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The Children’s Season 2011 (CS2011) seeks to inspire, engage and educate children through experiential exhibitions and educational children’s programmes. Its major stakeholders are the National Heritage Board (NHB) and the Museum Roundtable who are the joint organisers for this event. The fourth run of the event will be held from the 14 May to 31 July 2011 involving more than 20 participating museums, offering over 80 activities catered mainly for the children from aged 6 to 12 years old. A Children’s Season Hub (below) was also set up along Orchard Road to offer visitors information about all participating museums, their programmes and children’s workshop and activities. These children-centric and family friendly installations and activities will be able to inculcate an appreciation for heritage amongst the young and at the same time facilitate bonding in families.
This event is an example of a local or community event. It is produced under the direction of NHB, a statutory board under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, employing volunteers from the host community and uses public venues - museums to host the event. The event would be able to expose the visitors to new ideas and experiences, and promote a sense of pride and belongingness. The scale of impact of CS2011 is small as the attendance for the event makes up of mainly children and their families. It also uses existing infrastructure of the museums and benefits created is mainly for its targeted audiences. It can also be inferred that the event is targeted mainly at the local children and their families as it is being organised during the June Holidays period where most children do not have to attend school, resulting in more leisure time to be able to visit the event.
For the purpose of this report, I will focus on the CS2011 at the Peranakan Museum which I visited over 5 separate occasions both as a volunteer and a visitor.
Go to next section: Introduction to Children's Season 2011 at the Peranakan Museum
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| Image: Children's Season 2011 Logo Image Courtesy of Children's Season 2011 |
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| Photo: Children's Season Hub at Orchard Road |
For the purpose of this report, I will focus on the CS2011 at the Peranakan Museum which I visited over 5 separate occasions both as a volunteer and a visitor.
Go to next section: Introduction to Children's Season 2011 at the Peranakan Museum
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Go to next section: Strengths & Weaknesses
The CS2011 Programme at the Peranakan Museum is themed Peranakan Adventures for the Little Phoenixes and Dragons and it runs from 7th June to 30 June 2011 on Mondays from 2pm to 6pm and on Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Activities for the Children’s Season are complimentary with admission.
As part of the event, the Ixora Room, located at the entrance of the museum had been converted into a Peranakan-Inspired Room with a range of interactive (Appendix A) catering for the children aged 6-10 years old. Five children’s workshops (Appendix B) were also organised. Besides, there were also additional activities on the Weekend Festival (Appendix C) and on Drop-In Wednesdays (Appendix D).
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| Appendix A Range of Interactives Click the Image for more information |
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PROGRAMMING
Programme Flow for Weekend Festival
Weaknesses
Lack of first-aid personnel & facilities
The organiser did not employ any first aid personnel or prepared any first aid kits for cases of emergencies. During my duty, there was an incident whereby one boy knocked against the sharp edge of the drawer at one of the interactives, resulting in bleeding at the left cheek. However, there was no first aid kit for volunteers to render help to the boy, and the parents had to handle it instead.
MARKETING
Marketing events is the process of employing the marketing mix to attain organisational goals through creating value for customers and other stakeholders. The marketing mix includes experiential components such as Product, Place, Programming and People as well as facilitating components such as Partnerships, Promotion, Packaging & Distribution and Price.
Strengths
Wide range of communication mix used
In order to generate awareness in CS2011, the organisers had used various tools (Appendix H) to promote this event to the public. The websites had proved to be the most effective tool as 4 out of 5 parents interviewed during the CS2011 programme at the Peranakan Museum indicated that they found out about the activity through the websites.
Weaknesses
Pricing of Workshops
As compared to the complimentary activities such as those during Drop-In Wednesdays and the Weekend Festival, the attendance for the chargeable workshops at CS2011 at the Peranakan Museum pales in comparison, some workshops had to be cancelled due to lack of interest. The high cost could be the cause for the lack of participants joining the workshops. For example, Shophouse Secrets: Digital Photography Workshop costs $40 per child, which may be too costly or not worth the money to some parents.
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ENVIRONMENT & VENUE
The event venue is an important factor in event concept development. It should be able to meet the operational needs of the event in terms of access and facilities, catering for the number of attendees and contributing to the desired style and atmosphere as it plays a part in the attendee’s event experience and customer satisfaction.
Strengths
Convenient Access to Event Venues
The venue of the event, the Ixora Room of the Perankan Museum is easily accessible using various forms of transportation. The Peranakan Museum is a 10-minutes’ walk from City Hall MRT and Bras Basah MRT and is also accessible by 22 bus services. Paid parking services are also available next to the museum.
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| Photo: The Ixora Room, Peranakan Museum |
Ambience & Atmosphere
The Ixora Room is a Peranakan-Inspired room that is painted in baby hues to create a cosy and comfortable atmosphere that makes the young visitors feel welcomed. Traditional Peranakan music with an upbeat tune can also be heard playing in the background, supplementing the decorations of the room. I felt that the museum had made appropriate use of the decorations, colours as well as audio tools in creating an environment that has successfully met the needs of the children, thus enhancing their event experience.
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| Photo: Interior of Ixora Room 1 |
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| Photo: Interior of Ixora Room 2 |
Weaknesses
Size of Venue
There were signs of overcrowding within the Ixora Room during peak periods, although efforts had been made to disperse the crowds to various locations internally for different activities. Visitors had to squeeze through the crowd in order to get to interactives in the room. This shows that the museum may have underestimated the size of the patronising crowd, resulting in the mismatch between the size of the venue and the crowd size.
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| Photo: Signs of Overcrowding |
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The programme, another experiential component under events marketing creates the core event experience for the attendees. It involves the flow of performers, speakers and other elements of the event over the event duration.
Besides the main programme: Peranakan Adventures for the Little Phoenixes and Dragons (Appendix E) that is available daily during the period of event in the Ixora Room, there are also special programmes on Drop-In Wednesdays, Weekend Festival and Workshops.
Strengths
Interactive Activities
The interactive activities highlighted in Appendix A are part of the daily programme. Based on the interviews with participants, it is evident that both young and old had enjoyed the activities, showing that the activities had successfully engaged them, creating a positive event experience and meeting participant’s expectations of it.
Besides the main programme: Peranakan Adventures for the Little Phoenixes and Dragons (Appendix E) that is available daily during the period of event in the Ixora Room, there are also special programmes on Drop-In Wednesdays, Weekend Festival and Workshops.
Strengths
Interactive Activities
The interactive activities highlighted in Appendix A are part of the daily programme. Based on the interviews with participants, it is evident that both young and old had enjoyed the activities, showing that the activities had successfully engaged them, creating a positive event experience and meeting participant’s expectations of it.
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| Photo: Children engaging in interactive activities |
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| Photo: Helping a girl with at the Dress Up Corner |
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| Photo: Children engaging in various activities |
Programme Flow for Weekend Festival
On the Weekend Festival, there were performances at the lobby of the museum (Appendix F). These performances were in 30 minutes to 1 hour intervals and last for about 15 to 30 minutes each, it includes dance and musical performances as well as a re-enactment of a Peranakan Wedding. By scheduling the performances at appropriate intervals, it allowed the visitors to go for the other activities such as crafts and caricature sessions at the other parts of the museum or just take a break. Thus, it shows the organiser’s efforts in balancing the levels of intensity and times of rest of the audience.
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| Photo: Performers from the Peranakan Association Re-enactment of Peranakan Wedding |
Meeting the needs of the young audience
The choice of performances during the Weekend Festival was appropriate as it made use of the song and dance to engage the children. Besides, the performance artists recruited such as the artists from Urban Harmony specialised in children performance, thus they were able to engage the young crowd effectively, maximising their event experience, contributing to the success of the programme.
The choice of performances during the Weekend Festival was appropriate as it made use of the song and dance to engage the children. Besides, the performance artists recruited such as the artists from Urban Harmony specialised in children performance, thus they were able to engage the young crowd effectively, maximising their event experience, contributing to the success of the programme.
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| Photo: Urban Harmony engaging the crowd with their performance |
Weaknesses
Limited Places for certain activities
Due to logistics and space constraints, the museum only allocated limited places for activities such as the silkscreen printing which is catered for only 84 children over 14 time slots. This caused some children and parents to have to be turned away disappointed that they were unable to join in the activity, as such negatively impacting their event experience.
Limited Places for certain activities
Due to logistics and space constraints, the museum only allocated limited places for activities such as the silkscreen printing which is catered for only 84 children over 14 time slots. This caused some children and parents to have to be turned away disappointed that they were unable to join in the activity, as such negatively impacting their event experience.
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| Photo: Staff and volunteer explaining to visitors that the silkscreen printing activity had been fully booked |
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MANPOWER ALLOCATION
Effective planning and management of manpower contributes to successful events. Event organisers need to ensure that the event is adequately staffed with the right people. Due to the large volume of manpower required for the 24 days event, the programmes department started recruiting volunteers about 1 month before the event commencement. The volunteer’s schedule is as follows:
Shift 1 (Except Mondays) | Shift 2 |
10am to 2pm | 2pm to 6pm |
3 and 7 volunteers were allocated for each shift on weekdays and weekends respectively. More volunteers were allocated for weekends to cope with larger crowds. Besides the unpaid volunteers, about 5 permanent staff members were also around to supervise the
operations of the event. |
| Photo: The volunteers, Erika and I |
Strengths
Clear Job Descriptions for VolunteersThe general list of duties and responsibilities (Appendix G) was emailed to volunteers a week before the commencement of the event. The job description helps us, the volunteers to familiarise ourselves with the job scope before going for duty, thus increasing our abilities to serve the visitors, enhancing their event experience.
Flexibility in allocation
The volunteers’ job allocation was based on the number of visitors at each activity. More volunteers were situated at popular activities in order to cope with larger crowd size. This arrangement would thus allow the event to be adequately staffed at all times, according to each activity’s demand.
Weaknesses
Insufficient Manpower Allocated for Weekends and Special Programmes
Despite the flexible allocation of manpower, the event still faced staffing shortage during the peak hours of the event which is usually between 2pm – 3pm. This causes frustration of some visitors as they had to wait for a while before a staff/volunteer could attend to the requests. This problem was prevailing during the Drop-In Wednesdays whereby only 3 volunteers and 5 permanent staff members were on duty across the 2 venues, the Ixora Room and the Lecture Room. This lack of manpower will adversely impact the visitor’s events experience as they might feel that the service rendered is not up to their expectations.
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LOGISTICS
According to Logistics World, the term ‘logistics’ meant to have the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. Event logistics includes the efficient supply of the customer to the product, and the supply of facilities to and from the event site.
Strengths
Availability of materials & communication tools
The organiser had prepared sufficient materials such as colour pencils, coloured paper, electronic sharpeners as well as hand sanitizers for the visitor’s use. The materials are restocked immediately by the volunteers once they run low, thus showing the efficient coordination of logistics at the event. Signages were also present to direct the visitors to the event venue.
According to Logistics World, the term ‘logistics’ meant to have the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. Event logistics includes the efficient supply of the customer to the product, and the supply of facilities to and from the event site.
Strengths
Availability of materials & communication tools
The organiser had prepared sufficient materials such as colour pencils, coloured paper, electronic sharpeners as well as hand sanitizers for the visitor’s use. The materials are restocked immediately by the volunteers once they run low, thus showing the efficient coordination of logistics at the event. Signages were also present to direct the visitors to the event venue.
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| Photo: Signages to direct visitors to the Babazaar during Weekend Festival |
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| Photo: Signage to Caricature and Photo Taking Activity |
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| Photo: Goodies Bags for the 1st 200 children on Weekend Festival |
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| Photo: Coloured paper, colour pencils, glue, scissors, electronic sharpers for visitor's use and music player to play Peranakan Tradtional Music |
Flow of performers
As mentioned above, there were performances organised for the Weekend Festival. The performers were held in a green room next to Lecture Room before their performances. They were then ushered to the performance area, the lobby, by the staff when it is time for their performance. This again showed the efficient coordination of logistics.
Contractors
The contractors conducted checks on the lightings in the room at regular intervals to ensure that light bulbs which had blown were replaced as soon as possible. Cleaners were also deployed in the room to do a thorough clean up once the programme end for the day.
As mentioned above, there were performances organised for the Weekend Festival. The performers were held in a green room next to Lecture Room before their performances. They were then ushered to the performance area, the lobby, by the staff when it is time for their performance. This again showed the efficient coordination of logistics.
Contractors
The contractors conducted checks on the lightings in the room at regular intervals to ensure that light bulbs which had blown were replaced as soon as possible. Cleaners were also deployed in the room to do a thorough clean up once the programme end for the day.
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| Photo: Cleaners cleaning off the paint spills on the tables from the previous activity |
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| Photo: Cleaning and preparing for activities on the next day |
Weaknesses
Lack of first-aid personnel & facilities
The organiser did not employ any first aid personnel or prepared any first aid kits for cases of emergencies. During my duty, there was an incident whereby one boy knocked against the sharp edge of the drawer at one of the interactives, resulting in bleeding at the left cheek. However, there was no first aid kit for volunteers to render help to the boy, and the parents had to handle it instead.
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PRODUCT AND SERVICES
The event offers more of an experience rather than a product or service. Visitors have to experience the event in order to consume it. Production, delivery and consumption of an event are inseparable, happening simultaneously most of the time. The event experience is also intangible and perishable, people delivering in the event may also have variations in quality.
The event offers more of an experience rather than a product or service. Visitors have to experience the event in order to consume it. Production, delivery and consumption of an event are inseparable, happening simultaneously most of the time. The event experience is also intangible and perishable, people delivering in the event may also have variations in quality.
Strengths
Souvenirs from event's programmes
The event experience is intangible and unlike a product, it cannot be owned. The programme includes activities such as painting of mugs and creating clay art pieces which they could bring home, as such adding on some tangibility to the event, helping to remind visitors of their event experience.
Souvenirs from event's programmes
The event experience is intangible and unlike a product, it cannot be owned. The programme includes activities such as painting of mugs and creating clay art pieces which they could bring home, as such adding on some tangibility to the event, helping to remind visitors of their event experience.
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| Photo: My souvenir from the Mug Painting Activity |
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| Photo: Clay art pieces which can be created and brought home |
Experience from all 5 senses
The activities engaged all 5 senses of visitors which could positively influence their event experience:
The activities engaged all 5 senses of visitors which could positively influence their event experience:
Sight | Looking at the household items used in Peranakan homes, decorations at the venue |
Hearing | Peranakan music playing in the background |
Touch | Trying out Peranakan costumes, doing crafts and activities |
Smell | Smelling the spices used in Peranakan cuisine |
Taste | Tasting the Pineapple tarts created at one of the activities during Drop-In Wednesdays |
Weaknesses
Lack of Engagement of the Sense of Taste
As mentioned above, the sense of taste of the visitors are engaged during the Drop-In Wednesdays whereby they get to taste one of the Peranakan snacks, the pineapple tarts. However this activity is not available daily during the event, which reduces the number of visitors who have a more complete experience from all 5 senses.
As mentioned above, the sense of taste of the visitors are engaged during the Drop-In Wednesdays whereby they get to taste one of the Peranakan snacks, the pineapple tarts. However this activity is not available daily during the event, which reduces the number of visitors who have a more complete experience from all 5 senses.
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MARKETING
Marketing events is the process of employing the marketing mix to attain organisational goals through creating value for customers and other stakeholders. The marketing mix includes experiential components such as Product, Place, Programming and People as well as facilitating components such as Partnerships, Promotion, Packaging & Distribution and Price.
Strengths
Wide range of communication mix used
In order to generate awareness in CS2011, the organisers had used various tools (Appendix H) to promote this event to the public. The websites had proved to be the most effective tool as 4 out of 5 parents interviewed during the CS2011 programme at the Peranakan Museum indicated that they found out about the activity through the websites.
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| Photo: One of the communication tools used - Brochures |
Pricing of Workshops
As compared to the complimentary activities such as those during Drop-In Wednesdays and the Weekend Festival, the attendance for the chargeable workshops at CS2011 at the Peranakan Museum pales in comparison, some workshops had to be cancelled due to lack of interest. The high cost could be the cause for the lack of participants joining the workshops. For example, Shophouse Secrets: Digital Photography Workshop costs $40 per child, which may be too costly or not worth the money to some parents.
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In order to make future runs of the event successful, the organiser would need to maximise on its existing strengths and overcome the weaknesses.
Environment and Venue
The organiser should always pay careful attention to the ambience and atmosphere at the event to ensure that it is appropriate for the target audience. In this case, the Peranakan Museum had done well. However, they will need to find ways to coping with the space constraints within the museum which had led to overcrowding on many instances. For example, the museum can consider dispersing the various interactives into different parts of the museum, and create a children’s trail map so that visitors can find where the interactives are with the help of signages and the map, thus reducing the chances of overcrowding.
Programming
The organiser had made use of various interactives and song and dance performance that had successfully met the needs of the young visitors. In addition, the programme flow for the Weekend Festival was also appropriate. I recommend that the museum should continue to make sure that the young visitors are engaged at the event, which could enhance their events experience. In addition, they would need to pay attention to the demand of certain activities, such as the silkscreen printing which had an exceptionally high demand. As such, the organiser could consider allowing pre-registration and allocating the number of sessions based on the demand instead of starting registrations only on the day itself. By allowing pre-registrations, the museum can start the activities earlier instead of from 1pm if there are sufficient logistics and space for it, reducing the number of visitors who needs to be turned away for the activity.
Manpower Allocation
The organiser should ensure that the temporary volunteers recruited are well briefed on their duties and responsibilities, and appropriately trained for the event. In order to solve the problem of lack of manpower, the organiser could consider recruiting more manpower for programmes occurring during weekdays such as the Drop-In Wednesdays.
Logistics
There was an efficient flow of logistics during this event and the organiser should continue to ensure that things are ready at the right place and the right time as during events, no mistakes can be afforded to be made on logistics since it could potentially disrupt the entire programme. Besides, for future events, the museum could prepare first aid facilities and brief volunteers on where they are located so that they can render help effectively should any emergency occur.
Products and Services
The organiser made use of Do-it-Yourself souvenirs to help increase the tangibility of the event. Besides, the 5 senses of the visitors had been engaged to enhance their visitor’s experience, but with the sense of taste being engaged lesser than the other senses. Although the museum does not allow food and drinks in its compounds, I suggest that organiser could make an exception, and allocate a small area where visitors can try the cultural snacks daily during the event. This can help them achieve a more complete experience from the event. As such the visitor’s event experience will be improved and could induce future visits to its other events or future runs of the same event.
Marketing
Various communication mixes had been used to generate awareness for the event with the websites being the most effective tool of all. With more internet savvy consumers, it will remain as a strong tool that could be used for event marketers. Besides the websites, the organiser can also consider the use of blogs whereby visitors could blog about their experience at the event, offering an alternative view about this event. The organiser should also reconsider the price of the workshops and establish a match between the price and the experience offered. They could also consider having a promotion for families, to encourage families to participate in the workshops.
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With the successful hosting of the CS2011, future challenges still await the organisers. With each successful event, the expectations of the target audience will increase; therefore the organisers of the various programmes have to come up with creative and innovative methods to keep the event sustainable. Having creative and unique event will also help to attract the media and sponsors. Besides, the needs and wants of the target audience also changes with time, as such intensive research will have to be conducted and feedback needs to be obtained from the target group in order to improve the event in its future runs.
Events have a range of both positive and negative impacts on their host communities and stakeholders. Although the impact from a local/community event like the Children Season’s is not as major, the organisers will have to identify and predict these impacts and manage them effectively in order to attain the best outcomes for all parties. These impacts include social and cultural impacts, political impacts, environmental impacts and tourism and economic impacts.
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| Photo: Banner hanging on top of the entrance of the Peranakan Museum |
Events have a range of both positive and negative impacts on their host communities and stakeholders. Although the impact from a local/community event like the Children Season’s is not as major, the organisers will have to identify and predict these impacts and manage them effectively in order to attain the best outcomes for all parties. These impacts include social and cultural impacts, political impacts, environmental impacts and tourism and economic impacts.
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In conclusion, the Children’s Season 2011 had been successful, being able to reach out the families and the young children, resulting in large crowds at the participating museums, wanting to try their hands on the various interactive activities that are specially catered for the children. I feel that this is a good event concept as it helps to inculcate the children’s interest in museum visiting from young so that they will be more likely to visit the museums in future.
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| Photo: Children's Season Hub at Orchard Road |
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| Photo: Art Garden at Singapore Art Museum |
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| Photo: Ixora Room at Peranakan Museum |
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| Photo: Photos on Drop-In Wednesdays |
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| Photo: Photos on Weekend Festival |
-End of Report-
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- Allen J., O’ Toole W, Harris R & McDonnell I. (2011). Festival & Special Event Management. (5th ed). Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.
- Channel News Asia. (2011). Children's Season returns for fourth run this school holiday - Channel NewsAsia. [Online]. Available: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1129575/1/.html. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- I Love Museums. (n.d.). In Facebook (Page). Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/ILoveMuseums. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- I Love Museums. (2011). Children's Season - May - July 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.museums.com.sg/cs11/index.html. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- I Love Museums. (2011). About Children’s Season. [Online]. Available: http://www.museums.com.sg/cs11/about_cs.html.(Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- Museum Roundtable. (2009). Highlights | Museum Roundtable. [Online]. Available: http://www.museums.com.sg. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- National Heritage Board. (2011). Press Release: Children’s Season 2011 – It’s Playtime for the Young and Young-at-Heart!. Retrieved from: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/www/pr/may11/Children's%20Season%202011%20-%20PRESS%20RELEASE%20+%20ANNEXES.pdf. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- National Heritage Board & Museum Roundtable. (2011). Children’s Season (May-July 2011). [Brochure]. Singapore: National Heritage Board & Museum Roundtable.
- Peranakan Museum Singapore. (n.d.). In Facebook (Page). Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/PeranakanMuseumSingapore. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- Peranakan Museum (2011). Peranakan Museum: Events. [Online].Available: http://www.peranakanmuseum.sg/exhibitions/events.asp. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).
- Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Lecture 3: The Impact of Events. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic.
- Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Lecture 4: Events Marketing. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic
- Yesterday.sg. (n.d.). Yesterday.sg: Children’s Season. [Online]. Available: http://yesterday.sg/tag/childrens-season/. (Last Accessed: 28 June 2011).