Educating the 21st Century Event Management Graduate: Pedagogy, Practice, Professionalism, and Professionalization

Abstract

This article discusses whether event management can yet be classified as a bona fide profession, how staff working in the industry can be effectively professionalized, and how professional university education programs can be better designed to achieve this end. The article discusses the findings and limitations of some of the existing literature concerning professionalism within event management, and whether event management can yet be wholly described as “a profession” according to conventional definitions. The event management profession and event management education are discussed in terms of improving pedagogy in relation to the requirements of event industry practice. Finally the work concludes that the challenges of educating future event professionals require a rethink of events education so as to develop more reflective practice.

How Do You “do” Event Management Education (EME)? a Case Study of Event Management Higher Education Awards

“…This preference towards change in the delivery methods supports the suggestion that the present model of the predominantly business-focused awards is outdated (Bladen & Kennell, 2014). The data presented here are not conclusive, but current delivery practices may be flawed if the teaching method is considered unsuitable.…”

“…This is contrasted with short-course providers in EME that also offer an undergraduate degree through the British Accreditation Council (BAC), where the focus is more on the "Operations" domain for course content. However, EMBOK has been criticized by academics for its vocational and holistic approach (Barron & Leask, 2012;Bladen & Kennell, 2014). It is also difficult to ascertain if institutions actually make use of the EMBOK model to design EME awards; although data gathered in this research suggest a high level of synchronization with a number of functional units being applied to each award by EME institutions.…”

“…Part of the process in achieving this key purpose is for EME to ensure a number of skills, knowledge, and abilities are transferred to current students who will deliver these objectives. There is also considerable evidence of future planning from the continued debate on the professionalization of event management (Arcodia & Reid, 2003;Bladen & Kennell, 2014;Brown, 2014;Dredge et al, 2013;Getz & Wicks, 1994;Jiang & Schmader, 2014;Royal & Jago, 1994;Thomas & Thomas, 2013b). This is a debate that will be significant to the future development of education if achieved.…”

Practitioner Sensemaking of Event Marketing Managerial Practice: a Socio-Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Study

“…However, "knowledge management also needs to be understood as a dynamic process and ongoing practice that occurs throughout the entire event and festival lifecycle" (Stadler et al, 2013, p. 95). A number of professional event management studies exist and are referred to as part of the process (Charles Bladen & Kennell, 2014;S. Brown, 2014;Dickson & Arcodia, 2010;Emery, 2010;V.…”

“…They examine a range of issues including pedagogy, education, practice, professionalism and professionalization in the sector. Bladen and Kennell (2014) note across the scant literature specifically on the event management profession, there are calls for the 'professionalization' of the event management field, but little uniform suggestion about the method to accomplish this. The most focused work to date and useful in determining practitioners for interview was V. Harris (2004), who argued that the definition of an events industry profession should encompass new rather than just old perspectives of professionalism and its definitions.…”