Leadership Skills in Event Management Courses

Abstract

Event management education continues to increase in popularity and importance. However, in many event management courses, learning outcomes are often expressed in learning process-oriented skills. Beyond event management skills, this research proposes that leadership skills should also be included in event management courses. Experiential learning activities are an ideal opportunity to develop, practice, and enhance leadership skills and the optimal situation is experiential learning activities. Students were surveyed after completing an event management course, which included an experiential learning activity where they developed and produced instructor-led events. Students indicated that they learned many leadership skills, including communication, commitment, strategic planning, and accountability. Communication was the most cited skill that students both learned and demonstrated, and this correlated to the students' perception that communication is also the most important leadership skill required for a career in event management. It is proposed that event management courses utilize leadership skills in the course objectives and that, by doing so, it may provide additional student benefits and academic legitimacy to these courses.