What is Event Planning
Event planning is a big umbrella term that incorporates a wide range of different activities, roles, and responsibilities.
In its most basic form, a professional event planner is the individual responsible for the logistics of putting together and executing an event plan. That encompasses everything from venue selection and taking out event insurance to securing necessary permits, ticket sales, and customer service.
But there’s more to it than that — which is where you start pushing into the realm of event organizers and creators.
Where a lot of event planners focus on small-scale events, like weddings, or work in corporate events teams, event organizers are typically local businesses or entrepreneurs. They generally have an established brand or audience and are looking to build their community through engaging events.
What skills do you need to become an event organizer?
If you want to become a successful event organizer, there are some basic event planning skills you’ll need to have (or be willing to learn).
A few of the skills you need to develop as a music events professional might be a little bit different than if you’re a wedding planner. That being said, all event organizers should have:
- Organization skills: There are a lot of strands to tie together as an events organizer.
- Multitasking skills: As an event creator, you’ll need to juggle many email threads, phone calls, and meetings.
- Communication skills: Event organizers work with a lot of vendors, entertainers, stakeholders, and venue managers, so you’ll need to demonstrate verbal and listening skills.
- Negotiation skills: If you want to get the best deals, you’ve got to learn how to negotiate. For example, it helps to know how to haggle and talk down vendors to cap prices so you can shave money off your catering budget.
- Problem-solving skills: When you’re juggling so many tasks, things don’t always run perfectly. You need to keep a cool head and put on your fixing hat.
The Event Planning Process
- Frame your event around your goals.
- Set your event budget in reality
- Analyze your data to identify your target audience
- Use the data you’ve collected to iron out the details
- Find an event template to keep you on track.
- Choose an all-in-one event app to manage your event.
- Choose the right channels to promote your event.
- Use your event data to make your next event even better.
