Bidding for events

Why is is necessary to bid for an event?

Key steps in bidding for an event

The sport sector of the recreation industry abounds with events at local, regional, national and sometimes international level. It is important to consider that except for intra-club competitions, events are not "owned" by any one organisation. While the responsibility for organising a regional event may fall to one club, all clubs in the region have a stake in ensuring a successful outcome. Similarly all clubs in all regions of a nation have a vested interest in ensuring that a national championship is conducted successfully.

It is often the case that more than one club or association will desire to stage an event. Such a situation is healthy and generally leads to a striving by each bidding organisation to show that they can put on the best event. The decision as to which club will host what event is usually taken at meetings of the organisation that governs the event (the sport governing body). For example, the decision as to which club will host a regional championship will be taken by the regional association. The regional association comprises delegates and elected officials drawn from all the clubs in that region. In the case of a world championship, the decision as to which nation will host the event will be taken by the World Federation that is comprised of elected officials drawn from the member nations.

Do you need an Event Bid Analysis Checklist to help you decide whether to bid for an event?

The Bid Process

It is a normal practice for any representative body, at any level, that has the responsibility to select which organisation will stage an event, to ask each and every rival organisation to supply a proposal detailing how they will organise and stage the event. This process of supplying a proposal is often referred to as the "bid process". The main purpose of the bid process is to:

Demonstrate that the bidding organisation has the capability and resources to stage the event
Provide additional reasons why the bidding organisation should be selected over other rival bidders. For example, these additional reasons may include:
- Participants will have better facilities than other rival bidders
- The event has greater financial backing than rival bids
- Public support is more assured
- Spectators will have better facilities
- It's their turn

When organisations are required to enter into a formal bid process in order to win the right to stage an event, there are two tasks. The first task is to develop a bid proposal and to submit the document to the selecting authority by the required date. In addition, it is often advantageous to attend a meeting of the selecting authority and make a formal presentation that draws out the main points or highlights of their proposal and to answer any questions that may arise. This is the second task.

Preparing the Event Proposal

Do you need an Event Proposal Template to save you hours of work?

The amount of detail required in the event proposal will depend on the scale and importance of the event. However event proposals generally share many common components.

The information that event proposals should convey includes but is not limited to the following:

The Event Team

The proposal should provide information about the event management team in terms of the experience and qualifications of key team members. It is important for the reader of the proposal to feel that the event team have the capability to run the event and to be able to do what they say they will do.

If experience in staging events is limited then it is useful to mention any managerial, project management or co-ordination experience in any other field . Qualifications of persons in the event management team may also prove useful to mention.

The proposal should also describe any training that will be given to event volunteers.

Venue and Facilities

The reader of the proposal will want to know whether the venue is suitable for the event. The proposal should outline all facilities available at the venue, everything from toilets to car-parking. For indoor events, the type of surface, lighting, air-conditioning, seating, electronic equipment should be well described. For outdoor events, the level of maintenance on turf, seating and shading for spectators, fencing, drainage and floodlighting is worthy of mention. The number of change rooms and their condition for teams/participants is always important.

There needs to be a detailed description of what would be attractive to event goers and how the venue will fully cater for the needs of the event, including performers, officials and spectators.

Don't forget to include information about public transport to the venue, and car parking for those who arrive by car.

If the venue has staged similar events in the past, you should make mention of this.

The Program

It is often the case that the host club or organisation has little or no say in setting the competition program when the date, or dates have been set by the sport governing body.

However, at the initial stage of bidding, the event proposal may suggest a competition program in terms of the number of days, and the start and finish times each day. It is important for decision makers to know how many hours a day the venue is available.

It is worthwhile to consider that the program should also include ceremonial events with visiting dignitaries who may make speeches or present awards, and also possibly entertainment events that may start or finish the program or fill any gaps.

The Budget

The club or organisation bidding for the event should draft a budget of probable income nd expenditure. It is important that such a budget is realistic, and does not show a loss.

The club or organisation that wins the bid may be entitled to an amount of funding from the sport governing body to alleviate certain costs that will likely be incurred. However, there is also an expectancy that the host club or organisation will have an opportunity to make money through the canteen, bar, fundraising raffles and merchandising. These forms of income should be reflected in the budget in the event proposal.

The Purpose of an Event Proposal

The document may be viewed by many different potential stakeholders in the event. The table below provides examples of how an event proposal may be used by such stakeholders.

Stakeholder	Need for the proposal
A National Sports Organisation (NSO) Example: Athletics Australia Inc.	A NSO may receive requests from more than one organisation wishing to organise a National Championship. The NSO must therefore decide which organisation has the right to organise the event. Each state may be asked to submit a proposal to the NSO outlining how they will organise the event and how much it will cost. Based upon submitted proposals the NSO will make a choice of which organisation will host the event.
A Sponsor Example:Telstra Corporation	Sponsors will view the proposal to gain an understanding of the scale and importance of the event, the potential exposure to their target markets to be gained and the relative strengths and weaknesses of forming a partnership with the event organisers. Sponsors will use this information to make decisions about whether to sponsor the event or not, and if so to put a value on the event as a form of promotion.
Government Example: A city council	The event proposal may be used as the basis of an application for funding to government agencies. They are often interested in supplying public funds to assist organisations to bid and stage major events. Governments are keen to attract events as they are viewed as a mechanism for attracting "sport tourists" who will provide increased revenues to local businesses, prestige to a city or region and have an impact on the development of a sport or recreation in their area of jurisdiction.