Six Must-Have Event Managing Skills Every Event Planner Should Know and Possess

Events are a part of our lives, whether it be personal or professional. In the fast-paced competitive world, creating and maintaining an image for a company and its products or services makes all the difference in becoming a successful brand. Brand image is a critical component of the development of a successful business.

Building up the brand image has now become as much of an external activity as it is an internal aspect where quality, competitive prices and service are concerned. Events hold immense value in the corporate world, where human resources are the most visible and tangible. Events help bring people together to form a better working relationships.

An event management agency in London worth its salt understands and diligently practises the basic 5 Cs of event planning.

• Concept
• Coordination
• Control
• Culmination
• Close-out

On the face of it, organising an event might seem like a piece of cake, as haven’t we all attended enough events in our lives and perhaps even hosted a few at home or in our school and college? Well, if you have, you already know that conceptualising and organising an event can be both a joyful and nerve-wracking experience. We might be naturally gifted with certain organisational skills. Still, to be considered amongst one of the best event companies in the UK, it is essential to possess the following skills, which make all the difference between an average event and a memorable event.

Event Managing Skills

1. Communication Skills: First and foremost, being a people person is necessary for being a good event organiser. Communication is the key to networking and building rapport with the client and your team. The ability to converse with senior executives and attendees or guests with the same ease and sensibility required when conversing with sponsors, event partners, vendors, and subcontractors. Good interpersonal and communication skills—including writing skills and being an excellent listener—are among the strongest and most reliable skills an event managing executive must possess and hone. Remember that a pleasant countenance and patience can make even an unpleasant situation easier to handle and control.
2. Organisational Skills: A successful event stands on the organisation, which is the foundational structure of an event. An event planner needs to be systematic and well-organised, following a streamlined process and method, especially if you are a part of a team. The organisational skills required here align with those needed to work in the corporate world. Smooth and interactive communication channels with your client, team, and vendors, keeping them up to date; adhering to set schedules and processes; adhering to the budget without sacrificing quality; and ensuring all information, paperwork, and documentation are up to date are all required skills. Being perceptive and keenly observant will go a long way in making your event a smooth and successful affair. Foresight in anticipating hurdles during and post-event and charting solutions is also an important part of being organised, as this can save you and your team stress and anxiety.
3. Public Relational Skills: Events are about the people – by the people and for the people. Good public relational skills will help you greatly in networking with your profession. It is essential to build contacts and relationships with the invested parties in this field, like the DJs, caterers, photographers and videographers, lighting and A/V arrangements contractors, decorators, printers, musicians, and so on. Your PR skills will also help you build and maintain relationships with existing clients, leading to connecting with prospective clients. Most of all, the true test of your people skills will be in coordinating with all your team and all the parties involved in organising and making an event a success. Negotiation and budgeting skills are also required when working in public relations. Negotiating a good deal with clients and vendors and stretching a pound to its maximum is an exceptional skill. The negotiation skill will also help in dealing with difficult vendors and in keeping up with the timed schedule.
4. Basic understanding: An event planner needs to understand events, and the elements involved in creating them. The approach of keeping the client as your priority is the beginning of understanding the flow of the process involved in organising an event. Client satisfaction relies on fulfilling and delivering the promised demands and expectations of the client. To achieve this, you must know the various steps, processes, and elements involved, like sound, light, venue, décor, floor plan, safety measures, catering, invites, etc. A creative perspective will ensure better understanding and coordination of the process, which will be honed with experience and time.
5. Problem-Solving Skills: One of the most valuable skills to manage an event is problem-solving. People and events can be unpredictable, like the weather, and a sudden occurrence or hurdle should not become a pit of chaos and confusion, derailing the organised schedule and process. The ability to think on your toes with a cool, collected mind and a creative and practical approach is the handiest skill for problem-solving. For instance, keeping an audience or guests engaged while the chief guest or keynote speaker has been delayed in arriving. As mentioned above, foresight and preparation will help in solving the hitches. Staying calm is the key. A stressed, frazzled mind will add to the confusion instead of diffusing or solving it.
6. Multitasking Skills & Creativity: An event planner is effectively a one-person army who understands, is aware of, and has basic knowledge of all the tasks needed to organise an event. This factor is a non-negotiable skill for an event planner. Juggling many tasks is a given for managing an event well. From creativity in envisioning the event, finding and completing the venue, creating invites, being an usher or an emergency competitor, promoting the event, looking for sponsors and coordinating with the vendors, all this in a day’s work is a must-have skill for the event planner. A creative approach helps to manoeuvre all the tasks or delegating and supervising them with aplomb. Being tech-savvy in this day and age is a skill with added advantages and can make tasks easier and quicker to achieve.

One can navigate the process based on the foundation of the key elements of event management:

• Infrastructure for the event
• Client
• Attendees/Audience
• Organisers
• Venue
• Media

Working as an event planner in an event management agency in London requires leadership skills and exceptional energy. Choose this profession if you deem your managing skills to be other-worldly or exceptional enough, since events incorporate thousands of people at a time!