Postgraduate students from the Australian School of Business recently staged a series of events for Central Coast Kids in Need, raising over $5700 for families of ill children, and gaining valuable event management experience in the process.

Dr Tracey Firth, co-ordinator of the Events Management and Marketing course, said the opportunity for students to work with a not-for-profit organisation introduced them to some of the challenges associated with event management and marketing.

“With no start up expense account the students quickly learned the importance of budgeting and developing creative marketing strategies with a focus on sponsorship to cover the costs of staging their events. Each event took a unique approach to creating awareness and raising money for the nominated charity,” said Dr Firth.

The Events Management and Marketing course aims to provide students with real life experience in events management and give them the tools to create efficient, effective and accountable event management systems regardless of the size or nature of the event.

Working in teams, the students staged four events over a one week period. The events included a film screening night at the Ritz Cinema, a UNSW student industry networking event ‘Meet the Executive’, a food and games event ‘Food for Thought’, and a photography competition and exhibition ‘Your Fun Their Funds’.

Events Management and Marketing postgraduate student Priyanka Shetty helped stage the ‘Food for Thought’ event.

“Staging this event gave me first-hand experience of how each aspect of an event is implemented. I discovered what is and is not feasible, and the degree of planning needed for staging events.”

Postgraduate classmate, Shahid Majeed, helped organise the ‘Meet the Executive’ event and said there were both challenges and rewards in working with a not-for-profit organisation.

“Charging a ticket fee of $25 was a big challenge for an event which used to be run free of charge. However, we put together a team of highly motivated and committed volunteers who worked hard in making this possible.”

Lorraine Churchill from Central Coast Kids in Need said the hard work and dedication of the students in organising the events was greatly appreciated.

“The fundraising venture that the students undertook on our behalf was a wonderful thing and will go a long way in helping the families of seriously ill children,” said Ms Churchill.