Tool Kit For An Efficient Event Planner: 8 Essential Event Planning Skills

Event Management is Considered a ‘Sunrise Industry’ in the Service Sector

The size of the industry was around $1,135.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $1,552.9 billion by the year 2028. (Source: Allied Market Research). The past decade has witnessed the event management industry taking a quantum leap. Earlier event management meant only face-to-face seminars, conferences, exhibitions, launches, etc. However, with the evolution of technology in the market, the definition of event management has changed drastically. With this, the list of the event planning skills has also evolved.

Albert Einstein said, “Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” People often keep looking for event planning tips for success but tend to forget the importance of the skill-set required to be a successful event planner. Some of the event planning skills are learned naturally over a long career, while others are easy to pick up and develop.

Let’s Take a Look at Some of the Event Planning Skills that are Essential to Make the Cut:

1. Interpersonal Skills –

An event planner not only deals with clients but also with vendors, suppliers, staff, and so on. In short, he requires to interact with people from every walk of life. He should communicate clearly so that his message comes across properly. Clear, firm, and kind communication establishes one as a leader of the team. Communicate in a way that is respectful to everyone and doesn’t put anyone down-even in times of crisis. One should also accept criticism and be open to new ideas.

2. Tech Savvy –

With the development of technology, the event management industry also changed drastically. Nowadays, technology is part of an event in one way or the other. While an event planner need not be a tech wizard, a broad understanding of state-of-the-art technology certainly helps in dealing with vendors and avoiding hiccups.

3. Time Management Skills –

Planning an event is an extensive affair and a planner works perpetually for the execution of any event. A successful event planner needs to be able to juggle all his duties in the given time without any complaints.

4. Budgeting Capability –

One of the hidden skills of an event planner is effective negotiation skills. A planner should be a great negotiator in order to get the best result out of any budget allotted to him. Even if the client is spending, he should treat the money as his own and save where possible.

5. Improvisation –

It is Murphy’s Law that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. This means that something or the other can go wrong anytime and one needs to think on one’s feet. In this case instead of giving up and getting disappointed a planner should readily switch to plan “B”.

6. Unbridled Creativity –

To be a successful planner, you need to do things differently. One should come up with something new or out of the box in each event. Only then you will be able to hit it big in the event industry.

7. Hawk-Eyed –

To run an event smoothly without any hitches a planner needs to have a keen eye for details. Most of the planners are ‘big picture’ thinkers, and get bored or delegate away the nitty-gritty tasks. But if you want to be more attached to your work, you should take charge of your event at every level. A granular checklist always helps.

8. Passionate and Enthusiastic –

Only a person with a great passion for events can be a successful event planner. The best event planners pour a lot of enthusiasm and hard work into every event they plan.

How can an event planner be effective?

For an effective event planner, apart from having the above-mentioned event planning skills, here are some other successful event planning tips that can help a long way:

• Taking updates from the case studies of the competitors.
• Checking on important figures- KPIs, usage of promotional coupons or codes, merchandise sales, etc.
• Keeping an eye on the latest surveys and trends on social media.
• Keeping your event listing updated.
• Seeking feedback from participants as well as stakeholders.

What are the 5 Cs of Event Management?

The 5 Cs can help you understand the end-to-end process of event management in brief:

• Concept: Conceptualizing the entire event (agenda, attendees, date & time etc.)
• Coordination: Coordinating all the elements (theme, budget, venue, equipment, accommodation, transportation, catering, security, etc.)
• Control: Sticking to your plan but being always ready with a plan B (dealing with wastage of time or money, dealing with the shortage of time or money, managing relations with vendors, etc.)
• Culmination: It is the day of the event (keeping a continuous eye on the time, managing the attendees, monitoring security, communication with staff and vendors, etc.)
• Closeout: It is when the event is over (asking for feedback from attendees, reviewing budgets, completing the payments of caterers, vendors, etc.)

Conclusion:

The event management industry is evolving with every passing day, but a successful event manager will always be the right blend of creativity, communication, technology friendliness, time management, budgeting skills, and motivation levels.

Event management can be considerably taxing and time-consuming. By good fortune, we have technology by our side! Now you can manage your events the smarter way with My Event Gateway, an event automation platform. It is an end-to-end solution which supports you from establishing the web presence of your event to generating analytics and offers advanced features like access control, budgeting, and task management.

Looking for an event management company that can plan and execute an event tailored to your needs? With over two decades of experience in event management services, Channel Technologies can make your event create an impact!