Study and knowledge, but not only

No profession can be improvised; it takes time, energy and emotion.

I started to organise and manage self-made projects, partly by intuition, partly for fun; you learn by risking, trying, making mistakes, imagining. However, I felt the need to train myself. To understand the logicè, to learn the models and methods, to assimilate the tools.

Training is fundamental, and I have attended and still attend training courses in Italy and abroad. You also learn by listening to testimonials and examples of successful case studies. I remember the round tables of the Sport Manager training course at SDA Bocconi; me and the others attending the class had the opportunity to enter into the organisational dynamic and experience a qualified moment of confrontation with some authoritative exponents of sport marketing and event management.

And always in that context, rather than in other courses held, such as the international one of the Club Managers Association of Europe, you learn from the comparison and exchange with other students. A contamination of other worlds, if contextualised and brought back to one’s own sector, can be useful for broadening and expanding one’s thinking, creativity and ideas.

A mix of factors that pass through study, sharing, comparison and experience.

The UNI 11786 Standard defines the requirements for the professional activity of the Meeting & Event Manager in terms of knowledge, skills and competence in accordance with the European Qualification Framework (EQF). 

Knowledge is the result of assimilating information through learning; information includes facts, principles, theories, practices and experiences related to a field of work or study. In the EQF context knowledge is described as theoretical and/or practical.

Skills are defined as the ability to apply knowledge to complete tasks and solve problems. In the EQF context, skills can be cognitive (involving the use of logical, intuitive and creative thinking) or practical (involving manual dexterity and the use of methods, materials, tools).

Competence, on the other hand, is the proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal abilities in work or study situations and in personal and professional development, exercisable with a certain degree of autonomy and responsibility.

Also the figure of the Project Manager is certified according to a UNI Standard, the 11648, explicitly recalling the contents of the UNI ISO 21500 Standard, drafted in order to provide guidelines for project management, defining concepts and processes that can be used by any type of organisation, public, private or community, and for any type of project of any complexity, size and duration.

In conclusion, whatever the specific task at hand, the most important thing is to implement it competently and seriously.