Page 6 - FREN-C2021 PROCEEDINGS

EVENT MANAGEMENT POST-COVID ERA: TRANSFORMING THE
NEW NORM VIA INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

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1*
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Mohamad Rahimi Mohamad Rosman , Faizal Haini Fadzil , Mohd Zafian Mohd Zawawi , Mohamad Sayuti
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Md Saleh , Nurulannisa Abdullah , and Izzatil Husna Arshad 6

1,2,3,5,6 Faculty of Information Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Kelantan Branch, Machang Campus, 18500 Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia

4 Faculty of Business and Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Kelantan Branch, Machang Campus, 18500 Machang, Kelantan, Malaysia

* Corresponding author: rahimimr@uitm.edu.my

Abstract
Handling events require a tedious task, often involves much argument and repetitive action that if left
unmanaged can lead to altercation, stress, and depression. Since the start of Novel Coronavirus 2019,
many industries have been transformed from face-to-face operations into virtual business platforms.
However, sudden transformation raises the issues of its impact on the business operation especially in
managing events related to conferences and exhibitions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is
twofold; first, to propose automation workflow for event management in the context of innovation
exhibition and second, to briefly explain the design and development of a new secretariat management
system. Rapid Application Development methodology was adopted. Findings show that the
development of the information system (1) reduce repetitive task, (2) speed up business operation, and
(3) improve the overall workflow of the event.

Keywords: Information Management, events management, efficiency, information system management.

Introduction
The event management industry is an important element of business operation (Heuchert, 2021). It is
reported that the cancellation of the event throughout 2020 has caused a staggering amount of USD
1000 billion (Madray, 2020). Besides, many companies went bankrupt due to the inability to operate
under the massive pressure of the pandemic. Moreover, travel restrictions and cancellation of planned
events have become major contributors to low economic progress, retrenchment, and downsizing
(Pan, Shu, Kitterlin-Lynch, & Beckman, 2021). The impact of COVID-19 has never been seen
previously, even after the world has faced other serious diseases such as SARS, H1N1, Spanish Flu,
and Ebola (Fotiadis, Polyzos, & Huan, 2021).

Thus, to survive the pandemics business organization turns into a digital platform. Recent statistics
show the spikes in Internet usage due to more people went online due to restrictions such as lockdown
and movement control order (The Sunday Daily, 2020). People are more convinced that digital
platforms can become a new playing field for the event management industry. Subsequently, more
events are conducted through an online platform and starting to generate income comparable to that
face-to-face event management.

In the context of educational institutions, organizing events are considered as part of the performance
indicators. One of the events that are usually held is an innovation exhibition whereby participants
from diverse backgrounds show their ideas and innovative thinking, in their attempt for
commercialization and recognition. However, handling events, especially in the aftermath of COVID-
19, is very challenging, due to (1) lack of resources, (2) incompetent staff, (3) repetitive tasks, and (4)
lack of automation of workflow. Out of the four reasons, automation of a workflow is one of the
issues that is usually talked about among the committees and therefore warrant a quick and better

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