IntroductionI wanted to evaluate the affects that the design of an event has on a visitor at The Language Show Live, by following the following objectives:-

- To analyse how upper street events add various aspects to their event to ensure full attention from their visitors.

- To identify possible negative factors that could affect the visitors experience to The Language Show.

-To observe my surroundings and the visitors interactions throughout a short period of the event.

-Spot observations count checking people who attend various presentations and the varied popularity.

Methodology - During the tour of the event, 4 Presentation zones were spot checked, observed & noted.- Observation of stands (Selected at random) - Spot check at catering facility

To evaluate how the design of The Language Show affects the visitors experience 17/10/14

Michael Phillips 9cmichaelphillips@googlemail.com

Result - InteractionAt any event interaction is really important Its nice for visitors to feel like they can be involved.The Linguascope stand had an option where you could design your own interactive game which i feel is great for teachers whom may wish to produce something which they can then take to their class (see figure 1).This can really benefit them with their teaching and allow their pupils to produce better work.This will really make visitors who have a strong interest value the event and what it provided.As the visitors at the language show are there for a specific reason of their own and they are looking to seek individual advantages to gain from attending. Learning to write in Chinese was also an option (See figure 2) Providing a choice to visitors also visitors having the chance to interact with workers at stands. Pine & Gilmore (1999) state that entertaining simply is not enough and you have to keep visitors/consumers

engaged through interaction.

Result - Uniform Uniform is something that helps establish a business/ organisation you are working for and really shows professionalism especially at events. At the language show this is one of the main things that stood out. Most of the staff working stands were wearing their own branding however the army style uniform holds respect around its past which really caught a lot of attention from other visitors and it also helps raise awareness. (See figure 3)

Figure 1

Figure 2 Figure 3

Results - Spot ChecksI observed various presentations during my visit to the Language Show Live, I was interested to find out how visitors would interact and choose to spend their time at the event which also comes into my research aim of how the design of the show affects visitors, does having listening spots attract people? I overlooked the Tele forum which had 32 visitors 15:10.The careers forum with 64 visitors 15:15 which a lot of people were standing & the live Plaza presentation with 29 visitors 15:30. Looking at these statistics really shown me that a lot of the visitors attending the language show were there for a career based reason, either to help them improve or to introduce them into a language based career choice. The presentations were seated areas with a screen and speakers at the front (See figure 4) the Tele forum Presentation.

Figure 4

Result - CateringSLICE was just one of the catering facilities available to visitors. Having food & drink available at events is a great thing to have as it keeps the visitors in the venue without them having to leave for their lunch.When observing slice i captured 15 visitors queuing, 31 visitors eating at 15:38.This is quite a late time which i thought maybe the visitors had delayed their lunch because they had more interest in what the Language show was providing. Individually everyone has their own satisfactions for their experiences. ‘Experience is simply the mental state that occurs in any given individual at any conscious moment’. Poulsson & Kale (2004)

Conclusion & Recommendations Upper Street Events definitely knew what their visitors wanted and they met their needs very well at The Language Show. Providing not a variety of stands which met various interests to apply to the visitors, but also introducing interactive opportunities adding extra value to the overall event experience.

I attended the event on the 17th October 2014 which had a lot of footfall however when comparing my visit with others Sunday was considerably quieter, from this i noticed a lot of the visitors on the Friday was school children on a trip, so possibly introducing it earlier in the week like Thursday-Saturday which would allow more schools to be involved through trips and therefore the event its self would have higher visitor numbers, and the exhibition stands taking part will also gain from this.I would also make a recommendation to the catering factor as i think it would be more beneficial to have more seating at the SLICE catering area as this meant visitors wouldn't have to sit on the floor perimeter around the restaurant. Signage was also very poor approaching the event and was hard for me to locate the Olympia as i was not familiar with the venue.

Overall the event was well executed but had specific factors that added to its value an visitor experience. They provided variety which is great for events as it gives the visitor/consumer a choice allowing them to decide which route they wish to take and which interactive stands they would like to be involved in. For someone who is interested within the language event this is a great event for them to attend.

ReferencePine, J. B., II, and Gilmore, J. H. (1999), The experience economy: work is theatre and every business a stage, Cambridge, Harvard Business School

Poulsson S. and Kale S. (2004), The experience economy and commercial experience, Marketing Review 4, pp. 269-271.

Sunday, 23 November 14