TEF Hosts Workshop for Event Planners

A workshop to teach event planners how to navigate laws, secure sponsorships, engage their audience, and master marketing strategies to elevate their events, was held by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) in Negril, Westmoreland, on January 23.

Titled, ‘The Event Playbook’, the workshop was the second to be staged in the West. The first was held in December last year in Montego Bay, St. James.

In his virtual address, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said the success of the previous workshop demonstrated the “hunger for professional development” in the local events sector.

“As we continue this series across the land, we are building a network of skilled promoters who understand both the art and business of events tourism. Through the TEF, we’ve witnessed first-hand how a grassroots event transforms communities into much-visited destinations,” he noted.

The Minister told promoters that every festival, cultural showcase and every sporting event they organise does more than attract visitors; it “weaves another thread into the rich tapestry of Jamaica’s tourism”.

Minister Bartlett further highlighted that the workshop series focused on three key components.

“One, creating a comprehensive map of tourism-related events to unlock our full potential; two, delivering world-class training in events management from logistics to risk management; and three, providing sophisticated digital marketing support through our top events marketing initiative,” he noted.

He added that promoters’ events have the power to showcase the island’s unique character to the world, creating experiences that visitors cannot find elsewhere.

For his part, Executive Director of the TEF, Dr. Carey Wallace, emphasised the importance of public-private collaborations in the event planning space.

“This involves bringing in expertise from the private sector, with resources from the public sector, working together, and this is the result we have today. A few weeks ago, we did it in Montego Bay, a very successful event; everybody that went there said they benefited from it,” Dr. Wallace said.

“In the end, what we want is the whole ecosystem of events planning to lift everybody a few steps up the rungs of that ladder, towards the vision of us having the best events on planet Earth,” he added.

The workshop was held under the theme ‘Strategies for Event Tourism Success’.