Many people assume the life of an event planner is glamorous because they get to spend other people's money and throw fun parties. What they don't realize is that there are tight deadlines, strict budget guidelines, inevitable last minute changes, and clients expecting big things. As the event date gets closer and plans need to be finalized, event planners are dealing with an extremely busy schedule and can be left feeling drained by the end. How do you go about hosting an unforgettable event without burning yourself out? Follow these tips:
Prioritize
An event planner's to-do list tends to grow as the event date gets closer. In order to keep from getting overwhelmed by increasing demands when you have a decreasing amount of time, start each week by planning and scheduling your top priorities for each day of that week. Make sure the top priority tasks for the day get taken care of, and everything else that gets accomplished will just be an added bonus. New time sensitive priorities are likely to come up, but when you know what your daily and weekly plans are it will be a lot easier to accommodate without feeling overwhelmed.
Delegate
Event planners can't do everything on their own. It's just not possible. While you may be the person in charge, it doesn't mean you have to handle everything yourself. When the initial planning begins, make a to-do list and divide it up amongst your staff. Larger tasks can be given to several people if needed to get things done more efficiently. Keep the lines of communication open with everyone to ensure that they're ok with their workload and are able to meet their deadlines. If someone starts to fall behind, you'll know who may have some extra time to help give others the support they need. If you have a competent team you should feel safe trusting them to get things done.
Keep Things in Perspective
It's important to remember that if a mistake is made, you're probably
going to think it's worse than it is. The attendees at the event don't know what you
have planned, so if something small isn't quite right you're likely going to
be the only one who notices. If you're a good planner you'll have a backup plan ready, so rather than spending time worrying about what went wrong you can focus on making the change and knowing you had it under control.
Event planners also tend to forget that events are not a life or death situation. A holiday party or conference is not worth giving yourself a heart attack over. If something goes wrong, it's most likely not going to cause major or lasting problems. Maybe a client will be upset but when guests leave happy because the overall event was great, the client will likely forgive you. You may feel awful about it when it happens, but you'll survive and can take it as a learning opportunity. If the client doesn't forgive you, then so what? Sometimes people lose clients. There will be more, so you can't let it get to you.
Find Time to Relax
The most important thing to do when planning an event is finding time to relax. It may seem like you need to work nonstop or you won't finish, but that's usually not really the case. Planners are typically the hub of communication, so often it's hard to get away from all of the people coming to you with questions or approval requests. Set specific times of the day to check your email and don't look at it aside from those times. If you have a lot of employees, set open office hours so that when you sit down to work you know you won't get interrupted. Turn off your phone when you leave work for the day so that you're not tempted to keep working. If you give yourself time away from the job, you'll sleep better and will be able to come back to work the next day feeling recharged and refreshed, which will increase your productivity.
