Participate in environmentally sustainable work practices (Unit 13):

Examples provided to show participation in organisational policy and procedures for sustainability. 
- Reduce waste
- Recycle
-  Turning off unneeded lighting or electrical appliances
- Sharing a ride to work or taking public transport
- Reuse old paper
- Choosing environmentally friendly appliances or computer technology

Examples of inspection checklists used to collect and measure relevant information on organisation resource consumption, within work role provided. 
1. Inspection list
2. Maintenance review
3. Records of maintanence/inspections


 


 


Sound knowledge of environmental and resource hazards/risks in your work area. At least three examples are provided. 
1. Construction (asbestos)- can affect many buildings and should be addressed to protect the health of employees. 
2. Electronic waste (e-waste) just sitting around the office. It's not safe to have unwanted computers or any electronic devices just laying around for people to either trip on or allow the waste to increase. The more waste you have laying, the more objects there are to get in your way while navigating around the workplace.
3. Clinical waste (syringes and medication) - Any kind of dirty object that can transmit disease or infections should be thrown immediately in proper containers or bins. 


Appropriate level of knowledge of WHS issues and requirements in relation to sustainability practice in your work area demonstrated.
There can be issues with:
- Negligence within the workplace
- Not enough training
- Lacking enforcement on polices

For example, forgetting to put up a sign warning people of slippery floors that have just been mopped or throwing employees into the deep end without proper training on how to use equipment.

Knowledge of organisational structure, and reporting channels and procedures in relation to sustainable practice at your workplace. (who do you report to)

You may need to report to the manager/supervisor or team leader. E.g. You notice people at work are neglecting to recycle their left over containers and boxes. You speak to manager and discuss a way to remind co-workers to be more environmentally aware.

Understands and is able to use relevant environmental and resource efficiency systems and procedures in own work area. 
- Site Risk assessment
- Environmental management system
- Waste Disposal receipts
- Site audit
- Environmental improvement plan
- Record of inspections


Satisfactory examples of how policy for environmental sustainability that may impact on your job role. Clearly linked to environmental legislation. 

- Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBCA) 1999
 This can stop certain companies of neglectful behaviour towards the environment such as factories.
There would be limits or procedures you would have to go through when hosting an event outdoors. For example, not damaging native flora and fauna, or using heritage places without permission.


- Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 
This means generally being careful not pollute the air or land. Disturbance towards neighbours, waste offenders, failing to notify about illegal activity that may cause harm towards environment. E.g. A piece of legislation like this can influence how companies throw out waste and means licensing or permission to use outdoor venues would be needed.




Demonstrates the ability/initiative to make improvements to own work area. Several examples provided.

•  Creating environment posters
• Maintain regular maintenance/inspections 
• Site risk assessments 
• Colour coded bins for recycle and normal rubbish 
• Seminar on Environmentally Sustainable Work practices   
• Turning off technology after it's no longer needed
  

Provide Service To Customers (Unit 10):

Principles of quality customer service and the importance of positive communication is clearly outlined. 
 These would be:

- Providing high quality customer service for your each and every customer. For example, solving problems, helping with special requests and getting a rapport.
- Understanding that customers will show satisfaction or dissatisfaction by their body language or verbal communication. For example, crossing their arms and tone of voice.
- Identifying the needs of customers and ensuring they are met. This can range from personal to environmental needs. For example, subtitles may be need at a film festival for hearing impaired attendees.
- Always be hygienic and presentable.

Provide 3 examples of where you have provided quality customer service for different client groups. 
1. Helping a person by providing a discount because they are on the pension.
2. Assisting a disabled person get up from their seat and move to where they wanted to go.
3. Directing an under age individual from the alcohol area so they don't get trouble.

Discuss dealing with complaints and conflict between:
 - Colleagues
We must communicate with our team members so they understand procedures, so there is no conflict when it comes role management. It's important we also have regular staff meetings where people can voice their opinions and make suggestions. This is how colleagues work to create a positive environment and it can help  to improve how the company deals with any issues. For example, team member has discovered a better equipment supplier who is willing to meet the team's needs for that particular event.


 - Customers and organisation 
As part of the events management industry you have to communicate with customers and organisations on a regular basis. When dealing with complaints and conflict, it's important we listen and ask how we can assist them. Offer alternative solutions to any problems and go that extra mile to provide customer service.

 Evidence must include some of the following situations;
 - Customers with unmet expectations of products and services. 
Apologise for any inconvenience, offer a new product or service. For example, instead of the expensive event supplier you originally offered, do more research and find cheaper alternative. 

 - Difficult or demanding customers 
 Be polite and explain the situation. Make some suggestions to calm the customer and always use a friendly tone. For example, it a customer becomes abusive over the phone, try to be understanding that they are upset and offer any help. 

 - Incorrect pricing and quotes 
Offer to have someone redo the pricing and send the customer a new quote.
 

 - Other team members and suppliers not providing special requests
Remind your team members that they need to go that extra mile for customer satisfaction, if needed offer to do the work for customer. For example, has asked for the event to be set-up early.
 

 - Misunderstandings or communication barriers
 You need to make sure your customer understands what you say to them, sometimes you may need to send information via email on more details. Images and websites can also explain stuff you talking about and provide visuals. It's important both parties have an understanding and needs are being met. More ways to communicate is through body language, writing down notes, swapping designs or ideas etc.

 - Problems or faults of the product
 Replace the product or provide a new product that you know will be an improvement.

 For example, a florist has delivered a bunch of flowers for a party but they are unhealthy looking and cheaply arranged. You call around to find a florist who can make the few arrangements with new flowers and pick them up.

 - Problems with the service, such as delays or incorrect orders
The caterer has brought out a few of the wrong entrees, you notice it and remind the caterer that's not what the customer ordered. You ask them to make more entrees and apologize to the customer. You see if the catering business will drop their price because they made the mistake, so your customer isn't paying extra.

Describe effective communication strategies with;
- Internal customers (People you work with )
You can communicate effectively with work mates by regularly having meetings where everyone can bring up ideas and exchange new ones. Presentations or functions can also be helpful for team events. Another good way is by having group emails go out or phone each other if needed. You could also use posters around the office and have news letters go home with team members.

- and external customers (People buying products)
When communicating with people buying the product or service, you'll have to talk over the phone or email. It's important you have a plan and visuals you can send out when asked about concepts or examples. There may be a messaging service you may like to use or prefer to use social media as a means to get in touch.

- Customers with special needs (include verbal and nonverbal considerations)
A great way to communicate with customers with special needs is body language, translator and using images/writing. If there is a language barrier, you could ask around for someone in the team who may understand different languages or ask to meet them in person if that helps.



Evidence of knowledge of new technologies used specifically for events to communicate with customers. Provide an example. 

 

  

 

 

Design a workplace and 'Meet & Greet' policy. The policy must acknowledge response times and hospitality , travel and events industry standards. 

When a customer comes into your business, its important they be greeted upon their arrival after they have had a few seconds to look around. Be polite and always smile too.
Some business owners like to use bells or door detectors that allow them to know that someone has entered the place.  An employee should then go up to the customer and see if they need any help looking around. However, don't hassle the customer if they don't need assistance.

Design a workplace 'Customer Enquiry' policy. The policy must acknowledge the travel, hospitality and events industry standards. 

Customers must have contact details or forms they can fill out for enquiries. As a business, these should be followed up as soon as possible. All questions or complaints should be answered politely and correctly informing the customer. If you can go that extra mile to make the customer happy you do! 

Design And Produce Business Documents (Unit 9):

Evidence of the following: 

Design and produce a minimum of 3 business documents (completed with content as personal choice) using a minimum of 2 different software packages. E.g. word processing, presentation, spreadsheet packages. 
I used:
- Google Documents
-Microsoft Word

The 2 documents will be sent via email. (1.Quote and 2.timetable)

 3. Business Presentation

Explain three appropriate data storage ideas. 

External Hard Drive 

 

An external hard drive is a disk drive that comes with either a usb or firewire interface. These are really handy when you have ran out of space on your internal hard drive of your computer. They usually come with a heavy protective case and can easily connect to computer so you can add files on it. The storage availability can range from 500 megabytes to 3-4 gigabytes  at your regular electronic stores.

Dropbox 

Dropbox is an online storage website/app that you can sign up to and store important files to. This means where ever you have internet access you can log in and access your files. It's a safe and secure. You can share your files, add more and edit them. It's free for a regular 2gb or you can go on a plan for $10.99 a month if you need for storage. It's super useful for businesses and they can set up accounts with unlimited storage with admin control. 

 USB Flash Drive

 

A Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive can be used on any computer/laptop that has a usb port for the device to plug in to. It's as simple as just waiting for the device to pop up on your screen and dragging files you want on the flash drive. There are different storage sizes you can buy and these days you can get stylish USB flash drives. For example;

Choose 2 software packages and discuss 4 functions of the features of each package. 

All-Business-Documents 

• Offers a range of templates for creating lots of different kinds of business documents from letters to patent license. This means it can save time and also give you an idea of how some documents should look. While it may also make you reliant and lazy to be creative.
• The software has a 10-use trial and a black watermark is placed on each page. Unfortunately, this shows All-Business-Documents only allow you to their program 10 times before they expect you to upgrade. At the same time, you get to try out the software before you use it.
• A search bar for documents. A positive side to this feature is you can easily find documents or folders in the side bar. 
• The program's interface consists of three separate screens squeezed below the editing bar. This can be annoyed as the screen is cluttered and it can be distracting. On a positive note, having a three screens means you can multitask and look at several things at once.

Business-in-a-box

• Customize a document by filling in the blanks easily. This a great idea because you only have to write up the missing words. 
• Auto-recovery:  This is a great feature for anyone who needs to create documents especially since Business in a box saves your work every minute. There isn't really any downside unless your computer manages to not follow through with auto-recovery. 
• Available in 7 languages. This feature would be useful for anyone that can speak another language or if you need to communicate with someone overseas. However, as a diverse country there are many other languages that should be available for users. 
• The software regularly updates it's features and documents on offer. This is great as business in a box evolves and improves your experience. On a different note, you will have to constantly learn new features and what if you don't like the new updates?

Provide 4 examples of appropriate technology used to design and produce business documents. 

1. Microsoft word

2. Google Drive/Documents

3.  Adobe Indesign

4. Office

List and name 3 organisational requirements a business could have in place in relation to documents. 

1. Making sure documents are appropriately named. This is important so files don't get separated or mixed in with others.

2. Filing and storage of documents. By keeping an organised filing, it makes finding files easy and accessible for future use. It can also help from losing them.

3. Documents must have the date of when it was created . This is important so you know what happen on that particular day, you never know when you might need to look back on pass files or if a customer requests details.

Provide 3 reasons why proof reading business documents is essential. 

1. Business documents are legal and must have the correct details.

2. A little mistake could cost the business more money. For example, if someone typed up an order and added the wrong items.

3. Proof reading is part of being a professional and common spelling/grammar mistakes can reflect badly on the business.

Work effectively with others (Unit 8):

Evidence in the ability to:
Always provide support to team members to ensure goals are met.

Describe organisational policies and procedures within your workplace that promote cooperation and good relationships.

A code of conduct is always put in place within the workplace so that employees understand what is acceptable to do. This can be covered in the employee guide book and people are protected via legislation. Gaining client feedback can improve strategies for the company and provide constructive criticism. For example, a client may say there wasn't staff working an event; this problem can be fixed for future events.
Set team goals for everyone to participate in and send out weekly reminders. This will only be successful if there is quality communication going on between team members and encouragement.
Follow legislation such as the Anti-Discrimination Act to be fair towards all employees and make them feel welcome in the work environment.

List 3 work group members within your organisation. Explain;
Event Co-coordinator
Event Planner 
Event Manager 

-Responsibilities in the workplace
Event Co-coordinators are important because they manage all the staff and work in the public/private sector.
The Event planner is responsible for choosing locations, organizing transport, catering and the financial side (keeping the budget in-check).

The Event Manager works closely with the Event Co-coordinator to ensure all the details and needs of the client are met.


-Duties within the workplace
 As part of this role, they must coordinate any details to ensure the event goes smoothly and is a success.
Their duties include communicating with clients over the phone, online and in-person. They must make decisions surrounding the event and negotiate deals.
The duties for a event manager is to look after the schedule of the staff and team members. While also helping out with paper work related to event planning.


-Relationship to other work group members in the workplace
 This is the highest role and they must overlook the work of other employees within the company.
They have a vital role and would have to work with all staff members to tell them how they want things done. For example, design of the location.

The manager must talk to staff about any conflicts and find a solution.


-How work group members support each other 
As part of a team, the Event Co-coordinator must be hands on, while offer assistance to all members and communicate with them.
They could offer resources such as contact details, numbers for seating or inspiration behind ideas for the event.
They must listen to employees, provide help and guide the staff to reach any target or goals.


List 5 ways you can provide support to team members and give an example of each. 

1. Positive attitude e.g. Smile and use friendly tone when asking questions.


2. Celebrate success e.g. Throw parties for people who get promoted.


3. Provide assistance e.g. Help find a number of a cater or spend extra time with them on projects.


4. Guidance e.g. Give a team member your phone number so they can call when they need advice for plans.

5. Offering resources e.g. Send relevant files and images to team member via email.

 

Provide 3 examples of  seeking feedback from inside and outside of your organisation. 
- Customer feedback forms
- Service Monitoring
- Informal performance appraisals from people at the event
- Phone call from clients



Describe how feedback is analyised and actioned in your organisation. 

Collect Evidence, Analyse and Act on it. 
While looking at the image shown above its clear that there several ways to approach getting feedback. One way to gain feedback is by handing out or sharing surveys. For example, after an event pass out a little survey for people to tick boxes related to their enjoyment and satisfaction of the event.

Another way is to go around and communicate with people who are at the event. You can also stand back and observe people's reactions. For example, watch people eat the food and see if they seem to be going back for seconds.

Have your organisation send out formal performance appraisals or feedback forms. Then spend time reading over the comments or suggestions to help improve your services. For example, clients may have a problem with your choice of wait staff serving at the event because they were not walking around the crowd but instead, talked a lot.

If that's not enough, a good way to reach more people is to ask online what they think of your events. This can be achieved by using social media such as Facebook or Twitter. Let people rate your business services by creating a company page via Facebook and add posts related to the events. 


All of these are possible ways to collect feedback and consultation/meetings can discuss the results. From there you can make changes or improves to how you approach event management, so that everyone wins.


Give examples of communication strategies you would use to overcome possible barriers or conflict with; A person with a disability 
 - Ask them if they understand
 - Simplify any explanations
 - Avoid discriminating language

A person with a culturally diverse background
 - Use body language (only if needed)
 - Avoid using judgmental comments
 - Hold meetings

An angry colleague or customer 
 - Be polite
 - Listen and answer any questions
 - Offer a solution to the problem or someone who can assist them.

A person with whom you have had a disagreement with in the workplace 
- Tone of voice
- Type of comments
- Avoid negative body language










Describe relevant government legislation of that may affect aspects of the business operations. For example: 
- Anti-discrimination legislation
-Ethical principles
- Codes of conduct 
- Privacy laws 
- Occupational Health and Safety (WHS) 
- Environmentally sustainable work practices

This question is answered via slideshow show here:




Sources:
http://www.slideshare.net/AshleighG/events-management-team-job-roles-26473904 (accessed on the 15 Sept 2014)
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/guide-australias-anti-discrimination-laws (accessed on the 15th Spet 2014)