Are You a Great Event Planner?

You may have heard that an event planner wears many hats. Event organizers are often required to draw upon a variety of skills depending on which stage of an event they are working on. If you review a job description for an event planner you may be left wondering if one person can actually possess all of the required skills. While there are many traits to describe an event planner, we”re going to cover what I believe to be the top five.

As part of the research for this article I drew upon my years of dealing with event organizers. I thought of all of the event planners that, to me, were competent and a pleasure to work with and wrote those characteristics down. Then, using the same exercise method, I wrote down the characteristics of event planners that were not really suited for their position.

The Duties of an Event Planner Can Be Many

Here are a few articles that we’ve done regarding characteristics of  an event planner:

• Meeting Planner Jobs – Sounds Fun, Right?
• Characteristics of a Corporate Meeting Planner
• What Sets Top Event Planning Companies Apart from the Rest

Five Top Characteristics of Great Event Organizers

1. Organizational skills. Event organizers need to multitask often. Whether or not they have organizational skills can mean the difference between someone that appears calm, cool and collective during the height of an event, or someone that is running around screaming their heads off. An event planner needs to know what component of an event they should be working on right now. And as a result they also need to know what component of an event can wait. In other words good time management skills.
2. Customer service. Do their customers, or clients, feel confident in their event planner? Event planners are often bombarded with questions, big and small, during an event. But it”s really how they deal with those trivial questions that can determine their customer service skills. And customer service isn’t only related to their clients. It also is indicative of how they deal with their suppliers. Good customer service also means good leadership.
3. Communication skills. This is one trait that is vital for an event organizer. They are often dealing with many people for the various components of the meeting or event. Forgetting to inform just one supplier of a crucial item can have a dramatic affect overall.
4. Negotiation skills. There”s a fine line between a good negotiator and a dictator. But there’s a huge difference. Unfortunately I’ve seen too many event planners simply dictate what they felt was needed during negotiations. That usually doesn’t end very well. A good negotiator knows when to give and when to take.
5. Creativity. This is crucial, especially to the end client. An event planner needs to think outside of the box. And while that can be challenging, it can also be the difference between an okay event and a great event. There’s a lot more to meeting and event planning than just booking a hotel and meeting room.

For those of you that are considering a career in event planning you may want to look to someone that is already a successful event planner. Not only would you look at the type of clients that person has, you also want to look at their personality traits. What is it that sets them apart? Then, sit down and analyze your strengths and weaknesses. If you find that you possess a few of the characteristics outlined here, then you may just have what it takes to be an outstanding event planner. And if you’re right for the industry you’ll find yourself a very rewarding career.