Event planning can look completely different from one Event Planner to the next. One may spend a day looking over flowers and all the pretty things. The other could spend a day behind a desk crunching numbers for a client’s budget.
Ultimately, the day-to-day is never the same and can be a blessing and a course all together. Even with this in mind, event planning remains one of the most sought after jobs in America. Event planning ranks #23 according to U.S. News.
What do Event Planners do day-to-day?
An Event Planner Does Office Work
A great deal of event planning requires one to be in the office. Scheduling meetings, dealing with budgets, and coming up with creative concepts. Having a business degree is a great asset for any planner to have.
Most believe it’s all about execution. However, if an Event Planner is unable to manage their:
- Sales stream
- Marketing
- Taxes
- Salaries
They will fail at executing your event. You cannot have one without the other. Being in the office also includes managing schedules and vendors, doing floor plans, and spending a lot of time on phone calls and emails.
If you hated doing research in school, then run away from this job. Event Planning requires a lot of research on textures, color palettes, trends, and projecting into the future.
An Event Planner’s Out of the Office Responsibility
When not in the office conducting event planning activities, Planners spend a great deal interacting.
No event has ever been ran by one person. There is no one-stop-shop when it comes to events. Because of that, Planners must meet with venues and vendors to build a team. This team is what gets your event running as smoothly as possible.
A great deal of trust and relationship building takes place outside of the office. You want vendors to be able to understand how an Event Planner plans and what their expectations are. You also want to have vendors who have the same level of precision as the planner.
One of the biggest responsibilities is securing the ideal venue. If you have ever purchased a home, you understand that the first house may not be your home. Same thing for event planning. You have to look at multiple venues and even speak with multiple vendors before securing the right one.
I enjoy being out of the office because it allows me to generate ideas. I can go to a fabric shop or a rental warehouse and find inspiration for future events. Ideas like our African Alice in Wonderland or our Aladdin Party would have never came to life if I didn’t venture outside.
An Event Planner’s Day of Responsibility
Only 20 percent of what we do is around executing an event. We spend months and maybe even a year planning large events just for them to be over with in one day.
The day of is a culmination of all of the hard work that we have put in to make that day happen. Here are a few day of responsibilities that we have.
- We make sure all venue requirements are in place
- Make sure all vendors have what was contracted for without issues
- Run risk management to ensure things go smoothly
- Address all fires and put them out
- Set up event spaces and break down sets and props
- Deal with transportation and other logistics
- Support VIPs and guests
- Make sure food and beverage is being prepared at the desired request
- Deal with communication and timelines
These things and so much occur on the day of an event. No matter how big or small the event is, not having good event planning skills may ruin the months of planning.
We at Andrew Roby Events would like to make sure your event runs smoothly. Send us a email to tell us about your upcoming event.