1 Strategic Event Creation Phil Crowther Learning objectives Interpret the changing forces which define the environment for event creation. Appreciate why and how the role of event creation is evolving. Understand the definition and five pillars of Strategic Event Creation. Introduction Changes in the wider environment have triggered a new normal for event creation. Heightened attendee expectations, a keener focus upon the return required by funders and wider stakeholders, and, of course, an ever more competitive event marketplace, are three significant influences which have intensified the challenge of event creation. Whichever sector of the events industry we consider, these forces are influential, to differing degrees, in shaping the environment. Alongside these foremost factors, there are other significant considerations, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), globalisation, and technology, which transform the contexts within which events are created. All of the above circumstances are interconnected and combine to represent a step change in the environment and challenge of event creation, undoubtedly making it a much more strategic and multi- layered responsibility. Consequently change is required in how we, as event creators and scholars think about, and approach, the discipline of event management. Although still at an early stage, event education has prospered and matured considerably in the last two decades. This has provoked consider- able advancement in academic thinking which is expressed through the growing body of literature. Much of this echoes the event management
4 Strategic Event Creation dominant approach, as characterised by Brown (2014), with events being planned, managed, and process driven as embodied in the influential EMBOK framework (International EMBOK Executive, 2009). Recently, however, there has been a shift in the literature placing renewed empha- sis on event design (for example Berridge, 2012; Brown, 2005) as distinct from the more operational tone of event management. This development is significant and in this book we articulate it as the transition from an input orientation to an outcome dominant mindset, which we straightforwardly label 'outcome obsessed'. We argue that inputs are integral, yet they should be subordinate to the outcomes. The mindset and approach of event creators should reflect this. Consequently as the event industry matures, the employability of graduates and the professionalisation of the field are directly linked to, and reliant upon, the outcomes that events generate. In response, this book proposes Strategic Event Creation as both a man- agement approach and an enlightened outlook which is more attuned to this new normal. Strategic Event Creation rises to the challenge of the above circumstances and in so doing offers event students and practitioners a progressive and effectual lens through which to perceive and undertake their quest of event design and delivery. Fundamentally it assumes an out- come obsessed and stakeholder-centric approach, advocating a view that event creators are most appropriately defined as the facilitators of positive outcomes for individuals and groups that are proactively involved with, or implicated as a consequence of the event occurring. This chapter acts as the bedrock for the remainder of this book, initially in its