4 Tips to Succeed in Event Planning: Precision in Planning Meeting

Angie Robinette 

PRSSA Kent launched its spring semester programming with an insightful meeting all about the event planning industry. Students learned about different sides of the field from Kelly Needham, Director of Development Programs at the Cleveland Clinic, Heather Shaw, Special Events Manager at the Akron Zoo and Nora Culley, Wedding Planner at Engaged with Nora. 
Each speaker explained how they got into event planning, revealed their favorite and not-so-favorite parts and offered valuable advice to anyone interested in the career field. Here are some key takeaways to make sure you can excel in the world of event planning:


1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
No event will go smoothly, especially when first starting out in the field, so it is okay to make mistakes. However, it is important to fix them and come up with solutions on your own. 
“Embrace the fact that you are going to make mistakes. They’re going to be big and small but really just own up to it and bring the solution to how to fix it,” Needham said. “I think having that forward-thinking, solutions-oriented mindset is what will be really critical.”

2. Have backup plans
When something goes wrong, it is helpful to be prepared for the specific situation. Similar to crisis management, event planners must plan for the worst.

“Just make sure that in your mind you have those plans of what’s going to happen and how you’re going to handle yourself,” Shaw said. “I think a lot of them are skills that you can learn, but be ready to zig when people zag, and go from there.

3. Get as much hands-on experience as possible
In event planning, it is important to experience every side of the operation so you can understand the different perspectives and how they each function.
“Get as much on the ground experience as you possibly can. You have to understand that live events are an organism, everything in it is moving and everybody has their own job,” Culley said. “You have to know how everybody else is doing their job or else you’ll never know how to do your own.”

4. Set boundaries
Every speaker also mentioned the importance of setting boundaries between yourself, your job and clients because burnout is very common in event planning.
MaKayla Edmond, a junior hospitality and event management major, said “I enjoyed the parts about what they said about burnout and how you have to set those boundaries with people. Especially because I'm a people pleaser. I want to be able to give my best to everyone at all times and sometimes that’s not feasible.”
Event planning is an intriguing industry, but there are a lot of moving parts and perspectives to be learned. 
The Precision in Planning: Elevating Events meeting was an amazing lens into the event planning world and a great way to start off the spring semester.