Learning lessons in the real world: running events with students

Abstract

It has long been recognised in the field of education that there is no better teaching method than participation. Convention and event management is a relatively new area of hospitality and tourism education that offers an opportunity to provide students with the real world practical and applied experience that many seek This paper will report on the use of real world activities in a class in Convention and Events Management. Students in this class were required to plan, market, manage and evaluate a real event. Four events were planned, three were completed and evaluated. This paper will firstly describe the process used to plan and run the events. It will then review the outcomes of two types of evaluation, an evaluation of the success of each event and an evaluation of the success of using real world events as a teaching technique. The results have implications both for the general area of event management and more specifically for the teaching of convention and events management.