3 REASONS NOT TO GET INTO EVENT MANAGEMENT

Written by Hannah R in Uncategorized

Ah the wonderful world of meeting and event management. From the outside it looks like a pretty glamorous industry. Now I’m not trying to take away from the positive attributes of this wonderful industry. Rather, I’m just making a case for those who get into it for all of the wrong reasons.

Have you ever had a family or friend (who aren’t in the industry) say to you: Oh your job is so glamorous, you get to travel to all these exotic locations, etc. etc? And, if you’re like me, you’re inside voice is screaming: are you freaking serious?? Glamorous? You try doing what I do for a day and you’ll know just how bloody glamorous it can be. But before I send any potential event planners running to the nearest accounting job, I do want to stress that event management can be an extremely rewarding career. But as I’ve said many times, you’ll soon find out whether or not it’s a fit for you.

3 Myths about Event Management

If you’re getting into event management because of these 3 reasons, don’t!

I love to travel, therefore the industry is perfect for me. I think this is the point where I smash my head into a wall. That’s like saying you want to be a car mechanic because you like driving. Yes traveling to exotic locations definitely has its rewards. But planners aren’t traveling to these locales to socialize. This is when their programs are springing into action. So guess what? They are super busy during these travel times. So much so that many don’t even know what freaking city they’re in most of the time. So if you find yourself wanting to enter the industry because you love to travel, save your time and just go travel instead.

The events are so glamorous. Oh really? So you’ve been in the back of the house while an event is occurring? Because if you had then you’d know darn well that it’s anything but glamorous. Organized chaos, perhaps. This might be a good time to talk about organizational skills and being able to remain calm during extremely stressful circumstances.

I just love to plan parties. Okay I’ll concede a little bit on this point. You really do have to love planning parties and events to get into this industry. But there’s a huge difference between planning parties for your family and friends versus planning a party or event for complete strangers. You may have heard the saying: you can’t please all the people all of the time. Well whoever wrote that was in event planning, I’m sure. Someone will always have an issue with some component of your meeting or event.

If you are considering a career in event management/planning, check out these related articles:

Event management is a huge industry that encompasses so many different job types. And therefore personality types. But I always tell people that if they are thinking of getting into event management because of what they see from the outside, then they should really stop and give it further consideration. What has to drive a person to want to work in this industry is to have a passion for what’s going on behind the scenes. Leadership skills, organizational skills, multitasking, problem-solving and remaining calm under pressure are a few traits that come to mind.

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