Meeting and Event Administration
Advice and Guidance for
Practitioners
Event and meeting administration
Purpose of this guidance
This advice and guidance aims to support practitioners in the delivery of the
meeting and event administration elements of the new National Qualifications in
Administration and IT courses at National 4 and National 5.
The advice and guidance will support practitioners understanding of the role
administrators have in supporting meetings and events and the skills which may be
required by administrators.
It will give a flavour of the wide range of meetings and events an administrator may
be required to support.
This advice and guidance should provide exemplification of learning and teaching
approaches to practitioners to encourage experiential learning within possible real
life event administration contexts. Additional guidance on active learning
approaches to meeting and event administration can be found.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and
National 5 Administration & IT
Meeting and event administration
Content of this guidance
The advice and guidance incorporates video case studies offering practitioners – and
indeed learners – an unprecedented insight into the role of administrators in
supporting meetings and events.
There is an evaluation template which helps to support a deeper investigation of the
video case studies and to help practitioners capture a key understanding of the
duties of administrators in supporting meetings and events, and the skills utilised by
administrators which are essential to the success of the meeting/event.
The advice and guidance recognises the value of learners of experiential, active
learning strategies for meeting and event administration.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Why meeting/event
administration?
Supporting the planning, implementation and review of a diverse range
of events and meetings is an increasingly pivotal role and duty of
administrators within the contemporary workplace.
Supporting meetings/events may be part of a general administrators
role, but many organisations have a dedicated event administrator with
specialist skills and knowledge to support events required by the
organisation.
The new National Qualifications in Administration and IT reflects the
role administrators play in supporting meetings and events.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and
National 5 Administration & IT
The differences between
event administration and event management?
For many organisations, event administration and event management are one in the
same, with both terms being used interchangeably to define the work undertaken to
manage and facilitate events required by the organisation.
However, to deepen understanding of the contribution administrators make to
successful events it is worth attempting to make distinctions between the blurred
roles of event manager and event administrator.
The event manager has overall decision-making authority and responsibility for the
event. They will set the objectives for the event and decide how resources will be
used to facilitate an event that meets the set objectives. Resources the event manager
will rely on may include staff, finance, accommodation, equipment and time.
The event administrator will be allocated responsibility and tasks from the event
manager to help support the event. The event administrator will rely on a
combination of administration and IT skills to successfully complete these tasks and
contribute to the successful event.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
The differences between
event administration and event management?
Simple examples of the differing role of the event manager and event administrator
may include:
The event manager will determine the budget for the event and how the budget will
be utilised. The event administrator will maintain a spreadsheet of the agreed budget,
updating the spreadsheet with actual spend versus budget. The event administrator
will communicate any issues to the event manager.
The event manager will make decisions on the requirements for a venue to hold the
event. The event administrator will use this information to research, identify and book
an appropriate venue.
The event manager will decide on the attendees to invite to the event. The event
administrator will communicate with these potential attendees, notifying them of the
event details.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration & IT
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and
National 5 Administration & IT
What events do administrators
support?
Administrators may support a diverse range of events and meetings. The events and meetings will
vary from organisation to organisation and will depend on the nature, purpose, size and structure of
the organisation.
Common events and meeting held by contemporary organisations and supported by administrators
may include:
Meetings
Events
• Interviews, department, project team,
functional team, whole staff,
video/web conference
• Award ceremonies, fundraising event,
charitable event, teambuilding
conferences, sales event, customer
open day, focus groups, press
conference, exhibition, new premises
opening, new product launches,
training sessions.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Administration & IT: Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5
The role of the administrator in
supporting events?
Event administrators could provide a range of support activities before, during and
after the event. The actual nature of this support will depend on the event.
The administrator could complete a range of tasks and produce an array of
documents to support the event.
The administrator could use skills in the use of information technology to produce,
amend, present and communicate information before, during and after the event.
The administrator may often have to complete the tasks to an agreed schedule and
adhere to the organisations ‘house-style’ guidance for document creation.
The administrator may also have to provide solutions to problems that may arise
during the meeting/event eg the use of information technology by colleagues or
unforeseen issues with the location, external suppliers or attendees to the meeting
or event.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Administration & IT: Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5
What administrative skills are essential
to event success?
Despite the variety of potential events an administrator may be required to support,
essential skills commonly used will include:
Use of non-IT
equipment
(laminator,
binder, etc)
Teamworking
Communication
Information
Technology
Literacy
Problem solving
Event
Administration
Skills
Working with
numbers
Working under
own initiative
Creativity
Attention to
detail
Planning and
time
management
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Administration & IT: Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5
What administrative ICT skills are
essential to event success?
Administrators would be expected to harness the benefits of information technologies and should be
skilled in the use of available hardware, software and networks. Administrators should also keep
abreast of emerging technologies that may be beneficial in supporting an event.
Hardware
Hardware used by an administrator before, during and after
the event may include – photocopiers, printers, projectors,
smart phones, audio speakers, monitors/screens, PCs,
laptops, web cameras, etc
Software
Software used by an administrator before, during and after
the event may include - word processing, spreadsheets,
databases, presentation, desk-top-publishing, e-mail, ediary, scheduling and social networking applications.
Networks
Administrators would also be expected to use internal
networks (intranet) and external networks (including the
internet) to access, extract and share information.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Administration & IT: Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5
Introduction to video case studies
Three specially commissioned video case studies have been produced to offer access
to administrators actively involved in supporting a range of events/meetings.
The video clips provide an insight into the work of administrators before, during and
after events and illustrates the range of skills used.
A template that can be used to extract relevant details on the role of the administrator
in each case study can be downloaded here.
This template may be used by practitioners in the first instance, but may also be used
by learners viewing the video clips within a centre. Completed video analysis
templates may be used as a discussion tool to further investigate event administration
Administration & IT: Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5
Introduction to event/meeting
administration video case studies
Campbell Dallas. An insight in the work of an
administrator supporting a managers meeting at the
Glasgow headquarters of the chartered accountants .
Education Scotland. An exploration of the work of an
administrator supporting a launch event at the public
sector body.
Material UK. A discussion with an event specialist who
supports Scotland’s largest outdoor music festival.
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Before the event
Click on each link below to view an introduction to each case scenario and
details on the work of administrators before the event/meeting.
Campbell
Dallas
Education
Scotland
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Material
UK
During the event
Click on each link below to view the role of the administrator on the day of the
event/meeting.
Campbell
Dallas
Education
Scotland
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Material
UK
After the event
Click on each link below to view clips on the work of the administrator once
the event/meeting has finished.
Campbell
Dallas
Education
Scotland
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and National 5 Administration and IT
Material
UK
Advice and Guidance for National 4 and
National 5 Administration & IT