Here are some thoughts and tips on what to look for and look out for.
Great event staff are often not trained for it
While our tertiary institutions do well training people for events, it barely touches the surface of what an event is about. So many students get excited about the “fun” elements such as the marketing or picking the band or designing the theme, but they miss the core parts of customer relationship and expectation management, dealing with sore feet and herding the cats of the onsite team.
Some of the best staff “fall” into event management. They range from accountants to tradies, middle managers and many others who started by helping a friend and then never go back to their old ways.
You have to be able to deal with organised chaos
You need to be a flexible control freak. Events MUST run to a plan. The plan gets hours spent on it. There are so many moving parts. The project management to pull it all together is phenomenal.
As Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”.
As soon as you share your plan, it’s out of date. Even on the day with the Ultimate Final Agreed Signed Plan Version 6 – something changes. The weather shifts, the speaker is late or the politician speaks too long – there are a myriad of reasons why it doesn’t go to plan. So many of my favourite events had this happen. As an event person, you have to be obsessed with the detail and be willing to be flexible about it. It really is a bit of a head spin.
Nine to five doesn’t count
If you are the kind of person who likes to only work nine to five, work from home all the time, or not travel too much, events may not be for you. While a lot of it can fit that structure, when the event is on, the event takes precedence. “The show must go on” rings true. So many of us have worked long hours, not slept much and just kept going. So many of us have had family emergencies or major events happen during an event. We do what we can remotely and then put that to one side as we keep going. The show must go on.
Can you do everything?
Our events cover so many industries. What we do for these events usually covers four or five different job functions. So, most of our team doesn’t really end up with a single “job”. You get to do a lot of everything. A bit of marketing, a little finance, definitely some operations, a bit of construction, a lot of OH&S and a massive amount of people management. Even the specialists in our industry typically specialise in multiple things.
It sounds too much!
For many people, this is too much. For events people, it’s where we thrive. Most people who fall into events will stay. Those that leave, miss it … a lot!
The payoff for having to be a wizard is being part of amazing events. The feeling at the end of a convention, a show, an executive luncheon, a conference or a brand showcase is a combination of exhaustion, elation and anticipation for the next one.
When you are next looking for an events super star, you may not find them on recruiting websites. Look for people who get bored easily or who are ready for an out-of-the-box challenge. If you need, help someone “fall into events” by giving them a friendly shove. If their attitude and temperament are what you need, awesome – they can be taught the skills.
Good luck on your search for a star. Hold out for the right person and you won’t regret it.
Warwick Merry is a global award-winning event host and event evangelist. For 25 years he has been hosting and producing online, hybrid and in-person events. He is the host of the Making Events Awesome livestream and monthly Conference Organisers Forum.
