How to become a professional event planner | Mark Bernardini

Event planners are the miracle workers of events. They bring the possibility to that which ordinarily, seems impossible.

Too numerous are they that like to claim for themselves the title- ‘Event planner.’ These are the ones whom in reality, knows very little about planning an event. Their lack of awareness lends invitation to disarray; making an event totally different from what it should have been if it was coordinated by a professional event planner.  

For example, think of a flopped function you have attended before. I mean an event characterized by disorganization and complaints. Now upon enquiry, try seek out the group or person who was behind the stage, and you shall find an acclaimed event planner; one of those proud agents of disarrangement.  

Who is a professional event planner?

A professional event planner is a person that brings life and sway to an event; a developer of grace and beauty. And this is made possible because a professional events planner knows first, what planning an event entails.

So you want to become an event planner? Not just an event planner but a professional event planner? Then you I think it is ideal for you to  know first- what every professional event planner first knew.

What is event planning?

Event planning can be defined as the process of managing a function such as a meeting, convention, trade show, ceremony, party, e.t.c.

Event planning also includes budgeting, establishing timeliness, selecting and reserving the event sites, acquiring permits, planning food, coordinating transportation, developing a theme, arranging for activities, selecting speakers and keynotes, arranging for equipment and facilities, managing risk, and developing contingency plans.

With this in mind, it becomes easier to understand that becoming a professional event planner has more to do with just desire alone. Education, experience and passion must not be found wanting in a professional event planner..

What do I need to become a professional event planner?

1. Education: Although having a degree in event planning is not a criteria for becoming a professional event planner, still, it is a good idea because it makes it possible for you to have a good knowledge to begin with.
2. Experience: Experience is golden, and everyone knows this. Whether an event planner has a college degree or not, many clients expect to see event planning experience on a resume. Even an amateur event planner can boast of one or two years of experience. Professionalism evolves with time, it grows with experience.
3. Passion: Passion is like a fire, it burns. A professional event planner must possess this fire; the fire to succeed.

What are the duties of a professional event planner?

1. Before Event: Professional event planners work closely with their clients to determine the purpose and scope of an event. The client establishes the time and location, and sets for the planner a budget to work with. Working under these parameters, the event planner seeks bids from local meeting places and providers. An example of such service provider, is a catering service.
2. During Event:The event planner supervises setup for the event, including the use of equipments while the event progresses. The planner strives to meet the needs of his host and guest in other to make every aspect of the event successful.
3. After Event: Inspection, accountability and cleanup.

4. What skills should a professional event Planner have?

   • Tolerance
   • Multitasking
   • Negotiation skill
   • Visionary
   • Creativity

   How to become a successful professional event planner:

1. Develop event Goal and Objective
2. Organize a planning team
3. Set a Date (Give yourself enough time)
4. Create an event  master Plan
5. Determine Administrative Process
6. Create a Publicity Plan
7. Establish a Budget
8. Determine Evaluation Process                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    In conclusion, it should be emphasized that professional event planner makes sure the event stays on schedule and that featured speakers or performers are prepared and cued. At the end, the event planner is responsible for supervising cleanup. The planner meets with the client to review the event, discuss bills and receive payment. Read More...

10 Tips for Being More Productive With Your Sales and Marketing Efforts | Mark Bernardini

Not all sales and marketing strategies are created equal. Some require a lot of work and resources for very little reward. And others are actually optimized to get more done with less. Here are some tips from our small business community for getting more done with your sales and marketing efforts.

Make Sure Your Employees Are as Productive as Possible

In order for your business to accomplish its goals, you need productive team members. But there are some things you might be missing when it comes to making your employees as productive as possible. In this Planday post, Lisa Andersen elaborates.

Sync Up Your Sales and Marketing

Your sales and marketing efforts don’t necessarily have to be intertwined in order to be effective. But when they’re completely out of sync, it can be difficult to really find the right direction for your business. This post on the Your Guerrilla Marketer blog by Rick Verbanas outlines what you can do in that situation.

Win More With Social Media

Businesses are increasingly relying on social media as part of their marketing and sales efforts. But you need to make sure that your social media strategy is going to be one that actually helps to sustain those efforts, as Martin Zwilling details in this Startup Professionals Musings post. You can also see commentary on the post over on BizSugar.

Create a Winning Value Proposition

You can’t hope for any of your sales or marketing efforts to be effective if you don’t have an effective value proposition. In this SUCCESS Agency blog post, Mary Blackiston explains the importance of having a great value proposition and offers some tips for creating one.

Create Epic Nurture Campaigns

Getting new customers is an important part of sales and marketing. But nurturing your existing customers is just as, if not more, important. So this Marketing Land post by Mary Wallace includes some tips for creating epic nurture campaigns.

Use These Tips for Instagram Stories

Instagram stories is a relatively new social media platform that businesses can use to share narratives and behind the scenes shots. This Divahound post by Shannon Huppin includes some tips and ideas you can use to make your Instagram stories memorable. And BizSugar members share their own thoughts here.

Get the Most From Your Board

If your business has a board of directors or any other type of leadership board, they can also be instrumental in making sure that your business runs as efficiently as possible — and this takes in the areas of selling and marketing too. In this Biz Epic post, John Southwell offers tips for making sure that you get the most from your board.

Benefit Your Business With App Store Optimization Techniques

If your business uses mobile apps of any kind, then you need to be able to optimize those apps for app stores if you want to get the most out of them. You can learn more about some of the most effective techniques in this Techlofy post by Ashfaq Ahmad.

Use Twitter Video to Attract the Right Followers

Having the right followers on social media is absolutely essential for making your strategy as effective as possible. And Twitter video is one way that you can work to attract the people who are going to be most relevant to your small business, as Svitlana Latysheva explains here on Post Planner. And the BizSugar community also shares input on the post here. Read More...