An Events Industry Takes Shape: A Case Study of the UK and Poland

This timely book critically evaluates the factors which shape an events industry as it develops, with the aim of helping to narrow the disparate behaviours and practices of organisers within the global marketplace of international events.

Stemming from an innovative qualitative research project, which included interviews with senior events organisers at landmark venues in both the UK and Poland, this volume provides an insight into both the emerging events industry in Poland and the developed events industry in the UK, highlighting cross-cultural risk and safety gaps that may impact organisers, clients, attendees, suppliers, and workers. The book highlights the importance of a unanimous global approach to events organisation, the creation of a professional community of practice, and ethos of self-learning within the events industry and the need for an international professional association for organisers involved with providing international events. The book explores the three themes of ’Event Culture’, ’Tourism and Events’, and ’Risk Awareness at Events’, thus focusing on long-term factors of events industries.

International in scope, this book will appeal to students on courses such as managing events, planning events, project management, and hospitality and tourism studies, as well as events organisers in locations where events is an emerging industry.

Philip Berners is a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology specialising in the field of international events. He is Associate Professor and Postgraduate Director at the Edge Hotel School, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a founding trustee of the Colchester Museums Development Foundation. Working in the UK events industry for 10 years, Philip was head of events at landmark venues including the London Hippodrome and Thorpe Park Resort. He has been the in-house event manager for corporations such as the Daily Mail Group. His client portfolio includes Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II, the former Prince of Wales now King Charles, the BRIT Awards, London Fashion Week, Formula 1, and global music stars such as Bon Jovi, Shania Twain, and Jennifer Lopez. Philip lived and worked in the events industry in Poland for 10 years and founded an events academy in Warsaw. He also taught events management at Collegium Civitas University at the Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw. Philip is series editor for the Routledge Practical Guide to Events and Hotel Management Series.