Event design: Conclusions and future research directions

The contributions to this volume underline the wealth of different approaches that can be taken to event design and the study of how events are designed. Event design can be approached as far more than a simple physical act of arranging event elements or the look and feel of an event. In particular this volume points to the important role played by the context of events in the design process. Event design needs to involve a wide range of stakeholders and to encompass a wide range of elements before, during and after the event, at the event location but also in other places and virtual spaces. The main issues arising from the volume and some potential directions for future research are outlined in the following sections. The purpose of design As Richards and Palmer (2010) have argued in Eventful Cities, events are designed to serve a range of different purposes, and the effectiveness of events, and therefore event design strategies, should be judged in terms of how well the aims of the event and its different stakeholders are met.