What are the essential factors to become a successful event planner?

Events are celebration of something significant in our lives, be it significant additions, changes, achievements etc. With the advent of modern times, events have become more of a status symbol. This has resulted in a never ending race to outdo another person. However, this race has proved to be a golden opportunity for event planners. With everyone, everywhere trying to rope in the best arrangements and the best overall event without taking the burden on themselves, event planners have made it to the top of their list. So, what does an event planner need to have in order to register himself/herself in the good books of the client. Let us see some of the traits of a successful event planner.

1. Be friendly – it seems easy enough, but to be friendly is so important. You want to make the person that you are going to meet for the first time, the clients and the vendors, comfortable with you. You want to smile, make eye contact, be casual and also be professional. So, out want to dress properly for the occasion and make sure you always have a smile on. A good, firm handshake along with a behaviour which comes out as warm and engaging.
2. Be a good listener – being friendly and being a good listener go hand in hand. So, when you meet someone for the first time, you learn a lot about your client. You understand what the client requires in the event, what are his choices and some other personal information about the client as well. You should listen carefully and try to retain as much as you can. It would be so important if you could being up details from your first meeting, into the subsequent meetings to highlight your detail oriented approach. For example, even details like the client’s birthday, which might look trivial or unrelated to your event planning, but forms a crucial part of your relationship with your client. Also, you want to be a good listener as this is your client’s event, they want to make sure that it feels like their event, they just don’t passively want to pass it over to an event planner but they also want to feel involved. To add that personal touch, that uniqueness in the event along with making the client feel content, you have to be a good listener. Listen to all they have to say, all of their wishes, all of their thoughts on the event and then add onto that with tangible examples. For instance, if a client says, they want you to organize a birthday party with a Disney theme. They will be telling you all about what they specifically want and what not. You, being a good listener, will listen to them, take notes, and then you might want to come back to the client with, hey would you mind getting a Disney princess into the party. So, it suggests the client that you are fully devoted to making their event a success, thus, making them trust you even more.
3. Be budget conscious – everybody comes in with a bottom line for their price in a budget, which is usually pretty firm. Any ideas you are recommending or as you enter into event planning, it is so important to always keep in mind the budget. If things start to get out of control, you need to talk to your client and discuss whatever steps would be best. You don’t want to be an event planner with the reputation of always going way over the budget. You want to help save your client’s money.
4. Be organised – this is important for obvious reasons. You are planning an event, it wouldn’t at all help if you are not approaching that in a phased manner. Event planning is all about having a scheme, a plan of action before hand. It shows that you are professional and equipped with each and every single thing and also ensures that don’t miss out on anything important. You have so many vendors that you are dealing with, the day off can be just as crazy. So, you need to have a timeline and make sure that you stay in good contact with everyone. Use spreadsheets to manage your tasks as it allows you to share your work with every person you are working with. You could also handout schedules to everyone involved so that all of them are in sync on that day and there are no confusions or misinterpretations. Being organised let’s your team members be on the same page as you and nobody and nothing is left out.
5. Stay calm under pressure – the scariest part for an event planner would be an hour before the event starts. Everybody is so engaged in their work plus the anticipation and the fear that nothing is going to be completed on time leaves the planner feeling a lot pressurized. The stress is so high but you need to show your mental strength at this very part. You have to be patient. You need to think that nothing will go wrong as you are organised and have a proper timeline. So, everything is going to work out perfectly. Take a couple of deep breaths, just know that you have done everything in your power to make this day perfect and it’s going to turn over great. Also, unexpected things can happen all the time. This makes it even more essential for you to stay calm so that you can keep the people around you happy and relaxed.
6. Keep learning – keep reading, keep watching online courses, keep getting new certificates and keep staying up to date with trends. Looking at local websites and seeing what kind of new event planning tools are available and Pinterest help a lot. This process will help you stay above the curve.

These were some great tips regarding being an event planner and a good one at that. Keep in mind to involve personal tidbits in the event; it makes the client feel connected and thinks of the event as his/her own. This is really important when planning a successful event. So, go ahead and live your moment of fame when you incorporate all of these factors into your event planning regime.

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