“Welcome to the Gonzo Lecture!”
 
Picture of Charles Bladen Organization: University Of Greenwich Business School   
Name: Charles Bladen   
Keywords: engagement, immersion, consumers   
Location: SL 103   
Date: 04 Jun 2008   
Time: 14:00   
Code: C5   
Email: C.R.Bladen@gre.ac.uk   
Homepage:    
Full Title: “Welcome to the Gonzo Lecture!”: engaging students with what engages students.   
Abstract: The evolution of Higher Education as a credible component of the emerging Experience Economy appears dependent upon educators' willingness to embrace new methods to engage students. "The Gonzo Lecture," developed using a combination of Hunter S. Thompson's (1970) journalistic style and Pine and Gilmore's (1999) popular approach to experience design attempts to address students as consumers using immersion-based elements. In a popular age when the importance of personalities and personal experiences seem to far outweigh students' reliance upon traditional sources of information, alternative means by which the elusive holy-grail of student engagement can be won are explored. 
  
Biography: Since 1987, Charles Richard Bladen has been responsible for events throughout various sectors of the emerging Experience Economy, including the Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism industries, Conferences and more recently Faith events and those for the voluntary as well as for profit sectors. He has been at the forefront of million-pound fundraising campaigns for the voluntary sector and a broadcaster on national radio.
Charles was awarded with a first degree in Hospitality Management from Anglia Ruskin University in 1991, a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (CIM) and a Master Degree in Marketing from Kingston University, Surrey in 1997. He began his academic career alongside his ongoing event industry projects in 1995 when he began teaching the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma Professional Examinations in London. Since then, he has taught on various British and American undergraduate and Master degree programmes in Hospitality, Tourism, Marketing and Education both in England and for a seven-year period in Switzerland. He has successfully supervised many undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in all of these areas.
Currently Charles is Senior Lecturer in Events Management at the Department of Marketing, University of Greenwich, UK. He has written several papers, mainly in the areas of Consumer Decision-Making and Organisational Buyer Behaviour. His current research interests include Education Communication, Event Venue Choice Buyer Behaviour, Mega-Events, Event Design and the 2012 Olympics.