Editor's note: This article was excerpted from Start Your Own Event Planning Business

(Entrepreneur Press, 2015).

The special events industry has grown enormously in the past decade. According to recent
research conducted by Dr. Joe Goldblatt, CSEP (Certified Special Events Professional), spending
for special events worldwide is $500 billion annually. Goldblatt is the founder of International
Special Events Society (ISES), the founding director of the Event Management Program at
George Washington University, and co-author of The International Dictionary of Event
Management. "Suffice it to say, the marketplace is large enough to support and sustain your
endeavor," says Goldblatt. "If you're working in one special events area, there are many
directions in which you can expand. If you're just entering the profession of special events,
there's a lucrative market awaiting you on many fronts."
What's Inside

Introduction

Target Market

Startup Costs

Operations

Income and Billing

Marketing and Resources

More articles on event planning

According to Goldblatt's research, profits in this industry continue to rise. Just a few years ago,
Goldblatt says, the average profit margin for an event planning entrepreneur was around 15
percent. His most recent studies, however, show profit margins can be as much as 40 percent. He
attributes the industry's good health to several factors, including the improved economy and the
trend of corporate America to outsource their meeting-planning functions.

What Is Event
Planning?
This question actually breaks down into two questions: What kinds of events are we talking
about? And, what is event planning?

First things first. Generally speaking, special events occur for the following purposes:

Celebrations (fairs, parades, weddings, reunions, birthdays, anniversaries)

Education (conferences, meetings, graduations)

Promotions (product launches, political rallies, fashion shows)

Commemorations (memorials, civic events)

This list isn't an exhaustive one, but as the examples illustrate, special events may be business
related, purely social or somewhere in between.
Now we move to the second question: What is event planning? Planners of an event may handle
any or all of the following tasks related to that event:

Conducting research

Creating an event design

Finding a site

Arranging for food, decor and entertainment

Planning transportation to and from the event

Sending invitations to attendees

Arranging any necessary accommodations for attendees

Coordinating the activities of event personnel

Supervising at the site

Conducting evaluations of the event

How many of these activities your business engages in will depend on the size and type of a
particular event, which will, in turn, depend on the specialization you choose.
Why Do People Hire Event Planners?
This question has a simple answer: Individuals often find they lack the expertise and time to plan
events themselves. Independent planners can step in and give these special events the attention
they deserve.

Who Becomes An Event Planner?

Planners are often people who got their start in one particular aspect of special events. Business
owner Martin Van Keken had a successful catering company before he decided to plan entire
events. Many other planners have similar stories. This explains why planners often not only
coordinate entire events but may, in addition, provide one or more services for those events.
Event planners may also have started out planning events for other companies before deciding to
go into business for themselves. Joyce Barnes-Wolff planned in-house events for a retail chain
for 11 years and then worked for another event planning company before striking out on her
own.
Becoming Certified
Consider getting a degree or certificate from a local university in event planning or management.
A list of colleges and universities offering educational opportunities in this field is available from
Meeting Professionals International (MPI).
Also consider working to become a CSEP (Certified Special Events Professional) or CMP
(Certified Meeting Planner). These designations are given out by ISES and MPI, respectively.
Many corporations, and some members of the general public, look for these designations when
hiring planners. Because of the research and study it takes to become a CSEP or CMP, clients
know that these planners are professionals.

Target Market
The Corporate Market
Broadly speaking, there are two markets for event planning services: corporate and social. The
term "corporate" includes not only companies but also charities and nonprofit organizations.
Charities and nonprofit organizations host gala fundraisers, receptions and athletic competitions,
among other events, to expand their public support base and raise funds. Thousands of these
events occur each year, and although the large ones require specialized event planning
experience, you may find smaller local events to start out with.
Companies host trade shows, conventions, company picnics, holiday parties, and meetings for
staff members, board members, or stockholders. There is a huge market for these types of events.
According to the Convention Industry Councils 2012 Economic Significance Study, 1.83
million corporate/business meetings, trade shows, conventions, etc. took place in the U.S. alone.

The Social Market

Social events include weddings, birthdays, anniversary parties, bar and bat mitzvahs, Sweet 16
parties, children's parties, reunions and so on. You may decide to handle all these events or just
specialize in one or more of them.
The market for social events, especially birthdays and anniversaries, is expected to continue to
increase over the next few years, as baby boomers mature. This group has children getting
married, parents celebrating golden anniversaries, and their own silver wedding anniversaries to
commemorate.

Startup Costs
How much money will you need to start your event planning
business? That will depend on the cost of living in the area
your business serves and whether you work from home or rent
office space. It will also depend, to a lesser degree, on your
own taste and lifestyle choices.
Keep in mind that while working from home will keep your costs low, you can't start any but the
smallest of event planning business on a shoestring.
This chart lists the startup costs for two hypothetical event-planning services. The first business
is homebased and has no employees. The high-end business occupies 1,000 square feet of office
space. The owner/manager of this business employs a full-time junior planner and a part-time
bookkeeper, as well as temporary employees who handle clerical work and who may help
prepare for various events. Both owners will derive their income from pre-tax net profit.
Annually, these businesses will gross $85,000 and $250,000, respectively. The startup table lists
pre-opening costs for the businesses.
Startup Expenses

Low

High

Rent

$0

$2,300

Equipment

$5,000

$17,000

Inventory

$0

$500

Licenses and Taxes

$250

$350

Communications

$100

$250

Payroll

$0

$4,000

Advertising/Promotion

$500

$2,000

Legal Fees & Accounting

$650

$1,500

Insurance (1st Quarter)

$800

$1,700

Miscellaneous

$750

$1,500

Total

$8,050

$31,100

Operations
Few, if any, event planners have 9-to-5 jobs. By its very nature, event planning tends to involve
evenings, weekends, holidays and sometimes even specific seasons. How much time you must
commit to working will depend, once again, on the specialization you choose.
As a general rule, social events involve more weekends and holidays than corporate events do.
Some areas of the country and some types of events have "on" and "off" seasons. However, no
matter what your specialization (with the exception of parties for young children), you can count
on working at least some evenings as you coordinate and supervise events. The planning of those
events, however, will be done mostly during business hours.
Here are the main tasks you'll be completing as an event planner:

Research. The best way to reduce risk (whatever the kind) is to do your
homework. For large events, research may mean making sure there's a
demand for the event by conducting surveys, interviews or focus group
research. If you're new to the event planning industry, research may instead
mean finding out all you can about vendors and suppliers. Research also may
mean talking to other planners who have produced events similar to the one
on which you're working. Or you may find yourself reading up on issues of
custom and etiquette, especially if you're unfamiliar with a particular type of
event.

Whatever kind of event you're planning, research should include asking your client a lot of
questions and writing down the answers. Interviewing a client may not be what you immediately
think of as research. However, asking too few questions, or not listening adequately to a client's
answers, can compromise the success of the event you plan.

Design. Your creativity comes most into play in the design phase of event
planning, during which you sketch out the overall "feel" and "look" of the

event. This is the time to brainstorm, either by yourself or with your

employees. It's also the time to pull out and look through your idea file. (You
do have one, don't you? If not, read on and take notes.) Don't forget to
consult your notebook for the client's answers to the questions you asked in
the research phase. These responses, especially the one regarding the event
budget, will help you thoroughly check each idea for feasibility, preferably
before suggesting it to the client.

Proposal. Once you've interviewed the client and done some preliminary
brainstorming, you should have enough information to prepare a proposal. Be
aware that the production of a proposal is time-consuming and potentially
expensive, especially if you include photographs or sketches. Note that only
the larger companies producing high-end events can afford to provide clients
with free proposals. You should receive a consultation fee (she suggests
about $150), which can be applied toward a client's event if he or she hires
you.

Organization. During this decision-intensive phase, you'll rent the site, hire
vendors and take care of more details than you might believe possible. You'll
be on the phone until your ear is numb. But before you do any of this, make
sure you have a contact person (either the client or someone acting on the
client's behalf) with whom you'll discuss all major decisions. Having a
designated individual helps ensure that communication lines are kept open.
Also, social events in particular sometimes suffer from the "too many cooks"
syndrome. Having one designated contact helps you avoid being caught in
the middle of disagreements between event participants.

Generally speaking, the bigger the event, the more lead time that's required to plan it. Major
conventions are planned years in advance. Although you may not be arranging events on such a
grand scale, you do need to allow at least a few months for events like corporate picnics,
reunions or large parties.

Coordination. After you've made the initial plans, turn your attention to each
of the activities that form a part of the overall event. At this point, your goal
is to ensure that everyone is on the same wavelength. Good communication
skills are important. Make sure all vendors have at least a general idea of the
overall event schedule. Even more important, vendors should be clear about
what's expected of them, and when. Vendor arrival times should appear in
the contracts, but verify those times anyway. This is a "check and recheck"
period. Make sure all your staff members know their roles.

Evaluation. The obvious, and in one sense the most important, test of an
event's success is customer satisfaction. The goal, of course, is to end up
with a client who will sing your praises up and down the street, shouting it
from rooftops. This is the client who will hire you again, and who will provide
that famous word-of-mouth advertising for you.

There are several other ways to evaluate the success of an event. You can hire an event planning
consultant; have someone who hosts extremely successful parties observe your event; plan a
roundtable post-event discussion with your employees; obtain feedback from other industry
professionals working at the event, like the caterer or bartender; or survey guests at or after the
event.

Income & Billing

The goal in pricing a service is to mark up your labor and material costs sufficiently to cover
overhead expenses and generate an acceptable profit. First-time business owners often fail
because they unknowingly priced their services too low. According to industry expert and author
Dr. Joe Goldblatt, fees are typically determined by three factors:

Market segment served. Social events have a different fee structure than
corporate events. In the social events industry, planners typically receive a
fee for their services, plus a percentage of some or all vendor fees. The two
income streams produce enough revenue for a profit. In the corporate events
industry, however, planners typically charge a fee for their services, plus a
handling charge for each item they contract. For example, a planner buys
flowers from a florist, marks them up (usually 15 percent) and charges that
amount to the client. Another possibility is a flat fee, or "project fee," often
used when the event is large and the corporation wants to be given a "not to
exceed" figure.

Geographic location. Fees are higher in the northeast United States, for
example, than in the southeast. This difference reflects the variation in cost
of living. In addition, areas of the country that have well-defined on- and offseasons base their prices partly on which season they're in.

Experience and reputation of the event planner. If you're just starting out in
the industry, it's reasonable to charge less for your planning services while
you gain expertise.

How, you may ask, are the above-mentioned fees-for-service calculated? Event planners we
interviewed price their fees-for-service (the total cost to the client) using a "cost-plus" method.
They contract out the labor, supplies and materials involved in producing an event and charge
their clients a service fee of about 10 to 20 percent of the total cost of the event, with 15 percent
being a rough average.

Marketing and Resources

Print advertising covers a broad range, from a freeor inexpensiveYellow Pages
advertisement to an ad in a glossy national publication costing tens of thousands of dollars. Even
today in the online era, most planners agree that an ad in the Yellow Pages makes good business
sense. A line advertisement, simply listing your business name, is often provided free of charge
when you connect your phone (if you have a land line).

You can also opt for a display advertisement. These are the bigger, bordered ads in the Yellow
Pages. There is a charge for these. If you do choose a larger ad space, be sure to include your
logo. You may also want to consider advertising in your local newspaper. Many papers
periodically (perhaps quarterly) publish special sections for brides- and grooms-to-be. These are
good vehicles for promoting your event planning business if you plan to do any wedding
consulting.
Dallas planner David Granger agrees. The problem, he notes, is that customers need to see what
you do, and a word ad won't accomplish that. He recommends networking and making friends in
the industry. That way, he says, "People know you, trust you. They want honesty and integrity."
Networking can help your business in two ways. If people have met you and know what services
you offer, they may refer business to you or use your service themselves. Furthermore,
networking with hotels, caterers and so on will give you a chance to meet some of the people
whose services you may need as you plan events.
Although networking and word-of-mouth are the most common industry strategies for acquiring
clients, traditional forms of advertising do have their uses. A distinctive card or brochure sent to a
mailing list or to local businesses may attract new clients. A small ad in a local business
magazine can help build name recognition. A website on the internet may allow you to attract
customers unresponsive to other forms of media.

Resources
Associations

Convention Industry Council

International Special Events Society

Meeting Professionals International

National Association of Catering Executives

Professional Convention Management Association

Magazines and Publications

Corporate Meetings and Incentives

The Meeting Professional

Special Events Magazine

Meetings and Conventions

Successful Meetings

Trade Show Executive Magazine

Travel Weekly

Books

Art of the Event by James Monroe and Robert Kates

Become an Event Planner: The Three Necessary Steps to Begin Your Event Planning
Career by Sirena Evans

The Business of Event Planning: Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Successful Special

Events by Judy Allen

Event Planning: The Ultimate Guide to Successful Meetings, Corporate Events,

Fundraising Galas, Conferences, Conventions, Incentives and Other Special Events by
Judy Allen

The Complete Idiots Guide to Meeting and Event Planning, Second Edition, by Robin
Craven and Lynn Johnson Golabowski

Pocket Idiots Guide to Choosing a Caterer by Phyllis Cambria and Patty Sachs

Special Events: Creating and Sustaining a New World for Celebration by Dr. Joe
Goldblatt

Educational Opportunities

Convention Industry Council

George Washington University Tourism and Hospitality Management

International Special Events Society

Event Planning Software

There are hundreds of types of event planning software, ranging from inexpensive and basic packages to software
developed for planning and managing large-scale conventions and trade shows. This software ranges in price from
$100 to thousands of dollars. As your company grows, you will need to determine the types of software you will

need. Check out Capterra for a complete breakdown of top event management software products like Eventbrite,
Regpack, Grenadine Events, SimpleTix, and many others.

6 Steps to Planning a
Free Startup Event
and Making a Splash
As an ecommerce startup -- selling a socially conscious jewelry line from Kenya -- and a
business with a limited marketing budget, we devote a lot of energy to thinking up ways to
creatively (i.e., cheaply) yet effectively market our company and expand our customer base.
Related: Online Marketing Gets All the Buzz But Check Out the ROI for Live Events
Weve found that planning promotional events is one of the best ways to meet our customers
face-to-face and simultaneously control our brand messaging, thereby accomplishing something
so important for a young company without an established brand: speaking for itself.
Viral marketing and word-of-mouth marketing are two of the most underrated and least costly
marketing strategies. As we thought about how we could raise brand awareness and create buzz
around our mission, we drew upon the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the Dark Knight Rises
viral video campaign for inspiration.
When we launched a grassroots PR stunt in Central Park last year and asked people to share their
dreams with us, we discovered how to deliver our message to engage with potential customers
and also gathered behavioral data points to help drive our future marketing decisions. Here are
six key things we learned along the way:

1. Set clear goals and objectives.

Thinking about what you want to get out of the event will help you. Are you hoping to acquire
customers? Drive sales? Test out a product? Giving away samples would be a good way to test
your product and get immediate feedback, but it may not drive sales, depending on what kind of
product you sell. To match your objectives with the type of event you want to plan,
brainstorming and doing your research on consumer behavior are key.

2. Plan, plan, plan your social media schedule.

To help us stay organized, we created all of our content ahead of time: Facebook posts,
Instagram countdowns and email marketing blasts. Most of these can be scheduled to post
automatically through sites like sproutsocial and help to generate buzz prior to the event. Of
course, make sure your website and social media accounts are all on-message.

3. Reach out to the press through warm contacts.

One of the reasons we coordinated an awareness event was to increase our companys press
coverage. So, do as we did and reach out to publications that would be interested in covering
your event; send them a special invitation (for example, try personalizing a message about some
of their past writing that you enjoyed, and say why).
Be sure to follow up afterward to summarize the event, even if your invited guests couldnt make
it. Persistence and timely follow-ups get noticed! Using this momentum to our advantage, we
secured our first feature in Forbes even though the journalist couldnt attend our event.
Related: The Price Is Right: Turning a Profit in the Event Planning Business

4. Be a personal ambassador.
Event sites like Splash and Eventbrite are easy to use for event management, but dont forget that
you are the best (and no-cost) ambassador for your event. Tell your friends and family and ask
them to support your event. You can even spread the word online through your own personal
social media accounts and by blogging about your company and its mission on sites like the
Medium.

5. Be creative.
We attracted hundreds of people walking around in Central Park through our energized and
talented musicians (one of whom dragged a harp into the park!) Without their presence, we
would not have collected as many dreams from people as we did -- 150, to be exact. Even as the
music drew a crowd, it allowed bystanders to open up. Had we not turned this viral marketing
event into a concert, everyone would have thought we were street peddlers!

6. Expect the unexpected.

Little did we know, reserving space in New York City parks is done several months ahead of
time and there are many application fees and procedures to follow! Dont let important things
like a poor venue location get in the way of planning your perfect promotional event. Know that
there will be plenty of unexpected mishaps the day-of and the best that you can do is face them
with a calm and positive attitude.
With so much business happening online these days, planning a live event (and actually meeting
people in person) is a daunting task. Even though we consider ourselves primarily a socially

conscious ecommerce site, were definitely in the people business. We cannot stress live
interaction with your target customer segment enough.
Some of our most loyal customers have been gained from these in-person events and summer
craft fairs where we were able to put a face to our brand, have customers try on products and talk
to us about their interests and aspirations.
While youll certainly reach a larger audience online, sometimes there are huge benefits from
gaining a few loyal customers in the early stages of your start-up who will act as brand
ambassadors for the rest of your companys life.

How Data Can Help You to

Personalize Marketing Events
and Boost ROI
Event hosting can provide the ideal platform for networking and raising awareness of new
products and services. Each year, marketers devote massive budgets to events. According to a
report issued by PriceWaterhouseCoooper, each year approximately $108 billion is dedicated to
events in the United States. Forrester reports that event marketing comprises the largest portion
of a B2B marketers budget at almost 20 percent.
While organizers might later label the event a success after it is over, such success is frequently
measured based only on anecdotal information rather than empirical evidence. Given the massive
budgets dedicated to event marketing, it certainly makes sense for marketers to seek out new and
improved methods for measuring the success of an event, and the best practices for extracting
value and determining return on investment (ROI).
Related: How to Leverage Live Marketing With Social Media Before, During and After
Events
In the past, such ROI calculations have been largely based on feedback obtained from surveys
submitted after the conclusion of the event. At best, ROI calculations were hit and miss.
Furthermore, such methods provided no way to obtain real-time actionable data while the event
was still ongoing.
It would be ideal to meet each attendee in person during an event to obtain vital information.
This simply is not practical. The good news is that even if you are unable to meet with every
person attending the event, you can still leverage data to boost satisfaction, plan events that are
more personalized, develop customer relationships, and increase your ROI. All this can be done
while the event is still taking place.

MarketingProfs points out that branded event apps are crucial in terms of gathering vital real
time data about events. In light of the mobile obsession that has swept the world, offering a
branded mobile event app can satisfy your attendees quest for instant gratification while
providing critical data for your firms marketing team.
With a branded mobile app it is possible to boost pre-event interest, as well as significantly
increase the number of opportunities for reaching attendees with targeted branding and
messaging. Such an app can be used for:

Providing a schedule of events.

Disseminating a list of attendees.

Kick starting discussions.

Generating engagements with contests.

Sending push notifications prior to scheduled events.

Sending survey requests.

Centralizing social interactions with the ability to share on various platforms.

Related: Make Live Events Part of Your Marketing

Not only do branded mobile apps provide a platform for boosting attendee engagement, but they
also set the stage for making your event marketing campaigns highly trackable. Each time an
attendee interacts with the app, it can be translated as an interest signal. As a result, you can gain
tremendous insight into the event speakers and messages that draw the most attention. You gain
real-time feedback based on the actions performed in the app.
The same signals and analytics, such as downloads and engagements, that marketers most
frequently rely on in digital marketing to qualify a lead can also be used in a live event setting.
When the data is combined with a variety of other information sources, such as event registration
and social media profiles, it is possible for event marketers to gain valuable insight into the
minds of attendees to not only personalize events, but also appropriately estimate ROI.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Definition: A profitability measure that evaluates the performance of a
business by dividing net profit by net worth .
Return on investment, or ROI, is the most common profitability ratio.
There are several ways to determine ROI, but the most frequently used

method is to divide net profit by total assets. So if your net profit is

$100,000 and your total assets are $300,000, your ROI would be .33 or 33
percent.
Return on investment isn't necessarily the same as profit. ROI deals with
the money you invest in the company and the return you realize on that
money based on the net profit of the business. Profit, on the other hand,
measures the performance of the business. Don't confuse ROI with the
return on the owner's equity. This is an entirely different item as well.
Only in sole proprietorships does equity equal the total investment or
assets of the business.
You can use ROI in several different ways to gauge the profitability of
your business. For instance, you can measure the performance of your
pricing policies, inventory investment, capital equipment investment,
and so forth. Some other ways to use ROI within your company are by:
Dividing net income, interest, and taxes by total liabilities to
measure rate of earnings of total capital employed.
Dividing net income and income taxes by proprietary equity and
fixed liabilities to produce a rate of earnings on invested capital.
Dividing net income by total capital plus reserves to calculate the
rate of earnings on proprietary equity and stock equity.

Online Marketing Gets

All the Buzz But Check

Out the ROI for Live

Events

How to Be an Event Planner: Getting

Started
Here are four easy-to-follow tips for getting started in event planning:
1. Event Planning Certification is Not a Job Requirement
First lets clear up the confusion around event planning certification. There is a general
misconception that, in order to begin working as an event planner, you must gain certification.
This is not true. Most event planning certifications require at least three to five years of
experience before you can even take the test.
Event planning certification is a measure of your knowledge of the industry and your experience.
Once you become certified, you may use this designation after your name and title to reflect your
knowledge of the industry.
Once you have a few years of experience, you may want to consider certification as either a
Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) or a Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP). CMP
is the most widely recognized certification in the meeting and event planning industry.
Candidates must have three years of event planning experience and a current full-time job in the
industry. CSEP focuses on special events and is the only other openly recognized certification in
the event planning industry.
Candidates require three years of experience in the industry and must have had employment in
the special events industry in the last twelve months.
2. Knowledge is a Must

Event planning courses whether they be classroom style or online can provide valuable,
much needed knowledge about how to be an event planner.
You can find these programs at many universities, local colleges, adult education programs and
online resources. If you are new to the event planning industry, select something more general
for an overview. If you have some experience in event planning and want to focus on a particular
type of planning such as special events, corporate meetings or fundraisers, then explore courses
that are specialized and will provide knowledge in that particular area of interest.
3. How to Gain Valuable Experience
Wondering how to gain experience as an event planner when no one will hire you without
experience as an event planner? It is a catch-22. But there is an answer. Volunteer. Volunteering
your services gives you invaluable experience. Many nonprofits and charities host events to raise
awareness and to fundraise. These organizations do not have the funds to hire additional event
planning staff; their focus is on raising as much money as possible. Volunteer to help them plan
the event and put your skills to work. Work the event and gain hands-on experience. Ask
questions and learn as much as you can. Spread the word that you are thinking of becoming an
event planner or launching your own event planning business. Get contact information from
vendors and business cards from those involved at the charitable organization. Volunteering is a
great networking opportunity in addition to the opportunity to do something good.
4. Event Planning is Not about Going to Parties
If you think that event planning is all about going to parties, think again. Planning events is hard
work and it isnt very glamorous. You are not the guest; you are the one responsible for creating
a wonderful experience for those guests. It can be quite stressful at times but it can also be a lot
of fun and incredibly rewarding. Many components come together to host a memorable event.
Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, creativity and flexibility are a few of the
qualities that are necessary to succeed in this business.

If you enjoy working on events and servicing the needs of large

groups then there are plenty of career choices out there for you.
The thing is, a lot potential event planners get stuck looking
specifically for Event Planning Jobs. Sure, there are a few of those
in every city, but a more diverse list of opportunities exists
outside of this designation. Event planning requires a broad set of
skills, and you might find a better job match by focusing on the
specific parts of planning that interest you the most.
Listed below here are several positions that are related to event
planning in some way. You can use this resource to expand your
job search, or to target opportunities best suited for your existing
areas of expertise.

Corporate Positions Related to

Event Planning
Includes event duties related to product launches,
employee training, conventions, trade shows, and
marketing events.
Meeting Planner
Activities & Events Planner
Meeting & Event Planner
Event Operations Manager
Conference Planner
Association Event Planner
Event Planner/Analyst
Exhibition Coordinator
Special Events Planner
Convention Planner
Legal Marketing and Events Planner
Senior Event Planner
Field Events Manager
Event Coordinator
Retail Events Representative

Marketing Coordinator
Student Event Planner Trade Show Promotions

Non-Profit Positions Related to Event Planning

Includes event duties related to fundraising activities, sponsorship recruitment, volunteer
coordination and general event management.
Program Manager
Program Supervisor
Program Coordinator
Executive Assistant
Community Relations Manager
Development Director
Sponsorship Coordinator
Communications Assistant
Development Specialist
Community Market Manager
Fund Development Coordinator
Donor Relations
Volunteer Coordinator
Volunteer Services Specialist
Event Coordinator
Campaign and Event Coordinator

Hotel and Restaurant Positions Related to Event Planning

Includes event duties related to hotels, conference centers, catering companies,
convention centers, and restaurants with event space.
Catering Sales Manager
Hotel Catering Sales Manager
Convention and Catering Operations Manager
Catering Services Manager

Tourism and Resort Positions Related to Event Planning

Includes event duties related to vacation resorts, cruise ships, exotic tours and the marketing of
those destinations and services.
International Tourism Sales Manager
Tourism Promotion Manager
Project Coordinator, Chamber of Commerce
Communications Specialist, Chamber of Commerce
Public Relations Specialist, Chamber of Commerce

Parks Volunteer Coordinator

Amusement Park Marketing Coordinator
Assistant Resort Manager
Resorts Operations Manager
Resort Promotions & Marketing
Resort Marketing Coordinator
Tour Receptionist
Concierge
Resort Recreations Manager
Resort Activities Director
Festival Coordinator

Sports Positions Related to Event Planning

Includes event duties related to youth organizations, gameday operations, facilities management
and event marketing.
Field Sports Manager
Tournament Director
Assistant Campus Operations Manager
Director of Event Marketing
Senior Special Events Coordinator
Event Project Manager
Game Day Staff
Operations Supervisor
Event Manager
Site Development & Programming
Director of Event Services
Sponsorship Coordinator

Related Skills Positions

Event planners typically have several skills that transition well into outside positions. Here are
some general job categories to consider in your search...
Project Management
Operations Management
Marketing Specialist
Training Management
Social Media Specialist
This is by no means a complete list of career opportunities related to the planning industry, but it
should serve as a good place to begin for those of you who are having trouble thinking of
different angles to explore. The key to a successful job hunt is being able to transfer your skills to
the needs of the employer. This of course starts with an effective resume and good interview

skills. Communicating your special talents as an event planner can land you the job of your
dreams, but you must be able to sell your skills as the best match for the job opening.

Key Event Planning Skills to

Highlight on Your Resume
The main objective in any job search is to distinguish yourself
from the competition. This is especially true in the event planning
industry because there are such a wide range of candidates. Ive
talked before about the fact that the term event planning can
be interpreted in many different ways. It is not enough to say
you have experience planning events. The best resumes highlight
specific abilities that portray a unique skill set.
You need to really dig into your talents if you expect to land an interview
opportunity.
Clearly Define Your Past Positions
Again, the title of your current and past positions can mean different
things to each prospective employer. The daily responsibilities of an event
coordinator at a convention center are significantly different from their
non-profit counterparts.
Dont rely on job titles to illustrate your skills and expertise. Think about
your daily routine and translate those tasks into an accurate description
of your capabilities.
Quantify Group and Budget Sizes
Planning a dinner event for 100 guests is obviously not the same as
planning a trade show with 5,000 attendees. But dont make the

assumption that bigger is necessarily better. The dinner event requires a

greater attention to individual needs, while a trade show involves more
cost control strategies. The important thing is to assign an actual number
to the group sizes and budget parameters you have worked with. This will
provide your prospective employer with a clearer picture of what to
expect from you.
Add Any Marketing Experience
Just about every event has a marketing function or purpose attached to
it. Even weddings need proper promotion to attract RSVPs. The point is
any exposure youve had to marketing strategies should be included on
your resume. Have you setup and managed an online registration system?
Did you have success incorporating social media into your event design?
Was the goal of your events to promote a product or service? These are
all examples of marketing functions that you may have overlooked.
Diversify your skill set by adding them to your resume.
Illustrate Efficiencies of Time and Money
There are two resources that you can sell to every business on the planet
time and money. Anyone who has demonstrated success in creating
more efficient processes in these areas will always be a viable candidate.
What does this mean for you? Highlight event planning skills you have that
will save employers time, money, or both. Perhaps you found a way to
food costs at an event by $3 per person, or maybe you implemented a
new RFP system that led to more sales prospects. Achievements like this
will certainly catch the eye of good companies.
List Your Management Skills
At the end of the day, event planners are people managers. Even if you
dont have employees that report to you, the fact that you coordinate the
services of caterers, florists and rental companies shows you can direct
others towards a common goal. Large companies hire employees with the
future in mind. They want candidates that display growth potential. Think
about every aspect of your current job that involves working with people
and consider what management skills are required in those relationships.

This should help you brainstorm ways to illustrate your managerial

attributes.
Embrace Your Tech Side
The event planning industry is fully immersed in technological innovation.
From event management software to audio/visual stage enhancements,
youd be hard-pressed to find an event that doesnt rely on computers
and technology. Employers know this, and they dont want to spend
precious time training a new person on the basics. It used to be that we
would list our familiarity with Microsoft Word and Excel as a byline in our
resumes. Now though, you should describe your technology experience in
detail, especially if you have a background in website management, email
programs and BEO applications.
The purpose of this article is to help you understand the difference
between event planning skills from the actual positions youve held. While it
is great to see a resume with corporate experience, ultimately it will be
your skills that get you hired. What are you capable of doing that is unique
from other applicants? Find a way to put it all into words to make your
resume stand out from the pack.

The Complete List of Event Planning Revenue Resources

Welcome to the Revenue Resource Shelf in the Event Planner Resource Library!
Here we have collected all of Guidebooks best resources in the realm of revenue. If
it has to do with event costs, you can find it here among our collection.

Money is always a top-of-mind subject when it comes to planning events. It has increasingly
become the burden of event and meeting planners to get more and more for less and less. Many
institutions seem to use the dawn of the digital age as an excuse to be cheap and unrealistic. Your
boss says things to you like, Advertising is free isnt it? Send a tweet! or Send out a survey
and get me the results by tomorrow.
While its true that tech tools are making us more efficient and have the potential to save us
money, it takes a lot of strategy to put those mechanisms into place. Thats why weve put
together this package of resources on budgeting, research on what planners told us their revenue
pain points are, how to maximize your sponsorships and keys to conversions in event marketing.

Event Marketing is Great, But Where Are the Conversions?

How to apply familiar content marketing strategies to your event marketing to increase the
number of converted customers, the speed with which they convert, and the overall user
experience.

The Reality of Event Budgeting

An eBook that covers budgeting for technology, paying for venue wifi and determining how
much money youll actually need for your event app.

How To Waste Money on an Event App

We know that event apps are really valuable. Theyre better for the environment, they make
planners lives easier, and they cost less. Its possible, however, to really mess it upif you dont
have any downloads, whats the point?

How You Can Cut Out Event Printing Costs Entirely

Event printing costs are near-impossible to predict, and they always seem to spiral out of control.
You find yourself having to reprint to correct late-in-the-game changes or suffer the
consequences of giving your attendees out-of-date materials. There has to be a better way, right?

Planners are Over It With Event Costs

Event costs and budgeting concerns are the #1 challenge faced by event planners in 2014. 45%
said budget is their primary concern in the 2014 State of Mobile Event Tech Report.

Whats Your Real Event App Cost?

To determine the real event app costs for organizations of all sizes and types, Guidebook
published a 35-page report based on survey responses from more than 500 event app
administratorspro event and meeting planners who are event app power users.

Budgeting for Event Technology

Emergent technologies are important to your attendeesbut many of them might seem out of
range when youre in the event budgeting phase. We spoke with vendors who cater to events of
all sizes and budgets to help you understand what you can incorporate.

How to Get Event Sponsors (And Keep Them)

Event sponsors are often the difference between making revenue and breaking even. But the
landscape is changing. Traditional sponsor packages arent efficient or intuitive enough to build
long-term relationships with high-dollar event sponsors.

A Package Deal: Tell Your Event Sponsors What to Buy

A guide to packaging themes that resonate with brands, making it easier for sponsors to see the
value, and inspiring creativity in your event team.
Dont forget that you could win over $150-worth of event planning books by subscribing to
our blog this week! All you have to do is subscribe by Friday, April 6 and youll be entered
plus youll get insanely helpful stuff just like this in your inbox each week! Join the (secret &
awesome) club!

Event marketing is, in many ways, content marketing you can touch. Can you apply
methodologies from content to acquire, nurture and close new customers from events?
Ill show you how you can apply familiar content marketing strategies to your event marketing to
increase the number of converted customers, the speed with which they convert, and the overall
user experience.

Product tie-in must be seamless.

The best content and event marketing will compel guests to explore the product themselves, with
your message as a guide.
You want your event experience to be memorable, unique, high-touch, and frictionlessbut it
should also support your product. If you venture too far onto the sales side of the spectrum you
sacrifice the soft approach that you want from your events. Too far toward experience, and
youre just throwing a party.
We are always looking for that event that is going to really catch peoples attention, stand out,
and convince them to show up, says Alex Beaton, marketing specialist at Centre Technologies.
Working in the IT field, Im constantly dealing with a relatively saturated market. A customer
can choose to go to a variety of different vendors that will offer the same products and services
so how do we make ours stand out?
Alex heads up all marketing efforts, including 12 quarterly events in Houston, Dallas, Austin and
New Orleans. Events range from large all-day conferences and smaller, more unique events.
A good example of balancing experience with product tie-in was our recent event Centre
Connect, says Alex. Her team hosted their customers during the day for several different
product sessions, then invited them for dinner and batting practice at Minute Maid Park (home of
the Houston Astros) with their families.
We encouraged guests to come and learn, but relax in the evenings. It allowed us to really build
that relationship with our customers and get to them on a much more personal levelhopefully
converting to more sales down the line.

Dont let a guest go untouched.

Generating personal moments for every guest is the key to driving sales. An attendee who floats
through your event picking up freebies and never speaks one-on-one with someone from your
team is a wild card: you didnt learn anything about her, and she didnt have a memorable time
that includes your message.
An event should never be just one touch point with a customer, it should be a minimum of 5.
Thats what drives sales.
Alex says that every part of the event is viewed as part of the experience: from the invitation (she
mentions emails, creative invites like putters for a golf outing or baseballs for a batting practice)
to the follow-up after the event (commemorative DVD of the guest batting or a custom pair of
cowboy boots).

More on intimate experiences at larger events? See how Kristi Casey Sanders, the VP of
Creative/Chief Storyteller at Plan Your Meetings, created a personal experience for her guests
with sponsor speed dating.

Perfect the many handoffs.

Event marketing and content share ownership between marketing and sales.
The marketing team creates the asset/experience, then hands off a customer to sales. Marketings
asset or experience is a support mechanism for the activities of sales.
This creates complexity if the two teams get anything less than an A+ on communication. Being
able to track everything from the first touch point to the sale is crucial, says Alex.
To maintain a connection between what marketing creates and what sales executes at an event,
Alex creates CRM campaigns for just about everythingcall campaigns, email campaigns, lead
campaigns through third party vendors, and campaigns through manufacturing partners.

Keep evaluating, and use feedback as a sales tool.

With all the moving pieces and a dense event schedule, the real success of your programs can get
lost in the mix. As a content marketer, I know well how paralyzing evaluation can be when we
keep producing pieces and sharing them on multiple channels.
The key to both? Get feedback from all angles. Alex focuses on delivering measurable results.
My expertise lies with creating engaging events that yield sales.

Alex sends a survey to gauge the experience of each event. Surveys go to

staff members of Centre, partners/sponsors and customers.

She holds debrief sessions internally to have an open conversation about

the positives and negatives for each event.

She checks her CRM and run reports the week after an event, a month after
an event, two months after, and even three months after to show ROI and
justify the marketing spend.

Content marketing and event marketing are intrinsically tied, effective when used in tandem, and
driven by the same understanding of human behavior. Lets embrace the similarities between
these two programs and continually re-evaluate them.

What is a Seminar?

A Working Definition
A seminar, sometimes referred to as a conference, is commercial program where attendees are
given information or training. It is usually held for groups of 10-50 individuals. A seminar is
frequently held at a hotel meeting space, an academic institution, or within an office conference
room. Some of the most popular kinds of seminars in business focus on personal development
and business strategies.