Hello guys, welcome to the 24Rentz academy. Today’s lectures are going to be talking about the five must have traits for every event planner.
These traits are very important for you as an event planner to have. Even if it does not occur to you naturally, you can find a way to work on them.
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6 must-have traits for every event planner
- Orderliness
- Flexibility
- Quick Decision Making
- Collaboration
- Negotiation
- Passion for People
We’d explain each and every one of this traits in detail, as well as how you can maximise the traits for maximum efficiency as an event planner.
1. Orderliness
Orderliness means been organised. According to elevate experience CEO Billy Billy, you have to be really organised to be able to Excel in the event planning industry.
To be organised as an event planner, you’d need to keep the following
a) Event Checklist
An event checklist is a to-do list of all the things you’d need when planning an event.
We have a free sample for you. Feel free to download it by clicking below
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b) Event File
An event file contains all the details of the execution of an event.
Starting from the client’s ideas, to the agreement, the contract and the details of the vendors.
This would help you resolve issues that might arise if you are unable to be around on the main date due to unforeseen circumstances. It would help your event staff to know who to call and how to go about even in your absence.
2. Flexibility
As an event Planner, you’d need to be flexible. It’s a blunder to be rigid when planning an event.
There’s no doubt that in an event, anything can go wrong. It is practically impossible for an event to pan out as planned. Your ability to adjust to any situation that might arise is what distinguishes you.
Be ready to adjust your plans to fit any contingency. Develop this in your subsconscious, that you can manage any surprise that arises.
However to further avert such issues, plan for the worst case scenarios and have back up plans for almost anything so as to avoid being in a sorry condition.
A better word for this is “Flexicution”. According to Billy Billy of Elevate Experiences, Flexicution is the ability to be flexible in your event execution. It means you have back up plans for any contingency and you’re ready to execute them once necessary without hesitation.
Develop this trait and trust me, you’d be the best.
3. Quick Decision Making
As an event planner, you have to be able to make quick decisions. This trait is not just needed when planning or managing events, but even in the course of your business.
Your ability to grab opportunities, handle issues, resolve problems instantly is very important.
Imagine something goes wrong in your plan A, and you hesitate to switch to your back up plan. You’d end up crashing the event and crashing your career as an event planner. Imagine someone brings an offer to you and you can’t make a quick decision on it, you might either lose it or make a wrong choice.
Cultivate this skill by playing timed chess. It helps you learn how to make instant decisions no matter the consequences. Trust me, it’s better you acted and it went wrong, than you ignored and it still went wrong.
4. Collaboration
As an event planner, you would always work with people.
These people who include your vendors, staff, caterers, decorators, DJ, MC, clowns, bouncers, ushers, servers, etc are all meant to be at your beck and call.
If you’re not a good networker, you won’t be able to get in tune with these people and work with them without hitches. You’d possibly end up having problems with people every now and then.
You’d need to build good networking skills. Learn how to discern people’s mood, how to communicate with them, how to manage them and how to retain their trust when things go sour.
5. Negotiation
As an event planner, you’d need to learn the skills of negotiation.
This is due to the massive amount of negotiation you do as an event planner. You need to negotiate the prices of your rentals, staff wages, the prices of each service man, the hall costs, and a host of other stuff. You also need to negotiate with your client and get a good pricing deal.
To be successful at this, I’d advise you read a summary of President Donald Trump’s Book on the topic “Art of the Deal”. Though written in 1987, the book is really worth looking into. You’d learn a lot of negotiation from one of the world’s best negotiators
6. Passion for People
Do you have a passion for people? Would you be willing to be stressed out while others are partying and enjoying themselves?
Are you willing to go out of your way for others to be happy? Can you comfortably take care of every single guest and listen to their problems individually?
Can you surmount the pressure of people calling you from every angle with problems and issues? If you cannot do this, please have a rethink.
The reason we have many angry people after an event is due to this. Many Nigerian event planners don’t care about their guests, they only care about themselves. Little wonder you see an event planner packing food to go home when there are plenty hungry mouths left at the event.
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Make it a policy to treat every guest special and trust me, you’d be the best in the industry. Plan ahead for every guest and plan for the unexpected. Be ready to handle people’s problems and place an easier dispute resolution mechanism in the case of any problematic event.
Trust me, this trait is developed by constant practice and self conviction.
So, here we are. Six Must Have Traits for Every Event Planner.
Do well to culture these traits and don’t feel bothered about asking for help from our psychological team on how to work on perfecting these.
Wishing you success in your events career.
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