip are the ones convincing them, and their parents or guardians. In the long run, this will only put the chances of the consumers deciding to go into jeopardy. This will only aggravate the state of the situation, eventually repelling the consumers. Moreover, analysing the potential scenario situation in a deeper perspective, the inter-relationship of the consumers’ parents and the school will be affected. Also, this may even heavily influence the decision the parents make, regarding giving permission to let their child go on future trips with Marlborough school. Most significantly, the year twelve business studies students are less likely to have suitable case studies resources to use in their examinations, and the event organizers may have to consider the event unviable, thereby calling it off entirely. As a result, time is a very important element in this trip to Prague. Any mistakes or situations that could arise during the administration of the trip cannot be undone because it is impossible to go back in time. It is crucial that everything is organised carefully by the event organisers. Therefore, in conclusion, at the 1st October 2007 meeting, the event organisers reached a verdict to hold a fundraising event. Here, the bar can be lowered to make it easier and faster to meet the deadlines of the variable costs finances, thereby reducing time constraints. This is as there are time constraints to when all the finances can be collected by. Also, at this meeting on 1st October 2007, all of the event organisers proposed fundraising events to investigate into its feasibility and viability. James Dillon and Joe Medlin suggested a school taxi service transporting students to various destinations like parties, outside school in return for a reasonable fee to raise money. Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead came up with a cake stall to raise money. James Wardy and James Flaherty came up with the idea of a football tournament. Louise Conyard, Laura Port and James Lindsay decided into bag packing at a local supermarket. Laura Port and James Lindsay is employed with the supermarket giant â€Å"Sainsburys,† a contact which would be very useful for this fundraising activity for the whole group. Finally, Adrian Daniels and Michael Garvis looked into Muj’s idea of a â€Å"Halloween† themed disco, as the holiday was only a few weeks away making it more sense to do it. At the following week’s meeting i.e. 8th October 2007, all the event organisers reported upon their idea’s feasibility and viability. Adrian Daniels and Michael Garvis reported on the Muj’s idea, which was also included in the investigation, into a â€Å"Halloween† themed school disco. Michael Garvis calculated an estimated budget if this ideas was to be chosen and become a reality. However, plenty of students were required to turn up for the event and to pay the price of around three pounds per person for admission to break-even and produce profit. But this was not for certain to happen, so the even needed to be inviting as possible and promoted as much as possible to ensure that a lot of people turn up. In addition, Adrian Daniels found out that the school hall was not free of charge, although all the event organisers were part of the Marlborough School Students. By the fact that the hall is being used for profit-making reasons, money will be required to be able to hire. Therefore, another fundraising activity would be required to raise start-up capital to be able to afford the hall, which would not require start-up capital. The school hall is the venue of the disco, so it would be essential to run the disco. However, this was not going to be necessary as Muj looked into sponsoring of the event. He asked his local costume store in Watford for sponsorship in return of customers. Through sponsoring, another fundraising event would not be necessary anymore, since the costume store will cover the hall costs in exchange for giving them plenty of customers. Alternatively, Adrian Daniels carried out some secondary research. He interviewed the student â€Å"Elke Cooper† a current year thirteen student with previous experiences with organising a similar event, a â€Å"Valentine Day’s† Ball. She mentioned several essentials to consider. However, she emphasized on the fact that â€Å"the advertising of the event had to be very effective to the target audience as much as possible, including the Marlborough School Newsletter.† Also, in terms of the event taking place, she pointed out that the event cannot be carried out during half term since the school hall facilities will be booked and used by local sports clubs. In addition, the school students may have other arranged plans and might prefer doing something other than going to the Halloween Disco. On the other hand, she also explained that the event could not happen after half term on the actual Halloween day. Halloween Day on the 2007 calendar is on a Wednesday, which is on a weekday. Unfortunately, for the event organisers, Halloween day is not a national holiday but a normal school day for students, meaning the only available time to run the event would be after school. Marlborough School starts at nine in the morning and closes at five past three in the afternoon. After a long day of hard work, the students will feel exhausted and would want to go home to relax. They would want to get rest, so later in the evening they can go â€Å"trick or treating.† However, due to the winter season, the sky gets dark very fast. So, students can bring their costumes to school and after school, they can get ready whilst the disco hall gets prepared. Finally, the event can take place when it is slightly dark, some students catch the coach to school in the morning and back from school, so running this event after school on Halloween Day may not be an option at all. As a result, the event is neither feasible nor viable. James Dillon and Joe Medlin reported back on their text service idea. They suggested that services income is estimated to be around a hundred pounds, due to students who may require a ride to various upcoming parties over Friday and Saturday night. However, it is not certain that these students will require rides to parties that may or may not take place, since they can always be cancelled at the last minute. Therefore, this fundraising method may not seem very reliable in producing over a hundred pounds, thereby not worth doing since there are other potential fundraising methods more likely to bring in more income. Moreover, at the meeting i.e. 8th October 2007, Joe Medlin and James Dillon suggested that they may require more drivers within the trip organizing group. This is so that the event organisers would not have to raise extra capital to pay drivers outside this group, which can lead to less net profit. So, in addition to Joe Medlin, Sunil Rajput, James Wardy and Adam Mead all volunteered to help, who are also qualified drivers over the age of seventeen. However, relying on all these drivers to be present when needed to give rides is not a risk worth taking. As a result, although this fundraising method may be feasible, it is certainly not viable. Alternatively, James Wardy and James Flarherty gave feedback based on their research into a football tournament. This fundraising method seemed feasible due to similar past fundraising methods†¦ â€Å"Hamza Bhandari,† a previous year thirteen business studies student was contacted on 6th October 2007 by Adrian Daniels, one of the event organisers. Hamza was interviewed about his past part in the participation in the school fundraising events. He replied that â€Å"a penalty shootout was run to raise money, eighty pounds was raised in total.†It was successful as a substantial amount of money was raised i.e. eighty pounds. Therefore, it can be predicted that the football tournament is very likely to succeed, due the very similar â€Å"penalty shootout† used to raise funds. It can be predicted that the football tournament is very likely to succeed, due to the very similar â€Å"penalty shootout† used to raise funds. It can be deduced that the event is feasible. As a result, to ensure that the event was viable, James Flaherty and James Wardy spoke to a Physical Education department member, Mr. Lucas, about availability of the school gym facilities to carry out the fundraising event. However, similarly to the â€Å"Halloween School Disco†, the hall must be hired again due to the fact that it is after school hours and the event is held purposefully to make profit. However, it was said also that there would be no time available during school, on break and lunch times. Therefore, the only time to carry out the event would be after school, meaning far less people would be available to stay and also willing to take part, particularly because there is a fee involved for participation and some people may prefer to go home instead. Consequently, this event is considered to be not very viable. Another potential fundraising event was bag packing, which was investigated by Laura Port, James Lindsay and Louise Conyard. James Lindsay was given permission by Sainsbury’s to do the bag packing on the Saturday of 20th October 2007, and the Saturday of 3rd November 2007. However, a disadvantage of this date is that unfortunately most of the event organisers (i.e. the year thirteen business studies students) work on this day. This means that it will be difficult getting everybody to take time off work successfully to take part in bag packing. Although not every single event organiser is working on a Saturday, but having only a few people to help out can significantly reduce the amounts of profit made. And so, the numbers of people present to help need to be maximised, in order to maximise the profits made from the bag packing. But the bag packing activity will not be for the whole day. So, if the event organisers working on a Saturday morning and sacrifice their time after work to help out, their work will not clash with bag packing, and therefore both can occur with no problem. On the other hand, those working afternoon shifts on Saturdays can help out in the mornings to contribute their share of bag packing. This flexibility even enables those without employment on a Saturday, to choose whenever shift (i.e. in the morning or afternoon) they feel is more suitable for them on the day. Previously, the last year thirteen was successful working twelve ‘o’ clock to five ‘o’ clock in the afternoon, and producing eight hundred pounds according to ‘James Flaherty’ on the 8th October meeting. Therefore, a similar time to do the shift can recreate the success last year. Another situation arising from selecting this fundraising event is that, the Sainsbury’s that gave James Lindsay permission is based in Garston. Marlborough school is based in St. Albans and so theoretically, this is where most people live and so a local Sainsbury’s branch will be more convenient. This also applied to the event organisers, where the majority was found to reside in St. Albans. This can be a problem because those who do not live near or in Garston will have to commute with a cost which may include paying train fare, arranging lifts or even using own car’s petrol and also paying for a parking ticket for the long hours of bag packing. Ultimately, this will add up towards the overall costs that each event organiser would have to pay to go on the Prague trip. Nevertheless, Laura port one of the event organisers, devised a solution to the problem. Fortunately for the group, she is in contact with the St. Albans Sainsbury’s branch, and so found out about doing bag packing over there. Laura found out that she needs to appeal with a letter to this branch convincing enough to let the bag packing event happen over there. As a result, it can be deduced that this fundraising event is very feasible as ‘James Lindsay’ was granted permission to do it at his local branch at ‘Garston’, and very viable due to last year’s profits from the event, told by ‘James Flaherty’ i.e. eight hundred pounds. Finally, Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead commented on their research in doing a Cake Stall to raise money. Adam Mead informed the manager and found out that he had to obtain the canteen staff’s full approval before running the event. The canteen staff responded that the event can take place during break time and lunch time. After the entire assigned event organisers contributed their research into potential fundraising activities to increase the finance available for the Prague trip, a vote was made by the organisers to decide the top two activities that should be used for fundraising. Each organiser wrote their top two choices on a piece of paper, and folded it up to prevent any organiser from seeing this so that it would not influence their choices. The majority votes won which were the ‘Cake Stall’ and ‘Bag Packing.’ More votes were made to decide which activity was going to be the fundraiser, this time the whole group votes by hand. Majority votes ruled, and the ‘Cake Stall’ was chosen. Without delay, plans were made to achieve and end this fundraising as soon as possible; to meet the Prague trip aim was ‘To complete fundraising events by the end of October’. Therefore, Sunil Rajput and Adam Mead were assigned to confirm to the canteen staff that the fundraising event was going to happen. James Lindsay was assigned to write up a brief column in the Marlborough School newsletter concerning the Cake Stall and the reason for doing it. Toyosi Akinola was also assigned, to write a letter to the school head. Tinashe J. was assigned to inform the school office about the cake stall, asking if the school reception can be a collection point for the cakes. On the other hand, everybody needed to decide on a date to carry out the event. As a result, the whole group selected ‘Friday 19th October 2007’. On this day of the week, year thirteen have plenty of free time, since that there is a free period in the morning (i.e 9.00am- 10.00am) , plus a one and a half period (i.e. one hour thirty minutes) of General studies, which also leaves plenty of time to spare before the sixth form lunch time (i.e. 12.25am- 1.05pm). This schedule will enable the event organisers to serve cakes during the lower/higher breaks (i.e. 10.00am- 10.20am and 11.00- 11.20am respectively) and the lower/higher lunches ( i.e. 12.20am- 1.05pm and 1.20pm-2.05pm respectively). Also, with this day being the following week, sufficient time was created to advertise the upcoming cake stall to the school effectively. One of the main methods use to promote the cake stall was the posters that the group were asked to design, and assess at the next meeting before duplicating them to put around school . An example of one of the posters put around the school grounds was: (see next page) The cake stall needed cakes to sell for profit in the cake stall. This was not included in the poster because it might put people off buying cakes from the cake stall. Therefore, the whole group came to a decision to bring in as many cakes, biscuits and other related confectionary such as cookies, whether cooked or purchased. Also, in the newsletter column that ‘James Lindsay’ was assigned to compose, included that The following meeting was on Monday 15th October 2007. Toyosi Akinola was successful in convincing the head to permit the cake stall sell to happen with his fantastic letter. And so this was the official confirmation to let the cake stall take place on the upcoming Friday. As a result, the promotion of this stall had to be more effective. So, the event organisers all contributed in phrasing a memo to all teachers in the school. This is how the memo turned out: CAKE SELL Please read this out to the class (Teachers) As part of their A-level Business Studies course, the year thirteen business studies students need to organise an event. They need to hold a cake sale on Friday. And to reduce the costs of this event, they need to hold this in Pascal Hall in 19th October during both breaks and lunch time. The teachers informing the students about the cake stall will ensure that they are all aware of it, even if they do not spot the posters being posted up around the school. However, those who were absent to hear this memo may find out about the cake stall through the posters or their friends through word of mouth as ‘gossip is a great traveller’. Also, the event organisers brought in their poster designs and showed each other. Then the whole group decided what could be done to improve them before putting them up around the whole school. This is what one of the posters looked after amendments have been made: The more improved versions of the poster did not include the fact that the event for was for the profit-making purpose to raise funds for the Prague trip. This part of the poster was not necessary and it had to be brief and straight to the point for people to read the whole message. However, if it was made long some people would be put off and walk away from the poster, thereby missing out on the essential message that the cake stall is on the upcoming Friday. James Lindsay failed to submit the memo to all of the teachers concerning the Cake stall. However, the newsletter column composed by the event organiser head was released by Friday, at the end of the school week. This backed up James Lindsay and the message concerning the upcoming Cake Stall got through to all of the students who picked up a newsletter in their form rooms. These newsletters are usually handed out by the students form tutors, and so the chance of them receiving the newsletter was very high. The event organiser chair decided that all of the event organisers needed to a break time and a lunch time each, be it a lower or higher one. The lower and higher break and lunch time shifts had to be evenly distributed to all the event organisers, to make it fair on everyone. So everybody volunteered to do combinations of lower/higher breaks and lower/higher lunches to suit their own flexibility. When it seemed that too many people were in one group, (i.e. a lower/higher break or a lower/higher lunch) then event organisers such as ‘Adrian Daniels’ changed group for the sake of fairness, by changing from a lower lunch to an upper lunch. As a result, this was the outcome for the Cake Stall schedule for Friday 19th October 2007: Lower Break Upper Break Lower Lunch Higher Lunch (10.00-10.20) (11.00-11.20) (12.20-13.05) (13.20-14.05) Adam Lindsay Lindsay Adam Laura Wardy Laura Adrian Louise Dillon Wardy Joe Adrian Toyosi Dillon Muj Michael Flaherty Toyosi Tinashe Muj Joe Flaherty Louise Tinashe Tinashe Michael The Cake Stall schedule was put together in a a way, that there will be sufficient ratio of event organisers selling and supervising, to the consumers (i.e. the school years on break or lunch time, like the years seven, eight and nine out for upper break). This way, there would not be too many event organisers at the Cake Stall at one time, or too little event organisers at the cake stall to cope at one time. Although there was an equal number of event organisers out for each cake stall except the ‘upper lunch’, it did not matter because any body free at the time of the ‘upper lunch’ can give additional help if needed. So even if one person turned up to help the ‘upper lunch’ and make all the cake stall time schedules equal, it was adequate and fair. Thursday 18th October was the date set for the event organisers to hand in their cakes. There were various ‘cake hand-in points’ to take the cakes too, because the canteen would only hold the cakes for the day of the cakes stall. Some of these points were the school ‘reception’ and the ‘business studies department office’. These places were selected so that the cakes could be kept secure. Preservations were not a situation as all the cakes and other confectionary had expiry dates displayed on them. This date was also the day before the big cakes stall sell, so if anybody forgot to bring in the cakes on the actual day (i.e. Friday 19th October 2007) they could bring them in, in advance. However, if anybody forgot to bring them in on Thursday, the following meeting on Thursday acted as a reminder. The finances concerning the cake stall were also discussed at the 15th October 2007 meeting. The following meeting was on Thursday 18th October, the day before the cakes stall sell. Laura Port was assigned by the event organisers’ chair to collect ten pounds worth of change from the bursar. Change was required for the cake stall to start-up with, otherwise waiting to make adequate money through the cake sells in order to give the consumers (i.e. school students) change can be time consuming. The school students break or lunch time is for a limited time only. So the school students would want to be able to buy their cakes, have their break or lunch, and then finish in time for their next lessons. The event organisers also agreed that the cakes will sell from prices ranging from twenty-five to fifty pence. The prices of the cakes and the other confectionary were to be confirmed for the next meeting. ‘Michael Garvis volunteered to bring in some margarine containers to collect the money made from the cake stall in. ‘Petty cash’ or coins will mainly be used by the customers to pay for the cakes and other confectionary, so there would not be a need for a cash register. The ratio of event organisers to customers will also be sufficient enough for them to supervise the money right in front of them. The ‘year eight’ group was due to be absent for the day, which could possibly affect the rate of sales, and more significantly, the rate of sales. ‘Joe Medlin’ and ‘Adrian Daniels’ volunteered to collect the money made from the cake stall at the last sell, at upper lunch, to the treasurer. He or she can calculate how much has been made and keep the funds safe for future use i.e. costs going towards the trip such as coach fees. The finance issues concerning the cake stall had been discussed and sorted. So next were the health and safety concerns for the sale: The event organisers agreed to arrive ten minutes early before the cake stall sell. This would allow enough time to setup the cake stall in the hall before any commotion is caused by the consumers (i.e. the Marlborough school students). Also, it was agreed between the event organisers that the cake stall queue had to be organised, to prevent the consumers pushing each other about to get into the line. However, if the cake stall was not so popular and only a few students turned up, it may not be necessary to create a queue barrier. Since there is a chance of fights arising from the queue, a risk assessment is to be created to evaluate how severe incidents could potentially become during the cake stall. Then suitable health and safety measures can be carried out to protect the consumers and customers, (i.e. the school students) the cakes and other people like the teachers. As the cake stall is a business, the Government’s health and safety procedures have to be observed: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/EnvironmentalServices/HealthAndSafety/hs_riskassessments.pdf Therefore according to the ‘Health & Safety at Work Act 1974’, employers are to take â€Å"reasonably practicable† precautions in various areas to safeguard employees. In this case, the event organizers are to consider suitable safety measures in the cake stall to protect all the stakeholders, which include the customers and the teachers. To do this it must be ensured that good judgment is made about the extent of risks that could happen at the cake stall, and its consequences. In regards to the legal governmental health and safety Governmental requirements, the ‘Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992/1999’ has also been considered. It states that: â€Å"Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The risks to the health and safety of his/her employees to which they are exposed while they are at work; and à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ The risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him or his undertaking: For the purposes of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions†. The findings must be recorded if five or more are employed. In this case, a risk assessment must be drawn up by all the event organisers for the cake stall, in order to produce health and safety solutions for the event. Therefore, a risk assessment will be carried out. CAKE STALL RISK ASSESSMENT LOCATION: ACTIVITY: SELLING CAKES PASCAL HALL, AT STAND, AND OTHER MARLBOROUGH CONFECTIONARY SUCH AS SCHOOL COOKIES PEOPLE AT RISK: MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, CUSTOMERS, CONSUMERS, TEACHERS, CANTEEN STAFF. POTENTIAL HAZARDS: FIGHTING (E.G QUEUE PUSHING) EXPIRED CAKES AND OTHER CONFECTIONARY EXCITED CUSTOMERS NOISE NUTS IN CAKES, COOKIES, MUFFIN, ETC TABLE LEG WET ADJUSTMENTS FLOOR MOPED BY CLEANING STAFF POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES: SLIPPING TRIPPING OVER STAIRS FOOD ALLERGIES TOE INJURY BLINDING FOOD CONTAMINATION EXISTING CONTROLS: FRESHLY BAKED CAKES/BISCUITS CAKES AND OTHER CONFECTIONARY PURCHASED WITH A VALID EXPIRY DATE RISK RATING WITH EXISTING CONTROLS: HIGH MEDIUM ? (Major Injury: Fighting) LOW NEW CONTROLS REQUIRED: QUEUE BARRIERS (To be improvised with chairs) TEACHER SUPERVISION ENSURING THAT THE HALL FLOOR IS COMPLETELY DRY BEFORE CAKE SELLING BEGINS CAKE STALL TABLES TO BE KEPT FIRMLY TOGETHER IN POSITION RISK RATING WITH NEW CONTROLS: HIGH MEDIUM LOW ? (Major injuries: tripping over stairs, food allergies {all cakes that are purchased from stores like ‘Asda’ are not 100% certain to contain traces of nuts in them) ASSESSOR NAME†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦JOB TITLE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. SIGNATURE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. DATE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦DATE TO BE REVIEWED†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The cakes and other confectionary prices were also decided on at the meeting: (i.e. Thursday 18th October 2007) Fixed Costs à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Hire of Hall 0 Ten pounds worth of change 10 Cake Stand Tables (school property) 0 Money containers (complimentary of ‘Michael Garvis’) 0 Cakes and other confectionary (donated) 0 Napkins ( Complimentary of ‘James Lindsay’) 0 Total 10 Variable costs (per customer) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Little Muffins 0.25 Plain Cupcakes 0.30 Cupcakes with icing 0.40 Big muffins 0.55 Big Cookies 0.40 Biscuits 0.20 Mini Fairy Cakes 0.20 Flapjacks 0.20 Small Cookies 0.20 The cake stall took place on Friday 19th October 2007. No incidents/accidents happened due to the new improved controls introduced from creating and making risk assessments. The follow-up meeting was 29th October 2007. The cake stall sale was reviewed. The event organisers discussed that the ‘plain cupcakes’ were not so popular during the break times, and therefore were not selling well. As a result, ‘Louise Conyard’ took initiative and sprinkled some icing on top of all of them to add value and sped up sales. This simple action helped to sell all of them. There were certain cakes that were selling well and not selling so well. And so, it was discussed between the event organisers that more of these high in demand cakes could have been purchased during the day of the cake stall to boost sales. This would have also have boosted profits. Also, it was mentioned during the meeting that the cake stall was not as popular as anticipated. This may have been due to the fact that promotion was not as effective as required, and that insufficient posters may have been posted up around the school. In future, marketing of the event would need to be more effective if another fundraising event had to take place, to raise additional funds. However, some of the Marlborough school students may have preferred bringing their own snacks to school or buying other snacks in school, and bringing their own packed lunch to school or buying school dinners from the canteen. This competition between the canteen and the cake stall during the break and lunchtimes could have definitely hindered sales. Not all of the cakes sold at the end of both breaks and lunches, so event organisers including ‘James Dillon’ and ‘Toyosi Akinola’ discussed their idea of how they went round the school trying to boost sales with a tray of cakes and other related confectionary. This was highly successful since all of them were sold! As a result, two hundred and twenty four pounds in total was produced from the event. It was considered that this could be used to pay off the trip’s fixed costs, including the coach fees. However, this was insufficient capital to meet these costs. ‘Adrian Daniels’, one of the groups of event organisers contacted the ‘South Mimms Coach travel service’, a very good, long-term coach supplier for Marlborough School. The quote that Adrian received was that: â€Å"Two coaches including baggage space to transport approximately eighty people would cost five hundred pounds. This will include parking spaces and waiting time at the Luton Airport and Marlborough School.† – A South Mimms Coaches representative From the look of the amount of funds raised from the cake stall, around half of the coach fees have been raised. Therefore, an additional fundraising event will be required and the objective â€Å"to implement all fundraising events by Wednesday 31st October 2007† would have to be extended the maximum an additional month, otherwise it could clash with the deadline to have all the letters to the parents concerning the Prague Trip out. As a result, the second place fundraising event chosen was ‘Bag Packing’, and this alternative will also be used to boost the current funding towards the Prague Trip of two hundred and twenty-four pounds. Laura Port volunteered to get in contact with the Sainsbury’s branch in St. Albans, whilst James Dillon also agreed to get in contact with his local Sainsbury’s branch too, at Garston. Therefore, in order to meet the next objective, this event would have taken place by the end of November. Since at least two Saturdays are required for the whole group to carry out bag packing, and the first fundraising event (i.e. the cake stall) has taken place before the end of October, So far accomplishing the objectives to date, the Prague trip is proved feasible. Since the critical parts of the event organisation process are out of the way, it is possible to proceed with planning the rest of the event and careful monitoring; that everything goes to plan and progress is monitored vigilantly. Most significantly, the finances will have to be watched, since they determine whether or nor the trip will take place entirely. Therefore, a letter to the parents will need to be released by the end of November, making them aware of the upcoming deposit deadlines and other details relevant to the Prague trip. At the first meeting back after the school summer vacations i.e. 24th September 2007, the event organizers of the year thirteen business studies students decided that the most appropriate solution to communicate the message about the Prague trip to the parents would be to write a formal letter as soon as possible. This would explain to the parents as well as the students: > What the event is about > Why they should go on the trip > What is required for the trip to occur > When it will take place and end > What the trip co-coordinators’ are aiming to attain for the students who go on the trip > The eventual benefits > Keeping both parents and the student up-to-date with the most recent news regarding the conference trip. At the end of the letter, an optional ‘cut-out’ permission slip can allow for the student and the parents to agree on whether or not he or she can go on the trip, backed up with their individual signatures. All the event organisers agreed to design a letter being addressed to the parents of the year twelve business studies students concerning the Prague Trip. All the best aspects of the whole groups’ letters’ were to be combined in fashioning the perfect letter. An example of a letter design of one of the event organisers was: Re: Educational Trip to Prague Dear Sir/Madam, We are proud to inform you that the Year 13 Business Studies students are organizing a business conference that will be great benefit to your child’s education, particularly in AS level Business Studies. At the end of the course, students must write a Business Studies exam based on ‘people at work.’ In this exam, they will have to apply that knowledge of what they have learnt during the year, including applying and referring it to real- existing business firms. The exam is worth 33.3% of their final AS grade in the course, so the information they can obtain from companies to apply in case studies to fulfil their exam specification requirements is vital. Various guest speakers representing the different business firms will come in and give an inspirational talk to the students about what their job role is on a typical day as well as their personal experiences. The students will be given plenty of opportunities to take notes and questions, so they will most definitely make the most of their stay their. They will also visit businesses like a beer factory and also have time to do some Prague sightseeing while they are appreciating the scenery of places like the ‘Prague Castle,’ etc. The trip to Prague, the capital city of Czech Republic will take place on Thursday 21st February till Sunday 24th February 2008. Coaches will arrive and depart on time to their airport, so please ensure that your child gets to the departure point at a suitable time. We will ensure that you will be informed about most recent news regarding this trip, so we will keep you updated. Communication is very important, especially when there are time constraints. Therefore, it is vital that when it comes to communicating, it is done effectively so that all the event organizers are motivated to persevere to accomplish the Prague Trip objectives. Time could be constrained even more if they are demotivated to meet these goals, which makes communication crucial for the event to succeed. Although all the event organizers may have the potential to succeed as a unit (i.e. a ‘pseudo’ team), but however if they are all not organized well enough and fail to contribute to the team where they may specialize, for example bringing in imaginative concepts to which everyone going to the Prague trip can alert each other whenever when in Prague, then the whole group is at risk of collapsing. Therefore, the event organizers need allocate one another job roles where each other fits in or works best. But before this can happen, the whole group needs to be aware of the Prague trip schedule from start to finish, so that everybody will realize at which point in this schedule they can take an active role in. As a result, a Gantt chart will be created to meet this need.