By Atiqah Ismail and Aznan Mat Piah
GOMBAK, 21 October 2015: “It all starts with a dream,” an event management consultant told a forum on ‘Managing High Profile Signature Events’ at IIUM today.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of Carlson White, Michael Gomez, shared his worthy of experiences with communication students on how he had successfully built his name as a consultant in event management, handling high profile signature events in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Held at Mini Auditorium, the forum was organised by Communication Centre headed by Mdm Mazni Buyong with support from the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia Student Association (IPRMSA) – IIUM Chapter. Present at the talk, among others, were former IIUM Rector and a senior academic member of the Department of Communication, Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Syed Arabi Idid, lecturers from the Department of Communication and some 150 students from the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences.
Gomez told the audience that he started to be attracted to event management after having worked as a deejay for several years at various locations in the entertainment and hospitality industry where some of big publicity events were held.
He said during the early years when he ventured into event management he had to work very hard to overcome all kinds of challenges to prove to the industry that he could deliver his skills well to establish a brand name for his company. In some instances he even had to put forward as many as 30 proposals to bid for a single job.
Of particular interest was his sharing of worthwhile experience when his company was selected to handle the grand official opening of Petronas twin towers in 1999 which he described as “massive but impressively carried out” where his proposal for the huge screen to be erected in between the two towers had earlier received objection from Petronas on the ground that strong winds could tear down the buildings. But he said he finally managed to convince the management of the company after getting the right advice of various experts.
In line with his company’s tagline “science and sense” Michael Gomez highlighted that he has built some useful elements into event management. He cited values such as creativity, story telling, management, technologies, planning, entertainment, and leaving an impression; all these to be triggered by the following senses – sight, sound, smell, taste, touch – through connection, experience and imagination.
Through his consultancy Carlson White, Gomez had showed that event management had now progressed to become a more sophisticated and specialised public relations component alongside global public relations. Gomez cited the evolution of the discipline, which he said started in-house, progressing to advertising agencies, public relations agencies, and event management/branding agencies to what is now specialised niche event agencies.
Gomez called on the students to continue to have a ‘dream’ if they want to be successful. He also cited the success of Walt Disney which started with an idea of a Mickey mouse but has now developed into a huge entertainment industry capturing global market.
He stressed that the practical experience is of critical importance in the industry, therefore the need to identify the strength for those who really intend to join the related field upon graduating from the university.
“I think it is important for graduating students to gain the necessary exposure in the industry because you must know what you are getting into before you really give a focus,” Gomez concluded.
The talk was organised with the objective to expose communication students, in particular, to the skills on event management and public relations, particularly on the latest techniques and skills to survive in a competitive global environment.***