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With the global adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), it has become increasingly important for educators to develop a responsive curriculum where future event practitioners understand, value and implement sustainability as a core component of meeting and event management. The purpose of this paper is to explore the viewpoints of industry to embed sustainability as part of developing a Meeting and Event Management curriculum that is responsive to industry needs, and in so doing, contribute to quality education (SDG4).

Qualitative data were generated from 10 key informant interviews amongst top-level meeting and event professionals. Open questions elucidated industry viewpoints to develop content for a Meeting and Event Management curriculum at Advanced Diploma level in South Africa. Content analysis and data interpretation revealed key topics that guided the embedment of SDGs in the curriculum as knowledge, skills, values and attitudes.

Curriculum content was linked to six specific, corresponding SDGs, namely: good health and well-being; quality education; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; climate action and partnerships for the goals.

The paper contributes valuable industry insights into academic educators concerned with responsive curriculum development in the field of meeting and event management by outlining how SDGs can be integrated as competencies and learning outcomes in a tertiary qualification.

This article explores (1) student perceptions and understanding of Events Management; (2) how Events Management is positioned by different UK Higher Education providers through their online marketing; and (3) the perceived value of an Events Management degree among students.

A mixed-methods approach, combining an online student questionnaire (n = 524), semi-structured interviews with current first year Events Management students (n = 24) at two UK universities, and website analysis of all Events Management degrees offered in the UK.

Students demonstrate a lack of knowledge about what Events Management is, what a career in Events Management might entail and the perceived value of an Events Management degree. This suggests the need to reposition Events Management degrees within a broader applied management base. Current course marketing presents a narrow view of Events Management degrees and the narrow vocationally-laden narrative undersells and “over-vocationalises” the subject.

Understanding student perceptions better will help universities market Events Management degrees more effectively and will benefit broader efforts to illustrate the value and credibility of it as a degree subject choice and career. More balanced presentation between the practical and non-practical aspects of the courses in university marketing may help reposition Events Management alongside more readily understood vocational subjects.

This is the first study to examine student perceptions over the credibility of Events Management degrees. It also addresses Park and Park's (2017) observation that reviews of Events Management education and curricula are conspicuously absent from Hospitality and Tourism journals.

The purpose of this paper is to use an experiential learning model in an introduction to events unit/module in partnership with Sport Canterbury (one of 17 regional Sports Trusts, throughout New Zealand). During this unit/module students explored the creation and manipulation of an event experience and gained real-life hands on experience. Through their engagement in this process, students were able to acquire skills and knowledge that helped them experience the whole event planning cycle in planning, implement and evaluating an event. Experiential learning approaches are a valuable tool to overcome the knowledge-practice gap recognised in many vocationally orientated disciplines, including event management.

This paper uses a mixed methods approach including an on-line questionnaire, a number of interviews with students enrolled in the unit/module a survey involving the evaluation of those involved in the events organised by the students and a review of critical reflection diaries, written by students.

This paper highlights that an extensive range of event skills both personal and team based were acquired, developed and practised during the unit/module and students were able to relate the theory of event studies to the practice of managing an event. In particular students reported that they were able to utilise, record and reflect on their experience and adapt their learning to organising a real-life event. The experiential learning model used in this study resulted in students being actively engaged in their learning through involvement and active participation in an actual event, where they were able to apply what they had learnt in the classroom to the real world. The connection between theory and practice is therefore, pivotal and is a prevailing theme of this paper.

This paper demonstrates how students of event management were provided with the skills and knowledge to run events, by personal involvement in a real-life event in a student centred learning environment. Students enrolled on this unit/module were made responsible for every aspect of managing the annual Rebel Kiwisport Challenge (a series of recreation-based events held over a half day period for primary schoolchildren based in the Canterbury region). Balancing the theoretical input with the practical aspects of events in the introduction to events module/unit enabled students to become multitasking and as a result gain highly portable skills that will help them succeed in their future careers in events. Indeed, in a survey involving 1,100 employers in Australia Neilsen (2000) reported that the five most important skills needed for graduate employment were oral business communication skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, independent and critical thinking skills and flexibility. Similar research undertaken by Greenan et al. (1997) in the UK and Braxton et al. (1996) in the USA, report the same findings. Although, there is a dearth of literature in the social sciences on experiential learning, the same debate within event management education is sadly lacking and it is hoped that this study will help fill a gap in the literature.

This paper examines events management as a Community of Practice (CoP) and to demonstrate that knowledge management and practice within events operate as a CoP. The paper adds to the events management literature which is currently superficial in considering events conceptually as a CoP.

An interpretive and inductive approach was adopted for the research which incorporated quantitative and qualitative methods undertaken in a United Kingdom setting. Twenty-five in-depth semi-structured interviews with event professionals were conducted and this was complemented by a survey of 215 event professionals.

The findings demonstrate that within the evolving events industry, as well as reflected in aspects of the academic literature, events can be depicted as a “domain” which connects event professionals to a “community”. The themes emerging revealed that there are modes of working, shared values and practices, a shared identity and a desire to work as a wider collective in order to maintain and enhance knowledge and practice, which are in keeping with a CoP framework.

This study provides new insight on an under-researched area concerning knowledge and practice development within events management.

This is a novel study that considers how the emergent field of events management should be considered as a CoP. It addresses a gap in the literature pertaining to knowledge and practice creation within events management from a CoP perspective.

The aim of this opinion piece is to seek to cast a critical eye over the event studies field to chart its progress as an emerging area of study, relative to its close relations tourism, hospitality and leisure.

Viewpoint approach.

The paper highlights various challenges that event educators and researchers face in advancing event studies to discipline status.

It is timely that, as the quantum of event research and the number of event management education programmes surge, those involved in the field engage in greater critical introspection. This opinion piece attempts to provide such a reflective insight, which has been largely absent from the event studies literature to date.

The purpose of this paper is to report on untold stories that not only illustrate the creativity but also complexity of working in outdoor events. There has been global interest in the creative industries and the creative economy more generally. Events have not been identified or categorised as part of this. Experiences have been identified as part of the creative sectors (NESTA, 2006) and events are seen as experiences (Jackson, 2006; Berridge 2007). There has been little research undertaken about the creative nature of event experiences, especially in how they are created.

A theoretical framework was created from literature on creativity more generally to inform the Creativity in Events research project. Interviews with those working in the outdoor events sector were the basis of the qualitative stage of the research project investigating the phenomenon of creativity in events.

This paper identifies the core facets of creativity in the management of outdoor events. These were fluency, originality, imagination, elaboration, environment and complexity. A vignette is used to illustrate the intricacy of the nature of creativity in the production of outdoor event experiences. The overall findings were that event management was both creative and pragmatic and that both are necessary. There was a need for a creative environment with processes and familiarity that aided inspiration and originality.

The background and findings are relevant to recognising events as part of the wider creative economy. A greater understanding of the nature of creativity in events informs both education and practice.

The purpose of this research is to explore and define the digital maturity of events using the Industry 4.0 model (I4.0) to create a definition for Events 4.0 (E4.0) and to place various relevant technologies on a scale of digital maturity.

In a mixed methods approach, we carried out a qualitative social media analysis and a quantitative survey of tourism and events academics. These surveys and the thorough literature review that preceded them allowed us to map the digital technologies used in events to levels of a digital maturity model.

We found that engagement with technology at events and delegate knowledge satisfactorily coexists for and across a number of different experiential levels. However, relative to I4.0, event research and the events industry appear to be digitally immature. At the top of the digital maturity scale, E4.0 might be defined as an event that is digitally managed; frequently upgrades its digital technology; fully integrates its communication systems; and optimizes digital operations and communication for event delivery, marketing, and customer experience. We expect E4.0 to drive further engagement with digital technologies and develop further research.

This study has responded to calls from the academic literature to provide a greater understanding of the digital maturity of events and how events engage with digital technology. Furthermore, the research is the first to introduce the concept of E4.0 into the academic literature. This work also provides insights for events practitioners which include the better understanding of the digital maturity of events and the widespread use of digital technology in event delivery.

The event management (EM) industry has attempted to elevate the professional status of event professionals. Contributing to these efforts, this study explores the professional identity (PID) construction process of event professionals. To facilitate the relevance of the PID construction process before the COVID-19 pandemic, it includes the impact of COVID-19 on event professionals' PID constructions.

Using narrative inquiry as the methodological approach, the study includes 18 semistructured interviews with event professionals before COVID-19 and additional 14 interviews during COVID-19. A narrative framework was developed to analyze the data.

The results include five significant themes highlighting the imperative role of agency in PID construction. Before the pandemic, event professionals pointed to self-driven pride and social-driven stigmatization as a part of PID narratives. Before and during the pandemic, profession-driven professional status recognition was significant. During the pandemic, situational reality-driven work skills and community-driven commitment became central to PID narratives.

The findings suggest the need for the EM industry to harness a collective PID. Specifically, given the community-building role professional associations played during the pandemic, associations can take part in leveraging a PID that connects core values.

This study contributes to the EM literature by using PID, a novel construct in EM research, to develop a baseline for event professional PIDs in changing environments; this functions as a platform for the EM profession to create a shared collective identity.