What do you even study? Business with Events Management summed up

I’m Nick and I’m halfway through my Business with Events Management degree. I thought I’d sum up some of the highlights over the last year and explain a little further about my course, in case you’re considering this degree for yourself.

A lot of our modules are shared with students on other courses in the School of Management, because they prepare you to work in industry and give you a solid basis in business knowledge, not just your specialism. That has been so helpful and I am already implementing so much of it into my day-to-day life.

Marketing

I may be specialising in events management, but understanding the basics of marketing is really important to help me think about promotions and adverts, and what kind of material is suitable for which audience.

From traditional analysis and techniques through to TikTok, we covered so much on this module. I am confident that this has given me a really solid grounding in marketing, and some key skills for my future, professionally and for any personal ventures.

Tourism and Events

Again, we covered some key theories and concepts, looking at case studies. We even got to go on a few field trips to local Cambridge tourist attractions, looking at how they market themselves to different audiences.

What I found really valuable was the chance this module gave me to work on a group presentation. It help me build valuable team-working skills but also work out how to spread the workload evenly.

Another really vital part of this module was giving me confidence in public speaking. It was something I really didn’t think I could ever do. That’s something university is great for. From learning about referencing through to using a library and online resources, there’s so much to learn about – balancing it all and mastering some of it is so rewarding.

Something else this module offered was the chance to network. With my confidence growing, I managed to organise a meeting with Cambridge City Council to discuss how they market and promote their local events in the city.

Accounting for Managers

This module really frightened me initially. Spreadsheets, accountancy, profits, loss – I was so unsure whether I would be thrown in the deep end and never seen again.

Actually, though, it went at the right pace for me and I came away with a really good understanding of this area. I use a lot of it outside of university too, balancing my budgets and relieving some of the stress that comes with financing your way through university.

Management

We got the chance to complete the Introduction to Organisations and Management module, too. This showed us case studies on the diverse management practices used by different organisations, and how they can affect employee motivation.

It sounds unlikely, but even in my day job as a Supervisor at Costa, this module was so helpful. I want to keep these techniques in the forefront of my mind as I go forward in my career, as I think they are some of the most important skills I’ve learned.

Food & Drink Tourism and Events

I’ve saved the best until last.

This was my favourite module of first year. And that wasn’t just for the ‘Food & Drink’ tour of Cambridge – yes, it was as tasty as it sounds, and I get to show my friends and family to some really cool places, but being this hands-on was so inspiring and helpful when it came to getting ideas for my assignments.

Another really memorable part of this module was discussing and investigating how some tours and events in our case studies could have been made more sustainable. Having the opportunity to research and complete assignments on real-life events really made it feel like we (even as students) could have an amazing impact on the world one day.