Case Study

SITUATION

You are event managers at OTTAWA EVENT CENTRE (OEC), the new venue for EASTERN ONTARIO DOG EXTRAVAGANZA (EODE), an event for dog owners and dog enthusiasts. The event is held over a weekend in the summer and features a dog-friendly trade show featuring retailers and organizations that tend to the needs of pet owners, a dog parade, an obstacle course for dogs and a dog show. EODE was previously located in another city for ten years, but with continued decline in registration, the event has been moved to your city. While the event registration, fees and contracts are managed by EODE organizers, the daily operations and event management has been delegated to your team. Registration reports show that 250 dogs and 500 dog owners will be attending. The general public has been invited to attend the pet parade on Saturday afternoon. There is available seating for a maximum of 3,000 people in the hall. Most out-of-town attendees will arrive on Friday night. There will be an informal meet and greet at the OEC on Friday night. EODE officially begins on Saturday morning at the OEC. After a brief opening session, attendees and their pets can roam the trade show, located in the OTTAWA EVENT CENTER exhibit hall. Over 100 vendors will be attending the trade show to advertise products and services. On Saturday afternoon, the obstacle course will be open for dogs and their owners to demonstrate their dogs skills and agility. The obstacle course will be constructed in the large atrium lobby space at the front of the OTTAWA EVENT CENTRE. After the obstacle course demonstrations, dogs and their owners will parade across the stage where the opening session took place. Volunteer judges from the community will be on hand to rate the dogs on a variety of informal categories: smallest, largest, longest tail, unique coloring, friendliest and best behaved. On Sunday morning, the trade show is again open for attendees to visit. At noon, the closing session and awards ceremony will take place. Afterwards, the event concludes. The event will rely on over 200 volunteers from the community. The volunteers have all passed a criminal background check and attended a mandatory training session. The volunteers will be working in shifts throughout the weekend event.

YOUR CHALLENGE

- Analyze and summarize the Ottawa Event Centre Case (250 words)

- Create an event plan, identifying all beverage and meal functions to be included throughout the various aspects of the event

- Create a front of house service plan for beverage and meal functions to be included throughout the event (staff needed, timing of service, required elements of service)