Event Management Concentration
Learn how to design, plan, and execute a wide range of events by applying industry best practices. Gain hands-on experience with event operations, budgeting, marketing, and logistics while also learning to incorporate sustainable and ethical practices into your work.
Why Choose the Event Management Concentration?
You're a great fit if you:
- Want to create memorable, impactful experiences for audiences
- Enjoy hands-on, real-world learning and planning live events
- Are excited about a people-focused, creative, and fast-paced career with many industry pathways
What Is Event Management?
Event management is a natural extension of the management major. Planning and delivering events requires strong leadership, teamwork, communication, and organizational skills. You'll apply management theories related to human behavior, decision-making, and problem-solving in dynamic, real-world settings where collaboration and adaptability are essential.
This concentration complements the management curriculum by providing a hands-on context in which you can practice planning, organizing, and leading people through event-based experiences.
What Skills Will You Master?
- Project Management & Execution
Learn to plan, coordinate, and deliver events from concept through completion, including timelines, budgets, vendors, and risk management. - Professional Communication & Relationship-Building
Network, negotiate, and collaborate effectively with clients, colleagues, and industry partners. - Problem-Solving & Adaptability
Think on your feet, troubleshoot challenges in real time, and adapt plans to ensure successful outcomes under pressure.
Program Learning Outcomes
For Management majors in the Event Management Concentration it is expected that upon graduation students will be able to:
- Demonstrate the ability to plan and execute various types of events, applying industry best practices
- Apply sustainable and ethical practices in event planning and execution
- Engage with industry trends and professional networks to support career development in event management
Major Requirements (60 units)
Business Core
Required Courses
The business core and foundation courses cover the basic business topics needed for a career in business. Consistent with the direction of business today, the business core at the McLaren School of Management highlights issues related to the global business environment, diversity and ethics. Oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning, information literacy, and critical thinking are also stressed throughout the curriculum.
All Business majors must complete a set of business foundation and core courses, as well as the required University Core Curriculum. Students admitted to the McLaren School of Management’s Honors Program take the Honors Program core. Please see School of Management Honors Program. The required foundation courses are also used to satisfy University Core Curriculum requirements (see faculty adviser). Students must maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average in their foundation and business core coursework.
- BUS 100 - Launch into Business
- BUS 201 - Principles of Financial Accounting
- BUS 202 - Principles of Managerial Accounting
- BUS 204 - Foundations of Analytics
- BUS 205 - AI and Emerging Technologies
- BUS 301 - Business Law
- BUS 302 - Marketing Principles
- BUS 304 - Foundations of Organizational Behavior
- BUS 305 - Principles of Finance
- BUS 308 - Systems in Organizations
- BUS 403 - Entrepreneurial Strategy
- ECON 110 - Introductory Economics
Management and Event Management Concentration Requirements (20 units)
Students take 20 units of upper division, non-core business coursework.
Required Courses Management Major (4 units)
Students must take the following courses for four units for their Management Major.
- BMGT 441 - Leadership Live
- BMGT 442 - Management Capstone
Event Management Concentration (12 units)
Students must take the following four courses (12 units) for the concentration.
- BMGT 288 - Industry Insight & Career Readiness
- BUS 386 - Event Planning with a Purpose
- BMGT 388 - Customer Experience Design
- BMGT 488 - Events IRL: Plan it, Build it, Run it
Electives (4 units)
Complete 4 units from the following:
The frequency of course offerings varies. Please check the course schedule each semester.
- BMGT 345 - Global Virtual Project Teams
- BMGT 347 - Negotiation & Critical Conversations
- BUS 366 - Entertainment Marketing
- BUS 380 - Hosp Entrepreneur & Gastronomy
- BUS 382 - High Tech Hospitality
- BUS 383 - CSR in Hospitality
- BUS 387 - Beverage Management
- BUS 389 - Fundamental Culinary Technique
Degree Planner
First-Year
| Fall | Units |
|---|---|
| Rhetoric and Composition | 4 |
| Core E: ECON 110 - Introductory Economics | 4 |
| BUS 100 - Launch into Business | 2 |
| Core B1: MATH 106 - Business Statistics (recommended) | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 14 |
| Spring | Units |
| Core A2: Rhetoric and Composition | 4 |
| BUS 201 - Principles of Financial Accounting | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Elective | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 16 |
Sophomore Year
| Fall | Units |
|---|---|
| BUS 202 - Principles of Managerial Accounting | 2 |
| BUS 204 - Foundations of Analytics | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Elective | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 14 |
| Spring | Units |
| BUS 205 - AI and Emerging Technologies | 2 |
| BUS 302 - Marketing Principles | 4 |
| BUS 304 - Foundations of Organizational Behavior | 4 |
| BUS 305 - Principles of Finance | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 14 |
Junior Year
| Fall | Units |
|---|---|
| BUS 301 - Business Law | 4 |
| BUS 308 - Systems in Organizations | 2 |
| Upper-Division Major | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 14 |
| Spring | Units |
| Upper-Division Major | 4 |
| Upper-Division Major | 4 |
| Core with Cultural Diversity (CD) | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 16 |
Senior Year
| Fall | Units |
|---|---|
| BMGT 441 - Leadership Live | 2 |
| BMGT 442 - Management Capstone | 2 |
| Upper-Division Major with Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Elective | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 16 |
| Spring | Units |
| BUS 403 - Entrepreneurial Strategy | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Core | 4 |
| Total Semester Units | 12 |
*This information is subject to change, the degree planner is a sample, and students should consult with the department for any updated information.