Successful event planning requires creativity, organization, communication, critical thinking, and many other skills. An event planning expert always has a set of skills under their sleeve to organize and manage a successful event. Check this article out to find about how to became an Event Planning Specialist.
A successful planner is the culmination of all the skills that help them lead an effective event. These individuals are full of positive spirits, efficient communicators and negotiators, and have a high work ethic.
So, if you are wondering which skills to build to become a successful event planning business, here’s a blog post to help you.
10 Must-Have Skills for an Event Planning Expert
Planning successful events goes beyond getting high-paying clients and working with a team of vibrant professionals. More so, planners need to update themselves at every point and have hard and soft skills crucial for their professional growth. Here are the ten most important skills event planners need to master –
1. Organizational Skills
First and foremost, event planners must learn organizational skills. It’s the single most important skill event planners must master. They are responsible for coordinating with different stakeholders who are part of the event they are organizing.
The last-minute changes in an event can often make the entire work full of difficulties. But that’s nothing a strong organizational skill cannot help solving.
Event planners must communicate with the venue, vendors, and clients and maintain the workflow until the deadline. They must oversee the entire event as a project and see through every step of the way.
Start by identifying key elements of organizational skills you need to master. Then, start to practice those skills till they become second nature.
Techniques & tools Event Planning Specialist’s Use
- While soft skills work, you still need help from different tools to make your organization smoother and simpler. You can start with tools like Asana or Trello. Plus, free tools like Notion ClickUp help you organize your events effectively.
- Using checklists and workflow timelines also helps ensure everything’s running properly.
2. Creative Problem Solving
Critical thinking and creative problem solving are crucial skills that are two of the most important skills event planners must learn.
What if your vendor cancels at the last minute of the event going live? Do you have any backup plan for continuing an event even when it’s raining heavily? A successful event planner would use their creative problem-solving and critical thinking to anticipate such threats and prepare accordingly.
Critical thinking helps an event planner specialist identify an issue, analyze the root cause, and develop potential solutions. They don’t just stop there. They identify the best solution among the multiple solutions that help solve a problem.
How do event planning specialists enhance problem-solving skills?
- The best way to enhance creative problem-solving skills is through brainstorming sessions. Include your team and take opinions on the potential obstacles in the events you plan and organize.
- Identify potential problems, prioritize them according to the severity level, and create solutions that’ll help you solve them.
3. Flexibility and Adaptability
The skills to think critically and solve the problems at hand are necessary in the face of a problem. However, implementing the solution you came up with requires more than critical thinking. It requires an event planning specialist to be nimble on his feet.
Flexibility is crucial in the unpredictable world of events. Plans can change instantly, and an effective planner must be ready to adapt. What if a speaker doesn’t show up? What if the sound system isn’t working? Do you have unexpected guests at the event?
All these problems may occur at any moment. In addition, event planners must be adaptable to addressing such changing and stressful situations with a calm mind. A few key elements of this event planning skill are your mastery of communication, stress management, time management, and interpersonal skills.
Being flexible as an event planning specialist
- It’s important to learn and implement mindfulness techniques. This will help you be agile while also helping you remain calm during stressful situations.
- Embracing change: as an event manager, you must learn to embrace and accept the changes around you.
4. Attention to Detail
Details make your bigger plans perfect. As an event planning specialist, you must learn the skill of attention to detail. Attention to detail makes the difference between your events being successful ones or an utter disappointment.
Focus on what’s important and give your hundred percent effort in getting things right to the minute detail. In addition, check the spelling on the event hoardings and banners. Does the coat check have enough tickets? Are the chairs arranged and organized properly? Ensure that your vendor provides good quality raw ingredients for the food you’ll serve at the event.
How do you pay more attention to details?
Create a checklist of things that require attention and maintain it with a keen eye.
Double-check everything to ensure the event is ready to go live. Before you finalize, don’t forget to review your contact details.
5. Strong Communication Skills
Strong communication skills don’t always mean you must master multiple languages. It’s a combination of your interpersonal skills, active listening skills, and abilities to write clearly and understand the non-verbal cues of others.
Failing to communicate effectively can often cause difficulties in managing your events. Here’s how event planning specialists improve and master their communication skills –
- Learn to listen first before you speak. Understand what your clients, vendors, and employees are trying to convey.
- Work on a feedback mechanism, master event management tools, and collaboration tools for effective communication.
6. Interpersonal Skills
Your communication and interpersonal skills are the core elements that help you collaborate, bring about changes and efficiently handle any event. With it, you can make communication smoother and bond with people. Furthermore, you can use those bonds to negotiate, argue, and decide.
Interpersonal skills help an event planning specialist interact with event attendees, help build relationships, network, and meet with different stakeholders.
Enhancing interpersonal skills as an event planner
- Attend industry events to stay on top of the latest trends and build connections with vendors, planners, and potential clients.
- Use your empathy to understand people around you and their perspective.
7. Resourcefulness
Event planning specialists are forever resourceful. They always have that contact that is handy when the event requires extra chairs for unexpected guests. As an event planner, you must use multiple soft skills to reach an outcome.
Use your critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and interpersonal skills to build your network or resources. It’s managing a crisis with alternative and resourceful events planners always cut through an obstacle, whether it’s a missing set piece after the event or arranging for alternative modes of transportation for the attendees at the last moment.
Here’s how to build this skill –
- Think outside the box. Work on brainstorming sessions with your peers and come up with excellent solutions.
- Leverage your networks, contacts, and technologies to solve the problem.
8. Leadership Qualities
Leadership is one of the key skills of successful event planners. Expert event planners are often skilled leaders who delegate tasks, assign roles, and motivate peers and employees.
They use different skills to manage time, pay attention to detail, budget for an event, and make the event a success.
Developing leadership skills as an event planner
- Take leadership mentorship and work with leaders in the industry to get inspired.
- Participate in leadership workshops and events to learn more about those events.
9. Time Management
An expert event planning specialist is also skilled at time management. They understand the value of time and use it mindfully to set event timelines, task tracking, and more. Time management.
Here’s how to use the time to become successful as an event planner
- Create your event timeline and match it against your time at hand.
- Delegate tasks among your employees and teams.
- Manage distractions at the event venue where you work. If you must put up a “DO NOT DISTURB” signpost, do that.
- Use time management tools and checklists to time-track your event.
10. Professionalism & Work Ethics
Expert event planners are always professional and work with high value and work ethics. They maintain their standard of work and behavior to maintain a positive reputation in the industry. Most importantly, it helps them gain more clients and keeps elevating their position in the industry.
Work on your ethical considerations. As an event planner, you must deal with your dilemmas and remain transparent to your clients, vendors, and employees. Here are a few things to practice –
- Keep your propositions and communications clear and agree to your contracts. It helps to put everything into writing and document your event communications.
- Always maintain integrity in terms of your opinions and communications.
Conclusion
In summary, to become a successful event planning specialist, you must have a blend of different skills. Organizational skills, critical thinking, and leadership are just a few more than ten skills that make you an expert event planner. If you were trying to identify your skill gaps as an event planner, this article should help.
We have simplified the complexities of event planning and helped you see the right sets of event planning skills you must master. Did you find this article helpful? If so, share your experience through the comment section. Thank you for reading.
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