Being an event planner has a lot of perks. One of them is variety. Unlike office jobs, being an event planner allows you to work in various events, such as conferences, sporting events, parties, fashion shows, film premiers, and more.
Aside from that and making good money, this line of work also lets you meet more interesting people. From suppliers, performers, to even consultants, you’ll definitely meet a wide range of people. The best part of it is that you can get a dip into their world and learn or experience things you didn’t know or encountered before.
But for you to stay in the industry, you need to master your craft. And you can do that with these tips:
Take an Event Course
A college degree isn’t actually required to be an event planner. However, taking an event course will give you a good boost.
By signing up for an event course, you’ll know the industry better, which will help you improve your performance in every event. You’ll know the trends too. Plus, it will help you establish contacts in the industry, which is beneficial, especially if you’re just starting out.
In addition to that, this will help you gain more credibility, which is important when you’re in the field that provides services to clients. This will help you gain more clients.
But, of course, this might require you to spend some money. Even so, it will benefit you a lot in the long run.
Plan Accordingly
One of the keys to successful event planning is becoming a great planner. This means you need to be more organized in planning everything by preparing document templates.
This includes the event timeline, event budget, client contract, and event proposal template or documents, to name a few. You might think it’s a bit extra to do, but this will help a lot.
Through this, you’re guaranteed that you won’t forget the details about the event. It will also help you organize better and add additional activities to your event, such as hiring a photo booth service from 360 Photo Booth, and you have written proofs to show in case something happens.
Develop Your Network
Over time, you will meet a lot of people from different industries. You can even get to have a peek at what they do. Take such an opportunity to develop your network that will help you grow your career, especially those who are in the field of photography, entertainment, and catering.
Doing this will also help your clients. Because when you’ve already developed your network, it would be easier for them to find other suppliers, an event photographer and vendors that will help improve their event.
Also consider offerings that can benefit everyone. Providing experiences like event headshots can enhance the attendee experience while also creating sponsorship and revenue opportunities when you include partners.
Create a Portfolio
Many people are visual. Hence, infographics often make a huge impact on the audience. That said, make sure that you prepare your portfolio too.
Portfolios also affect a client’s decision. This is because, with this, clients are able to see how well you work as many people are visual.
Painting a picture for your clients will help them have an idea of your style; plus, it helps with establishing your credibility – because, of course, no one wants to pay for a service they don’t have an idea about.
That said, make sure that you have a portfolio to show your clients too. Take photos during the event you planned and add them to your portfolio. Brochures, display light boxes and sample invitations will help too.
You can also organize them online, so it’s easier to show your clients. See the example of how a portfolio website can look like.
But what if you’re new to the industry and are yet to have your first client? This brings us to:
Get Experience
If you’re new and you’re just about to start your events planning career, one of the ways you can have samples to use for your portfolio is by volunteering.
For some, this isn’t the kind of thing they will do because you won’t likely earn anything for the time and effort you spent, but this will help you become a better event planner.
When you volunteer for caterers, non-profit works, florists, or anyone in the industry, you can gain more experience as you can get to see various events even before you start organizing events yourself.
You’ll understand the field better and improve the needed skills.
Through this, you will also get to expand your network, which is vital in the field. On top of that, you will have something to show your future clients too.
As they say, experience is the best teacher. And you can learn nearly everything you need to know if you’re exposed to the field even before you start your event planning career.
Read and Do Your Research
Reading is known to give numerous benefits. Needless to say, it can also help you grow as an event planner. If you will make it a habit, it will help you gain more knowledge in the field.
Through this, you’ll not just learn how to become a better organizer but you can also learn more about the new trends, as well as new technologies, in different industries. All of these will help you improve your service.
Take Time to Reflect
Your clients can also give you a hand to make room for improvements too. After every event, make sure that you also take time to reflect on your performance too.
You can do that by asking your clients what they think about your service. Once you hear their feedback, make sure to take a closer look at any negativity or even the areas where you were rated average.
If you have a team, you can also discuss it with them. You can share things that didn’t go as planned and how it was dealt with, as well as the lessons you learned from it. Take note of each of them as it will help you know what to do if you encounter another situation like that in the future.
For some, planning an event seems to look like a piece of cake. But, it actually isn’t. You can’t just give your clients a so-so service. You always need to make room for improvement.
