Event management is reported to be one of the most stressful careers this year. Given all the deadlines, demands, and details event managers have to consider it’s easy to understand why.
To navigate the nuances of a role that belongs in a quick-moving industry, it helps to possess certain fundamental event management skills. These allow you to adapt quickly, stay current with trends, and ultimately grow your event venue business.
What is Event Management and What Does it Involve?
Event management is the process involved in organizing, executing, and overseeing an event. An event manager (or managers) handles these processes at the venue to ensure the occasion goes off without a hitch.
There are various responsibilities for event managers to oversee when executing events, including:
- Setting and managing budgets
- Quoting and invoicing clients
- Allocating event resources
- Managing teams and staff
- Coordinating event operations
- Working with event planners
- Communicating with clients and internal teams
- Reporting to business managers
- Sourcing and negotiating with vendors
- Selecting event technology
What Sort of Events do Event Managers Oversee?
To give some context around the event management skills you need to be successful in this role, it helps to understand the types of events you might run. This will give you an idea of the clientele you’ll deal with, the general demands of the job, and what roles your team will fill.
Depending on the niche, event managers oversee occasions such as:
- Weddings
- Private dining parties
- Catering gigs
- Hospitality events
- Conferences
- Ceremonies
- Festivals
- Trade shows
- and more…
Top 12 Event Management Skills Event Pros Should Possess
1. Top-Notch People Skills
Event management is a heavily people-driven career. From customers to employees and stakeholders, it’s crucial to know how to collaborate effectively with others. This will help you resolve conflicts, negotiate, and maintain excellent relationships with everyone you work alongside.
2. Flexibility on Demand
Since the events industry can be fast-paced and unpredictable, it’s crucial to remain flexible in your duties. As an event manager, you can expect to lead staff one moment and assist with clean-up duties the next.
Flexibility goes hand-in-hand with problem-solving skills. Unexpected problems may arise, and flexibility is required to make tough decisions on your feet that keep the event running smoothly.
3. Ability to Keep Calm
As the event venue manager, you’re the contact point should anything go wrong before or during the event. With any number of unexpected issues that can arise, the ability to stay calm and keep your poise is crucial.
The nature of the job is you’ll find yourself juggling many tasks at once. Unfortunately, giving in to stress can lead to poor decision-making and losing your cool with the wrong people.
Successful event managers need to be able to stay calm under pressure. This skill will help you deal with others appropriately and respectfully and help you to think clearly.
4. Take the Lead
Event managers are in positions of leadership. Taking leadership means grasping the reins, which is crucial to managing a successful event. You have to step up to the plate if issues arise or decisions need to be made.
Leadership skills help with building relationships. It can also help you to keep calm in challenging situations. Working efficiently means knowing how to delegate tasks to your staff and freeing up your time to oversee the more complex elements of the event planning process.
5. Organizer Extraordinaire
Keeping track of multiple tasks simultaneously is one of the essential skills you need as an event manager. It’s crucial to have excellent organizational skills for planning and execution. This skill also emphasizes delegating time-consuming work to others to help you efficiently manage the quantity of work.
Some event managers use spreadsheets and documents to keep track of the details during event planning. Unfortunately, this can mean a lot of paperwork and make operations challenging to execute.
The better option for event managers is to use an event management platform. We recommend Perfect Venue’s software, which will help you stay on top of every detail and work efficiently with your team and clients.
6. Be a Great Listener
Listening is crucial for ensuring everyone knows what’s required of them and helping them overcome any obstacles. Having this ability will help you understand the needs of clients and staff, ensuring a successful event for all.
It’s also an essential event management skill that will help with conflict resolution and accepting constructive feedback. From there, you can take the steps needed to adjust approaches and ensure stakeholders are happier going forward.
7. Communication is Key
As a manager, your communication needs to be clear and confident. This skill will establish you as a team leader and coordinator. With clear communication, you’ll be able to manage your staff, so everyone is on the same page.
Communication skills will also help you to communicate with clients respectfully and assure them that their event is on track. Alongside the listening skill, communication will help to solve conflicts.
Perfect Venue keeps your communication with staff and clients in one place. In turn, everyone involved can keep up to date with event details and understand what tasks they need to carry out.
8. Embrace Problem-Solving
Event management can be unpredictable, so it’s essential to have excellent problem-solving skills to address issues. Since it’s also a fast-paced career, being able to think on your feet is a must. Something can always go wrong, and finding creative ideas and solutions to problems will help you face any challenge.
9. Find Comfort in Decision-Making
Experienced event organizers can make several decisions quickly. This skill is essential to a successful career in event management. It’s also crucial to stand by your choices. As you continue your job, your decision-making skills will be more refined.
10. Have an Eye for Detail
One of the most critical organizational skills event planners need is to be detail-oriented. Event planning involves many big and small details that can’t be ignored. From big-picture points to minor tasks, each will impact the event and the experience of your target audience.
11. Proficiency in Technology
We’re living in a thriving digital age. To be a successful event planner and manager, it helps to be quick off the mark when adopting and using technology. Your event tech can elevate the event experience for all stakeholders, including event planners, event attendees, and your operational team.
Acquiring this skill doesn’t mean you need expert knowledge in technology. A basic understanding of tech and a willingness to try out new software can help you reach your full potential and streamline time-consuming tasks.
Many top event planning tools, including Perfect Venue, offer an intuitive user experience. So even those who don’t enjoy learning new software can reap the benefits. Read our posts on the best event management software and free event management software to get a better idea of what’s available on the market.
12. Passion for the Industry
The event industry is filled with highs, lows, and hard work. It can be exhausting and even frustrating at times. Undoubtedly, having a passion for what you do will help make a success of every working day.
No matter how complicated and demanding, any event will be a fun, exciting challenge when you have strong dedication. With great passion, you’ll quickly rise to the challenges and become an event management pro.
Conclusion
Event management, although stressful at times, makes a rewarding career for the right person with the right skills. Using these skills to bring together a successful occasion is highly fulfilling, especially when you achieve your business and financial goals.
While some of these event management skills might be innate, others will take a bit of work on your part. The good news is as you gain experience, you’ll be able to use these abilities to streamline workflows, overcome hurdles, and earn the trust of the people you work with.
Want to know more about Perfect Venue? Our event management software is the ideal choice to help you get organized, save time, and increase sales. With a 14-day free trial that reverts to a free-forever plan if you don’t sign up, you can easily see if Perfect Venue fits your business.
