“So, are you an event planner? That’s really cool, what an amazing job, you see a lot of celebrities..I envy you so much!!”
How often do you listen to these words? And every time it’s so difficult trying to explain that your job is not all a bed of roses. Do you remember? When you started this job you have never imagined it could be so hard and without a minimal routine. Every day is so different from the previous one and, as event planner, you have learnt to expect the unexpected.
According to the latest CareerCast study, the event coordinator is in the top 10 of the most stressful jobs of 2015. This result is obviously due to the strict deadlines to respect, the continued pressure to which they are subjected to and endless working days.
As told by EVENTful Ventures “An event planner creates, organizes, and supervises every element of an event, meeting, or incentive”. But what does it mean exactly? In means coordinate, manage and control every single detail of the event, thousands of times. In few words, it means being available for all the last-minute changes, complaints and desires of your customers.
Even if the event coordinator is always present at the events he organizes, 99% of event planning is a desk job. This is probably one of the biggest misconception you have to face when you speak about your job, with people who completely ignore it. But it’s easy, because the word planning means exactly this: schedule meetings, find a good venue, check and write thousands of emails, meet vendors, caterers and so on. That’s not all, because despite all your hard work, things can go wrong, so you have to be prepared to solve last-minute problems as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
Do you want to talk about those days in which you don’t even have time to eat? Those busy days at the office full of endless email inboxes and incessant phone calls, or when you have to run from one meeting to another and dealing with photographers, caterers, florists, vendors etc.
So, please, don’t blame a poor event planner if after a stressful, bottomless, hard working day his unique desire is just to relax and be quiet. And never try to call him cranky!
Do you have a friend that, despite your explanations, continues to make fun of your super-glamour and worldly job? Be sure he will read this article and you will never have to explain that your work is one of the most beautiful, but it’s not all rainbows and unicorns!