Why events management can be a 'skill for life'

“There isn’t any human being in the world of work that at some point doesn’t have to organise something,” says leading events industry expert Professor Joe Goldblatt.

He is talking about the soaring popularity of events management courses, for which demand has grown by 400 per cent in the last 10 years, in recognition of the fact that employers increasingly view events management as a skill for life that can be applied to almost all sectors.

Professor Goldblatt, Executive Director of the International Centre for the Study of Planned Events at QMU in Edinburgh, says: “It’s one of the fastest-growing courses with 280 universities across the United Kingdom offering events management courses.

“So for every seat we have funded by the government for an event management course, there are 10 qualified students to take that seat. So it’s a very much in-demand field of study.”

He adds: “The material and content of these courses are relevant to the industry and the short answer is events management is a skill for life: if you are interested in science, technology, engineering and maths at some point you may in fact be responsible for organising a conference in your field of study, a meeting in your field of study, and all of that requires events management skills.”

Much of what a student may actually ‘do’ as part of an events management course relates directly to the organisational, the planning, procurement and logistical tasks undertaken as part of the physical delivery of events.

However, a panel debate at the Scottish Tourism Alliance annual conference in October saw an emerging theme develop. So-called ‘soft skills’, shorthand for the ability to project oneself confidently, and to convey warmth and personality, are increasingly being valued by the industry.

Professor Goldblatt says it’s an issue which has also come up as part of a role he fulfills at Edinburgh’s Chamber of Commerce.

He said: “I chair a committee there entitled ‘inspiring talent’ and every month we bring to the table a different sector: one month it’s engineering and construction, another month it’s advertising, the next month it might be digital communications. Every one of those meetings has identified that the soft skills are more important in terms of developing in higher education than the hard skills. So the skills of communication, the skills of confidence, across all sectors there’s more need to develop that. There could not be a better way to do that than through events management because event managers are leaders; they have to organise a group, motivate a group, persuade a group, manage a group, and so event management is a perfect core curriculum subject to be able to cultivate those skills of confidence, communication, and courage.”