Rants on The EurAsia Cup 2016. - When organisers fail

Golfing is considered to be the most widely reputable sport that has ever grazed on Malaysia and has gained its popularity from a lot local gold lovers and people from the most prestigious and the most respected. From what I could understand from golfing, it is an outdoor game in which players use special clubs (called golf clubs) to try to hit a small ball with as few strokes as possible into each of 9 or 18 holes. Part of the popularity are from events that have been hosted here in Malaysia and has a lot of people jumping for a chance to be first in line to grab those tickets before they sell out which, in turn, had the golfing events managing to reap incredible results in revenue, social exposure, and also funding from a lot of sponsors that will eventually help to sum up the overall “winnings pot” which in most cases, first prize winners could win a million dollars. ($1,000,000,000±)

However, unfortunately, it manages to not check up and do their personal research before hiring – in obvious rare occasions, of course – bad event organisers that in this particular topic’s sake, do not seem to keep tabs on things that were meant to be important. Hence, it subjected them to terms of fundamentally ignoring a lot of responsibilities - however, trivial or tiny they are - and seemingly not acknowledging it right after (except for, of course, the smooth course of the event arrangement itself.). I am talking about the event organisers of The EurAsia Cup 2016.

I was previously hired by a food truck company to be one of their crew members, joining them for their ventures to grow from their start-up company. The truck was invited to join into the event as one of the official food vendors along with three other trucks. We were naturally debriefed about the conditions and things that are needed to know the three-day event beings. The briefing explains about the usual things about every event pointing out that we had to park in a certain location, and there will be electrical sockets provided (Meaning, we would be using their electrical supply instead of starting up the generator.) and were also given an expected estimation of the crowd to be above the 10,000 mark, which they also noted that they’ve got over 10,000 pre-paid audiences who would be watching the match.  We also addressed things that needed to be addressed and iron out every detail which generally includes questions on procedures and entry times, so that we would be confident that there wouldn’t be any hiccups during the event day; only to find out later that our ignorance clouded our suspicions based on our high expectations for this event.

The event day came by and we were requested to be at the place before 7 am and we were basically one of the first trucks to arrive in the scene but we had to wait for literally 5 hours before we even get to see people passing by to order our food, for which I am not really complaining but I would not deny that it was frustrating for me having to wait for 5 hours before actually getting up and doing actual work for a change. But I do clearly understand the rules that we all have to be in the golf resort before 7 am before the gates are closed and I am fine with it.When we arrived there, we realised that there weren’t any visible power sockets around so we went hunting around for it and turns out, there was a tent that was beside our truck that was supplying drinks and we decided that maybe the plug source is somewhere there. So, we plugged in and used the power that was available for quite some time. About 6 hours into the usage of the power, we suddenly experienced a power outage and we couldn’t really figure out why at first, so we requested the technician in charge of the electrical system from the organisers.  After placing a time period of a 20 minute ETA but eventually reaching an hour later, they assess the problem and came with the conclusion that our truck is taking up too much power and we were required to not us the power from the outlet as it will blow the fuse yet again as it did previously when the we experienced the power outage. I didn’t like that the blame fall into our truck for one bit, in fact, I was furious by the response that was given from the assessment.

I voiced out my opinion that I really think that it is supposed to be the organisers that should have looked into issues about these sorts and it shouldn’t be our fault to take. If the fuses were not capable of handling output voltages that are required for the truck and the truck happens to need voltages of those numbers to run, then the organisers should most definitely have a quick work with the technicians and the electricians that are on board prior to the truck being placed there open for business. I do know clearly that it is a high possibility that we have blown a fuse because of the amount of energy we use in our truck which includes the cooler, the steamer, and the fans that act as air ventilators for the crew members.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop there. Things started to get a little fishy when one of the event crew members (assuming that they are one of them given the matching shirt design) have given us stern warnings to shut our generators or close or equipment on a certain period of time because it was making too much of noise for the golfing event itself. I would gladly say here that I honestly understand that a golfing tournament has to be quiet in order for the golfers to concentrate on the game, and having sounds come from everywhere would most definitely disturb anyone’s concentration in the game. Basically put, I understand the need of etiquettes and manners in sporting events, especially this particular sport. However, this wouldn’t be a problem for me hadn’t they fulfilled the request of a power outlet as promised in the first place! I wouldn’t care if they required me to shut up for the whole entire day and not speak a single word – even when it comes to expediting. I would literally keep my mouth closed tight for the whole entire event IF they just bothered to give me power.

The complete disregard for the ones who are trying to run a business is rather bluntly, appalling. I love golfing events entirely but organisers who can’t simply bother to look into things like these are the reason why I find it offensive to me, to my crew members, and my employee to have taken our time to place a big amount of dedication towards this sport event, having to be treated like we didn't matter. I’m not trying to request for sympathy over this matter for I am merely explaining my observation of how things were handled and it was clear that a really big amount of professionalism was leaking off from the management side, and it has to be addressed clearly.

In addition to all of that fussing over, the revenue from the sales of the three-day event only bared about 10% of the expected revenue of the sales – which was a sad disappointment for both me and the team because not only do we have to accept the fact that our expectations have been let down, but the salt on the wound would obviously be the remainders of the prepared dressings for the products that we were selling that we made that would need to be replaced and thrown away. Hence, a lot of wasted and rotten food, wasted time, wasted energy and wasted money.

It is safe to say that this event has one of the most disappointing events ever and I would be sure to look into researching about the organisers of any golfing events in the future before opting to come aboard. Just to make matters really short – the organisers of this event simply weren't good enough but I’m always open with the idea that we can learn from our mistakes and look into a better future of event managing. For now, I have lost confidence towards them but I would be inclined to hear any future updates on better events.

And advises for the other entrepreneurs who are also somehow entangled with the wave of F&B related business ideas that would definitely be interested with coming in to sell your products in events, I suggest you do your research beforehand and ask your ‘neighbours’ about their experiences on these events before immediately taking the events on schedule. But mistakes can happen but it’s crucial that we learn from it and try to be more cautious on finding better events for better business undertakings.

Laters.