Prepare for a Career in Meeting & Event Planning

If your idea of a great time is planning a party, picking out decor, coordinating outfits or tasting delicious food to be served, then it might be obvious that a career as an event or meeting planner could be the perfect employment option for your future.

However, meeting and event planning can be a fiercely competitive field, and those with the best chance of continued success need to be prepared.

The following are the key steps to becoming an event planner as well as what degrees might be suitable and what attributes are found among the most successful people in the industry.

Understand the Role of the Event Planner

Before you decide to enroll in a hospitality degree or pursue this career full-time, it is important to gain a realistic understanding of what event and meeting planners do on a regular basis.

While it can be both fun and fascinating for the right candidate, it can still include some drawbacks that need to be considered at the early stage of your career planning.

Planning a large event is a lot more than just inviting guests and setting up beautiful decor, although those aspects are certainly a part of the job.

As an event manager, you might be expected to negotiate with vendors on the prices of everything from alcohol to chair rental, and you’ll need to research just who should be invited in order to offend no one in the industry but keep numbers realistic.

Event planners handle design ideas, photography of the venue, signing contracts on behalf of the client and budgeting for every part of the event. A single party that is over in just a few hours can take weeks or even months of full-time planning to pull off, and late nights or weekend hours are certainly not unusual.

Despite all of this, many event planners are still immensely satisfied with their careers, and it may well be the perfect employment option for your future.

Learn more about getting your credentials for event planning through an online degree.

Decide on the Right Type of Formal Education

In order to become a truly successful professional in the world of meeting and event planning, you will need to have some kind of formal education beyond the high school level.

While this could include a diploma or a certificate of some kind, there is no question that the best ways to prepare include college degrees.

There are several options to choose from, but the first decision should be how long you plan to study. A two-year associate degree might be the first step in securing an entry-level career, and it can be suitable for many students.

The more popular option, and the one that can prepare you for slightly more lucrative positions, is the four-year bachelor’s degree. Keep in mind that you can easily complete the associate degree and then study the extra two years at a later date in order to become a full bachelor’s degree holder.

Once you have made up your mind about the kind of degree level you want to pursue, you’ll need to pick a major. To become an event planner, a degree in event planning, culinary arts, visual design or even hospitality could fit the bill.

However, most students will gravitate toward event planning or event management. Wherever you opt to pursue this major, expect your syllabus to include courses like basic hospitality management skills, principles of marketing, food safety and hygiene, contract management, accounting and special events coordinating.

Completing Your Degree Online or on Campus

Aspiring event planners might know that a degree is a vital element to pursue their career goals, but they might not realize that an online degree can be a valid alternative to traditional on-campus study.

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of online study programs, and they are almost identical to traditional campus programs. Instead of attending lectures on campus several times each week.

However, online students can simply log on from any computer and access the course materials, watch recorded lectures at their convenience or participate in lively online discussions with teaching staff and their fellow students. You can control the pace of your degree, and you can take exams from the comfort of home whenever it best fits into your busy schedule.

Gain Experience in the Hospitality Industry

Along with your degree, one of the best ways to get hired in the event management and planning industry is to have some experience in the field. Before, during or after your degree program, be sure to get some paid work experience as a caterer, an event planning assistant or even as a host in an upscale restaurant.

This experience will be hugely beneficial to add to your resume, and at the same time you will almost certainly be adding to your skills in the field and learning more about the industry you can one day pursue full-time.

Constantly Add to a Personal Portfolio

Maintaining a portfolio should be an ongoing thing that every aspiring meeting and event planner does during their preparation for full-time employment. If you plan a party for friends or family, take some high-quality photographs to showcase your natural design sensibilities.

If you prepare or even plate a stunning entree, make sure to document it for your portfolio. Even if you don’t have the resources or time to actually have an event, drawing out sketches for themes can be something to include in a portfolio.

In today’s modern world, creating an online portfolio can be a smart idea, and it is something that potential employers or clients can look at when deciding whether or not to hire you in the future.

Become Certified with a Relevant Organization

After graduation, it may be worthwhile to become a certified event planner. There are a number of different organization that certify individuals in the field, and it is up to you to determine what certifications are worthwhile.

Some of the top in the industry, however, include Meeting Professionals International, the Convention Industry Council and the International Special Events Society.

Attributes Found Among Successful Event Planners

While the median salary for event planners is $45,810, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top 10 percent of professionals in the field earn upwards of $79,270.

In many cases, those at the top of the field have a few attributes in common that separate them from everyone else. In order to become a truly successful event planner, you need to be a people person with a friendly attitude and excellent communication skills.

Other characteristics that will help you on your journey to success might include organizational skills, time management skills, negotiating skills and the ability to remain calm and composed in all kinds of potentially stressful situations.

If you are serious about becoming an event planner, then your first step should be deciding on the right kind of degree to help you prepare for a successful career ahead. Learn more about event planning degrees and certifications by visiting Cooking-Culinary-Arts-Schools.org.

Expert Offers Event Planning Tips

When thinking about event planning, it all sounds terribly complicated and rather stressful. Although planning for a major event can be difficult, a proper qualification in event planning could easily turn a part-time hobby or job function into a successful full-time career. According to a study conducted in 2010 by the International Association of Administrative Professionals and Office Team, 78% of administrative professionals reported that they had to help with event-related projects as part of their jobs. These events included corporate meetings, office celebrations, team-building exercises, conferences, awards programs and virtual meetings.

Joan Eisenstodt, an event planning instructor and meeting and hospitality consultant for the Administrative Professionals Conference, said: “Planning meetings requires skills that people have to build. What anyone planning a meeting or event should keep in mind: it’s not just calling a venue and saying you want to hold an event, meeting or party.”

Eisenstodt says that event planning should always begin by writing down the objectives. She adds that not understanding why you are doing something in the first place will inevitably lead to mistakes in the way it is done and in the decor and other expenses.

She goes on to say that each event needs a budget of its own. Budgeting for a particular event should start from zero, with no previous assumptions about what should be included and what should not. This is way smarter than simply trying to modify the previous year’s event budget; even if using the same venue again, things change from year to year.

Choosing a venue is about finding a location that perfectly fits the needs of the particular function; in this regard, event planners should refer to the criteria that have been set for the event and ask the right questions to ensure that they find the ideal venue for the occasion.

Before signing any event contracts, Ms Eisenstodt urges event planners to be 100% confident about what they are signing. There are online resources to help with this; one example is the website of the Convention Industry Council, which explains the language used in a typical contract.

A qualification in catering can also be very useful in this regard.

Event Planner Talks About Trends In The Industry

For 23-year-old Loryn Meisch from Aurora, there is no better job than her current one in the hospitality industry. She recently obtained a degree in hospitality management at Northern Illinois University; not long after, the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Hotel offered her a job as executive sales assistant. Every day she deals with calls from firms looking for a venue to hold large-scale events for more than 300 guests. Meisch says that one of the biggest challenges in event planning, whether for a wedding or a corporate event, is choosing the right date. She added: “Some times of year are very busy and harder to book. Some days of the week are generally busier than others too.” It is much easier if the client’s schedule is reasonably flexible.

During her time as an intern, Meisch often worked with weddings. She has seen many of the elaborate weddings taking place at the Renaissance Hotel. Today’s weddings, she explains, are not just about saying “I do” and then serving the guests dinner and cake. Nowadays many weddings have themes, says Meisch. One wedding she particularly enjoyed was the one with a Disney theme; another, which was very unusual, was a casino night reception.

A lot of care has to go into the setting of the function, from decisions about the type of chairs to chair bows versus chair covers. Flowers, lighting, square or round table choices and the right type of decoration are just a few of the many factors that have to be considered for the perfect wedding reception.

The type of cuisine served at a wedding varies from client to client. The time-honored white wedding cake is also no longer a given; for example, one couple opted for a wedding cake consisting of individual cupcakes.

Although many couples still prefer the traditional bride/groom figurines on top of the wedding cake, Meisch says that others prefer to display items that have personal and sentimental value attached to them.

One of her personal favorites was a pair of lovebirds perching on top of the cake, but some couples prefer hearts, flowers, their own initials and other items.

Meisch does not plan to get involved in the actual preparation of food, although some students who major in hospitality management do focus on food preparation.