Getting into the events management business

Have you ever wondered who was behind the stunning f i reworks di splay, the delicious food, and lovely setup in the last wedding/birthday party/ high school reunion you attended?

In every event, there is a mind, a person or a team, who carefully and creatively makes it possible. Events planners have more than backstage passes to everyone’s momentous events—they help their clients make these events memorable. For those of you who are interested in events planning, here are some tips:

Decide on your specialty. There are different events that you can play on as a planner. Decide on whether you want to coordinate weddings and debuts, fashion shows, trade shows and business exhibits, product and store launches, art exhibits, and even sports tournaments. You may choose more than one, but choosing all is not advisable. You would not want to turn down several repeat clients because your calendar is already full. Not having to turn them down is also suicide, with the simultaneous planning and execution, so choose a specific area of expertise not simply for the matter of being specific, but also to limit the number of clients.

Look for different suppliers. As an events planner, you need to have a great number of suppliers for different sound equipment, fireworks, carpentries, prints, corporate giveaways, and events places. Do not rely on one trusted supplier because if your one and only supplier happened to be unavailable, or will be the cause of delay for some reason, it’s your contract with your client that is on the line. You can never have too many suppliers, so keep a list. You can have that one trusted supplier anyway, but always make sure that you have a plan B, C and so on.

Get to know your client. Events planning must be more than carrying out your clients’ instructions. To be a great events planner, you must be able to give different suggestions that you think your client will enjoy more than what his/her original plan is. To be able to do that, get to know your client better—ask what his/her favorite color is, what he/she hopes to achieve with the event, and what kind of people will be coming on the big day.

Be creative. Planning and making layouts of an event requires the planner to be as creative as possible, and to be able to present new ideas that are different from the ones he/she has already done in the past. To do that, you must always be on the lookout for things, places, events, persons and designs. These inspirations may come from the playhouse of a restaurant, a booth design of a particular company in a trade show, a team of cartoon characters, and a lot more. Always challenge yourself and think of ways on how you can blow everyone off their feet with ingenious designs and ideas for the program. The best part in planning events is that you get to be creative as a kid, critical as an adult, and, at the end of a successful event, fulfilled.

BusinessCoach, Inc., a leading business seminar provider, conducts an excellent seminar entitled “Events Management Training.” Contact (02) 727-5628, (02) 727-8860, (0915) 205-0133 or visit www.businesscoachphil.com for details.

Click here to view details of the seminar: Events Management Training »

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. CC-4, Sunday, July 13, 2014. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.