Free Essay Example. Event Planner Interview

Event planning is one of the most enjoyable careers, but very stressful. In an interview with Mr. Peter, a resources manager in Liese Gardner Communications and Mr. John, Managing director in Event Northern, skills and knowledge are essential aspects that an event planner should possess. These two professional event planners pursued a degree in meeting and event management. Peter has 8 years' experience while John has 4 years' experience in the field. Education level plays a vital role in improving the skills and knowledge of event planners. This aspect assists planners to participate in large events which are more complex to handle. Engaging in various activities highly improves the experience of these individuals. The success of those companies where these individuals run is grounded on knowledge and skills on management.

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In this career, event planning skills and experience is essential for success. In order to become a successful event planner, a person is required to have organizational skills. Organizational skills help a person to keep clients timelines as planned. The skills also help an event planner to list all activities based on the requirement in an event. Since the process is people-driven and relationship-based, networking savvy is another skill that helps to focus on the two concepts (Du Preez, 2017). Through networking savvy, an event planner integrates all professionals to create a memorable event. For instance, in an event, a photographer is an essential professional that a leader is required to engage to ensure the occasion is conducted effectively. Normally, in an event, there is a high tendency that things might go wrong. Therefore, an event planner is required to have resilience and adaptability skills to ensure everything goes with a flow. This skill helps a leader to think quickly so as to overcome some of the challenges encountered. Basic understanding of an event is an essential approach that makes an occasion successful (Walters, 2019). When a leader has a good understanding of what happening in an event, there is a high propensity that they will bring people together. Furthermore, this skill helps to ensure all activities are available before the time of an event. Creativity is key skills that influence which activities are conducted during an event. Through creativity skills, an event planner engages some of the activities such as the coordination process which is an essential problem-solving technique (Du Preez, 2017). Despite any challenge, an event planner should be dedicated to client services. This approach helps an event planner to ensure they give the best service to make an event successful. Dedication is highly linked with how an event planner communicates several activities at the same time.

As an event planner, I have participated in several occasions such as Innovation Idea Challenge, cultural festival, workshop, and sports events. During the processes, I encountered a lot of challenges, especially in planning, researching, and coordinating these events. For instance, in several events, I faced a challenge of moving out of the topic. In this case, I could end a moment in different ways as expected. Time management was another critical aspect that affected most of my event. Lack of effective planning subjected me to poor time management. Normally, some of the activities conducted in these events were associated with complex goals that require more time than I had planned. Some of the events needed some technology devices. Due to the lack of technical knowledge and skills on which materials to deploy, I encountered a vital challenge to understand the best technology devices. When planning an event, the budget is an important aspect that a planner must effectively consider. Lack of basic understanding of the total cost of the event resulted in overspending in some events. Most of the activities in various events were more expensive than what clients expected. Additionally, I encountered the challenge of determining how many people are attending an event. This action made attendees and staff be frustrated. For instance, when too many people are available, some of the activities are not effectively coordinated due to a lack of proper management strategy.

From past events I have conducted, the sport was the most successful. As the organizer, I organized the event four weeks earlier to give members a chance to prepare for the event. The date scheduled was communicated using several channels, therefore, a large number of people had attended. During the event, I had a good understanding of the role of each event's stakeholders to avoid conflict during the occasion. I organized the system in a way that the event maintained the objectives to create an enjoyable moment. After being in the sport for many years, I knew what the audience expect in such an event. Hence, all activities were focused on how to create a joyful moment for all people. The structure appearance of the ground was so good. The event had more professionals who conducted various roles such as video recording. When a stakeholder was communicating, I ensured that they maintained the time scheduled to avoid running out of time and skipping some of the activities. Throughout the occasion, the process was organized in a system where competitors could show their skills. This action created a joyful moment that influenced spectators to be involved. Due to the above techniques, the event was so successful as compared to others.

The cultural festival was the worst event I have ever held. Normally, the cultural festival is an event that requires a lot of integration since actors perform different contents that are accompanied by different materials. In the cultural festival, there were no enough devices such as music instruments that actors would use during the process. Lack of materials was facilitated by poor planning approach. The planning had not conducted enough research on materials needed. Time management was another critical challenge that hindered the success of the event. Actors tend to use more time on certain content as required. Hence, some of the activities were conducted late than scheduled. As such, some of the clients were highly discouraged due to poor planning approach. Additionally, there was low audience engagement. This action makes the event to be cooler and bored. When audiences are so silent, there is a high tendency that they will be bored as they lack the connection between the art content and their mind.

In the future, event leaders will face a lot of issues due to a change in the operations system. Normally, technology development continues to change how activities are conducted. Therefore, the future may face major challenges if they fail to move with the trending system. As such, they are required to keep updating themselves to ensure they are aware of new things that are associated with event planning. Creativity will be another critical challenge future leaders may face. Due to the change in the system, event leaders are required to deploy more creative approaches to make the whole system more enjoyable and attractive. Creativity will help future even leaders to deploy unique approaches in their occasion to ensure people's needs are effectively handled.

In conclusion, event planning is a simple task but may appear very complex if not effectively organized. Based on the interviewees' understanding, event planning is based on how a person manages and applies resources. Effective application of resources such as time creates a good condition that makes a successful event. Therefore, an event planner should understand how to organize these resources through research and engaging experience event leaders. Education is an essential factor that improves the skills and knowledge of how to become an effective event planner. Pursuing a course that is related to management helps an event planner to develop an efficient approach toward success. Through the education approach, a person gains the skills and knowledge on how to coordinate activities in a logic way. Integrating with some experienced people gives a graduate a chance to understand how activities are done. This technique helps to improve learners' experience and how to conduct activities in a professional manner. Finally, research is another concept that can improve how a person participates in event planning. Normally, research gives a person to understand how changes affect an event and, which technology devices to use based on the current system. Technology development has introduced more materials that are integrated into an event. Therefore, a planner should ensure every event moves based on the trending system.

References

Du Preez, E. A. (2017). A skills development framework for sports tourism: The case of South Africa. African Journal for Physical Activity and Health Sciences (AJPHES), 23(Supplement 1), 146-169. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elizabeth_Du_Preez2/publication/318529690_A_skills_development_framework_for_sports_tourism_the_case_of_South_Africa/links/5a1e967e0f7e9b9d5efffb2e/A-skills-development-framework-for-sports-tourism-the-case-of-South-Africa.pdf.

Walters, T. (2019). Delivering employable event studies graduates: Student perspectives on the benefits of experiential learning. Event Management. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Trudie_Walters/publication/327283773_delivering_employable_event_studies_graduates_student_perspectives_on_the_benefits_of_experiential_learning/links/5bd25f48299bf1124fa36e95/delivering-employable-event-studies-graduates-student-perspectives-on-the-benefits-of-experiential-learning.pdf.