Do you possess super-hero like organizational skills and eat stress for breakfast? Do you thrive in an ever-changing workday and comfortable working non-standard hours? Then Event Management might be a good career option for you.
Is Event Management for Me? Event Management could be a rewarding career for you if you enjoy a fast-paced and varied environment where each day is different, and you are always on the move. Event Managers
- Oversee events through the planning stages
- Supervise the day of the event
Pursuing an Event Management career can be a rewarding challenge. But not everyone is cut out to be an Event Manager. Here are 20 questions you can ask yourself to see if Event Management is a good choice for you. But no matter what, you might like to enjoy one of these special gifts for event planners.
- Do You Have Excellent Organizational Skills?
One of the most important skills an Event Manager must possess is the ability to be organized in both their private and public life. The days leading up to an event can be chaotic, high-energy and very busy.
If you can’t keep track of your own schedule, then chances are you won’t be able to juggle the myriad details of multiple events happening simultaneously.
Part of your job includes the ability to focus on the detailed minutiae of an event, while keeping track of any upcoming events on the calendar.
Thankfully, there are apps and platforms that can help you keep track of your event.
- Are You Good at Planning?
A good Event Manager thrives on pulling together all the necessary components of a successful event for the sweet reward of a satisfied customer at the end.
Part of an Event Manager’s job may include researching and acquiring:
- Different venues
- Lighting solutions
- Food choices
- Decorations
- Music
For example, a wedding planner may help brides bring their perfect day to fruition from the very first design stages .and They follow through with them to the end of the reception, including where they spend their honeymoon.
- Do You Have Strong Leadership Skills?
Event Managers need to be able hire and train staff. You’ll need to make sure all of your contractors are on the same page and be able to coordinate them. Then supervise them during the event.
One event planner said that one of the hardest leaps that a new leader has to make is learning how to lead a team instead of trying to do every task himself. You need to be comfortable delegating tasks to others.
Event Managers need to be able to let their staff and contractors do the job you hired them for and not do the job for them.
If you try to do everything yourself, you’ll quickly hit burnout. The key to a successful Event Management career is being able to let go and trust your team.
- How Are Your Time Management Skills?
If you plan your day out in advance and tackle your most difficult projects or clients first while you’re fresh and heavily-caffeinated, then you have excellent time management skills.
As an event manager, you will need to stay on top of your own schedule as you juggle multiple events and coordinate meetings. This means setting and meeting deadlines before the event.
Good Event Managers utilize every tool in their arsenal, including time-management techniques. Such as the Pomodoro technique, where you break up your day into 25-minute intervals and take a five-minute break.
- Are You Comfortable Multi-tasking?
Successful multi-taskers know how to group like-kind tasks together and do it all at the same time, such as making all your phone calls at once. Or cluster tasks that share a similar subject – say for one particular client.
Event Managers need to be able to multi-task, either before or during the event. Event planning checklists will be a multi-taskers best friend as you’ll need to plan some events months in advance.
- Can You Easily Prioritize the Most Important Tasks?
There will be times during an Event Manager’s day when an emergency pops up and you have to decide what is most important.
President Dwight Eisenhower had a principle to help quickly identify which activities deserve your top attention and which ones you can ignore. He categorized the things demanding of his time into four groups and scheduled them accordingly:
- Important and urgent.
- Important but not urgent.
- Not important but urgent.
- Not important and not urgent.
If you are comfortable applying Eisenhower’s technique, then you can successfully manage events.
- Are You Able to Stay Self Motivated?
Some Event Planners are self-employed and have no one to help keep them motivated except for themselves. Being self-employed can be rewarding and challenging.
It takes a lot of personal financial and time investment through hard work to get started. But Self-employed Event Managers can make between $25 and $150 an hour depending on their skill level and the market they’re specialized in.
Having a routine and regular habits that keep you focused and motivated throughout the day is critical to a successful Event Management career.
- How Are Your Teamwork Skills?
If you work for a company as an Event Manager, you may be working with an in-house corporate team. Or you may be hired as part of a team or asked to lead a team to manage a convention or reception and have a specific assignment.
It’s virtually impossible to have a successful event without having a strong team.
Each person brings a unique perspective and can help contribute to solving a problem. Having many people to carry the load lightens the work and helps makes an event successful.
Event coordinator Emily says that her team is the ‘glue’ of the exhibitions, and the go-to people to answer pretty much any questions.
Whether you are comfortable leading the event planning team or occupying a crucial role on the team, having the ability to work well with others is an important skill as an Event Manager.
- Are You Comfortable Communicating?
Event Planners are in constant communication with
- Customers
- Contractors
- Staff
It’s important to be able to communicate what you need when you need it. As well as keep your client in the loop.
The key to excellent communication in Event Management is experience. If you are just starting out in the event management field, it’s your willingness to get your hands dirty and gain as much experience as possible. But the more knowledge and experience you have, the more confidence you have in casting a vision for the client.
If you have experience communicating in other areas, then this skill will easily transfer over to an Event Management career.
- Are You a Good Listener?
In event planning, you will often meet with clients to establish the purpose and the end goal of the event. You’ll need to understand what they want and offer alternatives if that isn’t viable in their budget or timeframe.
Although Event Managers are often put in the role of a consultant and need to solve problems, often times the best thing to do is just listen to the client. If they are upset or feeling not heard, practicing active listening skills let that person feel heard.
This helps build rapport with the customer and can lead to long-term repeat customers.
- Do you consider yourself to be a “people person?”
A people person is generally out-going, friendly and enjoys being around people.
If you’re comfortable engaging complete strangers in conversation and find yourself connecting with them or connecting them with someone you know, then you will find this skill to be extremely useful in planning and managing events.
But this doesn’t mean you get along with everyone all the time. Rather, it’s how do you effectively handle
- Challenging clients
- Uncommunicative contractors
- Unavailable vendors
- Choosy Event attendees
Networking is the life-blood of a successful event manager. You never know how much someone you meet might end up playing a critical role in your future, or you in theirs. It’s all about getting the relevant people to know you exist.
- Are You Good at Developing Relationships?”
In the world of Event management, you may come into contact with famous celebrities and go behind the scenes in amazing venues.
Every effective Event Planner has that little black book full of favorite go-to contractors. Part of your success as an Event Planner will be to develop working relationships with local companies.
Event Management helps you make new connections. In fact, most of your future clients come from your present customers through ‘word-of-mouth’ advertising.
A non-profit special events manager heavily relies on their ability to develop relationships.
Event Managers find that recruiting sponsors for your social events starts from building a relationship from the ground up. Because they represent possible long-term investments.
- Are You Good with Numbers?”
Event managers must also be good financial managers, because working within a strict budget is an essential part of the job.
Designing the event around the financial resources available during the initial planning stages is crucial to sticking to the budget.
Part of your responsibility as an event manager is to manage the money, which includes your planning fees.
This could include pricing out such items as:
- Venues
- Caterers
- Service providers
- Potential staff
- Hotels or other accommodations
- Promotional items
At some point in the planning you’ll have to start trimming ideas. One of the ways you can do this is by developing good relationships with vendors and having low-cost marketing options.
If you rock the ability to identify what will give you the biggest bang for your buck, then you already have an important skill needed in the event managing field.
- Do You Have Killer Sales Skills?”
Knowing how to make your customers the number one priority and your willingness to learn from seasoned mentors is key to being successful in Event Managing.
Developing killer sales skills is an art form that takes time to learn.
Part of an Event Planner’s role is getting that unique detail the customer requires for their event, while coming in under budget and walking away with a profit. Not only does this build up your reputation as a go-to Event Manager, but it garners positive feedback after each venue. Which can help go a long way in helping you become a successful event manager.
Venue Event Managers oversees all the aspects of a particular location. In this case, part of your job may entail selling the space to a promoter or talent agents.
Beginning Event Management salaries start out at around $35K a year and average about $50K. But you can earn over $70K on the high end.
So, learning and using negotiation tactics like knowing your bargaining range, and understanding the power of silence helps prove your worth and raise your salary.
- How Are Your Problem-Solving Skills?”
A great event planner is a good problem solver and confident in accepting challenges. Especially when a last-minute problem or needed change pops up. You should be able to identify the cause of the problem and come up with a solution that also satisfies the customer.
Effective managers possess an outside-of-the box way of looking at situations and are able to think on their feet. You’ll have to maintain a macro and micro view of situation and understand that your solution might create another problem.
- Do You Possess a Creativity and Innovation?”
An innate skill of good Event Managers is their creativity. Innovative events keep attendees engaged and interested. This, in turn, helps the client to be satisfied with the end results and be a repeat customer.
Also, you’ll need to continually be on your toes thinking about new marketing techniques to draw in an audience to the event. Or the layout and design of the venue and how it partners with your customer’s design ideas and budget.
As an Event Manager, you’ll need to have a unique twist to set yourself apart from the tough competition. Ideas such as using experiential marketing to draw a crowd and create a buzz.
- Can You Maintain a Positive, Confident Demeanor?”
Event Managers have to work well under pressure when clients have high demands or last minutes issues arise. Through it all, you must be able to maintain a calm and positive appearance.
Good Event Planners know how to resolve issues as they arise, whether before or during the event and are able to be patient and flexible in a crisis. This includes having a back-up or emergency plan.
And this is where having a list of reliable and trustworthy vendors in your back pocket can make or break the event. Making it seem like the event went off without a hitch.
And snagging that valuable word-of-mouth advertising for the next client. As well as maintaining your regular customers.
- Are You Comfortable with Technology?”
Event Management has changed in the last several years and heavily relies on technology for communicating and marketing.
With the emergence of new digital platforms and an audience comfortable with live streaming, Event Managers need to be able to adapt in-person events to virtual or merge the two. This could include pre-recorded sessions or live-streaming events.
In the current environment, most communication is done via social media and emails. There are excellent apps to help you keep track of all the key components of an event, such as
- Assist with checking in guests
- Create a music play list
- Accept payments
- Tracking metrics for post-event data analysis.
- Are You Comfortable with Social Media Marketing?
Many companies are looking for an Event Manager who is also comfortable promoting and marketing the event on social media. If you’re knowledgeable about google analytics and Facebook marketing techniques, then you already have a leg up on the competition.
Splashthat.com founder Ben Hindman, says that he’s noticed a shift in expectations. In that many companies expect the Event Management company to be familiar with digital promotion, which isn’t just about planning the event, but also promoting it to the right people.
And tracking attendees throughout the life cycle of the event and following the event, in order to provide hard data to the client as a return on their investment.
Providing tangible proof to your client to support the bottom line can make you far more marketable than the traditional Event Planner.
- Are You Someone Who Likes to Travel?”
Event Planners don’t always work a regular 8-5 office job, especially during the event itself. Work hours can vary based on the event you’re managing. This includes weekends and holidays.
But if you have a passion for managing events, then this crazy schedule fuels you. Especially if you make time for power naps in the middle of the day and make time for down time.
Some Event Management positions require a great deal of travel. That could be across town or it could be to another country. Part of an Event Manager’s job is to scout out locations and possible venues for a successful event.
Or you may be asked to fly at a moment’s notice to solve a problem half-way across the country. But if you love that type of schedule, travelling is an attractive part of an event managers job.
Is event management a good career option for you?”
Event Management can be a good career option for you if you are comfortable thinking on your feet and can keep a cool head under pressure. If you like to plan events and have an eye for details that most people overlook.
You don’t need to have a college degree to become an Event Manager, as employers are often looking for other qualities besides education. But you can improve your Event Management knowledge through certification programs. Or gain experience through volunteer opportunities or internships.
Take a look at this article to find out what an event planner is and what their responsibilities are. Check out this article on the interpersonal skills an event planner should develop.
