Figure 1. 2024. Comic Con. Getty Images.
I am determined to fulfil my lifelong dream by pursuing an MA in Creative Event Management. Out of all the universities I looked at, Falmouth University was the best choice in giving me the skills and knowledge to launch a successful career in this industry. I hope my education will lead me to opening up my own business for special events. As I move forward with my Blog assignment, I will touch upon key topics that I’ve learned in my course studies. The first week I will focus on reflective practice then creative event studies. By week 3, I’ll explore primary and secondary research and the nature of qualitative versus quantitative analysis. I’ll dive deeper into the impact that events have on society and communities by week 4 and then by week 5, discuss business planning and finance. Lastly, my week 6 entry will highlight event/economic impact. I’ll then draw upon conclusions about the concepts I’ve learned and put them into practice.
Here’s my online course description: https://flexible.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/masters/ma-creative-events-management
When I think of the word “event”, I immediately think of my experiences working at Comic Con, a pop culture event where people gather to share their experiences and common interests in sci-fi, fantasy, comics, and memorabilia that have been popular for decades. Events like Comic Con are as important to its fans as they are to attendees of music festivals, theatres, Pride parades, etc. The definition of events from Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2025) captures the essence of an event well: “A thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance.” Additionally, Getz and Page (2016) describe it as “a noteworthy occurrence at a given place and time.” The definition is accurate but I believe it does not fully capture the spirit and value of an event itself - what one person finds noteworthy, another might not.
Reflective Learning and Event Management
After reading Chapter 6 - 'The Nature of Reflective Learning', in A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning: Theory and Practice by Jennifer A Moon (2024), I realized that when absorbing new material, the reflective learning process for me occurs when the material brings new meaning to my experiences. I’m convinced it will add to my CPD because it will open my mind up further to listening to people’s values and views.
Another invaluable exercise came from a video I watched on YouTube about the “The Importance of Staring Out of the Window” (School of Life, 2025). It showed me that I can simply stare into space to enter a reflective state. I enjoyed this exercise because it helped me to quietly think and to properly evaluate an experience. It reminded me of Liverpool Comic Con in 2024 and how it caused a spike in local transportation activity. The attendees also created a high demand for hotel accommodations. In terms of improvement, the event could have benefitted from better signage, especially with the locations and availability of various international celebrities. All of these things carry missed opportunities in improving experiences for attendees and for the economics for the city.
Reflective practice is open mindedness yet has a structured process that helps us categorize our past or present experiences, emotions, and ideas and then compares the intended purpose of that action with the results of the action (Hearn, 2025a). Additionally, the three attributes of academic reflection are open-mindedness, wholeheartedness, and responsibility (McGregor, 2011). Now that I’ve learned these concepts on how to be reflective, I am able to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses a bit more honestly.
Watching Clare Hearn’s “Reflective Practitioner” video, I plan to use evaluative reflection to determine my positive and negative outcomes of both past event experiences and the development of future events.
It's interesting to note that the role of the event professional was only recently recognized as a profession in this period of the 21st century (Hearn, 2025b). The 1960’s witnessed an increase in cultural and festival celebrations from new communities from the West Indies and South Asia. Additionally, many global companies increasingly use events to bolster their business. The latter is where I feel I can contribute the most, by creating and planning events that will benefit the products, services, and talents of influential companies.
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. 2024. Comic Con. Getty Image.
REFERENCES
GETZ, Donald and PAGE, Stephen J 2016. Event Studies. Third edition. London: Rutledge.P46
HEARN, Clare. 2025a. ‘The Reflective Practitioner’ [online lecture]. CEM711 for MA Creative Events Management. Falmouth: Falmouth University. Available at: https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/1302/pages/week-1-reflective-practice?module_item_id=78614 [Accessed 16 February 2025].
HEARN, Clare. 2025b. ‘Week 1: Critical Event Studies in the 21st Century” [lecture]. CEM711 for MA Creative Events Management. Falmouth: Falmouth University.
Liverpool Comic Con Convention (2024). Available at: Liverpoolhttps://www.comicconventionliverpool.co.uk [Accessed 16 February 2025]
MCGREGOR, D and Cartwright, Lesley (2011). “Developing Reflective Practice: A Guide For Beginning Teachers” in McGregor, (eds), p. 5). McGraw-Hill Education
MOON, Jennifer. (2004) Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning. Routledge.
OXFORD ADVANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY, 2025. ‘Event Noun – Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes’. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary [online]. Available at: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/event?q=EVENT [Accessed 16 February 2025]
SCHOOL OF LIFE “The Importance of Staring Out of the Window”. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lz-qrVUecE&t=17s [Accessed 16 February 2025].
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