History (Evolution) of event management | Know the size and growth of event industry.

This article will guide you the history of event management and rise in the event growth with some actual data and reports on growth and size of event industry. 

It is very essential for event workforce and the person who wants to enter in event management to understand the above aspects of event field.


Event management is not a new term in today’s era. Everyone knows today what event management is and who event managers are.  It has been tremendously increasing since some decades. 




This increase in demand of event companies is a result of people’s busy schedule, to maintain their social images and not getting enough time to plan & manage their own events. It is one of the fastest growing sector.

Event management has diverse nature of its services, job titles and various types of events

It can start from

- a baby shower to baby welcoming, 

- engagement to the farewell of the bride, 

- company inauguration to the company’s 100th year celebration, 

- birth place to the graveyard, 

- a local singer to the mega concerts, 

- small birthday treat to the grand party, thus now people has developed tendency to integrate event industry all over their work and celebrations.

So it becomes important to understand how this event industry came into existence. This will only be possible by looking into the history of events.

 

Evolution and history of event management

It is obvious that event management is not something that came into existence recently. Previously also people use to manage their own celebrations, promoting businesses, sharing education, marketing things, dealing with vendors etc. so they were acting as an event manager themselves. 

Isn’t it? It may be or may not be because at that time the concept of event managers were not into existence. So probably this sector is being running unknowingly from last thousands of years.

But however it is necessary to conclude everything today and it includes the deciding point of how this event concept originated into people’s mind. Let’s go back to the time of Cleopatra. 

Now you may think who was Cleopatra, right? Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of EgyptAssume taking time machine & travel back to the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the world of Cleopatra and Marc Antony.

Cleopatra was well-known at that time for orchestrating elaborate and lavish meetings in an attempt to woo a lover. History tells us that Marc Antony was taken by Cleopatra because of her planning something to impress Marc.

That time she was the one who hosted fancy over the top meetings in pursuit of lovers. Cleopatra entered one meeting by drifting down the Nile River on a boat filled with candles and perfume in order to impress Mark Anthony. 

Cleopatra’s events would not have been possible without her servants and free labors. Communication was very limited. Messages were hand delivered and it could take weeks if not months to deliver them.

Elaborate events and parties continued with the Medieval French Royalty. Rich aristocratic women were in charge of event management. 

The most notable was Madame Pompadour, the mistress to King Louis XV of France and Marie Antoine. Parties were themed with costumes and popular musicians of the day.

So that was the brief history of how event came into picture.

It is obvious that the working methods could be different now as compared to older days because the education of that time was different, the spending pattern was different, people’s mindset has changed over a period of time, rituals and customs has been revised, families have started becoming nuclear etc thus all that has a great impact on managing events then and now.

Let’s consider some essential points on which we can find some differences over the period of time.

(Also read: Hierarchy of event companies and job titles)

    Hospitality & Registration process

Then: Talking about the registration process of any events, event managers were left with the only option to post the courier or send any person to get the details in order to complete the formalities. 

It was risky and they were having high chances to lose the data.

But now with revolutionary change over the internet services it has become damn easy to get all the details of participants across globe at one click on any devices.

Example:  Google doc, exclusive hospitality applications, from social media etc.

    Logistics & transportation

Then: That time finding location and easy transportation facilities were bit tough. If people had to travel then it was really like a hard nut to crack. There were less facilities and also were consuming a lot time to reach long destination.

But now the transportation is as easy as travelling from drawing room to bed room. Public transport and personal vehicles have been increased tremendously over last few decades. 

Also the distance has been reduced by constructing highways and making fastest vehicles all around the nation.

Example: Bullet train, Metro train, Airways, Railways etc.

    Audience attention

Then: Back in to older days if anyone wanted to organize public events which required people to take part and to show interest, it was difficult to call and visit door steps.

But now with advancement of social media, internet and other devices, it has become far easy to get the audience’s attention and to get their interest for our events. 

It is now very easy to get in touch and built connection with audiences.

Example: Facebook & Instagram ads, Google ads, applications etc.

    Advertising and searching Events

Then: Before the internet, flyers, posters, and word-of-mouth were popular ways to advertise events. These were the only ways to market products and advertisement.

But now: People can search for events utilizing websites. Users can type in their location and find hundreds of events they may not have even know existed!

Example: LocalHop, Facebook etc

(Also read: 15 types of event vendors)

Size & growth of event industry

You will be amazed to know the size of the event industry. How it is growing larger and larger day by day. 

According to one report of EEMA (Events and entertainment management association) carried out in 2017, it was estimated that Indian event industry will cross INR 10,000 crore of value by 2021. 

But it is also a truth that major income of event companies are not being displayed in official reports so the original value may be much higher than this too. 

Report narrates that the value of event industry which was around INR 5,631 crore in year 2016-2017 was expected to grow at CAGR (Compound annual growth rate 16% every year which was more than the India media and entertainment industry (M&E) growing at 11-13 % CAGR annually. 

Thus this growth is unstoppable to achieve the high rates of success. This report was carried out with survey of 64 event companies and 31 marketers. 

As per officials, there are some key features in event market due to which it is growing vastly across India and globally. 

Some of the main features were digital activation, personal events, high budgeted weddings, sports tournaments, sponsored events, trade fairs, expo, government events, product launch etc. 

If looking into the global scenario of event market, according to one report issued by Allied market research, the global event industry which was valued at $1,100 billion by 2018 is expected to reach at $2,330 billion market value by 2026 with an annually growth of 11-13% CAGR. 

Wow just look at those values, that’s incredible! No one could have thought of this much estimation of market value of globally event industry. But yah ! why it can’t be this much?  

People are spending this much value in order to save time, save health, save hustle and bustle etc, it may be more valuable for them than the money they spends on their events. 

Also today is an era of management fellows. Management rules the principle of work getting done by others.

 

Some FAQ's

Q- How did the event industry begin and develop?

Event management is an old concept but event industry mostly began in 20th century. That was a time when people needed some professionals to plan, organize and execute their events. 

They didn't rely much on resources available to them directly. Also the scope of event execution, number of audiences, marketing, promotions, ideas, spending pattern, venues etc were rising on peak. 

People started keeping themselves busy in their professional life so they need to hire event management companies for their events. 

Q- How did event industry evolved?

Event industry became popular from last 15-20 years. With the increase in demands of event companies by clients like individual, corporates, industrialists etc there was an evolution in event industry. 

Years before people wanted live and virtual meetings, uniqueness in ideas, marketing, techno events like artificial intelligence and virtual realities etc to keep their head high from others. 

Managing all this is not a layman's work, so event industry got their evolution 2 decades back. 

Q- How big is the events industry?

Globally event industry was valued at more than $ 1,100 billion in year 2018. It was expected to grow CAGR @10.3% and can reach upto $ 2,330 billion by year 2026. 

While in India event industry nationally was valued at more than INR 5,631 crore by 2017 and expected to rise CAGR @ 16% to reach INR 10,000 crores by 2021. 

Event management industry is tremendously increasing last some years. 

Q- What are the new trends in conducting events?

Every industry meets with the new trends. Likewise event industry has a revolutionary trends which can take any events to the pro levels. Some of these trends are
- Hospitality and welcoming
- Artificial intelligence
- Virtual realities
- VIP treatments
- Big data for promotional events
- All-in-one integration
- Fewer chairs
- Entertainment factors
- Event management softwares
All the above trends have been emerged into the new era of event demands. 


Q- Who was the first event planner?

The first event planner according to some reports was Cleopatra. She was the one who hosted fancy over the top meetings in pursuit of lovers. 

Cleopatra entered one meeting by drifting down the Nile River on a boat filled with candles and perfume in order to impress Mark Anthony. To read more on history about event management go through the above article.

Thus the above article surely helped you to understand the evolution of event industry. Along with that the history, size and growth of event industry was really interesting for you to know. 

If you want to add anything in this article or give feedback, drop into the  comment box :)

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June 13, 2020 at 7:19 PM ×

I love the way how you written this article in extremely easy language, (Easy Words)so that each and everyone can read and understand.TYSM

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July 11, 2020 at 5:07 PM ×

Thank you so much.. stay connected and tuned for more articles..

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