Conference and Event Organization

COURSE DESCRIPTION

All over the world in general, but in Catalonia in particular, participation in conferences or professional events has tripled in the last 15 years. Barcelona was the third city in the world in number of international conferences held in 2008. In this context, Convention Bureaus have played a huge role in attracting this type of tourism, which is becoming a type of tourism with a high level of purchasing power.

Experts predict that the conference industry will become even more globalized and that companies' budgets will increase for event organization despite the global economic context. The importance of face to face meetings and the results from events have convinced the market, in a tangible, numerical way, of the positive impact of events in their business.
Above all, the success of an event depends on the professionalism of the organizer, whether that be a travel agency, a professional conference operator, or an incentives company, among others. Today, knowing how to attract attendees, organize and manage different events, including those aimed at business tourism, the individual, or meetings, has become absolutely essential to the tourism management panorama.

GENERAL SKILLS
Have the disposition to be proactive, to anticipate external situations out of our control, to promote change and improvement in settings where others do not do so. Act with determination and take on risks and challenges, assume responsibility to make things happen, make decisions based on common sense that allow us to seize opportunities at the right moment, optimizing time and resources.
Have the motivation to understand and satisfy customers' needs (internal and external) when offering them services and/or products, keeping in mind all aspects of the relationship, responding to their requests and suggestions and, if possible, anticipating their needs and requests, providing an immediate, appropriate solution. Be willing to continuously improve through the efficient management of resources (human, material, and operational), with the aim of achieving maximum efficiency when providing a service or creating a product. This implies constant revision of the system to achieve excellence in order to be highly competitive and focused on customer satisfaction, developing mechanisms for monitoring, customer service, customer loyalty, as well as for continuous improvement.

SPECIFIC SKILLS
The unique nature of the tourism sector due to its intangibility, inseparability and variability requires specialists in tourism marketing who can adapt strategies to the special features of tourism operations. Furthermore, these specialists must be able to apply elements of the marketing mix to the variety of contexts in the sector, understanding the customer's behavior, and identifying and using the most appropriate distribution and promotion methods.
Success in tourism business management is measured by the capacity to coordinate different operational processes. This requires an understanding of how the complex structures, systems and processes that comprise different tourism activities work: accommodation, restaurants, intermediation, and transportation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Understand the planning and organization processes for events and large events such as trade shows and conferences:
- Provide the knowledge, skills, and techniques that will allow the students to manage, organize, and direct any event.
- Be up to date with the sector's latest trends and best practices.
- Analyze event administration and management techniques, taking into account management and communication skills, and the economic and legal management of events.
- Understand and identify new trends in tourism activities:
- Be up to date with the sector's latest trends and best practices.
- Provide the tools necessary for maximizing creativity.
- Understand the planning and organization processes for events and large events such as trade shows and conferences:
- Provide the knowledge, skills, and techniques that will allow the students to manage, organize, and direct any event.
- Provide a detailed description of the wide variety of event types through case studies of different events organized by leading sector companies and by visits to facilities.
- Provide practical training that will allow the student to identify, analyze, and use the tools and technological supports used to promote and plan events.
- Understand the planning and organization processes for events and large events such as trade shows and conferences:
- Provide the knowledge, skills, and techniques that will allow the students to manage, organize, and direct any event.
- Study how a comprehensive marketing plan is designed to promote and carry out an event.

LEARNING METHODOLOGY
The learning strategies employed are mainly aimed at the student developing the abilities associated with the skills identified. Below we specify the teaching-learning methodologies which will be applied to achieve the skills to be gained, as well as specifying how they will be developed:
- Theory: master classes, lectures, group projects.
- Theoretical-practical: application activities, problem-based learning, problem solving, practical exercises, research.
- Presentations: presentations of results. This will allow the student to receive feedback on how to improve his or her oral communication techniques and become accustomed to using information technology.

EVALUATION SYSTEM
The tools used to evaluate the course are those which allow us to assess the course's contents in both a theoretical and practical way; such as objective tests, development tests, individual projects, group projects, in-class activities, oral presentations using IT, virtual forums, portfolios, practical cases, problem solving, etc.