Our main external partner is the LUU events committee. We as a company realise the importance of our external partner’s missions and strategies to succeed, in that it will enhance the working relationships if we are all agreed on the purpose of the event. LUU events state that “Our vision: Together we’ll make sure you love your time at Leeds” ( ).Throughout my research it was clear that LUU events had a mission to genuinely please the students at Leeds university and make their time at university worthwhile. Two of their statements express how they want to, “create a vibrant space” for students to meet others and to build a “community” for all of Leeds university members ( ). This coincides well with “Laughter Lines” mission in that we want to bring together an audience from in and around Leeds and build a community around comedy. As it is a comedy festival, a “vibrant” attitude will be spread across the event, in that “Laughter Lines” simply want to extend the interest of comedy within the Leeds community. In terms of sponsorship partners, I have researched how to obtain the right contacts for various companies, in order to speed up the response time. It has also been necessary for me to research each of the organisations in detail to see if they would be interested in sponsoring our event. This research includes, finding out whether the organisation has sponsored similar events to ours in the past, whether the organisation’s marketing strategy would fit our type of event but also looking at the scale of our event in terms of their organisation. For the latter, it was vital when writing the sponsorship proposals that I researched each individual organisation and made it clear what “Laughter Lines” can offer them in return. It has to be said, that when contacting certain organisations e.g. “Carlsberg” and describing our event, they simply said that the event did not fit the purpose of their marketing strategy. This obviously caused us setbacks in terms of securing sponsorship, but made me realise that a different approach was needed in terms of how I was addressing each company. From this point I re-evaluated my thoughts to more relevant sponsors for our event.
As a performance management student, I will utilise my skills that I have gained on this course and my personal attributes to contribute to this project. As Jason Cope (2005:379) said “the learning history of each prospective entrepreneur defines the unique level of preparedness brought to start-up”. In terms of my own learning outcomes, I would like to achieve the following;
- To apply the various theoretical approaches of my entrepreneurial learning so far.
- To accept the risks relating to my project and to be confident in the strategies that I implement to try to avoid/overcome these risks.
- To enhance my managerial skills further and have the confidence to succeed in an area outside my comfort zone.
Throughout my three year course I have so far, “through a range of case studies, practical projects and the study of management theory” examined issues in “strategy, administration, leadership, quality, marketing, systems, entrepreneurship, legal and ethical questions” (http://www.leeds.ac.uk). I have studied management roles in arts contexts, and have reflected on, evaluated and recorded my own development as a manager. Although I did not delegate the roles of each individual myself, I was aware of Belbin’s team roles at the time (). Not having worked with Patrick before I was not familiar with his style of management, or what he would bring to the project. However, due to his creative nature it became apparent that he would take on the role as the “co-ordinator”. As Belbin () describes, this person is “mature, trusting and confident, they delegate readily, stay calm under pressure” and “are quick to spot an individual’s talent and use them to pursue the group’s objectives”. Due to my wide range of experience in the events industry, my role within the project is to take charge of the logistical side, in particular, time management, liasing with external organisations, and financial co-ordination. In Belbin’s terms this role is called the “resource investigator” ( ).
At the present time, I am currently focusing on the role of acquiring sponsorship. Despite many organisations turning down sponsorship proposals as mentioned above, I have sent out several sponsorship proposals to large well known companies that have previously sponsored similar events, including; KPMG, Dominos, Fosters and 96.3 Radio air. If we gain successful responses, I will then devise contracts and finalise the agreements with each individual organisation. At the present time, “Laughter Lines” are unable to offer exclusivity to one particular company as we do have a desired sponsorship sum of £4000 that we need in order to fund this event
In evaluating ones preparation (“temporal phase”), Cope (2005) suggests, to look “backwards” to the project to evaluate your own experience. “Reuber and Fischer (1999) illustrate that each prospective entrepreneur enters the start-up process with a "stock of experience," consisting of the background or history of the individual that has accrued up to that point”. I have project managed various collaborative projects for my degree as well as a two week placement within a media company, project managing an arson reduction production. To focus “inward” on the project and evaluate my own preparedness to the event is imperative. Other than the experience stated I have no previous experience within a comedy festival event. Before the idea of the Leeds Comedy Festival became apparent, I was prepared to make an event that “unmasked” the entrepreneur within me. When I use the word “unmasking” here, I am evoking the distinction that Martin Hedegger (2002) made between two conceptions of truth. The Greeks saw the idea of truth as “unconcealing”, in that “the task of thinking is not to find a pre-existing truth, but rather a matter of struggling to move away from the particular ways in which we happen to be blinded at a particular moment”. This quote and its context is important in the way that we came about the idea of a Leeds Comedy festival. This event was not a matter of “accuracy but rather a matter of invention. It is not a matter of discovery but a matter of production” (Jones, C et al, 2009). The concept of comedy in Leeds was present, but the opportunity of having a comedy Festival as a one off event was being ignored.
“What the entrepreneur does is something else that someone has already done” (Drucker, 1985). However, what “Laughter lines” is implementing is “creative innovation”, as we understand what this innovation represents better than the other people who recognised the need for comedy in Leeds. Relating this back to my own preparedness, it was vital that I was willing to look at the broader picture and not dismiss the idea of a Leeds comedy Festival just because comedy was already present. But to develop this idea to suit the needs of those interested in comedy. This concept is not only following Cope’s “inward” policy but also his “outward” policy by assessing the external environment and recognising the opportunity within the market.
Looking “forward” and evaluating the role that I will have on this project is vital to its success. This process also aids the shape that my event will take and the learning outcomes that I wish to achieve. The proposed project will achieve the module outcomes because it requires us to operate in such a broad range of areas. We will have to work closely with comedy acts, management companies, venue companies, commercial organisations, ticketing companies, the general public, festival staff, and student media organisations. All of these partnerships will require different entrepreneurial skills and management approaches. The project will require creativity, near-perfect logistical planning, and entrepreneurial risk.
As well as the above learning outcomes, I would also plan to investigate further the nature and management of new relationships within our organisation. To excel in this learning process, I made the decision early on not to work with fellow peers on the course as I felt that I would not achieve anymore than I have done in the past. I was not previously familiar with any members of the group that I am working with and this has its advantages. A study from Rosalind Wilson (2004) “concluded that MIT has been so fertile in technological creativity – so innovative, if you will – because of informal groups, unstructured encounters, odd connections, wandering, and daydreaming……….In a quite hard-headed way, we argued that the sources of creativity necessary to engender change, technological or otherwise, flourish only in a setting with time and space for the intense social interactions that are at the heart of both research and learning.” In many ways this quote refers to the forming of our personal enterprise group, in that we were forced together by “intense social interactions”. In order to understand the nature of relationships within my organisation internally and externally, Cope (2005), suggests that we should be “reflective practitioners”.
“Laughter Lines” has secured different venues across the weekend that overall will hold a capacity of 780 people. Therefore, we have concluded that if we were to sell half of these tickets we would still break even, and after market research have estimated that we will have a minimum attendance of 500 people who attend the event over the four days. We are confident that this project will be a success and will draw upon a new audience to Leeds event industry. I am also confident that I personally will thrive in this project and gain many learning experiences that I can take on and utilise in my future career.
Bibliography
Belbin, M, (2004), “Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail”, [Internet] Butterworth Heinemann, 2nd ed., ISBN: 0 7506 5910 6, Available From <> [Accessed on 24th November 2010]
Cope, J (2005), “Toward a Dynamic Learning Perspective of Entrepreneurship” 1042-2587,
Copyright 2005 by Baylor University
Drucker, P (1985), “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, 131-135, Elsevier Ltd
Jones, C et al (2009), “Unmasking the entrepreneur”1-9, MPG books group, UK
[Accessed on 26th November 2010]
[Accessed on 20th November 2010]
[Accessed on 20th November 2010]
Martin, D (2010),”What is an entrepreneur? A brilliant definition”, [Internet] Business Zone Blogs Available from :< [Accessed on 20th November 2010]
Upchurch, A (2010) citing Rosalind Wilson (2004), PowerPoint Slide 7, Avalaible From, <> [Accessed 30th November 2010]
