Event Planning Tips, Planning Tips
5 Obvious Signs You Should Become an Event Planner
Planning events, parties, and weddings can be an amazing career and a lucrative one at that! But it’s also a challenging and stressful profession. Not everyone is cut out to become an event planner. Before you make the big leap, find out if it’s really a match made in heaven. Have you noticed these obvious signs that you’re meant to become an event planner?
1. You love working with people
You’re the person customers hope to see if they ask to “speak to the manager”. You’re respectful, courteous, and you do everything in your power to make sure your client or customer walks away happy… and you love doing it.
Good client relations/customer service skills are at the heart of successful event planners. You’ll be working with your clients and vendors every day to produce amazing events. And some of these clients (no matter how hard you vet them ahead of time) will be challenging. Stress brings out some nasty qualities in people, and hosting a large event is super stressful to most!
You have to possess empathy and compassion to see situations from your client’s point of view and identify with their concerns. If you have a habit of brushing off people or dismissing their opinions when you don’t agree with them… or if you do possess all the qualities mentioned above but you just don’t like working with people… an event planner career likely isn’t for you.
2. You’re organized up the wazoo
You’re the typical Type-A. You have a plan for everything, and everything has a backup plan! You live off to-do lists and set deadlines for yourself every day. You hold yourself accountable to meet those deadlines, and you have contingencies in place should anything go wrong.
If you’ve already developed strong organization skills even before taking an event planning course, the transition into the profession will be a walk in the park!
If, on the other hand, you’re a born procrastinator or you live in organized chaos… we might have some bad news. You might want to think long and hard about whether you have what it takes to become a professional planner. Organization skills can be developed, sure, but it’s really hard to break habits you’ve spent a lifetime developing. So if you’re determined to become an event planner, even though you’re a bit disorganized, you might want to work on changing those habits ASAP.
3. Your communication skills are top-notch
Being organized is awesome. Being organized and being able to communicate effectively with others is ten times better! Again, as an event planner, you’ll be working with clients, vendors, venues, etc., on a daily basis. The best events are ones where everyone involved is kept abreast of important details. This goes beyond just remembering to message key people about important details. Having excellent communication skills means:
- Being able to relay important information in short, concise, informative messages. Don’t write a paragraph if a sentence will do.
- Using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation whether you’re sending an email or a short text message.
- Keeping on top of your own emails, texts, etc., and replying to all messages in a timely manner.
- Anticipating what people might ask you, and answering those questions in your original message.
4. You’re creative and love trying new things
You have Pinterest boards galore filled with ideas, designs, and cool crafts—you just can’t get enough of that stuff. You spend your spare time looking for your next crafting project, recipe to try, or room design to check out.
Whether you want to get into wedding planning, corporate event planning, or something in between, event planning is a highly creative profession. Your clients may have a vision/theme for their event, but it’s ultimately up to you to work with your clients and your team to bring their vision to life. Every client wants an event that will be remembered. You’ll have to be ready to flex your creative muscles, think outside the box, and try different ideas in order to deliver.
5. You’re a problem solver & a quick thinker
When things go wrong in your life or career, you stay strong and tackle them head-on. You’re not afraid of the day-to-day problems that arise. In fact, your friends have you on speed-dial because you’re the level-headed one who’s always has a solution.
Event planners face different types of emergencies every day. Maybe the caterer doesn’t show up. Maybe the DJ forgot the client’s playlist. Maybe the Mother-in-Law got drunk and is getting into a fistfight with the bridesmaids.
It’s your job to plan ahead and have contingency plans in place for anything that can go wrong. The reality is, you can’t plan for everything that might happen during an event. But you must never panic or despair yourself. You need to remain calm and think up a solution as quickly as you can.
If this list sounds like you, then it means you were born to be a professional event planner! It’s time for you to take the leap and start on the path to an amazing career in event planning!
