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Hosting business events is no longer the preserve of hotels and purpose-built conference and exhibition centres. Today, visitor attractions, theatres, museums, universities and sporting complexes also compete for their share of the lucrative business events sector. However, few of these venues were originally designed and built to accommodate events but are now multipurpose in function and marketed to the events industry to secure a secondary source of income. This paper aims to evaluate the supply and design of venues for business events from both a historical and contemporary viewpoint.

As business events have specific venue requirements, ranging from extensive, accessible space for exhibitions to numerous rooms for plenary and syndicate conference sessions, choosing an appropriate venue from those available has become a considerable task. A review of key moments in history demonstrates how different types of venues have emerged and developed.

This study reveals how venues that have a similar background typically share features such as architectural design and layout. The paper discusses the characteristics of unusual, academic and sporting venues as well as hotels and purpose-built space to include factors such as availability, cost and location.

This paper provides an insight into the benefits and drawbacks of using different types of venues for business events and the advantages and challenges that these present to organisers. Case studies are embedded within this paper, illustrating the range of venues that are used to successfully host business events today. As there is limited literature that explores venue development for events, or commonalities of venue characteristics by type, the synthesis of these two important elements of event management makes this study an original and valuable contribution to the developing literature.

There are two main aims of this conceptual paper. The first is to explore the issues associated with staging events in public spaces, and to produce a typology of different event spaces. The second is to explore if and how events should be designed into parks, streets and squares and whether this might reduce some of the negative impacts and associated user conflicts.

The paper analyses the history, drivers and effects of using public spaces as venues and examines the reciprocal relationships between events and the spaces that host them. To explain the range and dynamics of contemporary events, a typology of event spaces is developed. This typology highlights nine different types of event spaces which are differentiated by the level of public accessibility (free entry, sometimes free, paid entry), and the mobility of event audiences (static, limited mobility, mobile). Using this typology, the paper discusses ways that public spaces might be adapted to make them better suited to staging events. This discussion is illustrated by a range of examples.

The paper finds that it makes practical sense to adapt some urban public spaces to make them better equipped as venues, but designing in events presents new issues and does not necessarily resolve many of the problems associated with staging events. Disputes over events are inevitable and constituent features of public spaces.

This paper makes an original contribution by developing a new classification of event spaces and by synthesising ideas from urban design with ideas from the events literature.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the design and development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games and its legacy.

The paper is an invited opinion piece and comment based upon documentation the specialist experience of the authors who were both involved in the planning, design and development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and who continue to be involved with the development through legacy.

The paper describes the process through which designing out crime was considered throughout the planning, design and development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The paper provides comment on the planning, design and development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from individuals who were involved in the planning, design and development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

This paper aims to empirically investigate how event innovation may induce desirable corporate branding.

A survey yielded 280 complete responses from tourists who had attended an event in Macau. Structural equation modeling was used to test the innovation-corporate loyalty framework through perceived event value and corporate image, with a multi-group comparison to examine differences between first-time and repeat customers.

The results indicate that innovation is not only the key to value enhancement of the event but also an efficacious instrument of branding the parent company and building corporate loyalty; only product-related innovation has a significant impact on event value; both functional and emotional values induce a more favorable corporate image; and event-induced corporate branding is more effective in securing repeat business than attracting new clientele.

The findings help hospitality operators and event planners to leverage innovative events for corporate branding and cater to different customer segments by providing distinct marketing strategies.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding event management and corporate branding and sheds light on future research to explore the initiative and benefit of pushing forward event innovation.

This paper aims to identify the key quality attributes a museum or art gallery should possess and enhance to become an attractive business event venue.

The research adopted a two-stage case-study methodology. Firstly, three museums were selected in Manchester, UK, to explore the venues’ approaches to hosting business events. These were the Lowry Art Centre, Salford Museum and Manchester Art Gallery. Secondly, a business event at another museum in the city, Science and Industry Museum, was accessed to explore the audiences’ perceptions and industry requirements regarding the organisation of events in museums. In total, 21 qualitative semi-structured and structured interviews were conducted with the event delegates, event planners and museums’ management.

Thematic analysis was applied to identify three key attributes: venue character, memorability and functionality and feasibility. Venue character refers to the overall appeal of a venue, including its history, status and interior design. Memorability refers to the authenticity and uniqueness of the attendee experience at a corporate event organised in a museum. Finally, functionality and feasibility deals with the availability of functional facilities, space flexibility and diverse venue regulations.

The findings of the research provide valuable insights to both museums and event companies. The research reveals the main benefits and drawbacks of using a museum or an art gallery as a venue for business events and suggests key aspects to consider while staging a business event in a cultural institution. Museums could apply the findings in marketing to emphasise their uniqueness, authenticity and flexibility.

This paper seeks to explore the design of popular music performance space, focusing particularly on recent developments that are changing the form and operation of permanent venues and travelling stages. Its objective is to analyse the typology of existing venues but also to chart the emergence of new and distinct building forms in response to changing artist, promoter and audience demands.

The paper investigates the factors that determine the architecture of live performance space, based on the research project's detailed examination of specific examples that range from small music clubs to large and complex stadium‐sized buildings. The paper introduces the research themes that have shaped the author's book Live Architecture: Popular Music Venues, Stages and Arenas, which will be published in 2011.

The paper proposes a new categorisation of buildings as; adopted, adapted and dedicated music performance environments, and explores the significance of mobile facilities as architecture in their own right, but also as a modifier of place and space. It identifies factors that are changing the scale and operation of performance venues and articulates the implications for new venues.

This paper presents a continuing research project that is examining for the first time popular music performance building design as a distinct architectural genre. It proposes for the first time a building typology in order to increase our understanding of how the most successful spaces have been created, and how future ones might safeguard live music's power and immediacy for its audiences.

Events that are designed around the needs of children are particularly challenging to plan and thus choosing the right venue to stage such an event is a substantial task. Venue considerations for such events includes location, access and nearby amenities, capacity and flow, facilities, catering, decor as well as safeguarding. Given that event managers can now choose from purpose-built event spaces, hotels, academic, sporting and unique venues, the decision is even more complex. This chapter provides a comprehensive assessment of key venue considerations for event managers when planning child-centric events and outlines the typical characteristics of a range of venues, as relevant to organising events for family audiences.

The article aims to provide an insight into concepts, frameworks and processes related to sustainable facility management (FM) within event venues. A further objective is to determine whether, to the degree that this is possible, in which degree there is consensus in relation to the above aspects amongst the literature findings and what is followed in practice.

A review of current literature was conducted in order to determine current trends in the sustainable FM sector that concern venues from a design, facility manager, organisation and stakeholder perspective. It is equally addressed to academics, students, practitioners, suppliers and investors.

It was found that although in literature, there is an abundance of good practices to follow, in many cases this is not possible due to costs or lack of focus of the organisation.

Even if guidelines are followed, there should be a greater standardisation of prerequisites and publication of detailed results so best practice within the industry can be looked up to. Managers, owners, etc. should have more of these and publish them as well.

The article contributes to an understanding of the elements of sustainable FM as well as their interconnectivity and importance. It also offers examples in order to investigate the applicability of current literature.

The Olympic Games is the largest sporting mega event of its type, with deep cultural and historical roots. The event is short lived compared to the lifespan of the infrastructure required in host cities. The purpose of this paper is to examine models of adaptability in Olympic construction, using case studies in previous Olympic host cities of the Summer Olympic Games (Rome 1960, London 2012), to assess the impact of adaptability on future legacy.

A mixed methods approach (archival research, direct observation), was used in two case studies: Rome (Palazzetto dello Sport, Palazzo dello Sport), and London (London Olympic Velodrome, London Aquatics Centre). The case studies examined how adaptability was used in design to secure legacy.

In the selected case studies (Rome 1960, London 2012), adaptability has had a positive impact on the post-Games use of venues, all four of which remain in use today. However, there are multiple factors that contribute to post-Games legacy, and further research is necessary.

Whilst some positive results were observed in this study, more research is necessary across a broader spectrum of sites and venues to make conclusive recommendations for architects designing for Mega Sporting events.

The significance of this study to architectural practice, academia, and society is its potential to benefit future Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee policy, and be extended to other Mega Sporting events.

The originality of this research lies within its analysis of Olympic infrastructures and sustainability, of which there is a current lack of comparative studies in academic research.