The BA (Hons) event management and business management students took over the university event space, The Vault, for a special event.
This was their main assessed event for the second-year module on ‘Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions’ (MICE).
The students worked in groups to research a global tourist location and pose as its ‘Destination Management Organisation’ (DMO).
This involved designing and delivering an exhibition stand to showcase their city or country.
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The designed and delivered an exhibition stand to showcase their city or country (Image: University of Winchester) Destinations included Paris, Milan, Scotland, and many more locations around the world.
The students had been learning about the important role DMOs play, often working with government and business networks.
With guidance from lecturers Marie Haverly, Chris Smith and Matt Bunday, the students researched and booked the venue, wrote risk assessments, arranged the table layout and put publicity and marketing materials together.
A guest list was drawn up and invitations sent out to Winchester VIPs, with the mayor, Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith, the leader of Winchester Council, Cllr Martin Tod, Cllr Lucille Thompson, and Winchester’s vice chancellor, Professor Sarah Greer, all attending.
Staff and fellow students also attended throughout the event.
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Student Sophie Welton, whose DMO was promoting Scotland, said: “It was great to improve on our live event experience from our first year by undertaking a more ambitious project in a new venue.
“We learnt all about the location, understanding why it was a tourism hotspot and the challenges it faces. We also enjoyed working with the wider class to plan all of the other parts of the event.”
In addition to the traditional tourism and travel issues, the students also had to consider newer challenges such as climate change and tourism phobia.
Programme leader for event management, Marie Haverly, said: “It was fantastic to see the students pretty much plan this from scratch with minimum input from staff.
“They appeared to have enjoyed the exercise and answered all the questions posed to them by the VIPs really well.
“We feel it’s very important for the students to design, plan and manage live events in each year of their study, adding a unique and powerful approach to their learning.”
The event was pronounced a success with many visitors commenting on how well the students had researched the locations.
Some even left with new ideas for future holiday destinations.