Although McDonaldization has been on the rise for decades and it is clearly adamant in many aspect of day to day life, including my chosen event of PCMA European Influencers Summit, it is argued that McDonaldization is no longer apparent in today’s society (Ahuvia 2011). Many researchers believe that McDonaldization is being taken over by eBayization (Izberk-Bilgin and Ahuvia 2010, cited in Ritzer 2010). The key dimensions of eBayization are variety, unpredictability and market-mediated control, the complete opposite to McDonaldization (Ahuvia 2011). Ebay has very little control over their consumers and user, therefore putting majority of the responsibility on the consumer rather than the business. Ebay uses their control purely to help keep the company functioning smoothly and to make profit but are not there to take responsibility for anything that happens on the site (Izberk-Bilgin and Ahuvia 2010, cited in Ritzer 2010). This method for running your company is beginning to rise and become more popular as businesses see the success Ebay is having (Ahuvia 2011). So a thought I want to leave you with is; now that I have broken down McDonaldization and touched upon eBayization, which do you see more in your everyday life and are you happy in the way businesses are having such an influence on your life?

As its clear from the previous blog post that robots and high tech technology is starting to take over and replace humans, it is now time I talk about how this was apparent in Seville. Although at a quick glance it will appear that the Europen Influencers Summit was not de-humanised, and this is partly true, but there were times I was able to see technology and robots creeping into the event.

When I first arrived at the event I was made to fill out a four question survey and was then given an LED screen to wear around my neck that had my answers recorded. When I then approached someone that had answered at least one of their questions the same as myself our necklaces would light up with each others initials. The intentions of this LED screen were to encourage conversations amoungt attendees and help the flow of conversations, removing the need for awkward small talk or awkward introductions. However this was not how it was percieved. It took away from my expierence, and more than a handful of others, as the constant lighting up of the screens became annoying after the first hour or so. After you had ‘matched’ with someone and you were stood talking the necklace would continue to light up with each others initials and it became a distraction.

Another way in which robots and technology can be seen within the event, and this time actually taking away from a human job, was with the app. The app had everything you could possible need on it, from the event programme to a list of all attendees. This took away the need for informational staff to be there to assist people with where to go and when. I believe this was a smart move from the event managers as the vast majority of attendees would have a smartphone and would prefer to have all the information they wanted at the touch of their fingers. This added to my expeirence of the event as I was easily able to find out all the information I wanted to know, such   (Kumar 2016)                                    as what seminars were on and what time I had to be down at dinner. Also the fact I live on my phone I, along with most people of my generation, love anything that comes in app form.

In the following blog posts I will look at the control dimension of McDonaldization and relate it to the event design, event management and my experience of the PCMA European Influencers Summit;

When McDonaldization talks about control it is referring to the way in which an organisation or manager instructs the employees in a way to demolish uncertainty and inconsistency throughout the different branches of the company (Ritzer 2017). The overall goal is to turn employees into human robots who do the same thing again and again without thinking or a great amount of effort (Ford 2015). The idea of turning humans into robots then paves a way for organisations to bring in machinary, that will do the same job to a far high standard than any human, to replace the robot like humans (Ford 2015). The Econmist (2017) talked about what percentage of the worlds industries have replaced humans with robots, the answer might shock you; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SimCBnbPdP4 . From the information in this video it is clear to see that the trend in gaining control over the workplace by replacing humans with robots is still extremely new and in the pipeworks, but (Farris 2018)                         there are still many concerns that this will only continue to grow rapidly over the coming years. In the upcoming decade robots are looking at replacing 66 million jobs (Elliott 2018). The worst hit industries being manufactoring and agriculutre, but the postal and courier services, land transport and some food services are at risk as well.

At the PCMA European Influencers Summit it was clear that the management used efficiency in regards to the service of food. All meals, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, were served in buffet style with only employees there to cook and prepare the food and refill the stations. The concept of using a buffet style to serve the food fitted in with the design of the event as we only had one hour to eat each meal so it allowed for us to get in and out quickly. I was able to get into the room and have food sitting in front of me at a table within minutes. I also did not waste time in picking what I wanted to eat as with a buffet I could pick a little bit of everything and try it. Although this aided in the efficiency of the event in terms of quickness I feel it took away from my experience of the event. As everyone was up and constantly moving around I did not get the chance to communicate with event professionals and fully network with everyone, and as that was my main goal for attending this event I feel it took away from my experience.

In the following blog posts I will look at the efficiency dimension of McDonaldization and relate it to the event design, event management and my experience of the PCMA European Influencers Summit;

The meaning of efficient is ‘working or operating quickly and effectively in an organised way’ (Cambridge Dictionary 2018b). If a company was to maximise efficiency they would produce their goods quickly, effortlessly and on a largely increased scale (Ritzer 1998). The way in which to make your company efficient can be done in many different ways but the two ways I am going to focus on are streamlining the process and putting the consumer to work.

Streamlining the process refers to eliminating the seemingly unnecessary steps in the process of getting the finished product where ever possible (Ritzer 2017). In the fast food industry these areas can include where the livestock is farmed, the process in which the livestock is then distributed to the outlets, the serving of the food and the way in which the waste is disposed (Ritzer 2017). In McDonalds itself this can be seen as they have brought in self-service kiosks, where you place your own order and then make your way to the collection point, removing the need for till point servers; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL6dWNi-o7Q (Victor Kidd 2017). A great article that looks at a reason behind why McDonalds are bringing in these kiosks is by Brandon Weber (2018); https://bigthink.com/brandon-weber/the-secret-to-why-mcdonalds-is-adding-self-serve-kiosks-at-a-rapid-pace. An issue that can occur when trying to streamline your business is that the quality of the product or service can be reduced and the consumer may no longer enjoy the experience (Alfino et al. 1998). It is therefore important that the manager of the business has practices in place that will avoid this from happening.

The process of putting the consumer                  (IPSOS 2013)                  to work can result in either the need for less employees or simply putting those employees to a better use elsewhere (Ritzer 2017). This can again be seen through McDonalds with their self-service kiosks but also by many supermarket that have a large selection of self-checkouts. Although the concept of putting the consumer to work is on the rise there is still many doubts and concerns that accompany it. A study carried out by Consumer Reports (2015) shows that many people are still apprehensive about self-service machines as they are not always  straightforward to use and help is not always available as the employee is elsewhere, and it takes away the human interaction that many people desire.

As you can see from the previous videos, the main layout of the all the PCMA events are very similar, and this was apparent at the PCMA European Influencers Summit. This year was the first year I attended this event, but before I went I knew roughly what I was going to expect from attending other PCMA events in the past. The main goals from PCMA events are to network and to attend educational seminars, and this one was no different. Before I even looked up the programme for this event I knew to expect a handful of educational seminars I could choose between and countless amounts of breaks, dinners and timetabled mingling time to network with the industry professionals. Also the layout and design of the main room is usually the same throughout the different events. This consists of a large main stage with two projector screens and facing this stage are countless amounts of tables, which sit around six attendees, which have paper, pens, water and snacks on them. The fact that I was able to predict the way in which this event would run made me feel more comfortable about attending. As I had never attended this specific event before, or ever been to Seville, I was a tad apprehensive about going to something completely new. The fact I was able to roughly predict the layout and running of the event it made me feel more confident and at ease about attending. I think if I was to show up at the event and it was not how I had anticipated I would have felt extremely uncomfortable and possibly would not have got as involved as I had.
With the idea of predictability in mind, event managers have to consider this when planning their event. For me, I enjoy the fact that I can predict the basics of an event I am about to attend as I like to be in control of my life, but for many other people they enjoy the element of surprise and prefer not to know what is about to occur. Event managers therefore have the issue of either trying to please only one of these groups of people or try and find elements from both to fit into their event. I believe that the PCMA European Influencers Summit managed to achieve a good balance between the two. Although the basics of the event were predictable, with the layout and design, they managed to get the element of surprise into the event through their guest speakers and personal tour of the local area.

In the following blog posts I will look at the predictability dimension of McDonaldization and relate it to the event design, event management and my experience of the PCMA European Influencers Summit;

The meaning of predictable is ‘happening or behaving in a way that you expect and not unusual or interesting’ (Cambridge Dictionary 2018a). This can be seen through McDonalds as all restaurants use the same ingredients and all food is packaged in identical packaging, all employees wear the same uniform and there are similarities in the way in which you collect your meal from the employees (Alfino et al. 1998). Through research it has been suggested that a major goal of the brain is to minimise the element of surprise (Friston 2009). This indicates that if something is predictable people will enjoy it more as the brain is settled and knows what to expect (Braem and Trapp 2017). This can help within the events industry as it can entice more people to attend your event again and again as they are aware of what to expect and find it              (Melvladr 2013)                   comfortable and settling to attend. This can be seen throughout all the PCMA events. The two video clips that will follow this post will show you two different PCMA events, but look for the similarities within them. The standard layout of the event and the entertainment that is on offer usually follows the same guidelines.

(Tharwat 2009)