Dan Lomax

This book is the first to showcase and advance international research into the volunteering experience at events, drawing on the work of key scholars in this field.

Events are increasingly central to the way we live life in the 21st century, and the academic study of events management has grown alongside the burgeoning development of the industry. This entry defines events, and connects the vital role of event logistics with the delivery of events of all kinds, considering the transport implications from a range of perspectives, and using examples to demonstrate the breadth of transportation requirements and impacts throughout the event planning process. From an analysis of operational needs and venue design considerations to an assessment of stakeholders’ perspectives for legal and even illegal events, this article notes the factors that influence event transportation in the 21st century.

Protests as Events: Politics, Activism and Leisure is an edited collection that explores activism as a leisure activity and protests as events. In this chapter we argue that rave culture can be classified as a form of protest; as a youth-oriented subculture or “tribe” based around social ideas, music and art, raves emerged from the era of Thatcher’s children, whose “cultural heroes came in the form of radical young entrepreneurs, who started up clubs and record labels, rather than the politicians and poets of yesteryear” . Furlong views raves as “a mix of hedonism, consumerism and escapism” , a sanctuary away from education and work, in which participants are free from boundaries and controls, in an environment that involves active protest and consumption of drugs. In examining criteria that might shed light onto this discussion, we explore the narratives of rave organisers, and find elements of shared values, activities and motivations, and common processes as utilized by more conventional events organisers.

Comparatively little is known about the extent to which students on vocational courses like events management fit within the student-as consumer framework and, in particular, why and how they decide to study for an events management degree. A study of 582 new events management undergraduates was undertaken at two UK universities. Survey and interview data illustrate that, although students demonstrated aspects of consumerist logic in valuing their degree predominantly in relation to their future careers, they based their choice of course and university largely on emotional, subjective criteria and so were not the ‘informed consumers’ espoused in public discourse.