How Event Planners get Started
Event Planning can be fun, exciting and become a very profitable business, but remember there are several types of event planners. Some consider event planning for a hobby or part-time job, arranging birthdays or Tupperware parties while others use it as a way to get involved in the community, setting up school or social events. The serious event planners are in it for excitement, fun, and money! They help to plan corporate events, business seminars, and overseas reward packages! No matter why you desire to be an event planner, it takes some work to get started and become known, especially if you are trying to do it as a full-time business!
You can start by working for a company that is already established, for many this is be best. It will give you a chance for experienced guidance from somebody that has already made most of the mistakes, allowing you to test the waters while learning the tricks of the trade. It will also allow you to make connection and get your name known. A great idea for at least a short time. But in some places there may be no positions available and so you may need to start your own!
To get started as an event planner, as with any business, you need to know your product, be able to balance budgets and be creative and original. Small events, such as a children's birthday party, means knowing the best place to get the cake or pinata, and at a price the customer can afford and yet you still make a profit! Overseas events are a bit more elaborate and may mean learning about a whole new country. The larger the event you are planning, the more you will need to know. So the best way is to start a book, a notebook for plans!
A loose-leafed binder is great. Divide it into sections: Food, Activities, Decorations, airfare, hotels. What the sections will be will depend on what the events you want to plan are, and specialize at least at first. Then go through the Internet or telephone directory, collecting names of businesses that have what you will need, call or go visit the businesses if possible and get prices, ask for frequent buyer discounts! Always get a selection of vendors for everything so that there are backups in case one supplier runs out! This book becomes your "bible", the ultimate source book. It helps you establish your costs so you can set your prices.
While the source book is your costs and alternatives, it is used to create the second book needed, the customer book. The customer book should have photos and descriptions as well as the customer price, (with your profit added) for each detail. The photographs might be fancy costumes from a party or an exclusive restaurant, they might be of activities or the foreign country where you are trying to place the event. The book should be creative with original ideas, a business trip could be billed as "a Pirate's week away"! Make sure the book is bright, colorful and looks fun!
Now one needs people skills. Dress cleanly and professionally, learn to speak clearly. When you meet with a potential customer, take your customer book and go over things with them. Let them pick and choose what they want using your expert guidance. Give them options and show that you are versatile and knowledgeable. Mix and match items, forming a unique event. Then go home, use your resource book and set up the event.
You are now getting started as an event planner, but to continue, make sure the event goes well! Have ready any back up items that may be needed and enough staff to help. To really get started, you need a few successful events to build your reputation!
