Who wrote this book?

I have been involved in the organisation, planning and management of events and shows for about 20 years. For 15 of those years I have had a growing part in the police coverage of small, medium and large events.

During that time I made mistakes and have learned from the mistakes others have made. In event management, there is always something new. That is partly due to the introduction of new regulations or legislation and mostly due to the imagination and inventiveness of the population at large. As an illustration of that point, 20 years ago nobody had heard of bungee jumping out of a basket suspended from a mobile crane, so that was not a potential attraction that an event manager had to consider!

I am still learning. I welcome any input on problems that I have not experienced or covered in this guide.

I realised that at event after event I kept seeing the same mistakes being made and was constantly being asked the same questions. I began to give advice and hoped that my assistance would help others avoid known problems but there was a limit to the number of people I could speak to. To reach a wider audience I decided to produce a ‘small pamphlet’ summarising my method and advice. Over time, the original pamphlet expanded into this book.

Though your event theme, content, size, venue, target audience and objectives may vary, the methodology I propose remains basically the same. Using the sections of this guide will help you to consider logically the common aspects of event management, with the aim of validating and planning your proposed event so that it is ultimately successful.