This presentation considers the evolving and wide-reaching impacts events have on individuals, communities, organizations, cities and countries.

1. Events in Our Changing World

2. Learning Objectives
At the end of this session students should be
able to:
• Reflect on the meaning of events for individuals in
different societies
• Identify the practices of business, communities and
countries which have been influenced by the popularity
of events
• List and evaluate the positive and negative impacts that
events have on communities and the urban environment
• Critically discuss the potential of events to achieve long-
term, sustainable economic development

3. What do Events Mean to Us?
Sites where individuals
• Opportunities to can come together to
appreciate critical connect with other to
achieve a sense of
milestones: enhanced identity and
 For example, weddings, to find meaning
birthdays, graduations,
anniversaries and cultural and
religious observances

4. What do Events Mean to Us?
• Modern day events represent the evolution of
societies, communities and individuals
• The original significance and perception of some
events have shifted:
Gay Pride parades’ sexual politics have given way to
family fun and festivities
The symbolism behind Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
has shifted from rebellion to a message of freedom
and self-expression

5. Events in Organizations
• Create linkages
• Disseminate information
• Provide motivation and
opportunities for
celebration
• Brings people together
from different countries

6. Events in Communities
Religious and cultural These events can:
festivals sometimes known • Reinforce shared identities
as ethnic festivals, can play • Evolve new meaning, through
an important role in uniting the integration of cultural
influences
communities comprising of • Help to achieve a 'cosmopolitan'
ethnic and cultural character that can be promoted
minorities as a positive feature to external
audiences

7. Events and Cities
Festivals and other events – together with impressive urban landscapes on
which they can be staged and promoted – have become 'a means of
improving the image of cities, adding life to city streets and giving citizens
renewed pride in their city' (Richards and Palmer, 2010: 27-31).

8. ‘Eventful cities’ also undertake the creation of fixed cultural
capital, such as: iconic buildings, sports stadia, museums,art
galleries and concert halls, upgrading of public spaces,etc.
The Olympic Tower, Montreal –
Built for the 1976 Olympic Games

9. Events as Place
Marketing for Cities
• 'Festivalization' – the temporary
transformation of a place into symbolic space
in which the public domain is claimed for
particular forms of consumption
• Media-oriented festivalization – helps to
cultivate an image of the city as a backdrop
for events that can attract global financial
interests

10. Events as Place
Marketing Debate
The 'ultra-modern' aesthetic
of these global spectacles or
developed fixed cultural
capital (shopping malls,
theme parks, airports, etc.),
lends itself well to the
diminishing of the sense of
spatial and cultural identity,
inevitably intended for mass
replication (Relph,1976)

11. Events as Place
Marketing Debate
Kotler et al. (1993) noted a shift in the
principles and practices of Place Marketing,
from replication to reclaiming and nurturing
the originating cultural identity
“...astute place marketers adopted more
sophisticated 'product development and
competitive niche thinking...seeking to define
themselves as distinctive places with
competitive advantages for target industries.”
(Kotler et al., 1993: 78)

12. Place Marketing Challenges
• Striking an acceptable balance –
events should enthuse all sections of
the resident population as well as
appeal to external audiences
• Making the right presentation –
events must present the city/locality
itself in ways that attract the
attention of footloose globe-trotters
whose engagement with the place
may be temporary and somewhat
superficial
• Avoiding and/or minimizing public
dissatisfaction

13. Events and Countries
Events have been important engines
of economic recovery and growth for
countries
Events:
• Reduce high unemployment rates
• Revitalize neglected inner city
streetscapes and infrastructure
• Regenerate industries
• Create wealth for the locality through
increased expenditure on local goods
and services

14. Events and Countries
Events also have a host of
negative consequences for
cities
Events:
• Generate losses
• Create long-term debt
• Are sources of political criticism
and dissent
• Can initiate regime change

15. Summary
• Events are a chance to celebrate milestones, gather with
others to gain a sense of identity and can be used to
evaluate changes that have occurred in cultures and
societies
• Businesses use events to disseminate information to its
internal stakeholders as well as to engage external
stakeholders with the use of Event Marketing and
Experiential Marketing
• Events can have both positive and negative impacts on
communities as they hold the potential to unite
communities as well as create or maintain divisions
• Events hold significant positive potential revitalizing urban
environments

16. References
• Ferdinand, N. and Shaw, S. (2012). Events in
our changing world. Events Management An
International Approach. London: Sage
Publications