Running Head: EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 1

Event Planning and Programming for Large Scale Events

Mike Beskid, Gunther Cassell, Erica Jones, Bethany Lambert, Luke Nelson

Pennsylvania State University

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Introduction

The research was conducted to delve into looking at event management for large-scale

events. Marketing of an arena, food and beverage, security, ticketing with college students, and

wedding planning were topics that were analyzed throughout the duration of the research.

Literature Review

Location of Facility

The event management industry is ever-changing. It is important to distinguish one’s

brand from the others in order to obtain business and create an environment that would attract

events. Being able to maintain and hold a facility as well as a brand is crucial in an area with

much competition surrounding an arena. Getz (1997) defines an event as, “‘... a one-time or

infrequently occurring event outside normal programs or activities of the sponsoring or

organizing body’ and ‘to the customer or guest, … an opportunity for leisure, social and cultural

experience outside the normal range of choices or beyond everyday experience’” (Getz, 1997).

Event planning and management help create that atmosphere that draws in new events/talent as

well as those in the surrounding area.

An arena in a college town can be seen in both a positive and negative light, though.

When looking into the demographics one needs to look at not only the college students that come

in during the school year, but the entire population of those they are trying to market to within

the venue’s radius. This is valuable because, “…the estimation of the impact of a

college/university on the local community may be quite complicated and sensitive to the type of

impact considered as well as characteristics of the students. In particular, one should control for

the origins of the students enrolled” (Lents & Laband, 2008). Having a successful arena in a

college town can be extremely beneficial so long as events and games are being planned.
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Choosing the right events is vastly important because there are a number of factors a facility

needs to account for. Being able to even market to students in the area can be helpful so long as

students are buying tickets. Arenas in college towns are more than just for students, though.

According to Karosas, “...venue purpose and mission, market… community demographics,

availability of events, and venue capabilities can offer direction and guidance on an appropriate

event mix and schedule” (Slide 8). Knowing how to operate all these factors will create the most

promising facility for event management.

Motivations

For event managers, it is very important to understand why people are coming to your

events. Visitor motivations have rarely been studied, but the demand to purchase tickets is on the

rise and is projected that the music festival industry is the largest growing industry in tourism. A

festival experience can not only rely on one major theme to be successful. It is equally important

to create a fun and festive atmosphere that offers ample opportunity to socialize and have new

and nonmusical experiences (Gelder, 2009). Here is where multiple motivations come into play

for attending a festival. The primary motivator to attend a music festival is to be apart of a

massive social network of like minded people bonding over the rhythm of the music and

appreciation art that reflects the culture and social trends. A study to find out the motivation for

pleasure vacations identified seven socio-psychological motivations for attending a festival

which include: socialization, novelty, rest and relaxation, prestige and status, education, value

and intellectual enrichment, enhancing kingship and relations and family togetherness, and

regression (Crompton, 1979). The trend of the current culture of people attending music festivals

have two aspects that older generations did not have, a deep connection with technology and

more disposable income. With the luxury of having time and money, music based events have
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erupted in popularity in a short amount of time. As event managers become more experienced

with hosting events, the quality of the event experiences is increasing drastically which is giving

more satisfaction to visitors. This improvement is driving the cost of ticket prices, number of

tickets sold, and profits to increase. From a planning perspective it is vital to determine and

measure visitor satisfaction and behavioral intentions with respect to repeat guests and help

identify the factors that affect visitor motivation and their experiential outcomes (Schofield,

2009).

Security

Since 9/11, security has been a growing concern for events and venues.Any occasion

where a large group of people are gathered together is a risk. Venues across the country,

including venues like the Bryce Jordan Center, need to take several aspects into consideration

when focused on their security. Venue managers face challenges like handling the operating

budget, maintaining spectator enjoyment, and keeping employee stress low (Cieslak, 2009).

Security issues are not just limited to preventing large attacks, they also include corralling rowdy

event attendees (Taylor & Toohey, 2011). They also need to keep attendees under control by

implementing crowd management techniques.

Most resources are devoted to preventing large issue like terrorism, but the issues that are

the main causes of security incidents tend to be local matters such as drunk patrons (Taylor &

Toohey, 2011). To control patron behavior, venues implement a zero-tolerance policy for

unwanted behavior, this has a positive or negligible impact on a majority of attendees (Taylor &

Toohey, 2011). Stricter security measures have become normalized, it is no longer strange that

you need to be waved in by a metal-detector wand or that you can’t carry your full purse into a

stadium. There is an expectation that security personnel are experienced and will be able to
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provide a safe environment for attendees (Abbott & Geddie, 2001). While attendees want an

easy-to-find security presence, an obvious police presence can have the opposite of the desired

effect (Taylor & Toohey, 2011).

Cieslak’s (2009) study in Australia found that there was a certain level of risk that venues

would assign to events . They could avoid risk completely by not having the event, accept that

there are some risks and continue with the event, develop policies and train staff to mitigate the

risks, and transfer the risk to someone else (Cieslak, 2009). A majority of the time the stadiums

would accept the risk, unless the risk was more than financial (Cieslak, 2009). Then they would

choose to transfer the risk to a company that had the expertise to handle any potential situations

(Cieslak, 2009). Since the Bryce Jordan Center is frequently taking on risks by hosting events

how effective is their security?

Food and Beverage Commented [1]: MIKE AND GUNTHER LIT REVIEWS

Wedding Venues

The research questions to be studied are as follows: How effective is the Bryce Jordan

Center Security? What attracts events to college towns and their venues such as the Bryce Jordan

Center? How do venues make their decisions on food and beverage? What attracts Penn State

University students to the Bryce Jordan Center? Prices notwithstanding, what would the attitudes

of students be if toward the BJC being a possible wedding venue?

Methods

When surveying, participants need to be identified, procedures need to be made prior, and

the measures on how to collect this data must be identified. In our process with looking at how

operations work within an event planning setting, we looked into the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC)

and their daily operations as well as students’ attitudes on weddings. When surveying, we tried
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to identify those who have been to events at the Bryce Jordan Center and asked their thoughts on

how daily procedures happen when attending and their attitudes on weddings. When we

conducted interviews, we asked about the operations of the events that they undertook as well as

how they make the decisions they do in planning for an event or running a business.

Participants

The participants that we used for our study were employees of the Bryce Jordan Center,

an employee of a local wedding planning company, and students who have been to events at the

Bryce Jordan Center. In the qualitative portion of our study we searched for participants that

would have distinct insight into the current atmosphere of policies and decision making that

occurs in the event and wedding management worlds. Since they have experience in the fields

and venue that we were studying, we interviewed two employees from the Bryce Jordan Center

and one manager of a local wedding planning company.

We collected forty-five responses to our Event Programming Survey. Of the responses

we received, two were eliminated from analysis for having never been to the Bryce Jordan

Center for an event. There were 37.2% juniors, 30.2% seniors, and the rest of the approximate

third that was left was split between freshmen, sophomores, and 5th years or more. No one was

not a student that took our survey nor were they graduate students. Nearly 70% of our

participants were female and the rest identified as male. 86% identified themselves as white, 7%

were Asian/Pacific Islander, 4.7% are Black/African American, and 2.3% are Multi-Ethnic.

Procedures

To collect our quantitative data performed a survey through Google Forms. We took a

snowball sampling strategy so that we could gather data from a wide variety of Penn State

students. The survey was designed to immediately separate the students that have attended an
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event at the Bryce Jordan Center from those who have not. This allowed us to gather data from

the population that we are most interested in without wasting anyones time.

We sent out our survey to any organization GroupMe that we are a part of. After some

time had passed we checked the number of people who had participated to see if our sample was

large enough and varied. If it had indicated that this method had not garnered enough participants

we would have stood outside the Bryce Jordan Center during an event and approached attendees

to ask them if they would be willing to participate. Luckily we had enough participants without

resorting to that method because that strategy removes some of the anonymity of the survey

which may have introduced bias due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions. The data

from Google Forms is automatically transferred into a Google Sheet which was used to analyze

the results. Each of the researchers was able to go through the data and use what was necessary

for each of their research questions.

The data provided by the interviews created context for the information we gathered

through our survey. We performed the interviews in places that the interviewee chose so that

they felt comfortable and would be able to answer the questions that we had for them.. Each

researcher participated in or led an interview with the participant who the researcher believed

could answer their questions. Each interview was approximately thirty minutes in length and had

an audio recording and notes taken in-person as a backup. Each researcher was responsible for

coding the data given by the interviewees that pertained to their question.

Measures

The questions (full survey listed in Appendix) for both our quantitative and qualitative

research covered a variety of topics related to our research questions. These topics include

behaviors and the decision making factors of survey participants at events and their opinions on
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weddings, security, food, tickets, and other aspects of events. Some questions ask about general

background information such as history of events they have gone to and why, and illicit

behaviors that they have witnessed or partaken in themselves. In our qualitative interviews we

will be asking about current event policies and thought processes and the decisions that have led

them to their most effective management.

Results

The results were analyzed by the following five questions through surveys and interviews.

What attracts events to certain venues in college towns?

Quantitative data.

The first question posed was, “What types of events/concerts are you interested in?” This

was a question where participants could check off all of the types of events they would attend

and the top ones were Comedy Shows (65.1%), Rap Concerts (60.5%), Other Types of Concerts

(53.5%), Basketball Games (48.8%), and Country Concerts (39.5%), and majority of the write in

responses were for THON (9.3%).

Our next questions were short answers to, “What attracts you to an event/concert at the

BJC,” and, “If for the previous question it depends, why does it?” For majority of the answers,

they look for well-known acts, cheaper tickets for students, and the atmosphere of a live event. It

mainly depends on how much the act/event will hold our participants’ interest as well.

Qualitative data.

A staff member of the Bryce Jordan Center gave us first-hand insight on how they run

general operations, their food and beverage, and ticketing that is done. When choosing events,

they go through a promoter and ensure the event is safe and feasible through a university

standpoint. They hardly turn down shows, but the events do have to make sense for the State
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College area and community. They plan their shows anywhere from a couple months out to over

a year out if that is what the event calls for, but they always plan around their permanent tenant:

the Penn State Basketball team. When the promoters agree on a date, everything is decided by

them and their act. They chose the ticket packages, the merchandise, what can and cannot be

sold, how they would like their lighting, sound, etc. and the Bryce Jordan Center will

accommodate them nearly to the fullest extent.

What sets the Bryce Jordan Center apart from the other secondary markets is the staffing.

“What sets us apart is our staff. We are a secondary market; as is Hershey and Wilkes-Barre and

Allentown, whatever you want to designate. We do not have that secondary market mindset. We

treat the tours coming in as if we were a primary market.” They try to provide the best possible

treatment to every single act no matter what the event may be by giving no attitude, offering

amenities, and leaving a strong lasting impression on those who come to their venue. One may

think that being in a college town, that could also be a defining variable; after speaking with the

staff member, it surprisingly is not. It can help in respect that 44,000 more people have come into

the State College area, but they are students. It can be hard to make sure students are buying

those tickets and if even 5% of the student body has purchased tickets, the BJC considers that a

successful sale. Student schedules are different and extracurricular activities vary between each

student so the variability is always subject to change with ticket sales based on that as well as

who will be at the BJC.

What motivates students to attend a concert at the BJC?

Quantitative data.

Of the 43 responses that answered survey questions pertaining to why they are motivated

to attend a concert at the BJC, two main aspects of motivation that were studied where a social
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aspect and a state of going under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The first question related to

the research question was “To what degree does going alone versus going with friends affect

your motivation to attend an event at the BJC?” and the second question being “Some people

enjoy being under the influence for an event. To what degree are you under the influence when

you attend events at the BJC?”. The breakdown of the data showed that there were underlying

trends and differences among male and female participants based on their response.

When asked to rate what degree does going alone versus going with friends affect your

motivation to attend an event from 1 being not at all and 5 being completely reliant on, females

averaged 4.66 while males averaged 3.83. In figure 3, there is a breakdown of the data that show

how important it is for both males and females to go with their friends to a concert at the BJC.

The comprehensive picture the data shows from the averages supports the theory that females are

more biologically wired for social connection because and are more likely to go to a concert with

friends to socialize with. The ratio of female to male participants was 31:12. 48% of both male

and female participants chose a rating of 5, 37% gave a rating of 4, 9% gave a rating of 3, and

2% gave a rating of 2, and 2% gave a rating of 1.

For the second question, “Some people enjoy being under the influence for an event. To

what degree are you under the influence when you attend events at the BJC?”, the same number

of participants and ratio of females to males applies to this question as it does to the previous

research question in the paragraph above. The scale for this question was 1 being sober and 10

being extremely intoxicated. The results of the survey question showed that females averaged 3.2

while males averaged 4.75. The trend shows that males are more likely to show up to an event at

the BJC under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Qualitative data.
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Under the survey question that asked, to what degree does going alone versus going with

friends affect your motivation to attend an event, there was an open ended question that followed

saying, “If you are willing, please elaborate on your previous answer.” There were 16 participant

responses that gave more insight into trends of students attending events at the BJC. To start off

with, the majority of respondents said they would feel weird if they went alone. The consensus

among the responses was that going with a group of people would be more fun than going alone.

One person said that, “I would always go to an event with friends and if I would ever go alone it

would have to be for something I love or a once in a life chance.” Another aspect that one

response mentioned was that they felt safer if they went with a close friend or group of friends in

case something bad happened. Overall, survey participants are more motivated to attend an event

at the BJC because someone in their social network has a similar interest in the event so they go

together.

Security Effectiveness

Qualitative data.

To gain insight into the effectiveness of Bryce Jordan Center security, we arranged an

interview with a person on the security staff. They provided a behind-the-scenes view into some

of the policies that make them effective and security issues that they face. Depending on the type

of event, Bryce Jordan has different numbers of security staff on-duty. “Say it's a women's

basketball game... maybe, 15 people. If it's a men's basketball game, where over 5000 people that

are coming, will be like 30, 40 people and then sometimes like Kevin Hart we had, we had to call

in a contractor so we were over like, like 250 people.” Security is placed all over the building.

There are at least two people at each metal detector, one running the machine and one to check

bags. People are placed strategically for different events. “On the inside, we would have
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everybody at the event doors. We would have people, if it was a basketball game, on the corners,

the four corners, so nobody could get on the court during the game. People in the in the artist

hallway, athletic hallway, so they wouldn't let on people that didn't have credentials back there.”

To train their personnel, Bryce Jordan has an orientation at the beginning of every year,

“the beginning of the fall semester”. They go over the events that are coming up and what can be

expected security wise. The security issues and the frequency of those issues depends on the

event. “It just the way the mood the people are in, like if we could have anything from 0 to 10 to

15 incidents in one. [Does it depend on what type of act is playing?] I mean typically it does, like

rock shows are the most peaceful shows. Country and rap are kinda, they're kinda out there. And

then strangely enough alcohol sales make a big difference. Like if there's alcohol sales there's

less incidents. If there's no alcohol sales people get drunk before and show up.” The issue that

the Bryce Jordan Center faces most frequently are “people being rude or like expecting

something and then like if it’s not being the specific way that they would like. It's kind of like a

irritated customers. Like that and people mistakenly bringing pocket knives and things like that.”

Quantitative data.

Respondents to our survey felt safe on average, 4.23 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being

“unsafe” and 5 being “extremely safe”. The most frequent response and the median response was

4. There was a standard deviation of 0.6. Respondents viewed security as 3.44 on a scale of 1 to

5 with 1 being “lenient” and 5 being “strict”. The most frequent response and the median

response were both 3. There was a standard deviation of .98. The average preference for

intoxication of patrons arriving at the BJC was 3.58 on a scale of 1 (“Sober” to 10 “Inebriated”).

The median intoxication was 4 but the most frequent response was 1. The standard deviation was

2.51. There was a correlation of .2 between how safe people felt in the BJC and how they viewed
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security. The correlation between how intoxicated people liked to arrive at the BJC and how safe

they felt (.13) or how they viewed security (.15) were nearly negligible.

The most frequently contraband items brought into the BJC, as demonstrated by Figure 5

were “food or snacks”, “juul/vape”, “alcohol”, and “non-alcoholic beverages”. There was a

middling correlation between the items respondents brought in. Food and drugs correlation was

.49, food and distracting items was -0.44, and drugs and distracting items was -0.48 .

How do venues make decisions on their food and beverage?

Quantitative data.

The quantitative data collected from the 43 participants in our survey 83.7% (36) said

they purchase food or beverage while attending an event at the BJC and 16.3% (7) saying they

do not according to Figure 3. The follow up question was what type of food and beverage items

do you purchase. This was a select all that apply so the participants could have chosen more

than one option. Looking at Figure 4 in the appendix going from the most popular purchases to

the least, 63.8% (27) of people order a chicken tender basket, 48.8% (21) order bottled water,

30.2% (13) order soda/pop, 27.9% (12) order pretzels, 25.6% (11) order creamery ice cream,

16.3% (7) order alcohol (when offered), 9.3% (4) order pulled pork nachos, 9.3% (4) no

purchases, and 2.3% (1) order popcorn, 2.3% (1) order chicken sandwich, submarine sandwich.

Qualitative data.

In an interview with a manager at the Bryce Jordan Center or BJC, I asked how do you

make your decision with food based on in-house or outsource? He stated that “the BJC has

always had in-house, so we have a comfort level with that, the in house has made great strides

going from simple foods to having a more creative options with a new chef.” He continued with

saying “weighing the option of going with a third-party or keeping in-house we looked at the
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control and quality of what we are doing. In-house we have all of the control, we know the

products, we can control what is specifically in the concessions stands what is offered.” With the

control that the in-house food and beverage it gives more risk to the BJC. When it comes to

limitations with food there is really only the limitations based on price. “Nobody will want to

spend $20 for a lobster roll at a concession stand.” The limitations on alcohol is based on the

show. “There is a long process to be proposed to the President (of Penn State), there needs to be

information provided such as how many people go to the shows, who is the demographic, and

were there any alcohol related instances that causes safety issues.” He said that when it comes to

alcohol they are at the mercy of the university to allow them to serve alcohol at their events.

What are students attitudes about the BJC as a wedding venue?

Quantitative data.

The percentage of responses for people answering “no” to “what are students attitudes

about the BJC as a wedding venue?” was 90.7% while the response percentage for “yes” was

9.3%.

Qualitative data.

When asked on the survey whether or not students would get married in the BJC, there

was a follow up response bar to further explain their responses. Some of the answers for people

who responded “no” were, “Not the right venue”, “I could never see it as a wedding venue”,

“Not a pretty venue”, “I would rather get Married on the beach” and “Want something more

scenic”. For people who responded with “yes”, some of their comments were “I love the bryce

jordan center and #berniepunt is the best”, “Because that would be cool if I was marrying

someone from Penn State that’s so Penn State and if they were involved in THON like if we met

through that it would make more sense and have meaning” and “It would be a nice story”.
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While conducting the interview with a local wedding planner, there was much to discuss

in terms of weddings in the field of event planning. In particular, one of the biggest things that

they touched on was that for many couples, the venue really depends on the preference of the

couple and how they feel about the venue they really want. Another thing that they touched on

when it came to finding venues for couples was that venues usually had to match with the

couple’s personalities. Venues are tricky though because you must be able to work with the

limitations of the space and make due with what is available if the couple is adimate about the

venue. In terms of preference, some people prefer to be outside for their wedding and some

people prefer to be inside for their wedding.

When asked if someone has ever approached them during their time as a wedding planner

about the BJC being a venue for a wedding, they couldn’t recall any time in their career of 20

years. However, the wedding planner did say that you would need to have a lot of people and the

wedding would need to big. To further elaborate why it would need to be a big wedding is

because they told me that there are no venues in this area that can hold more than 250 people

without being in a ballroom and to have a wedding in the BJC with a normal or smaller group of

people would just look silly and unprofessional. When I asked them if a BJC wedding was

possible, they said that it would still have to depend on the person but that you had to go all out

and that it would be expensive.

Out of curiosity, I asked the local wedding planner that if someone did want to have a

wedding in the BJC how they would go about it in the process of planning. They would proceed

as normal by having a conversation with the couple and then to ask to find out why the couple

picked the BJC and then speak to the venue manager about cost. The wedding planner stated that

they know a lot about the limitations and resources for most of the venues that do a lot of
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weddings so for the BJC, they would have to create a venue plan from scratch. To put it simply,

they said the following, “This is something that would require more involvement and planning

on the front end. You’re not able to just simply ‘wing it’. You need to have a clear contract

ahead of time so no one is surprised.”

Discussion

Location of Facility

After speaking with our interviewee, it is evident a lot of time and dedication goes into

the work that they put forth for the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC). When looking at what attracts

event to certain venues such as the Bryce Jordan Center, surprisingly enough, the student

population is something that the arena accounts for, but does not rely on. Promoters come to the

BJC not because of the student-body demographic, but because they know that the facility acts as

a primary market rather than the secondary market that they actually are. Our interviewee stated,

“What sets us apart is our staff. So, we are a secondary market as is Hershey and Wilkes-Barre

and Allentown, but our staff does not have the secondary market mindset. We operate and treat

the tours coming in as there in a primary market. They are getting the same level of customer

service and skillset as Philly, Pittsburgh, DC, or New York City, whatever’s coming through--

usually with less attitude, too. We are also a larger venue… that really helps us get there. We

always look at what sets us apart in terms of amenities… and we always give them ice cream.”

(2019). Furthermore, when they are marketing to events to come to the BJC, they do advertise

that there are 44,000 undergraduate students that come here. This really, according to our

interviewee, means relatively nothing. The employee stated that if only 5% of that 44,000

population buy tickets for an event, that is a win. Each student has their own tastes and
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preferences, along with the schooling/extracurricular activities, and maybe not having the funds

to go to an event, it can be challenging to bring students to events.

After looking at the survey data, we collected responses from types of events/concerts

students would be interested in most. We looked at the types of concerts the Bryce Jordan Center

was already bringing in, and based on that data, made those the check boxes students could say

they would attend. Most surprisingly said they would go to comedy shows and a close second

was rap concerts. I had country and rap listed specifically as concert choices, a check box titled

“other types of concerts,” and had write-in options as well for events that were not listed. The

data yielded that other types of concerts out-scored country concerts which is surprising for an

area like State College. What did not surprise me was that the only write-in answer we had was

THON. I did not list it as an option originally because it was a student-run event and not a Bryce

Jordan Center staff-ran event.

Motivations

The idea behind researching what motivations cause college students to purchase a

concert ticket for an event at the BJC is important to employees of the BJC who are in charge of

booking events to capture the largest target audience to maximize revenue and continue to build

a solid reputation for the venue. The study looks at how important certain values are to students

which ultimately decides if they are going make the purchase of a ticket for the event. By

conducting an online survey with questions that produce quantitative and qualitative results, I

was able to form a comprehensive picture of trends among males and females who have attended

a concert at the BJC.

After the survey concluded and the results were in, that data helped provide

evidence that supported a finding from National academy of Sciences. After conducting brain
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scans from 949 males and females, “Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's

brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men's brains,

where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions” (Sample,

2013). The functions of the brain where women have more connection is related to having better

social skills, memory, multi-tasking, which explains why they are more emotionally involved in

conversation. From the findings of my research, females ranked that they were more reliant on

attending a concert with their friends than males. If an employee was of the BJC was going to

make a good interpretation of this data for booking a show, they would want to book an artist

that has an appealing aspect for women. For example, hiring an act such as Justin Bieber for

Taylor Swift would be greatly appealing to possible the largest possible female target audience.

The second component of the survey gave me insight into the role that drug or alcohol

consumption played before going to a concert. Tying into a previously mentioned research result

surrounding event security that came from an interview with an employee of BJC security,

“Rock shows where alcohol is sold are the most peaceful and have the least problems, events

with no alcohol sales have the most problems because people show up the the event too

intoxicated”(2019, February 2). From the results of my study, 65% of people went under the

influence and 35% went sober. Most people rated the level of their intoxication to be at a level

where social interaction easier, they could still manage to have a good time, and were well within

their limits. As some shows progress, as opening act can take an hour and the effects of drugs or

alcohol can ware off. This timeline has the potential to motivate concert goer into sneaking some

of the contraband discovered from a survey question, 30% of survey participants claimed that

they or someone they knew brought alcohol into the BJC. This information is beneficial for an

employee and the BJC who is in the works of writing a proposal to the school to persuade board
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 19

members that allowing the BJC to sell alcohol at an event would have proposed safety benefits of

making an uncontrollable event more controllable.

Security Effectiveness

The Bryce Jordan Center holds an abundance of large events every year. Occasions

where a big group of people come together means that there is a potential for crime. The BJC

could be held liable for any injuries that occur on their premises therefore it is important that

they protect the people that are attending their events. An important part of maintaining a secure

environment is the appearance that the environment is secure. That is why it is important for

people to view a venue’s security presence as effective. For patrons to enjoy themselves they

need to be able to feel safe. Surprisingly there was no correlation between how safe people felt

and how strict or lenient they viewed security in our study. This would be an interesting avenue

to pursue in further research. Did this result happen because of our limited study focusing only

on college students or is this a phenomenon that happens at other venues too?

Like most venues of this sort the BJC needs to be cognizant of the potential alcohol

consumption of its patrons. While the results of our study indicate that a majority of patrons

don’t want to be seriously inebriated before attending an event there is not an insignificant

amount of people that like to be extremely intoxicated. To avoid liability at events where the

BJC is not serving alcohol the door guards need to be on higher alert for patrons that seem

visibly intoxicated. In general the door guards need to be on the lookout for the “contraband”

items that are most likely to be brought in like food, drinks, alcohol, and juuls/vapes. Another

option would be to change Bryce Jordan Center policy about which items are considered

contraband, a process that they have unofficially started. Our interview with BJC personnel

revealed that they don’t confiscate juuls/vapes unless “somebody’s being rude”. In Taylor and
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 20

Toohey’s study they found that an overt police present was more likely to aggravate intoxicated

patrons; their suggestion was to wait until the patron separated themselves from the group (like

to go to the restroom) and remove them then unless there was obvious criminal activity (Taylor

& Toohey, 2011).

Food and Beverage

The importance of conducting research for how the BJC makes it decisions on food and

beverage is seeing how they can increase the revenue of the BJC and create an experience for

fans. Food and beverage is a driving force for revenue at venues and understanding how

different food options can increase or decrease that revenue. Adding to this creating a positive

food experience will help because that can encourage people to purchase food each time they

return for an event. If they do not have a good experience then they will be less inclined to

purchase food. To find this information there were a couple questions in a survey to see if

people purchase food at the BJC, and if they did what they ordered. In an interview that I

conducted some questions that were asked about how they go about making their decisions and if

there were any limitations to their decisions.

What was interesting to my research was the amount of control the venue can have

when it comes to food and beverage. If they do everything in house then they have total control

of staffing, food choices, pricing, etc. If a venue hires a third party to manage food and beverage

they do not receive as much revenue from food and beverage, however they do not have to worry

about staffing, food choices, food inventory, etc. The third party that gets hired will be the ones

controlling everything. The venue will get a small slice of the revenue from them, but the

majority of it goes to the third party. In a class lecture from RPTM 497, Advanced Arena

Management one of the biggest amenities in VIP areas is the food. The food in these areas can
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 21

make or break the whole experience. Venues are starting to look like full-service restaurants

serving appetizers and entrees when it comes to serving food and beverage.

Wedding Venues

The reason I believe my research about weddings was important is because I wanted to

understand the demographic and opinions of students attitudes toward the BJC possibly being a

wedding venue. Although there was a lot of negative responses, there were a few that had voted

in favor if “yes” and I found that to be quite interesting. Responses were also interesting as well

for those who were in favor. One of the responses stood out to me simply because they said it

might be romantic if you were a die-hard Penn State fan. Reaching out to my agency contact

made me learn just how much a venue has to mean for the couple. One interesting fact I learned

through my contact was that the venue type always depends on the type of couple and what their

ties to the location may be. I learned through my contact that the possibility of the BJC being a

wedding venue isn’t just something that you can “wing it” to. There has to be a lot of front end

planning.

Limitations

For this research question, some limitations restricted the reliability of the results. The

demographic of our survey participants was skewed toward having significantly more female

responses which does not accurately represent an accumulation of ticket purchasers for the

average event at the BJC. In the future, this study could be the foundation to for a study that

examines a deeper look at what psychological and sociological desires a live concert experience

drives people to buy a ticket for a show or festival. This could be done by spending more time

formulating research questions that cater to a more specific research questions.

EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 22

References

Abbott, J. L., & Geddie, M. W. (2001). Event and Venue Management: Minimizing Liability

Through Effective Crowd Management Techniques. Event Management, 6, 259-270.

BJC Security interview [Personal interview]. (2019, February 2).

Cieslak, T. J. (2009). Match Day Security at Australian Sport Stadia: A Case Study of Eight

Venues. Event Management, 13, 43-52.

Compton, J. L. (1979). Motivations for pleasure vacation [Abstract]. Animals of Tourism

Research,6(4), 408-424. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(79)90004-5

Daniels, M. J., Lee, S., & Cohen, T. (2019, April 23). The Attributes Influencing Wedding

Reception Venue Selection. Retrieved from http://docserver.ingentaconnect.com/

Gelder, G., & Robinson, P. (2009). A critical comparative study of visitor motivations for

attending music festivals: A case study of glastonbury and V festival. Event

Management,13(3), 181-196. doi:https://doi.org/10.3727/152599509790029792

Getz, D. (1997). Event studies: Theory, research, and policy for planned events. Routledge, 1-53.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2008.09.004

Guan, L., Luo, Y., & Tang, L. R. (2015). An exploratory study of decision makers for choosing

wedding banquet venues: Push and pull motivations. Retrieved from

https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/IJTC-08-2014-0011

Karosas, A., & Stout, P. (2018). RPTM497: Advanced Arena Management, week 6 [PowerPoint

Slides]. Retrieved from class notes.

EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 23

Lau, C. K., & Hui, S. H. (2010, June). Selection attributes of wedding banquet venues: An

exploratory study of Hong Kong prospective wedding couples. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431909001169

Lentz, B., & Laband, D. (2008). The Impact of College Athletics on Employment in the

Restaurant and Accommodations Industries (No. 0803).

Sample, I. (2013, December 02). Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal.

Retrieved April 25, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-

women-brains-wired-differently

Schofield, P., & Thompson, K. (2007). Visitor motivation, satisfaction and behavioural intention:

The 2005 Naadam Festival, Ulaanbaatar. International Journal of Tourism

Research,9(5), 329-344. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.638

Stout P. (2019, March 29). Personal Interview.

Taylor, T., & Toohey, K. (2011). Ensuring Safety at Australian Sport Event Precincts: Creating

Securitised, Sanitised and Stifiling Spaces. Urban Studies, 48(15).

EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 24

APPENDIX

Figure 1: Quantitative and Qualitative Survey Questions

● Have you ever attended an event at the Bryce Jordan Center?

○ Yes or No

What year are you if you are a student?

○ Multiple Choice: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, 5th Year or more,

Graduate Student, I am not a student

● Gender

○ Multiple Choice: Female, Male, Prefer not to answer

● Race/Ethnicity

○ Multiple Choice: White, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African America, Native

American/American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, Prefer not to answer.

● What Attracts you to an Event/concert at the BJC?

○ Open Ended/Short answer

● What types of events/concerts are you interesting in?

○ Choose all the apply: Comedy Shows, Rap Concerts, Country Concerts,

Basketball Games, Other Concerts, Other Sporting Events, Other (write-in)

Where are you sitting/where are your tickets for the typical event you choose to attend?

○ Multiple Choice: Floor/General Admission, Lower Bowl, Upper Bowl, Depends

● Do you purchase food and/or beverage while attending an event at the BJC?

○ Yes or No

● If you do what type of food and beverage items do you purchase?

EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 25

○ Choose all that apply: Chicken Tender Basket, Pretzel, Pulled Pork Nachos,

Creamery Ice Cream, Bottled Water, Soda/Pop, Alcohol (When offered), No

Purchases, Other

● How safe do you feel in the BJC?

○ Linear Scale 1 (not safe at all) to 5 (extremely safe)

● How do you view security at the BJC?

○ Linear Scale 1 (lenient) to 5 (strict)

To what degree does going alone versus going with your friends affect your motivation to attend

an event at the BJC.

○ Linear Scale 1 (not at all) to 5(completely reliant on)

● If you are willing, please elaborate on your previous answer

○ Open Ended

● To what degree do you prefer to show up to an event at the BJC under the influence of

drugs or alcohol?

○ Linear Scale 1 (Sober) to 10 (Heavily Impaired)

● What materials have you brought into the BJC?

○ Choose all the apply: Food/Snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol, weapons,

distracting items (noise makers, inflatables, flash lights), cigarettes, Juul/Vape,

Marijuana, Other Drugs, lasers, selfie stick, animals (aside from service animals),

none, other.

● Price notwithstanding, would you ever consider getting married at the Bryce Jordan

Center (BJC)?

○ Yes or No
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 26

Why did you choose the answer you did to the previous question?

○ Open Ended

● In general, what are your attitudes towards the BJC as a destination wedding venue?

○ Open Ended

Interview Questions*

Bryce Jordan Center Employee

● Events can choose from a number of arenas so why a college town like State College?

● How do you choose the events you do and when?

● What helps set the BJC apart from other arenas?

● How competitive are surrounding venues in the region?

● What elements of a live event are attractive to ticket purchasers?

● What helps set the BJC apart from other arenas?

● How can the live event experience can be maximized?

● What attracts events to certain venues in college towns?

● Have you ever held a wedding here? If not, would you consider it?

● How do seasons affect attendance for events?

● What demographic of attendants brings in the most money for the BJC?

● How does the BJC make decisions on what food and beverage to offer patrons?

● What are the limitations to the choices of F&B?

● Depending on the event do you have the opportunity to change the food you offer?

● When it comes to serving alcohol for events, how do you choose which events to serve

it? Can you always serve alcohol, are there a specific number of events per year?

● What demographic of attendants brings in the most money for the BJC?
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 27

Bryce Jordan Center Employee--preferably in the Security Department

● How do you train your security at the BJC?

● How many security staff do you have?

● How frequently does the BJC deal with security issues?

● What security issues do you deal with most frequently?

● How severe would you say this issue is?

● How does the BJC handle or plan to handle security infractions of different sizes

○ Theft

○ Patrons under the Influence

○ Violence

○ Terrorism

○ Riots/unruly patrons

● How does the Bryce Jordan Center compare to other venues?

● How does the BJC analyze risks, specifically security risks?

For B Events Employee

● What type of couples usually approach you to plan their weddings?

● What demographics would you say most of them fit?
● What state college venues are booked most frequently?
● Is there any type of wedding venue that would seem like it was a bit out of place or not fit
for a wedding?
● In your experience, have you ever had anyone come to you to discuss having a wedding
in the BJC?
● If someone did, how would you proceed with that type type of planning?
*Due to timing, not all questions will most likely be asked—more to help facilitate lulls in

conversation
EVENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING FOR LARGE SCALE EVENTS 28

Figure 2: To what degree does going alone versus going with friends affect your motivation to

attend an event at the BJC?