International CMP writer, trainer to give workshop on ‘Professional Project & Risk Management of Events’

International CMP writer, trainer to give workshop on ‘Professional Project & Risk Management of Events’

Litha Communications will be running a two-day workshop in Johannesburg on ‘Professional Project and Risk Management of Events’, facilitated by Gwen Watkins, a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP®) accredited by the Convention Industry Council, Washington DC, and an international writer and trainer on events management and PR. She will cover the broad aspects of risk management and a professional overview of project management of events and meetings to assist participants to apply tested project management techniques to events and manage them to budget, the desired quality and on time. Delegates will learn the context and need for risk management, within internal and external events, and will understand how to identify risks that they can or cannot manage and how to mitigate these.

They will understand the role of contingency planning and how to create, produce and monitor a risk plan. Each delegate receives a 70-page manual, including WBS and Gantt chart exercises and checklists.

“Risk management at events is not ‘someone else’s problem’ – it is the legal duty of the event organiser,” states Teresa Jenkins, MD of Litha Communications. “This includes internally organised events that invite people outside of the organisation, such as clients, employees’ families or the public, where the CEO is held liable for employee’s mismanagement.

“In addition to the ‘Safety at Sports & Recreational Events Act’, there are other provincial and municipal bylaws and the common law precept of ‘Duty of Care’, which bind all event coordinators to safety management. “The addition of project management principles enables events organisers to overcome the lack of understanding of the value of work breakdown schedules, Gantt charts and other essential project management tools in the planning of events, which in turn mitigate risk,” concludes Jenkins.

Watkins has written the ‘Conference & Events Management Textbook’, for Edge Publishing, for third year tourism students taking events management as an elective in 2013 and 2014. This is a South African guide, based on her 30-year experience in the industry and her lecturing background on the subject at several tertiary institutions.

Amongst other associations, she is member of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI). She has run her own public relations, marketing and events management consultancy since 1988 in South Africa and, since 2011, Botswana.

The course will be held on 22-23 October 2014 at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand at a price of R7 100 +VAT.

For more information, email charlotte@freelancers.co.za. The course will be held in Cape Town on 20-21 November 2014.