ABSTRACT
Photo 8.1 Breakdown after the Piazza di Siena equestrian event in the beautiful Borghese Gardens in Rome.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
■ identify the implementation planning and execution requirements for sports events
■ understand the requirement to align implementation planning and the execution of the event to long-term objectives
■ understand the importance of preparing for a successful event breakdown, handover, after-use and long-term event evaluation
INTRODUCTION
The next two stages in the event planning process occur after the decision to go ahead with the event. Collectively, these two stages involve the implementation of the event. The first involves the pre-planning of all that is required to produce the event, where the aim is clearly to deliver an event at the right time and on the day required. The second stage is the execution of the event itself, that being the management of all that has been planned. Both of these stages are discussed in detail in this chapter, with the intention of highlighting the processes that are required rather than creating a definitive production list. While it is the period that lasts from the decision to go ahead through to the closing of an event that is the theme of this chapter, the focus will be on how important it is strategically to identify these areas at an earlier stage in the planning process. The processes to be discussed are required whatever the scale of the event. While the level of complexity and quantity may differ from event to event, the same kind of organization, planning, division of responsibility and careful attention to detail is required for a local sports event as it is for a major event (Hall, 1997: chapter 6). This chapter is therefore concerned with the processes that are applicable for all scales of event rather than with a detailed checklist approach. The chapter will conclude by identifying all that needs to be implemented during this period for the achievement of long-term requirements, principally by discussing the needs for after-use and of after-users during implementation planning and the implementation of the event itself. Once a decision has been taken to go ahead with the event, the planning that is required becomes very specific and complex. Initially there is the planning of all that is required for the production of the event and then there is the execution of the event itself. The focus here is to identify not just how these two stages are managed in real time, but also how and why it is strategically important to have considered the areas at the concept formulation and feasibility stages of the event planning process.
