Stay Flexible
As any good event planner knows, there’s never an event where everything goes 100% smoothly. And, if it seems like it does, that’s a great feeling for the planner, but secretly they may know a few areas that are in need of improvement. To ensure success in this area, try being more adaptable to ideas and new situations that come up. If in the past you were more in control of what happened in every single detail of an event, try to loosen up a bit and actually listen to feedback and suggestions. There may be a few golden nuggets in that feedback that could improve your events, and even your planning skills! It’s important to stay open-minded as an event planner – you never know when a disaster can strike, and you may need a plan B or C lined up that you couldn’t think of yourself!
Shine
Another area to be successful is to step up your creativity. Most event planners are creative by nature, but deep down we tend to hit a wall from time to time, and need boosts of inspiration to get us back on track! Remember to stay on top of trends, review other events in the industry, listen to attendees and vendors, and then see what worked for you in the past. If you were successful with networking outings, maybe tweak those to become an online meet-up, or smaller in-person meet-ups. Take the feedback given to you after each event, and see in what areas people may want more. This could be anything from different giveaways, session names, event themes, or even taking the food up a notch!
Be Nice
There’s one quality in a successful event planner that everyone notices right away – that’s customer service. Nice event planners are the most successful, and the most popular. Taking that extra step, and going that extra mile for not only event attendees, but also your extended staff, vendors you work with, and speakers is a nice touch. If you think you have slacked in this area, come up with ways to collaborate and check-in more with these folks.
Remember, everyone talks to each other, so the last thing you want as an event planner are clients who were not happy with the way things were handled for them. Always listen, communicate, and have answers in your back pocket to provide.