The growth of events and festivals has been significant over the last decade and a wide range of skills are essential to ensure those events are successful.  This requirement has been instrumental in stimulating the creation of more tertiary education opportunities to develop events management knowledge. As the discipline develops, knowledge requires direction in order to understand the changing advances in society.

This is the first book to take a futures approach to understanding event management.  A systematic and pattern-based understanding is used to determine the likelihood of future events and trends.  Using blue skies scenarios to  provide a vision of the future of events, not only capturing how the events industry is changing but also important issues that will affect events now as well as the future.  Chapters include analysis of sustainability, security, impacts of social media, design at both mega event and community level and review a good range of different types of events from varying geographical regions. A final section captures the contributions of each chapter through the formation of a conceptual map for a future research agenda. 

Written by leading academics in the field, this ground breaking book will be a valuable reference point for educators, researchers and industry professionals.

Foreword: Events and Festivals: Preparations, Successes and the Future Brendan McClements  Part 1: Setting the Scene: Past, Present and Future  1. An Introduction to the Future Ian Yeoman, Martin Robertson, Una McMahon-Beattie, Elisa Backer and Karen A. Smith  2. Back to the Future: Analysing History to Plan for Tomorrow  Adrian Devine and Clare Carruthers  3. The Forms and Functions of Planned Events: Past and Future  Donald Getz  4. Scenarios for the Future of Events and Festivals: Mick Jagger at 107 and Edinburgh Fringe Ian Yeoman, Martin Robertson, Una McMahon-Beattie and Nyasha Musarurwa  Part 2: Contested Issues, Thoughts and Solutions  5. Scotland in 2025: Dependent or Independent Event Nation? Matt Frew, David McGillivray and Gayle McPherson  6. The Future Power of Decision Making in Community Festivals Allan Jepson and Alan Clarke  7. Industry Perceptions of Events Futures Elisa Backer  8. Economic Evaluation of Special Events: Challenges for the Future Larry Dwyer and Leo Jago  9.The Greening of Events: Exploring Future Trends and Issues Warwick Frost, Judith Mair and Jennifer Laing  10. The Future is Green: A Case Study of Malmoe, Sweden Hans Wessblad  11.The Future of Local Community Festivals and Meanings of Place in an Increasingly Mobile World  Kelley A. McClinchey and Barbara A. Carmichael  12.Developing Brand Relationship Theory for Festivals: A Study of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Louise Todd  13. Exploring Future Forms of Event Volunteering  Leonie Lockstone-Binney, Tom Baum, Karen A. Smith and Kirsten Holmes  14. The Future of Surveillance and Security in Global Events Vida Bajc  15. A Perspective on the Near Future: Mobilising Events and Social Media Peter Bolan  16. The Future is Virtual  Debbie Sadd  17. Leadership and Visionary Futures: Future Proofing Festivals  Martin Robertson and Steve Brown  18. The Future Of Event Design and Experience  Andrew McLoughlin  19.  Escaping the City, Retailvents in Socio-Spatially Managed Futures  Martin Robertson and Gavin Lees  Part 3: What Does This All Mean?  20. Cognitive Map(s) of Event and Festival Futures  Ian Yeoman, Martin Robertson and Carol Wheatley Endnote: Delivering for Scotland Post-2014 Paul Bush

Ian Yeoman is a specialist tourism futurologist who believes in Star Trek, an eternal optimist, Sunderland AFC mad and enjoys cooking. Ian is a Trainee Professor at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) who commutes and holidays around the world and studying towards a higher doctorate.

Martin Robertson is a Lecturer in Event Management at Victoria University, Melbourne (Australia). His research and publications focus on festivals and destination image, socio-cultural impact, development and evaluation, and event leadership and professionalism.  He has co-edited several books and special issue peer-reviewed journals. He is a passionate about tourism and events.

Una McMahon-Beattie is Head of Department for Hospitality and Tourism Management in the University of Ulster (UK). Her research interests include tourism and event marketing, revenue management and tourism futures. She is an editor/author of a number of books, book chapters and journals articles in these areas.

Karen A. Smith is Associate Professor in tourism management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her research areas include event and tourism volunteering, event ticketing and distribution, and the future of events and festivals. Karen has also co-edited Event Volunteering in the Routledge Advances in Event Research Series.

Elisa Backer is a Senior Lecturer in tourism at Federation University, Australia (formerly called University of Ballarat).  She previously lectured at Southern Cross University; and prior to academia worked in industry. Elisa is considered a leading world expert in the field of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel.