1. Should the College of Business Offer a Minor in Event Marketing?
By: Lerae Ettienne, Johanna Lopez, Donna Moulton, Leslie Taveras-Torres
Table of Contents

2. 1
Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………….....2
Introduction/Objective…………….…………………………………............................................3
Methodology/Research Design………………………………………………………..…………..4
Quantitative Research & Analysis …………………..……………………………..……………..5
Qualitative Research & Analysis………………..……………………………………………….. 7
Analysis of experiment………………………………………………………………....................8
Results…………………………………………………………………………………………....12
Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………....…..13
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………...……..14-29
SPSS Results………………………………………………………………………………….…18
Executive Summary

3. 2
The purpose of this report was to investigate and understand Sacred Heart University
students’ opinions and attitudes towards the addition of an Event Marketing Minor in the Welch
College of Business. A survey and a focus group on different experiences and attitudes toward
the Welch College of Business were conducted. The results show that many students are
interested in event marketing and event management as a career and in general. The report
concludes that the majority of students would be interested in enrolling in the event marketing
minor. It is recommended that the Welch College of Business offer this area of study as a minor.
With 56.9% of students interested in this minor, it is a no brainer that the minor would be very
successful for the institution. We found that juniors and seniors would be the most likely to
enroll in this minor. It would add a field of expertise to its students, and expand the academic
catalog and course offerings, resulting in a competitive advantage to the institution, since most
institutions do not offer said fields of expertise. Sacred Heart would likely get higher
enrollments, by a small percentage. Nevertheless, students will be fulfilled academically and
skilled with what is needed for their professional niche.
Introduction/Objective
Over the years, marketing has continued to evolve and there are now more creative ways
to provide information or generate awareness about a certain idea, company, or product. With
most consumers today being “buyer-empowered”, it is important to be able to provide more than

4. 3
your average sales pitch to influence consumers to make the right purchasing decision.
According to the software company Marketo Inc., the 2012 IDC Tech Marketing Benchmarks
Study states that “on average, event marketing constitutes 1/5 of the marketing budget, which is
a pretty sizeable percentage” (Marketo.com). Event marketing serves as a large part of marketing
altogether and is beneficial because it helps to provide education about an idea, generate leads,
engage customers, and helps to establish a brand. Currently at Sacred Heart University 56.9% of
students are interested in event management/marketing as a career.
Sacred Heart University is considering new plans to improve the experience within the
Welch College of Business. There are many universities that offer courses or programs
specifically focused on event marketing and it can help to increase enrollment when there are
more programs offered that pertain to a student’s interests. Business schools, such as the George
Washington University School of Business have already created these interest specific programs
with the understanding that there is an emergence in the marketing field for event planning
professionals. Recently, the Welch College of Business wanted to measure the potential of
offering an event marketing minor as a course at Sacred Heart University and ultimately, decide
if doing so would be beneficial to the students and to the University, which is exactly what will
be covered in this research. Some other issues such as the amount of sections offered per course,
awareness of minors and majors offered, and career planning geared towards students’ areas of
study, though significant to the marketing decisions, are not addressed in this research.
Methodology/Research Design
Research Method: Qualtrics Survey
When deciding on a research method we decided that the best platform for our research
would be to create a survey using Qualtrics. When we began the design of our research

5. 4
questions, we wanted our respondents to answer how familiar they were with minors offered at
Sacred Heart University.. We dispersed our survey throughout the Sacred Heart University
campus population though methods such as email, and word of mouth. We also had each group
member post on social media the link to the survey for other Sacred Heart University students to
see, so we could reach a sufficient majority of the campus population to better gather conclusive
results for our research.
We then decided that a focus group would add more density and could answer a few
more of our concerns and questions in depth. It would give us a better feel for the concerns of
students, and would be able to get a wider and more realistic view. It would help us obtain more
information about the student’s feelings and perceptions, as well as their opinions. It saves us
more time, since a survey is more time consuming. Overall, a focus group provides a broader
range of information, and is more practical than conducting individual interviews.
Quantitative Research& Analysis
When conducting our quantitative research we used a survey on Qualtrics that we sent
out to 190 Sacred Heart University students. Within our sample we had 118 females and 67
males. Out of those students; 27 were freshmen, 43 were sophomores, 73 were juniors, and 37
were seniors. Again we chose to use a modified likert scale because it was the best choice for
analysing our data, we wanted to find on a scale of 1-5 our respondents level of agreement or
disagreement on a symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements. In doing this the

6. 5
range captures the intensity of their feelings for a given item. After dispensing our survey and
collecting our data results we then imported our data into SPSS to then test 6 different
hypotheses. Seniors and juniors will be more likely to be interested in the event management as a
career than freshman and sophomores. Females are more likely to be interested in the event
management as a career than males overall. Females are more likely to be interested in event
management as a career and as a minor than males overall. Marketing majors compared to non-
marketing majors will be more likely to be interested in the event management minor, Marketing
majors compared to non-marketing majors will be the most likely to be extremely interested in
event management as a career and lastly Students are more interested in event marketing as a
career than a minor, you will find the details and results about each of these in the next section
labeled Analysis of experiment.

7. 6
Qualitative Research & Analysis

8. 7
After dispensing our survey and collecting our data results, we held a focus group of 8
Sacred Heart University students, six females and two males. The students we chose for our
focus group were picked at random from around the Sacred Heart University campus and they
were students that we had never met before. By choosing students that we did not know
personally our focus group would better record unbiased answers and come to a more accurate
measure of students interest in event management as a minor. The group was comprised of
different genders, classes and majors. Within those two groups there were five freshman, two
sophomores, and one junior. The focus group was moderated by Leslie Taveras-Torres, filmed
by Donna Moulton, and Lerae Ettienne and Johanna Lopez took notes on the discussion. Based
on this discussion, we found that the business majors in the group were very interested in having
event marketing as a minor.
The participants found many aspects of the minor appealing and it made them more likely
to want to enroll in the course. They liked that this minor would look more attractive to a

9. 8
potential employer and that it would set them apart from other students and employees when
entering the workforce. The participants felt that the event marketing minor would add a specific
field of expertise and serve as a competitive advantage compared to basic fields of study such as,
marketing alone. Although, there was a great deal of positive feedback from the discussion, our
participants also felt that the minor would be difficult because of the material that the course
would consist of and the amount need for hands-on experience..
With the data collected from the focus group, we concluded that the event marketing
minor would serve as a benefit to students and the Welch College of Business. When we
analyzed the overall big picture, we saw that the minor will be of much importance in the coming
years because of the increase in demand for corporate and worldwide events. The marketing
industry is becoming more technical and visual each day and having the background and overall
knowledge in the event planning and marketing fields will serve as a huge opportunity for
college students everywhere.
Analysis of experiment:
Hypotheses:
1. Seniors and juniors will be more likely to be interested in the event management
as a career than freshman and sophomores.
P value - .507 – not significant
Based on the Anova test, statistically we see that all the classes are equal in their interest
in event management as a career. Therefore, our hypothesis was incorrect in stating that juniors
and seniors would be more interested than freshman and sophomores.
We chose this hypothesis because we felt that seniors and juniors have a better grasp of
what they want to pursue, as opposed to freshman and sophomores. Due to the notion that most
students do not declare their major until the end of their sophomore year, we figured that the

10. 9
junior and senior classes would have a greater affinity to choosing event management as a career
based on what they already know about business.
2. Females are more likely to be interested in the event management as a career than
males overall.
P Value: .256 – not significant
Based on the Independent Samples T-Test, statistically we fail to reject the null, meaning
that equal variances are assumed and that females are equally as interested in event management
as a career as males are. Therefore, our hypothesis was incorrect in stating that females would be
more interested.
3. Females are more likely to be interested in event management as a career and as a
minor than males overall.
P value for minor: .725 – not significant
P value for career: .256 – not significant
Based on this Independent Samples T-Test, we found that the P values for both event
management as a career and as a minor were not significant. According to those statistics, we fail
to reject the null, meaning that females are just as likely to be interested in the event management
minor and career as males are. Therefore, our hypothesis was incorrect in assuming that females
had an overall higher interest level.
We chose these hypotheses because we assumed that the organizational quality of event
management would be more attractive to female students than males. We figured that hands on
experience tailors more to the average female business student rather than a male one.
4. Marketing majors compared to non-marketing majors will be more likely to be
interested in the event management minor

11. 10
We compared those with the marketing major to all of those that do not have the
marketing major with an Independent Samples T-Test. In regards to Marketing majors, we have
a P value (.005) that is significant, which would mean we would reject the null, and understand
that equal variances are not assumed. When looking at the remaining majors, excluding the other
category and management, all values were not significant. So then we compared the means for
Marketing, Management and Other in the extremely interested category. Marketing had the
highest mean out of the three, so we can therefore conclude that Marketing majors are more
likely to be interested in the event management minor compared to all other majors. Which thus
concludes that our hypothesis was in fact correct.
5. Marketing majors compared to non-marketing majors will be the most likely to
be extremely interested in event management as a career.
For this hypothesis, we conducted an Independent Samples T-Test and compared those
with a marketing major to all of those students that did not have a marketing major. Looking at
the marketing majors alone, we have a P value of .702, which is not significant, meaning that we
would fail to reject the null to conclude that equal variances can be assumed. However, when
looking at the T-test significance, we see a value of (.001), which is significant, thus meaning
that there is a difference in means. When looking at the remaining majors, we see that Sport
Management (.000), Accounting (.019), Finance (.011), Management (.000) and Other (.000) are
all significant in their Levene Tests, meaning that equal variances cannot be assumed. However,
in regards to the means, only Sport Management (.004), Management (.037) and Other (.000)
have significant P values. This concludes that there is a difference in means. Looking at the
extremely interested category, Marketing had the highest mean (.71), which supports our
hypothesis that marketing majors are most likely to be extremely interested in event management

12. 11
as a career. However, we can see that there are significant levels of interest with the Sport
Management, Management and Other majors as well.
We chose these hypotheses because we felt that marketing majors have the best
understanding out of all the majors of what event management/marketing is. We felt that there
were probably concepts that already overlapped a good amount of the information that these
students have already been exposed to.
6. Students are more interested in event marketing as a career than a minor.
P value: .738 – not significant
Based on the Paired Sample Test, statistically we fail to reject the null, meaning students
are just as interested in event marketing as a career as they are interested in the event marketing
minor. Therefore, our hypothesis was incorrect in the assumption that event marketing as a
career probed more interest than just a minor.
We chose this hypothesis because we felt that while students may not want to take an
additional minor, that some of their fields would naturally overlap into event
marketing/management. Because of this, we assumed that there was the chance that students
would get involved in event marketing in their professional careers anyway, so they may not feel
that the minor is that necessary.
Results
According to our focus group the majority of participants believe that the event
marketing minor would be beneficial to the Welch College of Business. Over half of the
participants agreed that the event marketing minor will provide a competitive advantage in the

13. 12
work force. Although the majority of the participants feel that the event marketing minor will be
a great addition to the academic catalog, 3 out of the 8 participants perceived the minor to be
difficult because of the course load and the need for hands-on experience.
According to our Qualtrics survey, the data shows us that the majority of students have
shown an interest in event marketing as a minor and as a career. Based on our SPSS findings,
56.9% of students are interested in event marketing as a career and as a minor. After conducting
an independent samples t-test and analyzing the Levene’s test for the different majors and their
levels of interest in the event marketing minor, we found that out of all the majors, the
marketing major would be more likely to be extremely interested in the event marketing minor
with the highest mean of 0.71.
When we compared the likelihood of students pursuing a minor in event marketing
compared to the likelihood of students pursuing a minor in all other subjects, the data showed us
that all of the p-values were significant. With those values being significant we rejected the null
and then further compared the means. The mean for the event marketing minor was greater than
all of the other minors by at least 0.14. From the survey we were also able to conclude that if the
Welch College of business is to add new electives or minors to the academic catalog, they should
only add a few.
Recommendations
Due to our findings and research, we recommend that Sacred Heart University make a
few changes to their academic catalogs. Students showed positive receptiveness towards the
possibility of opening up a wider range of courses in the Welch College of Business. From the
focus group we found that adding more courses specific to students’ interest is essential to the
continual success of the Welch College of Business. Besides expanding the curricula, the

14. 13
institution’s priority should be to raise the awareness of their current academic and course
offerings, as we found that students do not feel they are knowledgeable enough of their options,
within any school of discipline. Students will be able to have fields of expertise, setting the
alumni of Sacred Heart University apart from others in the workforce.
From the Qualtrics survey, we can conclude that the majority of students would be
interested in event marketing as a minor. According to our data, 56.9% of Sacred Heart
University students are interested in having the event marketing minor.
Our data shows us that many students felt that there weren’t too little nor too many
electives or minors for marketing (32.1%) compared to having too many minors or electives
already (31.5%).
Appendix:
Focus Group Script:
Moderator Introduction: Hello everyone, my name is Leslie and these are my fellow group
members. I will be conducting the discussion and my team will observe and take notes. We
invited you all to talk about your experience here at the Welch College of Business.
You may not be familiar with focus groups. A focus group is a group discussion about your
opinions. I will ask you a few open ended questions and there are no right or wrong answers.
There is also no need for us to agree with each other or reach a consensus. If anybody says
something you have a question about or want to comment on, please do so. Don't feel you have
to wait for me to ask you a question. My job is just to guide this discussion. I encourage all of
you to participate--everyone's ideas and opinions are important. We appreciate you taking the
time to meet with us.
*State the length of the discussion (15 minutes-30 minutes), state that it will be recorded,
and state that no names or personal information will be used in our report.*
Moderator: Please state your name and your class.
Questions to Ask Respondents

15. 14
What is the reason you chose to enroll in the Welch College of Business?
What aspect of the Welch College of Business is the most appealing to you?
Have you presented the idea of enrolling in the Welch College of Business to any friends and
family? Why or why not?
What is your major?
Do you have a minor? If so, what is it?
For juniors and seniors, knowing what you know now, would you have chosen a different
major/minor if you were still a freshman?
If your answer to the previous question is "Yes", what is the major/minor that you would have
chosen instead of the current major/minor?
If the Welch College of Business was to offer an Event Marketing minor, would you want to
enroll in it?
How difficult would you perceive this minor to be?
Would you be interested in event marketing/planning as a career?
If not, what would you like your career to be after college?
Have you experienced any challenges during your academic career at Sacred Heart University?
How has SHU enriched or challenged you as a person?
What is your overall impression of SHU?
Do you have any ideas/suggestions that you feel will make SHU more successful
Qualtrics Survey: Event Marketing Minor
Q1 Thank you for participating in this survey for the College of Business. Please help us by
taking a few minutes to complete this questionnaire, so we may continue to improve your
experience.

16. 15

17. 16

18. 17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oURCY9L4ec
SPSS Results
1. Seniors and juniors will be more likely to be interested in the event management as a career
than freshman and sophomores.
ANOVA
Based on the definition above, rate your level of interest in event management/marketing
as a car...
Sum of df Mean F Sig.

19. 18
Squares Square
Between
Groups
6.444 4 1.611 .832 .507
Within Groups 344.780 178 1.937
Total 351.224 182
2. Females are more likely to be interested in the event management as a career than males
overall.
Group Statistics
What is your
gender? N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/market
ing as a car...
Male 67 3.30 1.279 .156
Female 117 3.44 1.447 .134
3. Females are more likely to be interested in event management as a career and as a minor than
males overall.
Group Statistics
What is your
gender? N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Based on the Male 66 3.18 1.323 .163

20. 19
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/market
ing as a min...
Female 115 3.45 1.428 .133
Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/market
ing as a car...
Male 67 3.30 1.279 .156
Female 117 3.44 1.447 .134
4. Marketing majors compared to non-marketing majors will be more likely to be interested in
the event management minor.
Group Statistics
Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/marke
ting as a min... N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Major is Marketing Very uninterested 29 .17 .384 .071
Extremely 41 .68 .471 .074

21. 20
interested
Major is Sport
Management
Very uninterested 29 .07 .258 .048
Extremely
interested
41 .05 .218 .034
Major is
Accounting
Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034
Extremely
interested
41 .05 .218 .034
Major is Finance Very uninterested 29 .07 .258 .048
Extremely
interested
41 .00 .000 .000
Major is Business
Economics
Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034
Extremely
interested
41 .05 .218 .034
Major is
Management
Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034
Extremely
interested
41 .20 .401 .063
Major is Other Very uninterested 29 .69 .471 .087
Extremely
interested
41 .12 .331 .052
Levene's Test
for Equality
of Variances t-test for Equality of Means

22. 21
F Sig. t df
Sig.
(2-
taile
d)
Mea
n
Diffe
renc
e
Std.
Erro
r
Diffe
renc
e
95%
Confidence
Interval of
the
Difference
Low
er
Upp
er
Major is
Marketin
g
Equal
variances
assumed
8.50
0
.005 -
4.
80
9
68 .000 -
.511
.106 -
.722
-
.299
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
4.
98
0
66
.5
31
.000 -
.511
.103 -
.715
-
.306
Major is
Sport
Managem
ent
Equal
variances
assumed
.500 .482 .3
54
68 .725 .020 .057 -
.094
.134
Equal
variances
not
assumed
.3
43
53
.8
48
.733 .020 .059 -
.098
.138
Major is
Accounti
ng
Equal
variances
assumed
.333 .566 -
.2
87
68 .775 -
.014
.050 -
.114
.085
Equal
variances
-
.2
65
.5
.769 -
.014
.048 -
.111
.082

23. 22
not
assumed
95 86
Major is
Finance
Equal
variances
assumed
13.7
65
.000 1.
71
8
68 .090 .069 .040 -
.011
.149
Equal
variances
not
assumed
1.
44
0
28
.0
00
.161 .069 .048 -
.029
.167
Major is
Business
Economic
s
Equal
variances
assumed
.333 .566 -
.2
87
68 .775 -
.014
.050 -
.114
.085
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
.2
95
65
.5
86
.769 -
.014
.048 -
.111
.082
Major is
Managem
ent
Equal
variances
assumed
21.9
00
.000 -
2.
00
6
68 .049 -
.161
.080 -
.320
-
.001
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
2.
24
6
60
.0
31
.028 -
.161
.072 -
.304
-
.018
Major is
Other
Equal
variances
assumed
15.5
30
.000 5.
92
7
68 .000 .568 .096 .377 .759

24. 23
Equal
variances
not
assumed
5.
58
8
47
.0
10
.000 .568 .102 .363 .772
5. Marketing majors compared to non-marketing majors will be the most likely to be extremely
interested in event management as a career.
Group Statistics
Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/marke
ting as a car... N Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Major is Marketing Very uninterested 29 .31 .471 .087
Extremely
interested
45 .71 .458 .068
Major is Sport
Management
Very uninterested 29 .00 .000 .000
Extremely
interested
45 .18 .387 .058
Major is
Accounting
Very uninterested 29 .00 .000 .000
Extremely
interested
45 .04 .208 .031
Major is Finance Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034

25. 24
Extremely
interested
45 .00 .000 .000
Major is Business
Economics
Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034
Extremely
interested
45 .02 .149 .022
Major is
Management
Very uninterested 29 .03 .186 .034
Extremely
interested
45 .18 .387 .058
Major is Other Very uninterested 29 .62 .494 .092
Extremely
interested
45 .07 .252 .038
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test
for Equality
of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
F Sig. t df
Sig.
(2-
taile
d)
Mea
n
Diffe
renc
e
Std.
Erro
r
Diffe
renc
95%
Confidence
Interval of
the
Difference

26. 25
e Low
er
Upp
er
Major is
Marketin
g
Equal
variances
assumed
.148 .702 -
3.
63
3
72 .001 -
.401
.110 -
.621
-
.181
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
3.
61
2
58
.7
12
.001 -
.401
.111 -
.623
-
.179
Major is
Sport
Managem
ent
Equal
variances
assumed
39.7
24
.000 -
2.
47
0
72 .016 -
.178
.072 -
.321
-
.034
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
3.
08
4
44
.0
00
.004 -
.178
.058 -
.294
-
.062
Major is
Accounti
ng
Equal
variances
assumed
5.77
4
.019 -
1.
14
6
72 .256 -
.044
.039 -
.122
.033
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
1.
43
1
44
.0
00
.160 -
.044
.031 -
.107
.018
Major is Equal 6.72 .011 1. 72 .215 .034 .028 - .089

27. 26
Finance variances
assumed
7 25
0
.020
Equal
variances
not
assumed
1.
00
0
28
.0
00
.326 .034 .034 -
.036
.105
Major is
Business
Economic
s
Equal
variances
assumed
.393 .533 .3
13
72 .755 .012 .039 -
.066
.090
Equal
variances
not
assumed
.2
99
50
.5
40
.766 .012 .041 -
.070
.095
Major is
Managem
ent
Equal
variances
assumed
18.1
34
.000 -
1.
85
9
72 .067 -
.143
.077 -
.297
.010
Equal
variances
not
assumed
-
2.
13
3
67
.5
38
.037 -
.143
.067 -
.277
-
.009
Major is
Other
Equal
variances
assumed
60.9
29
.000 6.
36
2
72 .000 .554 .087 .380 .728
Equal
variances
not
5.
59
0
37
.5
35
.000 .554 .099 .353 .755

28. 27
assumed
6. Students are more interested in event marketing as a career than a minor.
Paired Samples Statistics
Mean N
Std.
Deviation
Std. Error
Mean
Pair 1 Based on the definition
above, rate your level
of interest in event
management/marketing
as a car...
3.36 182 1.391 .103
Based on the definition
above, rate your level
of interest in event
management/marketing
as a min...
3.34 182 1.400 .104
Paired Samples Test
Paired Differences
t df
Sig.
(2-
tailed)
M
e
Std.
Devia
Std.
Error
95%
Confidence

29. 28
a
n
tion Mean Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Pa
ir
1
Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/ma
rketing as a car...
- Based on the
definition above,
rate your level of
interest in event
management/ma
rketing as a
min...
.
0
2
2
.885 .066 -.108 .151 .33
5
181 .738