Critically discuss the importance of risk management in staging a successful event.

Categories of risk in event management include: personnel, health conditions and safety requirements, catering, management of visitors, insurance, transport.The risk must be identified, problems must be anticipated and ways to manage them in complete integrity with the events planning must be found. This often includes back-up plans and conduction of necessary resources in stand-by position if you may need them. How far managers of the event should go on developing expensive backup plans? The threat of a bomb in 1999 at the Aintree track for horse racing resulted in the evacuation of 60 000 fans of racing, 20 000 cars, thousands of coaches were trapped underground. Finding lodging for those who got lost required support of the Committee for emergency situations. With increasing threats of global terrorism, what is the responsibility of managers in managing large-scale emergencies? How do you assess the probability that this may happen?Risk management involves the assessment and the use of probability, which is perhaps the greatest challenge to any decision-maker. The perception of risk is a human and social phenomenon which can not be easy to measure, describe and predict. It is an inevitable fact that the literature on risk perception, its impact and consequences is extensive. An excellent source for assistance in risk assessing at events is a Guide to safety at events.Tarlow (2002) applies the principles of Gemba Kaizen for risk management. Originally designed to assess the risk in situations of production, eight steps and the basic ethos have significant value in the organization of an event. Key factors are the centrality of events managers for the collection and analysis of reliable, useful data. Manager must maintain a significant contact with the operational side of events in order to follow the potential sources of risk. The next part will more closely explain the processes involved when decisions are made. It will also analyze factors that influence the process and circumstances under which mistakes may happen. The question that prevails here is: how rational are we when making decisions?REFERENCESBell, D.E. (1982). Regret in decision under uncertainty. Operations Research, 33, 961-981.Bramwell, B. (1997). Strategic planning before and after a mega-event. Tourism Management, 18(3), 167-176.Damasio, A.R. (1994). Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York: Putnam.Getz, D. (1997). Event Management and Event Tourism. New York: Cognizant.Goldblatt, J. (2002). Special Events, 3rd edn. New York: John Wiley.Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (1999). The Event Safety Guide. Norwich: HSE Books.Inskeep, F. (1994). National and Regional Tourism Planning: Methodologies and Case Studies. London: World Tourism Organization. Routledge series.Isen, A.M. and Patrick, R. (1983). The effect of positive feelings on decision making: when the chips are down. Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance, 31, 194-202.Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47, 263-291.Kahneman, D., Slovic, D. and Tversky, A. (1982) Judgement under Uncertainty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Klein, G.A. (1998). Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Klein, G.A., Orasanu, J., Calderwood, R. and Zsambok, C.E. (1993). Decision Making in Action: Models and Methods. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Leigh, A. (1983). Decisions, Decisions! A Practical Management Guide to Problem Solving and Decision Making. London: IPM.Loewenstein, G.F., Weber, E.U., Hsee, C.K. and Welch, N. (2001). Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 267-286.Loornes, G. and Sugden, R. (1982). Regret theory: an alternative theory of rational choice under uncertainty. Economic Journal, 92, 805-824.Maule, J.A. and Hodgkinson, G.P. (2002). Heuristics, biases and human decision making. The Psychologist, 15(2),68-71.Shone, A. (with Parry, B.) (2001). Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. London: Continuum.Simon, H.A. (1956). Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychological Review, 63, 129-138.Simon, H.A. (1957). Models of Man. New York: John Wiley.Slack, N., Chambers, S., Harrison, A. and Harland, C. (1998). Operations Management. London: Pitman.Tarlow, P.E. (2002). Event Risk Management and Safety. New York: John Wiley.Zrnic, M. (2009), Menadzmentdogadaja,JavnaustanovaSportskicentar „Borik“, Banja Luka, 379 str. ISBN: 978-99938-754-1-3, UDK: 005:06.07 i 796:005.Zrnic, M., Susnjar V. (2008), Organizacionoponasanje - osnovekreativnogmenadzmenta, BLC - Besjeda, Banja Luka, 403 str. ISBN: 978-99938-1-063-6, UDK: 05.32(075.8).