How a university program prepares the next generation for the booming events industry

Crafting a successful event is akin to creating a masterpiece—a skillful art that often goes underappreciated. Whether it’s a school function, a hotel gala, a nonprofit fundraiser, a corporate affair, or a local sports shindig, event planning has become a critical function for many organizations. In 2023, the global events industry market size was valued at $438.8 billion, according to Allied Market Research, and is expected to reach $819.1 billion by 2035. It’s no wonder the appeal is growing – events are a potent means for businesses to connect with customers, increase brand visibility and reach target audiences, and more professionals than ever are needed to oil the machine.

That is why the University of Iowa introduced its event management certificate program in 2015, said Heather Spangler, the program’s coordinator and associate professor of instruction in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication. “We are in an events boom,” she said. “People recognize the value of events post pandemic. We missed that shared experience. Also, I think from a marketing perspective, a lot of organizations have recognized the value of hosting events, to share their brand or to even turn a profit.”

Events span multiple areas of study

Inspiration for the program stemmed from an events class Ms. Spangler taught in the journalism school. “I pitched that we could create a certificate instead of just this one class, because there's so many opportunities in this field, and they're so diverse,” she said. “What I love about it is, you can really layer your passions and interests on top of the skill set.” With the industry becoming more professionalized, “there's an expectation that people have more training than maybe in years past,” she continued. “There are ways to train and prepare for this work. Previously, [you] just kind of learned [by] trial and error.” With its inaugural launch, the goal was to reach 100 students in five years, said Ms. Spangler. To everyone’s surprise, the program landed its goal in one semester. From there, the program flourished to 250 students per semester, representing approximately 25 majors across campus. The most common majors found in the program are communication studies, marketing, sports and rec management, and enterprise leadership. Some students are already working professionals, seeking to fill in resume gaps or making career changes. During the 21 semester hour program, students learn about the event industry’s best practices and become proficient in strategic and professional communication, project management, and cultural and social awareness. Perhaps the most important of all, they also learn that an event is only as good as its team. “I think knowing how to be on a team is really important,” said Ms. Spangler, “and that's a lot of what we practice in our classes – learning how to be a leader, learning how to not be the leader.”

Innovations in events management

Today’s consumer is concerned with eco-friendly practices and reducing their carbon footprint, and the events world has kept pace by offering sustainable options. “More people are paying attention to sustainability at their events and more attendees are looking for that,” said Ms. Spangler. Sometimes that looks like a no-water-bottle policy or choosing a venue that has sustainable practices already in place.

“That's going to handle a lot of the things that you can control,” said Ms. Spangler. “How are they managing food waste, where are they sourcing food and other materials from? What's their energy usage like? “The biggest impact for any event is the travel to the event,” she continued, “which is a hard fact because we don't have much control over that as the planners, but we can think about making (the venue) an accessible location and sharing information about public transportation.” Crisis management has also evolved with the times, an unfortunate but necessary aspect to American public life, and one that strikes home in the events world. In 2017, a gunman in Las Vegas opened fire from his suite at the Mandalay Bay Casino Hotel, targeting the crowd at an outdoor country music festival. Sixty people were killed in all, and hundreds of others were wounded. In the ensuing panic, concert goers trampled one another in an attempt to flee the bullets, but the barricade that surrounded the venue hampered their escape. “Before our program started, when people thought about crisis management, they were thinking inside of (the) event wall; what are the choices that we can make? Or, what do we need in terms of security and exits? Things like that,” said Ms. Spangler. “Post Las Vegas episode, we also look outside of our event spaces; so who has access to this space? What does that look like? How can we protect, looking from an outside perspective as well? “Sometimes we've also recognized when we were trying to be safe – like putting up all of these barricades – (we) might be trapping people in an unsafe situation,” she continued. “So we have to think about how we get people quickly out of a space, and who has access to that space in front.” The newest innovation in the events world that has extended to multiple industries as well is the use and implementation of AI, though it’s still a bit of an experiment at this point. “We’re still figuring it out,” said Ms. Spangler, adding that it could be used for brainstorming sessions or helping planners write bios for speakers and panelists. “There are small ways that AI can kind of step in and help make things go a little bit faster, or bring in some new ideas and help with the process of planning,” she said.

Hands-on experience

The advantage to taking an events management course is the practical, hands-on experience led by an instructor who oversees each step and helps prevent failure, which is costly and embarrassing in the real world, both for the event planner and their client. “I’m not going to let anybody fail,” said Ms. Spangler. “To have a chance to train, I think, is important, and makes a difference in the industry. It makes events better,” she added. The training wheels come off when students eventually work their way to a capstone event management class.

“We have teams of about six students and they have a client in the real world, and they plan and implement an event before the end of the semester,” said Ms. Spangler. The program helps 15-20 clients per year, many of whom are repeat customers. There’s no charge for commissioning the students, she said. “(Students are) given goals and some basic parameters,” she said, of the capstone project. “It's really exciting to watch them go from ‘this is scary’ to being proud of what they accomplished.” After each event, the class regroups to analyze successful and not-so-successful aspects of the project. “Every time we finish a project, we sit down and we talk it through – what did we do well? What wasn't so great?” said Ms. Spangler. “One of the best parts of our job is that we get to create something really special for people,” she later added. “We get to think about what will be special for them, and then we get to watch them experience it and it just feels so satisfying. And I love to watch the students have that experience.”