From Pitch to Proposal
Elana Effrat
Hospitality Management, City Tech
Event Management
Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity
This is a culminating assignment that tasks students with assuming the role of an event planner and creating a comprehensive client pitch for a hypothetical food and beverage event of their choosing. The project includes both written deliverables (pitch deck, budget, intake sheet, BEO, run of show) and a live oral presentation simulating a professional client pitch.
Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?
The final project is designed to reinforce the core competencies of event planning while building presentation skills, client communication, and real-world professionalism. The students had to wear multiple hats to better understand the perspectives of a business owner, venue, caterer, client, and guest. The goals include:
* Applying cumulative knowledge of venue sourcing, budgeting, vendor coordination and event design.
* Encouraging students to take ownership of their personal event style and brand identity.
* Practicing communication skills that lead to cultivating and maintaining lasting client relationships.
* Simulating professional expectations in the hospitality industry.
* Learning new platforms specific to the event industry (Prismm) and Canva.
Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?
The final project is introduced in week three along with the first written deliverable, the client intake sheet. During each 2.5 hour lecture, at least 30 – 45 minutes of in-class time was dedicated to the individual component. This allowed for questions and demonstrations. Other in-class time included:
* The week before the final presentations, the class was dedicated to reviewing the oral communication rubrics and workshopping the final proposals.
* Two classes for final presentations.
Students were expected to spend 8 – 12 hours outside of class finalizing their deck, visuals, and written deliverables.
**I dedicated a great deal of time for review and revisions.
Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
This was an all-semester project with scaffolded assignments throughout. Each assignment had their own set of instructions with markers for each one. The written part of the project was an accumulation of all the components.
* Client Intake Sheet
* Pitch Deck (their event company)/Proposal Deck (the hypothetical event)
* Venue Selection
* Budget
* BEO
* Run of Show
The high-level instructions for the students were as follows:
* Create an event business persona
* Develop a client and event concept
* Complete branded, client-facing materials
* Organize internal documents needed to facilitate an event
* Present a confident, organized oral pitch to the class as if pitching a real client.
This is high-stakes assignment representing 30% of their overall grade; 10% for the written deliverables and 20% for the oral presentation.
Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
Written Work:
I did not use a VALUE rubric as they were graded individually. I provided the students with a checklist of what was expected in this section that included the scaffolded assignments and requested presentation slides.
Oral Presentation:
The VALUE Oral Communication Rubric was used to assess the presentation as a whole. I provided the students with examples of what each portion of the rubric represented in their project:
Central Message- Present a clear and compelling event concept and convince the "client" why they're the right person/company to plan this event.
Delivery Technique- Make regular eye contact, use a confident posture, don't read off the slides, minimize filler words, and speak clearly with energy.
Language- Use clear, professional, and client-appropriate language. (avoid slang, filler phrases, or overused generalities)
Organization- A structured presentation with a client-friendly narrative arc: intro > vision > strategy> visuals > conclusion. Use transitional language between each section to keep the conversation moving.
Supporting Material- Visuals that match the spoken points, quotes from clients, or justification of choices using client needs, budgets, or industry trends.
Peer feedback forms are used to promote active listening and observations during the presentations.
Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
The students appreciated the real-world application and having the opportunity to flex their creativity. Even those that learned they did not want to become an event planner, walked away with an understanding of the field. They had to use Canva instead of PowerPoint during this course and the students who hadn't used it before, are now confident in the platform.
Challenges:
The students were overwhelmed by the scope of the work.
*Breaking it into scaffolded parts helped, but if they didn't have a concept early on, it was harder to catch up.
*Working with students to utilize Generative AI to aid in organizing their thoughts, event concepts, and business personas.
Bringing students out of their comfort zone when it came to work that wasn't right or wrong.
*Provided a feedback loop with constant revisions. No assignment had a final grade on it until the entire project was submitted.
Design tool support.
*Offering workshops to learn Canva and sharing tutorials.
Presentation anxiety was common.
*Calling on all students to talk during class time and having them present their findings throughout the semester.
What students enjoyed the most:
* Applying everything they learned in a real-world format
* The chance to build a foundation they can use to start a business or work portfolio.
* Seeing their peers' creativity.
* Receiving feedback and the opportunity to make changes on an individual and conceptual level.
What would I change:
There was a great deal of confusion surrounding the pitch to the proposal part of the project. In the future, I suggest putting more emphasis on the proposal and event planning portion. I would also set better guidelines for providing feedback as it became incredibly demanding of my time and energy.
Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.
Here is a link to the presentation I created for the workshop before final presentations: It breaks down all the assignments for the class, the rubrics and how they will be applied to their project.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGmsKmc_wA/ejeWiNLRNPip2WcSnOjuAw/view?utm_content=DAGmsKmc_wA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h512a85553d
Here are some examples of the work the students presented. I am extremely proud of what they accomplished!
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGe2-VkHHw/trLgHv-H2caC4KOQDp88-g/edit
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGhu4oKgX8/C-wm1I_C4b_ryqki0Y0crA/view?utm_content=DAGhu4oKgX8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h651ac170c0
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGgIbm8xTU/VKmBsJqtDy7N7PC2_KoP7Q/view?utm_content=DAGgIbm8xTU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hab1d01f2d3#13
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGiHEGHVDs/X7qttptr2I1kPSwKBDbKnA/view?utm_content=DAGiHEGHVDs&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hd4f0671ac6
Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab
