Event Management Education and Professionalism: The View from the Trenches

Abstract

Little research effort has examined the perspective of those who work in the complex and rapidly growing field of event management on whether they perceive their own field as a profession, and what role event management education should play in the professionalization of the field. The purpose of this article is twofold: 1) it examines whether event management can be indeed considered as a profession based upon existing literature and the attributes of professionalism as defined by those in the events industry; and 2) it provides a unique perspective from the viewpoint of current industry leaders on whether event management is a profession, what characteristics constitute event management professionalism, and the role of event management education (academic vs. professional) in affecting the professionalization of event management. Seventeen event management industry leaders, from five continents and seven countries, provided responses to an electronic survey. The results indicate that while noticeable efforts for event management to become a fully recognized profession have been made, additional work is still needed. Namely, a joint effort is required by both industry and academia to identify commonalities and design the event management education system to better address the industry's rapidly increasing professional development needs.