Event Jobs
Oct
How To Become A Wedding Planner
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Suzanne Daykin
How to become a wedding planner, where do you start? Firstly you have to be passionate about organising parties and love all the little details, if that is you then you are in the right place.
I started my wedding planning career in 1997, a month after I got married and found I just loved talking weddings and helping others plan their big day. I was working in a big 4 star hotel and had graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management. Since then my event management skills have taken me to working in Europe and the UK, I have organised huge corporate functions to small family events and loved every minute of it. In 2006 I decided to go it alone and set up my own event company it was the best decision for me and now along with planning exhibitions I also get the chance to help brides and grooms plan their big day, and save them money!
My advice would be to get as much experience as you possibly can before you launch yourself as a wedding planner. Help family and friends organise their celebrations, it doesn’t have to be a wedding, all event management experience helps. Keep notes on all of the ideas that come up, I find it best to have seperate files on suppliers, venues and procedures. I have a checklist that I use for all of my weddings to ensure I don’t miss anything.
While you are gaining experience and contacts think about whether you need any professional training. Check out local colleges and online event management courses, there are even wedding planner courses - these are specific to weddings and if you want to build on your confidence they could be worth investing in.
As with all business start ups it is worth writing a business plan to see if this is a viable option for you. You don’t want to pay for training and spend valuable time if this is not going to provide you with an income.
Questions to ask yourself are;
How many weddings can you manage in a year? There are 52 weeks in a year but the summer wedding season is the busiest. Will you be able to organise and manage more than one wedding a week? Remember it is best to start off planning fewer while you build up your business.
Can your local economy support a wedding planner? The national average wedding cost is over £20,000, a wedding planner normally charges around 20% but an average is just that, what is the average cost of a wedding in your area? How much will your local brides and grooms pay for your services? Don’t know - then ask them, most brides and grooms love talking about their wedding day!
How many weddings are there in your area in the year? Gain stats from your local registery office.
Have a think about what your unique selling point (usp) is, mine as you can see is cheap, are you an expert of jewish, christian, hindi, muslim weddings or humanist or gay weddings. Would your usp provide you with enough business?
Your costs will be pretty minimal as you are not having to buy any goods before you pay for them - all the costs will be your clients. Your biggest cost will be your marketing/ advertising, I have found being online really helps my offline business. The great thing about being online is that you can generate extra income on top of your usual wedding planning business with adverts and an online shop!
Other ways to advertise your business are by building relationships with other local vendors, word of mouth is one of the best ways to get bookings. Ask existing clients if they have any friends or family that are getting married soon. You could attend wedding fairs but I don’t find them cost effective for the amount of business that you get, however when you first start out it is worth going to build public awareness. Write articles for local publications, become their expert on weddings, this all increases your profile. Register with local wedding directories. I have found all these help my business grow!
Now then what are you waiting for? You are ready to fly, you know how to become a wedding planner!
Suzanne has spent the last 12 years working in the Hospitality Industry as a wedding planner and event manager. Organising thousands of functions from small personal parties to large corporate product launches in the UK and Europe. Currently a work at home mum, Suzanne set up her own event company in 2006 and now looks to help future brides and grooms save money when they are planning their wedding.
Make it look like you spent thousands with simple Cheap Wedding Solutions http://www.cheap-wedding-solutions.com
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Oct
Starting Out In Event Management
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Shaun Bird
Event Management and Wedding Planning are both big business. Huge shows, sporting events, charity events, as well as a memorable occasion for that ‘special day’, have made Event Management into a multi-million pound industry.
Humans are sociable creatures. We all love a good ‘get together’ - whether to celebrate an event such as a birthday, wedding or anniversary; or to promote something such as a product launch, political party or new season’s fashions. An event can also be educational in nature (conference, meetings, graduations etc.) or even an opportunity to remember someone special via a funeral or memorial service.
Whatever the occasion, if you enjoy socialising, are hard working and good at organising, it can be a highly lucrative career running your own Event Management business.
Becoming an Event Manager or Wedding Planner is a marvellous opportunity to make money and have fun at the same time. It can be genuinely glamorous, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are there to make people happy. In today’s fast-moving world, people don’t have the time to organize their special event, so they increasingly rely on event management professionals to do it for them. Yet good Event Managers are in real short supply, even though the demand for special events is growing all the time.
So what does Event Planning involve? It’s a massive topic, but you need to consider things like background research, creating a theme, finding a suitable venue, arranging good quality food and entertainment, arranging transport, sending invitations, organising event staff and supervising on the big day. And it’s not even over then! Post-event, you will need to conduct a thorough evaluation of how things went.
A useful way to start on a new career in Event Management or Wedding Planning, is to sign up for a distance learning course on the subject. By studying in your own free time, you can gain a considerable amount of knowledge and learn important kills that help you on your way to becoming a successful Event Planner and Manager. The distance learning (or ‘home study’) course will also give you practical advice about starting up in business and how to ‘sell’ your business to potential clients.
If you do go down this career path, whatever the occasion, the real challenge as an Event Manager or Wedding Planner is to make sure your event is such a success it will be remembered for years to come. What could be more empowering than that!
http://www.uk-open-learning.com
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Apr
How To Become A Wedding Planner
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Suzanne Daykin
How to become a wedding planner, where do you start? Firstly you have to be passionate about organising parties and love all the little details, if that is you then you are in the right place.
I started my wedding planning career in 1997, a month after I got married and found I just loved talking weddings and helping others plan their big day. I was working in a big 4 star hotel and had graduated with a degree in Hospitality Management. Since then my event management skills have taken me to working in Europe and the UK, I have organised huge corporate functions to small family events and loved every minute of it. In 2006 I decided to go it alone and set up my own event company it was the best decision for me and now along with planning exhibitions I also get the chance to help brides and grooms plan their big day, and save them money!
My advice would be to get as much experience as you possibly can before you launch yourself as a wedding planner. Help family and friends organise their celebrations, it doesn’t have to be a wedding, all event management experience helps. Keep notes on all of the ideas that come up, I find it best to have seperate files on suppliers, venues and procedures. I have a checklist that I use for all of my weddings to ensure I don’t miss anything.
While you are gaining experience and contacts think about whether you need any professional training. Check out local colleges and online event management courses, there are even wedding planner courses - these are specific to weddings and if you want to build on your confidence they could be worth investing in.
As with all business start ups it is worth writing a business plan to see if this is a viable option for you. You don’t want to pay for training and spend valuable time if this is not going to provide you with an income.
Questions to ask yourself are;
How many weddings can you manage in a year? There are 52 weeks in a year but the summer wedding season is the busiest. Will you be able to organise and manage more than one wedding a week? Remember it is best to start off planning fewer while you build up your business.
Can your local economy support a wedding planner? The national average wedding cost is over £20,000, a wedding planner normally charges around 20% but an average is just that, what is the average cost of a wedding in your area? How much will your local brides and grooms pay for your services? Don’t know - then ask them, most brides and grooms love talking about their wedding day!
How many weddings are there in your area in the year? Gain stats from your local registery office.
Have a think about what your unique selling point (usp) is, mine as you can see is cheap, are you an expert of jewish, christian, hindi, muslim weddings or humanist or gay weddings. Would your usp provide you with enough business?
Your costs will be pretty minimal as you are not having to buy any goods before you pay for them - all the costs will be your clients. Your biggest cost will be your marketing/ advertising, I have found being online really helps my offline business. The great thing about being online is that you can generate extra income on top of your usual wedding planning business with adverts and an online shop!
Other ways to advertise your business are by building relationships with other local vendors, word of mouth is one of the best ways to get bookings. Ask existing clients if they have any friends or family that are getting married soon. You could attend wedding fairs but I don’t find them cost effective for the amount of business that you get, however when you first start out it is worth going to build public awareness. Write articles for local publications, become their expert on weddings, this all increases your profile. Register with local wedding directories. I have found all these help my business grow!
Now then what are you waiting for? You are ready to fly, you know how to become a wedding planner!
Suzanne has spent the last 12 years working in the Hospitality Industry as a wedding planner and event manager. Organising thousands of functions from small personal parties to large corporate product launches in the UK and Europe. Currently a work at home mum, Suzanne set up her own event company in 2006 and now looks to help future brides and grooms save money when they are planning their wedding.
Make it look like you spent thousands with simple Cheap Wedding Solutions http://www.cheap-wedding-solutions.com
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Jan
By Himanshu Sharma
Event management in India is still in its nascent stage. It is just ten years old as a profession. Event management is a process which involves market research, planning, marketing, execution and evaluation of an event. It involves procurement management, resource management, crowd management, attendees’ management, risk management, information and finance management.
Event management from a distance looks like a glamorous profession but infact it is not. It involves horribly long working hours and lot of hard work and dedication. Event professionals are required to organize events like wedding, concerts, parties, trade shows, exhibitions etc.
Any person who has good communication skills, enjoy interacting with people, can work for very long hours and has a very strong networking can become an event professional for events which are not corporate (like Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Exhibitions). For non corporate events there is no minimum qualification required to become an event professional.
However when an event is used as a marketing tool to promote a brand or enhance its image or increase sales then it becomes necessary that the event is organized by certified event professionals or people who are qualified enough to understand sales and marketing. There are many event management schools in India which provide courses in event management. These courses are generally certificates, diplomas or sometimes degrees. They also assist students in job placement. However majority of event professionals in India are not certified.
Certified event professionals are basically for corporate events. They are trained to use events as a powerful marketing tool to promote a company’s products/services. But most of them end up organizing events which are not corporate like weddings, parties, stage shows etc. As such they don’t get the opportunity to utilize the skills for which they got the training in the first place. Moreover certified event professionals have not been able to differentiate themselves from the uncertified one so far (by organizing events with high degree of professionalism) therefore the relevance of the event management courses in India is still under the scanner. Either the course material is not up to the mark or it is not imparted and implemented thoroughly.
For large scale national/international events (esp. trade shows), companies still prefer MBAs and not certified event professionals. Starting salary of an event professional can range from Rs 3000 to Rs 8000 (depending on the job location, hiring company and amount of exposure to events).After two or three years of experience you can expect a salary of Rs 15000 or above. Working as an entrepreneur after 2-3 years of work experience is the best option to earn in lacs and crores per month.
http://eventmanagement.bravehost.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Himanshu_Sharma
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Jan
Event Management Jobs
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Many people from many different backgrounds, and at various stages of their professional career look to enter the world of events. This section should give some ideas for getting the job of your dreams.
Why work in events?
There are many good and bad things about working in events – find out some of them in this section.
Getting Experience
Experience is important for working in events. Find out the types of experience you should be looking for and where to get it
Training and Qualifications
Make yourself as employable as you can by gaining the qualifications that event management companies are most looking for.
Your CV
This section gives some excellent CV tips and tricks.
Looking for jobs
If you can’t find the job that you are looking for, then why not visit this section for the most up to date jobs and listings.
The interview
Once you have been invited for interview, check out this section for some more useable and useful tips
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Dec
Original eventsecrets.com Article
Once you have researched your chosen company, using sites such as google.co.uk, yell.com or more event specific sites, such as eventsecrets.com, event-management-uk.co.uk, event-jobs.net or worldofevents.net and have sent them your great CV (check out the CV tips here) you will get invited in for an interview. As the vast majority of event management companies are quite small, this may not be like an interview you have been to before. It is unlikely that there will be an HR department, and you will probably be interviewed by one of the owners or directors of the business.
When you are being interviewed, try to remain calm, and be yourself. If you appear too over confident or too shy, you will probably not sell yourself well to the interviewer.
Make sure that you have done your homework on the specific company or organisation you are being interviewed by. Try to refer to things that you have learnt about the company - but try to mention only positive things you have learnt - don’t mention any bad press that they have had. Visit their website, have a look at their accounts (only available for limited companies from the Companies House website).
If they offer you a drink (and you are feeling thirsty) then take one. It is unlikely that this will reflect badly on you - unless you ask for ten sugars (or more) in your coffee. It is unwise to smoke, answer your mobile, or eat (anything other than a biscuit with your tea) during and interview as this will annoy the interviewer.
Possible employers will want you to be able to prove your experience and qualifications. Take certificates with you to demonstrate your exam results - both academically and for any other qualifications (first aid, driving licence etc). When talking about your experience, make sure you have evidence, or can back up anything you say with a knowledgable answer. Never lie to an employer - if they find out then it my be the end of your job - or even worse - your career.
When answering questions - particularly about why you want the job, why you want to work in events, or why you are leaving your current employment, try not to mention the negative aspects (how you hate your boss, or want more money), but rather concentrate on more positive aspects - looking for more responsibility, looking for a challenge or wanting to learn a new skill.
When the end of the interview comes - always try to ask at least a couple of questions - it will show the interviewer that you have been paying attention. Do not be afraid to clarify aspects such as salary, holidays, who you will be working with or for and who will be working with or for you. Also, ask questions about the future of the company, or what they expect from you as a member of their team.
Good Luck!
There are loads of websites out there offering information and tips about interviews. The alec.co.uk site offers some great information, as does Job-Interview-Info.com although it is a little American. The well known job site Monster also offers interview tips.
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Oct
Getting Event Experience
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Original eventsecrets.com Article
Event Management is a very popular career choice for people of all ages and backgrounds. This is probably because it looks quite exciting, you do not need any qualifications and it covers a large number of disciplines.
The vast majority of event management companies are small, with only half a dozen staff or less. This means that very few firms can afford to employ people who have no experience at all, or if they can it is usually for very little money - or for free.
This means that it is vital for you to be able to demonstrate the skills that are required. One of the best ways to do this is to get experience within events - it will provide you with many of the skills that employers are looking for, as well as showing you what event management is really like as a job, and giving you something to put on your CV.
Working (volunteer)
There are many voluntary organisations, including charities, churches or other local groups who organise events. They will often welcome the help of anyone who is willing to get involved. This will mean working on all kinds of events, although it will usually involve a lot of the event administration to start with. This is a great place to start as it may lead to a paid job within the voluntary sector (who often spend a lot of money on events) or be the stepping stone to a fully paid job within the events industry.
Working (free)
The best experience will be gained by those who can work within an event management company, or within the events department of a local council or company. This may mean working for free or for very little money. This is a great way to gain experience, as you will be learning from the ground up. If you are working for free (or on work experience) you can often ask for more responsibility, or to be moved around departments as you are doing them a favour - so why can’t they return that favour? This will often lead to permanent work with the company or organisation you are working for, or to a job with another company.
Working (paid)
Some organisations require temporary or unskilled staff to work at events. This will include companies such as ShowSec who provide security and stewarding staff to events, affinitycrew who provide event crew or other recruitment firms who work on more localised events. It is worth looking at the local temporary staffing firms as they may be looking for staff to work at events - in silver service, collecting litter or managing traffic.
© 2006 eventsecrets.com - Dave Lake is a specialist event and production manager who has organised events all over the UK. On Dave’s event management website you will find instant access to all his event strategies, tips, tools, and resources that he’s used to organise everything from an intimate dinner for 15 to outdoor events for 17,000, as well as conferences, training days, music and sports events.
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