Events Management Welcome Guide

Preparing for your course

We're delighted that you've chosen to join our creative community at Arts University Bournemouth. We can't wait to see what you'll create.

Welcome to BA (Hons) Events Management

This welcome pack is designed to give you an idea of what to expect during the first weeks of your course. Please take the time to read it carefully and take particular note of the pre-course preparation. We hope that you'll enjoy a happy and productive time with us, and we look forward to meeting you in October.

A message from your Course Leader

Congratulations on gaining your place on BA (Hons) Events Management at AUB. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you to Bournemouth for a challenging, exciting and rewarding three years of study. You’re about to embark on a journey that will lead to the ultimate creative process.

The world of events management is one that is full of well organised project managers who understand the complexities of their industry and are experienced in delivering despite the pressures that a looming deadline can bring. However, the most successful Event Managers are those that can also design experiences. Focusing on that blend of project management and design skills is what makes studying Events Management at AUB so special and relevant to the world of events management. Your course will provide you with the skills that you need to become not only the experienced manager that is at the heart of every event but an experience architect. The ultimate creative process is to conceive and deliver unique experiences that stand out from the crowd and become a source of inspiration to others.

The Alumni from your course are some of the most successful and creative Event Managers in our industry. When you join us in the autumn, you’ll be taking the first step towards joining them. We’ll connect you with our alumni network and a range of industry practitioners via guest lectures and site visits. Ensure that you make the most of these opportunities. Many students have secured work via the network of contacts that they have developed on the course.

The practical nature of your course means that there are opportunities to build a portfolio of work experience that potential employers will find attractive. Alongside your studies you will also be offered further opportunities to add to that portfolio and I recommend that you capitalise on those when they are offered. The stories that you can tell future employers about the projects you have worked on will have an impact on your employability when you graduate.

The Events Management team and I very much look forward to working with you. Your course has been designed to meet academic objectives that will provide you with a range of critical skills that are important in the world of events management and design. Our aim is to assist you in developing a lifelong passion for your studies and for the world of festivals and events. That is what we have, and we look forward to sharing our passions with you. The world of festivals and events represents the very essence of what it is to be human and want to share experiences with others.

Let’s start sharing.

– Kevin Chambers, Course Leader

Before you join us

I hope like me, you're fascinated by the workings of an event. Hopefully you'll get an opportunity to attend an event this summer. It might be a wedding, concert, carnival, air show, mela, film screening or festival.

Please take some photographs and try to look behind the scenes and find some inner workings of the event or festival that interest you. Perhaps it's the lighting, the sound, the costumes, the tastes or the smells that immerse you in the experience? Whatever it is make a note of it and come prepared to share some photographs and tell us what made that event so special and what particular area of the event management process you found interesting.

If any restrictions mean that you're not able to attend a physical event this summer, then please find some pictures of an event that you attended in the past and come prepared to tell us about that experience.

Each unit you study will have its own reading list and we'll share those during induction. However, if you want to do some advance reading over the summer, I can recommend the following texts for event management:

Bladen, C. et al. (2018) Events Management: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge
Bowdin, G. et al. (2012) Events Management. 3rd Edition. Abingdon: Routledge
Newbold. C. et al. (2019) Principles of Festival Management. Oxford: Goodfellow
Quick, L. (2020) Managing Events. London: Sage
Shone, A. and Parry, B. (2019) Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. 5^thEdition. Andover: Cengage

You can probably pick up one or two of them quite cheaply on Amazon or check out eBay, students who graduate may be downsizing over the summer.

Also look at three leading trade publications:

You may also find valuable contextual information at:

Current student work

Have a look through some of the work our current students are producing to get an idea of the type of work you may be making on our course.

A carnival performer dressed in a colourful rose costume during Alice in Spring on Bournemouth high street.

A crowd of people gather outside an Italian villa. There is a large fountain and pond in the foreground.

A street performer wearing a large bright yellow costume and headdress with silver accents.

A fashion show in progress, with models walking up and down a catwalk

A figure in costume reads from a scroll from a villa balcony. The words The Italian Villa appear on the wall below.

Alice in Spring takes place in Bournemouth town centre

A performer in costume as The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

A fire juggler performing in costume with fire sticks on a pavement outside a building.

People sat at a round dining table with low lighting and decorations hanging from the ceiling

Pop up marquee selling food and drink with people sat around

Course equipment

Useful personal items might include:

A pocket-sized notebook and pen to capture your creative inspirations whenever they strike.
A method of taking photographs and video so that you can keep a visual portfolio of your work (your phone will be fine!).
A good pair of headphones so you can work without being distracted in the course studio.

What to bring on your first day

Notebook and a pen.
Photographs on your phone of an event you have experienced.
An explanation of what part of the event management process you found interesting at that event.