An event manager puts together an event, any event. It could be an auction, conference, dinner, inauguration, launch, party, wedding or workshop. A time is set for the function and what happens? 80% of the time, the function starts late and it's not always the fault of tardy guests.
I once attended a graduation which was delayed because the event manager insisted on waiting for the keynote speaker. And guess what? The graduation ended and we were still expecting the speaker to make an appearance.
I remember hosting an end-of-year dinner. The manager of this event refused to delay proceedings. At 7 when we began, only 50 of the 150 invited guests were seated. Two hours later when we were wrapping up, in strolled an immaculately dressed couple who had probably calculated that the function would start late in the usual Ghanaian fashion. Wrong move. I watched as the lady and gentleman occupied an abandoned table for 20 minutes before heading to the buffet table to make do with the miserable remains of what had been a fabulous feast. My unsolicited and unspoken advice? "Next time, come early!"
How can we get events to consistently start on time? Maybe it's all in our minds. Take a moment to describe your ideal event as if it were a vehicle. Would it be a trotro or an aeroplane? Trotros generally take off only when the bus is full whereas aeroplanes follow a schedule. A trotro driver will only leave the terminal when his bus is packed whereas a pilot will take off without wasting the time of the early birds and without waiting for latecomers.
As a time-conscious event manager, please confess. Which approach would you choose?
Interesting post Kafui, of which I am inclined to agree to a high degree. However, looking at it from two points of view. Pardon me to group events into two categories, free and charged events. Free events being programs organised not with the intent of making profit whilse charged event depend on attendance for profit.
ReplyDeleteThe formal should always begin on time because should the event organisers themselves be on time they should have enough numbers to start the program and over a period would gradually instill time discipline into the expected audience. Charged events might make losses if people show up late of the show. Thus should find means to motivate people to come early the million dollar question is how.
But until then, Ghanaians would always be Ghanaians.
Interesting views Kojo. Maybe another solution could be to have seat fillers for paid events, especially those that are televised and need the hall to look full. When the paying guests arrive, the seat fillers give up their seats for them. What do you think?
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