Daniel Turner

Last week I posted a review and some thoughts on the first day of the Association for Event Management Education annual forum (read it here). Slightly later than planned, here is a review of day two.

Day two of the forum began with a keynote session with Traci Dix-Williams, Director of Operations at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust who was discussing the contribution events can make to the successful maintenance of a World Heritage Site. Her discussion followed a similar tone to that of  Corrine Miller in the previous day's keynote, suggesting that the real benefit of events come from their ability to enable a venue or location to transcend its setting and existing audience. Traci highlighted that events held within the Ironbridge facilities attract people, both locally and nationally, who would not normally be drawn to the venue. Hosting events within the venue also enabled Ironbridge to raise its profile and enhance its reputation as high quality events enabled the facility to win a number of awards across a wide range of fields, increasing awareness of the facility with every positive story associated with Ironbridge. However, she was eager to point out that it is equally important to understand which events fit with the venue and that, where no such fit exists or if conflict is likely, then it is necessary to say "no" to a new event and not risk harming the reputation of the facility. Building on this, and chiming further with the previous keynote, she suggested that, increasingly, the most important priority for Ironbridge was the cultivation of successful and mutually beneficial relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Increasingly she viewed Ironbridge as being a facilitator of events rather than an originator. As such, strong relationships with the local community and other community based groups were considered vital.

Following Traci's presentation, I decided to sit in on a presentation by Richard Wright (Leeds Metropolitan University) entitled 'Exploring the Enhancement of Student Expectations'. This presentation was, nominally, centred around the benefit of optional field trips on student engagement with their course of study. However, the presentation quickly expanded out into a wider, more interesting, discussion regarding how we engage with our students and, more importantly, how we get our students to engage with their own education. The presentation started by discussing the importance of small gestures, making fieldtrips optional, charging students small deposits to secure places on such trips and so on. The argument was similar to that of Phil Williamson the day before, it is vital to get students to engage with their own learning, to view themselves as self-directing learners. One of the recurring discussions at the conference related to how academics will react to students becoming customers as a result of the new fees system being introduced in England. A lot of the discussion was often fearful or concerned - students will demand X or insist on Y as they're paying out so much money. This presentation was interesting as it suggested the new financial environment offered academics an opportunity to rewrite the terms on which students are engaged - essentially, "you're paying X so get the most from it". It is an argument that I strongly agree with - knowledge and an education does not come gift-wrapped in a box labelled 'degree', no matter how much you pay for it up front. The output from a university education is almost always proportionately linked to the input from the learner and students should be encouraged to view their education as a collaborative process. It's something I'm wrestling with at the moment with some new modules I'm writing, trying to find ways in which students can be encouraged to direct their own learning. I'm trying to reinterpret the basic idea of a 'lecture' to break away from didactic structures in favour of more discursive, "multiple experts" approaches which encourage students to view themselves as co-producers of education. Similarly, my former colleague David McGillivray, would often discuss the importance of 'learning contracts' with students, essentially a series of rights which a student could expect to receive in return for a series of responsibilities they will adhere to in return. I think there is a huge scope for the development of such contracts in each classroom and will be looking at them over teh summer in more detail.

Following Richard's presentation, I dropped in on Debra Wale's (University of Wolverhamption) session on 'Prezi Pedagogy!' which examined how her students had embraced Prezi as a classroom tool. The presentation was aimed at people with no experience of Prezi before so quite a lot of what was involved was already familiar to me as I have used already used Prezi (although by no means an expert). What did interest me was the way in which her students embraced the package, quickly becoming experts and coming to class each week with new ideas and tricks to show the staff who were meant to be teaching them. For me, this linked quite nicely with Richard's presentation - clearly by moving into a new environment (prezi not powerpoint), students felt empowered to direct their own learning. They recognised that their tutor didn't 'know everything' and felt comfortable bringing their own ideas to the classroom. I'm currently trying to develop such an approach in the modules mentioned above, abandoning existing Virtual Learning Environments and trying to take module content on to the web via Twitter, Posterous and Prezi - I remain convinced that by taking learning into different places and into different formats then students can be convinced that the style of learning is also different and can be encouraged to engage with this new approach as a result. It was certainly interesting to see how Debra's class had embraced the shift.

The conference closed with a Q&A session, but really it was more a group discussion as the panel and audience quickly merged into one. A few weeks ago, I spotted a tweet from the Leisure Studies Association conference which suggested that Prof Barrie Houlihan had asked in his opening keynote whether anyone would miss the LSA if it no longer existed. There was a similar angst at the AEME forum with Caroline Jacksons asking a similar question of the group. The overwhelming feeling was that AEME was a positive influence - however there was a lack of consensus as to what it should encompass. For some, the Association needed to be a place to discuss research issues and conceptual issues, others viewed it as a place to discuss pedagogy and issues relating to learning and teaching, others still argued that the group needed to engage industry more and involve practitioners within its working. No real consensus was reached prior to the end of the conference but it did get me thinking as to what I wanted to get from an organisation like AEME. I'll conclude by making a few observations.

For me, operating as part of quite a small team of events academics in my institution, AEME offers an invaluable opportunity to speak with other academics operating in my field. Several of the presentations let me see how other institutions have tackled the types of problems I will face as I lead the roll out of our new events course over the next few years. With that in mind, it's very important to me that an institution like AEME retains an element of pedagogical research. However, there are few small conferences in the events terrain which allow researchers to discuss their ideas with like-minded individuals. Conferences such as the LSA offer opportunities within a wider grouping and gatherings such as the Global Events Congress offer a big audience, but for early career researchers, a smaller event such as AEME Forum offers an opportunity to put ideas out in a friendly, supportive environment. Related to the first two points, there is a role for AEME in the development of early career events academics - the AEME environment is very friendly and collegiate and offers an ideal opportunity for a new lecturer to learn more about academia as much as it does their subject area. Before travelling to AEME I spent time chatting with Malcolm Foley and Gayle McPherson, two former colleagues and two-thirds of my PhD supervision team. Malcolm and Gayle both played a pivotal role in developing my understanding of how universities 'work' during my time as a research student - something which, having spoken with colleagues and other PhD students, is not always given great attention when it comes to supervising those new to academia. Given the continuing growth of events as a subject terrain and the number of new lecturers and researchers entering the field each year, perhaps there is a mentoring role for AEME to play in the future. Finally, and in my opinion most pressingly, if associations such as AEME are going to continue to survive and contribute to their fields, then they need to look at what they do out with 'conference season'. In the case of AEME, one of the first things I did upon moving to Robert Gordon University was insist we joined AEME, however other than the occasional email, I received little communication from the Association until the conference came online. Perhaps if AEME is to continue to be meaningful it has to look at how it can reach out into the rest of the year. Given the pressures of diaries during semesters, I'm not advocating a range of new gathering and conferences, but perhaps the Association could take on board the advice of the final keynote speaker, Keith Greetham, Chairman of the Southwater Group, and recognise the growing importance of virtual events. Monthly video presentations or discussion pieces from members could provide opportunities for discussion. Enhanced social media links could give greater opportunities for communication and engagement. All of these things would enhance the existing work of the Association and ensure it continues to have a strong place within the events education community.

In the meantime, I'll wait with anticipation for next year's conference which hopefully will be as stimulating as my visit to Telford.

I spent most of last week in Telford, visiting the University of Wolverhampton for the annual AEME (Association for Event Management Education) forum.  The 2 day events sees academics working in the events terrain present a range of pedagogical and theoretical papers and discuss the key issues in our field at present. As is to be expected, the sessions raised a number of talking points some of which I thought might be of interest to those not at the event. I’m going to provide a quick summary of the event and some of the interesting ideas explored across the next 2 blog posts.

The event started without me and my travelling partner, Glasgow Caledonian’s Jenny Flinn, thanks to a late running train, meaning I missed the start of the opening address, provided by Sir Geoff Hampton, Wolverhampton’s Deputy Vice Chancellor. However, as he reached the end of his address he was asked to comment on two issues – change within Universities and the future position of Event Management as a subject area with such institutions.  With regards to the first question – Sir Geoff understandably felt strongly that change is inevitable, particularly in the current climate and that it was going to be impossible for truculent staff to bury their head in the sand and hope the storm passed by, allowing them to continue on as they ever have. The second topic linked closely to the title of the forum ‘Securing the Future’ and saw Sir Geoff comment that he felt events practitioners had to force themselves from the periphery of universities and into the centre in order to be seen as part of the long term future of the area. This tone was repeated throughout the conference with several attendees complaining that, no matter how popular events courses were, they were often seen as a cash cow to be milked in the short term rather than a central part of a School’s ‘core business’, or as tourism’s ‘little brother’, not as important or as worthy of note.  The tone of this discussion reminded me of my last job interview where I was asked about how events management sat alongside the ‘core business’ of a Business School in a contemporary university – my personal opinion remains the same as it did last year – if a post 92 university is serious about being contemporary then it has to accept that events, given the size of their contribution to modern life and the economy, have to be recognised as being ‘core business’. Thankfully, I don’t seem to have encountered the same issue at my current institution but, as discussed at the conference, one of the most important roles undertaken by AEME in the part and in the future is to ensure that such opinions are challenged and revised.

Following Sir Geoff, Corrine Miller, Head of Arts and Heritage for Wolverhampton City Council delivered the first keynote presentation of the forum, discussing the role of events within the area in a time of economic crisis. Interestingly, rather than stepping back from cultural spending it appeared that the Council remained committed to the area and was continuing to promote events within the city as a means to forcing through the current difficulties. She discussed the aim of the Council to have every citizen of Wolverhampton acting as an Ambassador for the city by 2020 and took us through a range of interesting activity taking place in the area. I was particularly interested in Art in the Centre, which saw disused shops turned into temporary art exhibitions. Based on discussions earlier this year (see here and here) as well as my personal link to the Grampian Hospital Arts Trust, I couldn’t help but think there could be a real opportunity for Aberdeen in hosting a similar event. The rest of her discussion highlighted a change in council working – moving from providing to enabling provision, focussing on building partnership working and developing community led approaches to ensure long term sustainability. I was struck by how similar her proposals were to the mixed economy provision model I critiqued in a sporting environment for my PhD. As I concluded in the final section of that research, the public events sector is marching down the same path as the sport sector did ten years ago. I’m going to blog about my PhD research shortly as I’m working through revisions at the moment – as I’ll argue there, that path is not one which necessarily leads to success and I’d worry about the long term sustainability of provision under such an approach.

I was then faced with a choice of plenary sessions and decided to sit in on Lynne Minnaert’s presentation on Social Legacy in Conferences and Exhibitions. Lynne’s presentation examined the extent to which conference type events leave behind a positive impact for their host area. She examined how many events made donations to local charities or drew from the local third sector to provide conference entertainment among other potentially beneficial activity. She argued that whilst environmental legacy is clearly defined and often very much at the forefront of event planners’ thoughts, social legacy is poorly defined and only considered in less than 45% of events. The short term nature of planning cycles and difficulties of matching needs of event organisers and the voluntary sector were seen as being barriers to such developments, but with a clear series of benefits  - clients like the idea of a social legacy, it improves the image of both venue and event and it has massive benefit for the host community – it is something which more venues should pursue.  Lynne highlighted the very positive work of the Excel Arena in London as a case study of how this could be done (see here).

However, from my perspective, I couldn’t help think of Aberdeen and a meeting I’ll be having with Andrew Pratt from Aberdeen Convention Bureau later this week. Aberdeen’s events sector has a massive corporate events element as a result of the contribution the oil and gas industry makes to the city’s economy. However, Aberdeen is a small city – in the shadow of Edinburgh and Glasgow within its local environment. Finding unique selling points is the key to winning business for such a city. If Aberdeen were to become Scotland’s city of social legacy then it would have a unique pull and one which particularly appeals to the core oil and gas market, allowing Aberdeen – one of the World’s Energy Capitals – to further corner the one market of which it currently holds a significant stake. I know Andrew is keen to discuss social legacy and Lynne’s paper when we meet up – it’ll be interesting to see if Aberdeen could integrate such ideas into their offering in future.

Phil Williamson, from Liverpool John Moore’s University (LJMU), then presented on a subject close to my heart – work experience opportunities. Phil was discussing LJMU’s approach to securing work experience opportunities for first year undergraduates, an approach which had huge similarities to that which we employ at RGU for our Industry Experience Portfolio. Phil’s paper focussed on the need to engage students as the directors of their own experience rather than passive receivers of a compulsory opportunity. The LJMU approach sees opportunities offered competitively to students on a non-credit bearing basis – students choose what they want to do and how much they want to work and then simply get on with it, building their own networks and their own experience bank to whatever extent they see fit. Students quickly realise that the more experiences they take part in the greater success they have in securing good opportunities and the wider their networks of contacts become. I agreed with a great deal of the approach outlined by Phil – it is the same mentality we try to instil in our students and, based on our experience, it rewards the strongest students, encourages full engagement with all sectors of the industry and encourages students to take charge of their own experience. I also agreed with Phil that such approaches are so very important as they make students realise that education cannot be ‘done to them’ – if they want to get the most from the degree then they have to participate. However, I do worry about a non-credit bearing work experience element. Like it or not, as universities, our courses will be judged by industry on the capability of all of our students, not just the strongest – and if we don’t ‘force’ students to gain some experience then the less engaged will not take part and will go into industry unprepared, reflecting badly on the courses who validate them. That’s why we use a credit bearing portfolio approach rather than a placement or uncredited system – the weakest still have enough experience to contribute to industry, but the strongest and self-directing can really push themselves to go beyond their classmates and will receive their reward. On a personal note, having wrestled with how to develop a portfolio approach over the last year – it was nice to see evidence of an institution which had done so successfully! I look forward to getting a chance to talk it over in more detail with Phil in the future.

The first day came to a close with Gareth Smith from Podium 2012 discussing the potential opportunities for students to get involved with the London Olympics. As you would expect, the ‘greatest show on earth’ drew an interested crowd eager to find out how students can participate in delivery. Gareth took us through the wide range of opportunities available to students, assuring us that full details will be sent out later (so excuse the brevity of description here). Some of the opportunities, assistant stage managers, logistics assistants and production team roles look fantastic – the small number of paid roles will really offer students spectacular experiences and opportunities to get involved with the Olympics. Any student who gets these roles will have a wonderful addition to their CV. I remain a little more sceptical regarding the wider number of volunteer roles – Gareth highlighted the thousands of volunteer roles in catering, cleaning, retail and other low level opportunities. I just don’t see how many students, particularly those out with the host venue cities, will be willing to fund their own travel and accommodation to take up such roles and what real benefit they will accrue as a result. I’m also concerned that for many students, the option to travel to London and, as Gareth suggested, ‘crash on a friend’s sofa’ just might not be viable. I suspect many students will not possess the social and economic capital to take part, and those who do participate in such roles may not receive much social capital in return. I was however, very excited by elements of the Games such as the Torch Relay and the opportunities to organise events worthy of the Inspire Mark – if any aspect of 2012 will deliver genuinely nationwide legacy opportunities then these activities will be the ones to do it. I’m certainly going to look into how we can get involved with such activity in the North of Scotland.

I’ll blog on day 2 of the conference later this week…

Being on holiday for the last couple of weeks has allowed me to do some "fun" reading for a change. As such, I've finally found time to read a book which I've been excitedly tweeting about since I stumbled across it on Amazon a couple of months ago - "Introducing Philosophy Through Pop Culture", edited by William Irwin and David Kyle Johnson. I've really enjoyed reading the book and think it has some use for anyone in a teaching role, regardless of subject area, so I thought I'd post a quick review and some thoughts.   

The book is an edited collection of chapters which, as the title suggests tries to explain basic philosophical issues via case studies of various pop culture icons and artefacts such as Harry Potter, Batman, The Office and Family Guy. It aims to deal with philosophy's "public relations problem" (p1) by providing interesting and relevant reference points for complex ideas from philosophers such as Aristotle, Descartes and Nietzsche.

The book is divided into 9 parts: what is philosophy?; epistemology; metaphysics; philosophy of religion; ethics; challenges to traditional ethics; social and political philosophy; eastern views; and the meaning of life.

Overall, the book is an excellent read. Concepts are introduced and illustrated in a way which makes them accessible to those who have not formally studied philosophy (such as me!) but quickly move to a more complex discussion which ask challenging questions of the reader. For the most part, the chapters are well structured, providing a good balance between philosophical debate and descriptions of pop culture (Mark D. White's chapter on the Tao of the Bat, presented as an interview dialogue with a Zen Master named Bat-Tzu, is a little cheesy in style but actually demonstrates the balance well).

The majority of the chapters do not require a working knowledge of the chosen pop culture example to ensure understanding as they provide enough background to guide the reader (although a glossary of characters mentioned to sit alongside the glossary of concepts would be helpful in some cases - I didn't know just how many 'Robins' Batman has gotten through over the years for example!) although naturally those chapters where I was familiar with the artefact were easier to follow.

As enjoyable as the text is, it is perhaps too long (33 chapters), with two or three chapters crossing into similar conceptual terrain too often (you only need so many discussions of utilitarianism or deontology). The book would also have benefitted from widening it's pop culture net somewhat with 4 chapters on South Park and Battlestar Gallactica apiece leaving the reader a little bloated on Cartman and Cylons. It's odd to read a "pop culture" text which misses, for example, icons such as The Simpsons or Star Wars which have obvious opportunities for exploitation in this field. Often the individual chapters (such as David Kyle Johnson's chapter on The Colbert Report or J. Jeremy Wisnewski's chapter on Family Guy and postmodernism) provide a fresh read, not just because of their insight, but because they use a unique example to make their point.

I won't give detailed exposition on all 33 chapters but several stood out as worthy of a read in their own right.

Henry Jacoby's chapter "you know, I learned something today: Stan Marsh and the ethics of belief" uses South Park to illustrate the need for evidence and proof in relation to the "big questions" and provides an interesting introduction to W.K Clifford and Blaise Pascal whilst highlighting the need to avoid reliance on "easy answers".

Johnson's above mentioned chapter on Colbert, Wikiality and Gut Thinking examines truth claims and relativism - key Colbert quote: "I hold my Truths to be self evident, which is why I did absolutely no research" (p30) - and should be required reading for all first year undergraduate students, regardless of discipline area as a means to opening their eyes to the importance of critical debate.

Matt Lawrence’s chapter “Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole: Knowledge, Reality and the Pit of Skepticism” is one of the three best explanations of Descartes’ work (particularly the famous ‘Cogito ergo sum’have encountered (the other two being a lecture by Matt Frew when I was a first year undergraduate and Mark Steel’s excellent ‘Mark Steel Lectures’ – I’m not going to rank them for fear of inflating or damaging the ego of one of them!) and could easily be used as an introductory text when teaching research methods to dissertation students and attempting to engage them with epistemology (a word which, in my experience , makes them try and scrabble back up the rabbit hole for fresh air!).  

Two chapters on The Office (Sean McAleer’s ‘The Virtues of Humour: What the Office Can Teach Us About Aristotle’s Ethics’ and Meyer and Scheider’s ‘Being In The Office: Sartre, the Look and the Viewer’) provided fascinating and easy to understand introductions into two areas which I had not previously encountered. While, finally, Bonnie Mann’s chapter on ‘Vampire Love: The Second Sex Negotiates the Twenty-First Century’ achieves what I thought previously impossible and actually makes the Twilight Saga sound interesting as she discusses the extent to which the female lead represents a strong feminist character or just another subservient girl in a male dominated world.

These were a few of the chapters which piqued my interest and there seemed to be something for most to be captured by in the text.

As is clear, the book certainly lived up to my expectation and was worth waiting a few weeks to read. However, I think I was always going to like the content of the text as I was so very taken with idea of the book. The text, for me, summed up the role of not just the philosopher, but the academic in general – it makes complex things simple and simple things complex. Incredibly difficult ideas are made easy to understand through relation to the commonplace (Dr House is a Zen Master) whilst our basic assumptions and beliefs (if the Terminators win does it mean the end of mankind for example – of course it does, or does it?) are challenged. It represents exactly what we try to do in the classroom – push students to think and then think again, not to accept ‘best practice’ or conventional wisdom, but to challenge existing ideas and try to find new ways to understand their world.

 I also agree with the ‘by any means necessary’ approach taken by the book – Pop Culture and philosophy do not typically belong together and one can imagine outrage from traditionalists about demeaning the subject area; but if it takes chapters such as ‘Why Doesn’t Batman Kill the Joker?’ or ‘The Chewbacca Defense: A Southpark Logic Lesson’ to explain these ideas to the reader then so be it. The end result is that learning takes place. I read a blog during my holiday which espoused the need for lecturers to be passionate about their subject in order to succeed in the classroom. The reason I liked this text book was that it was passionate not just about philosophy (the subject) but about getting people to ‘get’ philosophy – finding contexts and ways in which others could see why the authors were passionate about it, about why philosophy is important. Similarly, it didn’t just take a passion for leisure studies from Matt Frew  to get me to understand postmodernism, it took him asking in his best Morpheus tones “Have you ever had a dream that you were so sure was real? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” (thankfully without black trenchcoat and sunglasses). One of the recurring issues with trying to get students to ‘get theory’, particularly in vocational areas such as events, is that they often come back with ‘but what’s the point?’ or ‘but how does this relate to practice?’ – books like this help break down this barrier. If a student can be shown how a really complex idea like existentialism can relate to a sitcom like the Office then it’s just a small jump to open their minds to the idea that other, smaller concepts such as citizenship, authenticity or social capital can enhance an understanding of events or tourism or sport. Once that is achieved, we can really get to work – now… does anyone know where I can get a good Batman costume?

 p.s. – if anyone has examples of where they’ve used pop culture to explain difficult ideas (particularly in the events, sport, tourism sectors) – please share them!

I read this blog by Ferdinand von Prondzynski (new Principal at RGU, my home institution) earlier and it chimed with thoughts I've been having in recent months so rather than reply in his blog, I thought I'd write a comment here. The passage which caught my eye was:

As I write this, it is well after midnight, and shortly I shall walk back to my city centre apartment. As I do so I shall pass some deserted buildings that once housed shops that have moved to modern and very impressive shopping centres. On Union Street I shall see groups of worse-for-wear young people, some of whom will be urinating against shop fronts, while others may be busily overturning litter bins and emptying the contents on the pavement. There will be much noise, and a fairly wild atmosphere. The shops I’ll pass that are still in business are predominantly mobile phone shops and ‘pound shops’, on a street that was designed for elegance rather than economy. It now looks run down.

 My response/contribution is, perhaps obviously, an events inspired one.

Firstly, some basic / background info. Like my new boss, I'm new to Aberdeen too. I came here in September last year when the new Event Management course launched at RGU. However, I'm not sure I've really bonded as well with the city as he already has - I've not really ventured into the centre often and I've eagerly popped back to Glasgow whenever opportunity has arisen to enjoy a city which I still think of as home. As such, I've probably approached Aberdeen from a critical position when looking at what it's had to offer. Those more attached to the city than me will highlight its high levels of affluence, the development of attractions such as Union Square and the existence of areas such as Union Terrace Gardens - all of which are evident and excellent. However, like Prof von Prondzynski, I can see a lot that needs to be done in Aberdeen.

The problem, in my opinion at least, is that Aberdeen has been a very privileged city in the past and as such hasn't had to think about how to use these great assets. While other urban centres (Glasgow and Dublin are great examples) had to reinvent during the 80s and 90s to cope with deindustrialisation, Aberdeen was able to boom as an oil town. It was cushioned from the issues which forced the rest of the UK to realign their economies.

While other UK cities invested in their cultural economies and developed events, festivals and cultural programming to attract and retain professionals (or Florida's Creative Classes) and attract touristic investment, Aberdeen simply focussed on oil business and as such never developed activity to reinvigorate its city centre. Now, looking at the city, I can see venues but little in the way of   activity to fill them, opportunity but little development. Beyond a few venues such as Union Sq, there is little to encourage affluent professionals into staying in the city beyond 5pm, little to tempt people to leave their suburbs and venture in during the weekend. Each venue in the city hosts numerous one off events and there is a bubbling grassroots cultural movement with a wide range of activity taking place in the background, but Aberdeen has no comedy festival (such as Glasgow, Liverpool or Leicester), no major arts festival (like Edinburgh), no major music festival - you get the point. On the days I've wandered into town to show family around our new home, I've quickly run out of steam and destinations.

In short, Aberdeen needs a significant investment in its cultural and creative industries to reinvigorate its city centre. A co-ordinated calendar of activity is required to really drive development. If it 
doesn't emerge then I would have concerns regarding the city in its post oil future - with this relatively unique industry Aberdeen will be attractive to knowledge workers, without it, the city will lose these key economic groupings to other cities. There are challenges which make this difficult. In many cities such development is driven or co-ordinated by the local authority. However, the difficulties of Aberdeen City Council in particular and the public sector in general are well acknowledged. Funding is in short supply and, as is often the case in times of economic difficulty, announcing that precious resources will be dedicated to "leisure" is rarely a popular move despite its potential to promote growth.

Fortunately, the one thing I have found in my 7 months in Aberdeen is that the city has an exceptional human resource. In the last seven months, whilst organising the Industry Experience Portfolio element of our events course, I've met people in the all sectors of the city's creative industries who have great ideas and enthusiasm for producing such activity. Venues like Union Sq and the AECC, key players such as the city council's Event Team or Northsound radio and the wide third sector all want to produce activity. We just have to find ways to get these groups together and get ideas turned into practice. The development of events such as Northern Lights, indicates moves in that direction taking place. At RGU, we're going to try and do our bit too - our Event Management students are already working on new events all over the city and we're drawing up plans now for students to organise their own series of music gigs in the city each year as part of a new Live Music Management module and hopefully across my area of responsibility we'll be able to do more and more in the years ahead (as always there is an open invitation for anyone who wants to work with us to get in touch). Of course, as cities such as Glasgow have learned in the last twenty years, such activity is not without concerns and problems itself, the spectre of gentrification looms over such strategy. However, if such ideas are considered from the outset and a critical mindset applied, then it is highly possible to achieve significant improvements within the city.

So, in summary, I do agree with my Principal's position on Aberdeen but I think the pathway is clear - investment in and development of the city’s cultural economy. I also think the basic resources and the will to see it through are there - all we need to do now is open the floodgates...

Earlier this month, Major Events International asked me to write a couple of brief snippets on Scotland's events industry for their April edition focussing on our corner of the world. The first piece, on events education, was a reproduction of a piece I wrote for EventScotland's International Events Conference late last year and posted here before Christmas. The second piece went live this week and gives a basic comment on the importance of events in Scotland. It can be found here.

My trip to Oklahoma was timed quite carefully to allow to me witness a key event in the OSU calendar; Wine Forum 2011. The event is a really interesting example of experiential education and something I’d be very eager to replicate (albeit on a smaller scale) within my own courses in Aberdeen. As the event may be of interest to other people, I thought I’d provide a brief outline here.

Wine Forum is an event which OSU organises every two years. The event is a celebration of fine wine and the best food Oklahoma has to offer. The two day event involves a number of diverse sessions from wine tasting seminars (such as The Science of Pairing Wine and Food), to cultural history sessions (such as The Cowboy Legacy) and involves events such as The Grand Tasting (a showcase of the best food and drink in Oklahoma) and The Gala Dinner (including a large auction of high quality experiences).

Although the event is managed by University staff (Steve Ruby in particular in his role as Event Co-ordinator), it is very much delivered by students. Over 80 students from throughout the Hotel and Restaurant Administration Department are enrolled on the ‘Wine Forum’ module. Student committees govern the administration of every aspect of the event, from design, marketing and delivery to menu planning and décor. In addition the entire delivery on the day is managed by students, from plating food in the kitchens, to working as assistants with vendors through to booking and registration management. Some students, those on the main committees worked for six months on the event, whilst others, in less detailed roles, worked for three months.

The event represents a great example of experiential education. The students deliver every aspect of the event, have to work closely with real venues and suppliers and have a ‘real life’ objective – making profit and delivering a great experience. The quality of suppliers and clients involve (world renowned chefs, vinters and high value customers) means that the students have to deliver at a very high level meaning there is no ‘pretending’ here.

 The event produces other outputs in addition to the experiential education too. With so many of the guests and participants being graduates of OSU, the event is essentially an alumni event, building networks and connections with staff, graduates and current students. In addition, the commercial nature of the event means that a substantial profit is made over the weekend (tens of thousands of dollars), all of which is invested in scholarships for OSU students. Finally, in a small town, the Wine Forum fills local hotels, provides entertainment for citizens and generally brings the University into a central role in its immediate community.

To learn more about Wine Forum visit: http://ches.okstate.edu/wineforum/2011/

I’m back home now and just about recovered from the jet lag. I’ll be building my own versions of these modules in the near future, hopefully starting with a Live Music Management module for our Event Management students at RGU. However, rather than talking about that just now, I’d like to sign off with a thank you (hopefully someone in Oklahoma is reading!). I’d like to thank Bill Ryan and Sheila Scott-Halsell from OSU for looking after me so well during my visit. Bill, Sheila and their whole team at HRAD made me feel very much at home. I’d also like to thank all the students who took time to come to my classes whilst I was there and who made my stay very enjoyable. I’m also really grateful to them for taking time to answer all my questions and enquiries about Wine Forum when they were clearly very busy. I hope I get chance to visit again in the future and I’m already pestering our International Office in Aberdeen to let me do so!

Now I've been in Stillwater, Oklahoma as a guest of Oklahoma State University for a few days, I'm starting to notice some fairly big differences between this institution and my own. 

They are:

The Boone Pickens Stadium, Oklahoma State's personal 65,000 seater football stadium.

The Atherton Hotel, Oklahoma State's on campus 82 bed hotel.

And the West Side Cafe, Oklahoma State's on campus diner.

The standard of these facilities, in particular the first three, is quite staggering. Oklahoma State, whilst an excellent institution with excellent staff and great students, is not a Harvard or a Princeton, it came in at 132 in US News rankings of National Public Colleges. And yet the institution has a stadium bigger than all bar 2 in Scotland and which would be bigger than all but a handful in the UK (and those are all professional, not college level like Boones), a hotel which is favourably comparable with everything else I've encountered in the US so far (I know I'd rather stay there than my hotel!) and a restaurant which served up the best plate of food I've had all week. Even the cafe, whilst a typical American diner, serves up good quality food and friendly service.

So how do they do it? Well the University houses 30,000 students, considerably more than my own institution, but this isn't particularly large in the US and is equal to several of the largest UK institutions. In addition, the facilities 'belong' (in resource allocation terms) to just 300 students meaning 'economy of scale' is only partially applicable as a solution. The full answer lies in philanthropy. The University receives considerable donations from private citizens. Boone Pickens Stadium is name after the man who provided the substantial funding required to renovate and improve the University's sports facilities ($165m donation according to Wikipedia). Taylor's is name after the Taylor family who provided  the funding to set up the facility and whose pictures adorn the entrance, and the Atherton is similarly named after Bill Atherton, an OSU alumni and donor. The facilities, stadium apart, are managed and operated by students within the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, my host this week, as part of their studies - providing on tap, high quality experiential learning for students, meaning OSU is able to deliver innovative courses in the fields of Hospitality and Hotel Management. The facilities also allow students to deliver impressive events such as their Wine Forum (more on this in a later post) which involves 80 students and two years of planning. As I look at how to introduce experential learning and practice based modules into the courses for which I have leadership responsibility at my own institution, it's hard not to be jealous of the facilities available to the students here. I would love to be able to have my students work in their own hotel, or manage their own restaurant. This leads to a simple solution, and something several Americans have asked me about directly since I arrived, "shouldn't the UK focus on philanthropic donation as a funding stream? Sitting in the shadow of the Boone Pickens, having just had a wonderful meal at The Atherton, it's hard to argue against this as a means to develop.

I spoke about with Adrian Salmon (Leeds Metropolitan's Annual Fund Manager) via Twitter a couple of weeks ago around this area. It's clear (especially given the frequency with which my old institution has pestered me for funding in the last couple of years) that such models are increasingly prevalent in the UK. However, as I suggested to Adrian, I'm not convinced it's a strategy will work. The philanthropic system banks on a number of factors which we simply don't have in the UK. Firstly, the simple act of large scale giving doesn't seem to be a UK trait, small and often perhaps, but focussed, large scale donations seem less frequent and we have far fewer 'super rich' alumni able to make donations too. Secondly, it relies on a massive affinity between alumni and their host institution. In the States, students appear to be fiercely connected to their college. Everywhere I look I see orange OSU jerseys, t-shirts and sportswear. Perhaps due to the geographic nature of US universities; students are immersed in their campus which is essentially a town in many cases. My experience of the UK is that students simply don't retain the passionate connection to their institution, certainly not the type likely to result in multi-million dollar endownments.Thirdly, I cannot help but feel that as tution fees and costs of being a student increase, the first generation of students to have to pay higher amounts for their education will resent the system. As such, I suspect they will view philanthropic donation as a second payment rather than a benevolent gift, assuming their high levels of debt allow them to consider making gifts anyway.

This week has made me realise the power of the philanthropy model. I've never really viewed it as having the power to replace traditional funding models. However this week has opened my eyes a little to its potential power. However, I can't help but feel that, here in the UK, we're attempting to run before we can walk. It will take a long time to develop the types of links and culture US institutions seem to have and if we move too quickly away from other models of funding, relying more on gifting, then I think we'll be causing ourselves serious problems.

An American Tale (too cartoony)
Teaching "the Kids in America" (too 80s and rejected for use of the term "the Kids")
The Man from Atlantis (just not very good...)
Letters from America (can't go wrong with the Proclaimers!)

Four attempts at naming this post (series), but I digress (already I know!). Anyone who has had the misfortune to run into me, read my Twitter feed or my Facebook posts in the last couple of months will have heard me rattle on about being in America this week.

I’m spending a week in Stillwater, Oklahoma as a guest of the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration within Oklahoma State University (OSU), on a teaching exchange as part of the H.O.T.E.L (Higher Opportunities for Training, Education and Languages) Atlantis Project.

Although my institution, Robert Gordon University (RGU), has a sensational track record when it comes to projects such as this it’s really the first time I’ve been able to personally experience life on an overseas campus and while I’m here I intend to take the opportunity to learn as much as I can about a different approach to learning and teaching and see what I can bring back to enhance my own practice and the courses I lead in Scotland.

As the week progresses, I’ll try and blog anything interesting that comes up in order to hopefully prompt discussion about how good practice can be imported back into the UK (do I have to declare it at Customs?). However, before I get to that stage I thought it might be good to share some information regarding the actual H.O.T.E.L Atlantis Project, which I think is a great example of good practice in its own right.

The Atlantis Project is a three institution partnership between RGU, OSU and Turku University (Finland). The partnership is a dual-degree arrangement which sees students study in all three universities during the course of their programme and receive two degree qualifications. In the case of my RGU students, they study 18 months in Aberdeen (stage one and semester A of stage two) before completing six months (stage 2, semester 2) in Finland. The third stage of the course is spent in Oklahoma, including a lengthy work placement. Finally the students return to Aberdeen for the fourth and final stage of their studies (honours year).
  
Atlantis scholarships are offered to students in each of the partner institutes and funded by the EU (for European Students) and by FIPSE (for US students). The scholarships, equivalent to approximately €12,000, are awarded to four students in each institution. Places are limited and awarded by completion of a formal application process including an essay and an interview

The Project aims to train hospitality management students in the managing of a diverse workforce in the growing global lodging industry. The curriculum has been designed with a strong emphasis on cultural training, foreign language skills and foreign work placement along with the core content for global lodging operations. Although the period of study remains four years, the same as normal RGU hospitality students, the experience is a more intense one with students being exposed to the ‘general education’ requirements of the US education system and undertaking placement during what would normally be a holiday period, meaning they work exceptionally hard to receive the additional award.

More detail can be found at:
http://iws.rgu.ac.uk/abs/undergraduate/page.cfm?pge=87190

Personally, I find the Atlantis project to be a very exciting project, one I was delighted to inherit when I assumed leadership of RGU’s BA(Hons) International Hospitality Management course when I moved to Aberdeen last year. For students it offers a wonderful opportunity to learn about hospitality in three very different settings, really emphasizing the ‘international’ aspect of their course of study. It also allows them to experience three very different approaches to education from the traditional British system we employ at RGU, to the one module semester in Turku to the ‘general education’ required to earn an American undergraduate degree. Finally, for the lucky few to go through the course of study, it gives them a serious competitive advantage in the global marketplace in the form of two qualifications. However it’s also a fantastic opportunity for the staff who have been involved – the chance to teach in a foreign environment (I’m essentially looking at is as a test of my own capability), to meet academics operating in totally different educational paradigms and to learn about completely alternative ways of delivering education. I’ve been here just a few hours and already I’ve picked up half a dozen or so ideas which will hopefully be incorporated into my own future practice. It feels like genuinely collaborative, cross institutional practice in action. Finally, it’s also an arrangement which has huge potential for UK universities as a means to attracting new students. If institutions can find ways and means of delivering these projects on a long term basis then it will offer real competitive advantage when competing for both domestic and international students; acting as a great recruitment tool and a badge of quality for the institution.

 More to follow…

Since attending the Main Event a couple of weeks ago, I've had a couple of conversations, particularly with Tom Clements (National Outdoor Events Association / Specialized Security) regarding training and development needs for events professionals.

One of the key points being made was that as more and more degree educated events practitioners emerge, there is an increasing need for those who entered the industry without quAlification and worked up through the ranks to gain some form of recognised events award.

With that in mind I've been trying to think about what such course of study would look like, how it would be obtained and what it would cover.

With that in mind, I'd like to ask any event practitioners out there what they think.

• Do those practitioners without formal qualification worry about the impact growing numbers of graduates will have on their own position and if so - do they feel a need to gain such qualiication themselves?
• How would such a qualification need to be structured to fit around working lives?
• What areas would such a qualification cover?

To start, I'll try and map out my opinions around these areas.

Given not only the high number of graduates with event named awards, but also the growing importance of the events industry to the wider Scottish economy, I think it's going to be increasingly important for 
events practitioners to be seen as "qualified". In areas where "legitimacy" is important  such as public sector contracts and international markets, degree qualifications will increasingly be used to gauge the merit of any potential employee or contractor where existing professional relationships do not exist. Secondly, the sheer number of graduates will lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. As graduates attain positions of authority within industry it is inevitable that they will value those from similar backgrounds as themselves. It is natural that they will tend towards employing and contracting those with qualifications. With that in mind, many events  practitioners will turn to qualifications as a means of maintaining parity with the next generationsl of event managers. Gerry Reynolds from Highland Council summed this up when talking about his own  decision to return to studying during a recent guest lecture with my first year students. He commented that he had to study as these students were coming for his job and he wanted to stay ahead of them. 
The explosion of Masters level qualifications in events management in recent years is a sign that many others are thinking in similar fashion.

In terms of "how" such qualification should be shaped, I think flexibity is clearly the key point. For almost all event practitioners a "stable" diary just does not exist. The nature of the business means full time study is obviously impossible, but so too is regular part time learning. Far more likely to succeed are distance based blended modes of delivery. These modes see students accessing material online at their own pace and contributing, typically, to online discussions. The distance material is then "blended" with short visits to the campus (or similar space) to work intensively in face to face settings with staff and fellow students.  I can't take credit for devloping the model of delivery (it was in place when I joined the team) but my previous institution used such an approach with great success when delivering Masters level qualifications. Students enrolled on the course raved about the flexibility of the delivery model and how enjoyable they found studying in such a way.

Finally the "what" question. Firstly, I think there is need for undergraduate provision for those already in the industry. Masters level courses suit those with a degree already or with significant experience, Foundation degrees suit those starting out or with limited experience, but many practitioners have significant experience but little prior engagement with academia. A top up degree course allowing those practitioners to trade in their experience for advanced entry could be interesting. Essentially I see a need for the equivalent of the final two years of an undergraduate course. Given that those already working in industry already posses large practical skill sets, there is little additional benefit in studying such subjects within a course of study. Such a course would represent nothing more than a "badge" to be collected. Instead if it were to really add value it would have to address areas where practitioners feel a need to  develop. With that in mind it would need to focus on current issues and best practices, strategic issues and I would argue some practice 
focussed conceptual approaches to events. For me such a course would cover areas such as event technologies, sponsorship and fundraising, event team management, public policy and events, global issues in 
events management and sustainability in events businesses. Practice based learning could be facilitated through a hefty work based learning component and a traditional research project - something which would also ensure employers had a reason to support a staff member wishing to study.

I think there is a demand and need for such qualification - if delivered well and developed in partnership with industry. But what does everyone else think? Is it needed? What would it look like? What would it need to cover?

It’s been a busy week.

·         Monday – Guest lecture on programming and project management in Event Operations class with Rebecca Williams, Events Officer with Roselle Events, followed by meeting at Aberdeen College to discuss access routes for college Events Management students to the ‘all important’ degree level course which will help them find employment after graduation.

·         Tuesday – Guest lecture with Gerry Reynolds (soon to be Gerry Reynolds, MSc!) from Highland Council’s events team on the importance of an events degree and how to get ahead in the events industry followed by session on interview technique with first years from @RGUEvents and then a meeting with LHR Marine, regarding work placements around Offshore Europe 

·         Wednesday – Up at 4am to get train to Motherwell College for an Assessment Board and then a family dinner to celebrate my mum’s XXth birthday (we’re not allowed to disclose the number, suffice to say it was “landmark”)

·         Thursday – Attended The Main Event at SECC in Glasgow. Discussed work experience for @RGUEvents students with range of companies and caught up with brilliant recent graduates like Kirsty Hunter (helping organise Main Event itself with QD Events) and Mark Currie (giving me all the gossip on this years’ T in the Park) and had a lengthy chat with Tom Clements (NOEA and Specialized Security) regarding potential of work based degrees for practitioners.

·         Friday – Attended the ABPCO Forum at the Beardmore in Clydebank including a lengthy and interesting panel session with likes of David McGillivray, Jenny Flinn, Kirsty Hunter, Jennifer Jenkins, Roy Wilson and Richard Harrison on the extent to which events degrees prepare students for employment.

A busy week indeed and one which involved a wide range of people and a lot of public transport. Yet at the heart of all of these meetings, conferences and classes the same issue was evident: the preparation of graduates for the workplace. However, as the closing panel session at The Beardmore highlighted – how we do that, what that preparation should be and how successful we are at it are all questions that were still up for debate. The tone of The Beardmore discussion was very much that the PCO sector of the events industry is eager to work with graduates but isn’t convinced that they are entering the workplace with the skills required to ‘hit the ground running’.

I’ve written about what I think we should be doing and how we should be doing it elsewhere so I won’t rehash those arguments here. I’m also not going to rehash the point made quite eloquently by the academics on the panel yesterday that events education has to prepare students to enter a wide range of areas within the events industry from conferences and conventions to large music and sporting events to public sector events. However, one or two key issues emerged from yesterday which are worth looking at with regards to “why” we’re doing what we’re doing.

Firstly, I was drawn to a comment made during the session by one of my first year Event Management students. After ten mins of back and forth between PCO’s (“We need students to do this”) and academics (“We need to teach them this”), the student commented that she felt she was “on sale to the highest bidder” and was being left out of the equation. What I think she meant by this was that the debate too often focuses on the needs of industry today rather than the needs of students tomorrow. One PCO in the room mentioned the high debt incurred by students now working in low level roles in his organisation and commented that it seemed so very unfair that students invest time, money and effort to obtain a degree that results in them securing low level employment. For me, and I suspect most academics in the room yesterday would agree wholeheartedly here, this is exactly why degree courses have to look beyond simple ‘job preparation’, operational skill sets and provide students with a set of conceptual and strategic thinking skills which will enable them to move beyond that first job and into more advanced roles within the sector rather than simply producing the highest qualified receptionists in the world. In essence, as well as training students to work with the PCOs in the room yesterday, we have to ensure they’re capable of one day competing with them.

Secondly, on a related note, the role of the university has to be to prepare students to look beyond the problems of today to identify new opportunities and future issues. The Beardmore conference was one of the more enjoyable industry conferences I’ve attended in recent years because, as Jennifer Jenkins emphasised, it was about more than simply networking. It was a chance to learn. With that in mind, the programme for the day involved really interesting presentations from the likes of Graham Hopkins and Rachel Frankel, both of whom emphasised the need for PCOs and other event managers to engage with new technologies to enhance event experience via the use of social media and other forms of digital technology. Rachel and Graham both made the point that, in this respect, the UK is 3-4 years behind America when it comes to using such technologies. Events degrees have to be designed to ensure graduates are able to keep up to date with global changes and take advantage of them. Social media is a great example of this – at my institution, Robert Gordon University, all of our new events management students will be enrolled on my colleague Jack Keenan’s excellent Digital Media: Platforms and Practices module, equipping them with the skill sets they need not only to use these technologies, but to critique them and find new ways or wringing competitive advantage from them. As an example, I stumbled across this blog by a former student of mine who graduated just under a year ago, Iain Gorman, this morning – it’s utterly brilliant and shows a young practitioner who is ahead of the curve when it comes to this area. However were it not for being exposed to these concepts by his dissertation supervisor (David McGillivray) as a student then it’s likely Iain would never have been in a position to discover these ideas and play around with them. If the role of events education is to produce creative, critical thinkers then it’s vital that we expose our students to these types of areas.

Both of these issues are often seen as coming at the expense of ‘practical skills’ which allow students to ‘hit the ground running’. It’s not something I agree with personally (having seen the success of Kirsty at QD, Mark at DF Concerts and Iain in a previous role with the RSAMD – it’s hard to say these guys lack practical skills – each of them graduated just within the last 2 years incidentally so are very much ‘new’ graduates) but I can appreciate that for sections of the industry it may seem that this is the case. As such, it’s vital that universities continue to focus on how best to develop those practical skills too. However, I actually think that the Scottish institutions are doing quite well at this at the moment. All of the institutions in Scotland are committed to work experience in a variety of formats from placement to flexible models of engagement. As it is the scheme I’m most familiar with, I’ll outline RGU’s Industry Experience Portfolio as a case study:

Models like this ensure that students receive significant practical skills within their course of study and leave the university ready to contribute at entry level without losing the capacity to future plan and contribute at a higher level. The feedback we’ve had is a testament to this:

“let me tell you how impressed, delighted, thankful and blessed we were to have Chloe with us this week… We have already spoken to her about part-time work with us as every member of the team love her!  Ok enough gushing but you need to know what a special and talented girl she is, we have great hopes for her future!” – Charlotte McIntosh, Roselle Events

“I've been meaning to email you to say how brilliant your students were!  They were absolutely fantastic - helpful, enthusiastic and keen to do as much as possible.  The Santa Run overall went really well and it was great to have them on board” – Carys Petrie, Wildhearts / AberdeenSanta Run

However, as David McGillivray noted during the panel yesterday, forward thinking universities are trying to do a lot more than this, and are attempting to bring industry in to the classroom. Again, I know my own examples best so have included one below, but 
other academics across the country are doing similar things:

These approaches, however, require buy in from industry. We can only give real life scenarios if industry helps us with access to relevant information. When it happens however the results and benefits for student and employers are huge and ensure students leave university with both critical and creative thinking capabilities but also practical skillsets.

This post has ended up being a little longer than planned (always a danger when trapped on a long train journey home) so probably requires summary. Events education, in short has to take the long term view and has to do more than just prepare for today, we have to work towards producing graduates with the skills for a career, rather than a job. However, we can also never lose sight of the needs of industry as it stands. It's a difficult balancing act but one I think is being achieved, as evidenced by the great graduates I've met in my travels this week and 
the feedback from employers I've encountered. However the Beardmore session indicates a need to connect with some parts of industry more and to ensure that we continue to develop our excellent practices in relation with a wide range of organisations across the events. As such, I’ll close with an offer to any event organiser who stumbles across this, particularly those sceptical about events education, if you’d like to get involved with event students and see how they can contribute to your organisation and how you can help prepare them for the workplace – please just get in touch.

Daniel

d.turner@rgu.ac.uk