How to become an event planner

How to become an event planner? You will probably ask yourself this question after having successfully organized one or several private events. An event planner is a real multi-tasking professional. They plan, organize and manage all types of events. Get ready to perform all kinds of tasks, communicate extensively with third parties, solve problems and unexpected issues related to the events.

Thinking about how to become an event planner, ask yourself: are you in love with planning and organizing event, managing people and taking responsibility for tons of tasks? Event planner coordinates various aspects and tasks of the event they oversee. Event planners are usually responsible for finding the right venues, arranging transportation, accommodation, creating timelines, schedules, and to-do lists that make the event run smoothly without delays.

The main goal of the event planner is to identify clients’ preferences and ensure their satisfaction within certain time limits. An event planner organizes all the details, including the venue, decorations, catering, transportation, participants accommodation, stationery, invitation of special guests and speakers, management of equipment, creation of promotional material, and sometimes even marketing of the event.

How do you become an event planner? Just follow the precise steps that will bring your business idea to life. If you want to become an event planner, answer the following questions:

• Are you going to offer full-service planning and management or work only on the day of event?
• What kind of event services are you able to offer?
• Do you have enough contacts of vendors who will work with you on events?
• Are you able to manage large-scale events?

How to get started in event planning? Easy! Just follow these steps and enjoy the planner career: 

• Goals. Identify your event planning goals and objectives (what are you going to achieve? Where would you like to organize the events? What are the target groups? What is the budget level of events that you are going to plan?)
  
  
• Time. Are you flexible with your time? Do you have enough time to plan and organize events? Usually, to prepare the plans and get all necessary things done, you will need around 6 to 18 months. Working on bigger events, make sure you have enough time to pay attention to every detail and spend as much time as necessary thinking through all stages of the event.
  
  
• Team. In case of big events, make sure you have enough people who will help you. Delegate tasks to make your parties successful. Set responsibilities divided into different areas of the event planning process: speakers and guests, venue management, accommodation, paperwork and documentation, marketing, PR and social media, sponsorship, volunteers, music and entertainment, venue management, financial aspects, and administrative issues. An event team is one of the most important parts of the big question: how to become an event planner.
  
  
• Budget. Make sure you have enough money to start your business. You will need to invest a certain amount to establish contacts during various events, to promote yourself. After some time you will understand the importance of this investment.
  
  
• Be active. Take part in various event planning conference and workshops. Take part in event planning courses, create contacts, meet people and never stop learning. Event management is a field that develops rapidly. New trends and unexpected ideas appear in the market each day. Conferences and courses help you learn more about the industry. Taking part in group work helps you learn more about the best practices from experienced event planners.
  
  
• Create your event portfolio. Make sure you have enough pictures, invitations, leaflets of the events you have planned and organized. Get permission from the clients and the vendors to publish your work for the promotion of your event planning business. Even a minimum portfolio demonstrating your success as an event planner creates the first impression for your potential clients. Show your experience and work, share your stories. This is one of the most important steps of becoming an event planner.
  
  
• Create a website. Your website should highlight your strong sides. Add a reel video, showing the highlights of your work. Don’t forget to add some photos of your team and yourself. Professional photos of previous events should be the core of your website. Testimonials and reviews from the previous clients will help you create a more trustful image for new clients.
  
  
• Start marketing your event planning services. Promote your website introducing the services you offer. You can also market your services through participation in event expos, b2b meetings and various networking activities. Create unique and original business cards, your event planner logo. A good partnership with vendors and suppliers is a solid step to promote your business. Use social media to put the services you offer in front of your target audience. Take a step from your dream of how to become an event planner to actually being one.
  
  
• Create a network of vendors. A strong and trustworthy network of vendors is a key element of a successful event planning business. Focus on caterers, décor companies, florists, photographers, videographers, musicians and entertainers. You should always have a vast network of vendors to offer the services of right quality and price level to your clients.

These are the main steps of how to get started in event planning. Make sure you follow them when you start your successful career as an event planner. They will answer your question “how do you become an event planner”. 

Quite often we start our event planning careers with smaller events or weddings or as an assistant event planner. It often leads to a self-employed career in future. Event planners aim to gain experience, develop their business skills, create networks of partners and vendors, expand their customer base and promote themselves in the event planning market.

How do I become an event planner? – Dive into the market! You will quickly understand what kind of events your potential clients want. Then just follow clients’ ideas to fit your vision. Event planners create concepts that meet their needs and expectations. They offer main services, set deadlines, create budgets and help to find the right vendors for an event.

Event planners think about every detail of all stages of the event – event preparation, the event execution, and all post-event tasks. They help to choose a perfect event venue based on the clients’ ideas, book caterers, décor companies, photographers and videographers, think about perfect entertainment for the guests. They invite speakers, negotiate various aspects with them, and even organize accommodation. 

Becoming an event coordinator is quite easy. Just think about the skills you will need to gain. You will need to have leadership, communication, motivation, and organizational skills to manage teams and vendors to make every event a success. A good event coordinator must possess strong project management skills, customer care, and service skills and relationship building skills. As an event coordinator, you will need to think creatively, solve problems, assure correct information flow between the clients and the vendors. Similarly to the event planner, an event coordinator needs to have strong written and verbal communication skills and pay attention to every detail of the event planning and execution processes.

An event coordinator rarely takes part in the planning process or gets involved with the design of the event. The main task of an event coordinator is to ensure that the event runs smoothly and that all the arrangements are made. Event coordinators usually have a difficult task of organizing an event not during the planning process, but on-site before, during and after the event.

Event coordinators often assist event planners with the logistics during the event. Their responsibilities include checking catering selection, audio and visual equipment, event rentals, as well as on-site event support. They ensure the setup of vendors is done correctly, the photographers and videographers arrive on time, the signage and the paperwork are prepared and set properly. Becoming an event coordinator, you will also take part in the post-event activities, such as dismantling the setup, managing the clean-up and evaluating the overall event activities. 

What degree do you need to be an event planner? We get this question quite often. And you must be asking yourself since you decided to work in the event industry. You don’t need a degree to be an event planner. There are no requirements to start an event planning career, and there is no need to get formal education and training.

The best approach is to learn online. Our courses guide you from A to Z. You will also get all document templates and can start working in less than a month. These courses were developed by professional event planners and tell you everything about the event planning based on our real-life experience from 500+ events.

Online courses are a perfect opportunity to start your career as an event planner. Get an exciting high-paying career! Start with our free no-strings-attached introductory course now! In less than an hour you will know more than majority of paid degrees offer.