While running events can be fun and rewarding, it can be challenging, too, especially since the onset of COVID-19. People who thrive under pressure often do well at this type of job, but it’s not just about personality. Doing these seven things every day will help you learn how to be successful in your event planning career.

1. Check key metrics

One defining trait of a successful event planner is that they leave nothing to chance – everything is measured and analysed. Collecting event data will help you to devise an effective strategy and work towards consistently improved results.

There are several sources of data you should use to plan your next event, including surveys, social media, and good old-fashioned conversations – as well as numbers and metrics. These performance goals for event planners can help to show whether or not the project was a success.

Checking this information daily means you can be proactive in reallocating marketing spend, knowing how much food to order, or inviting more people to your event – rather than waiting until it’s too late.

Eventbrite tracks a range of KPIs including sales and how much you’ve made from each ticket type, promotional code usage, attendee geography (by IP address), and merchandise sales. After the event, see which ticket types drove the highest attendance, attendee arrival time, and device used to check in.

2. Prioritise and work on the most important things first

Busy event creators have limited time, so it’s critical that they understand the most important areas to focus on and prioritise them in an event planning checklist. Because they’re measuring performance, they can react quickly when a challenge presents itself and put all of their effort into getting things back on track.

When deciding what to consider when organising an event, it all comes back to metrics:

• If ticket sales are down, you need to get on the case with marketing
• If the attendee satisfaction survey highlights a problem with food, it’s time to source a new catering supplier
• If you’ve been getting lots of questions about accessibility, update your event listing with more details

To set priorities, you must have concrete and useful data about your events, communicate the priorities to your staff, and implement processes to ensure that these priorities are carried out.

3. Talk to clients

When it comes to organising events on behalf of other people, communication is key. As all successful event planners know, assumption is the mother of all screw-ups, so it’s vital to understand exactly what clients want and expect, and keep them fully informed of progress.

If, on the other hand, you’re organising your own events, then your clients are your attendees – the ones buying the tickets. Be sure to communicate with them just as regularly – via your blog, newsletters, and social media.

4. Take time out to reflect and relax

Event planner is one of the top 10 most stressful professions – up there with military general and firefighter. Given the past year, it may have even moved up a few spots. Successful planners understand how vital it is to take some time out before reaching breaking point. An informal coffee break with your team is a great way not just to keep track of what’s going on, but to re-focus and maintain motivation levels (doughnuts optional).

Using an event planning app like Eventbrite can also help to take some of the stress off, as it keeps all of your attendee information and payment details safely in one place. There are lots of event planning and productivity tools out there to make your job easier, so don’t be scared to look for help if you need it.

5. Research new ideas and trends

As well as taking time out to relax and catch up with their team, a wise event planner makes time to read industry news and blogs (like this one!) each day.

To stay ahead, it’s vital to keep your finger on the pulse of industry trends. Doing this can give you inspiration for the likes of newly popular hybrid events and innovative health and safety measures like “bubble concerts.” It also helps you to keep an eye on supplier news, new products and services, and developments in technology. Meanwhile, case studies can show you what your competitors are doing.

Take 30 minutes each morning to browse the web, so you can start your day informed and prepared. Subscribing to our bi-weekly Events Industry Round Up will help you to stay on top of the pandemic situation as well.

6. Nurture relationships

Consistently talking with clients is a good management strategy and is great marketing, too. Regularly reaching out to past clients for a catch-up will show that you’re still interested in their business and will keep you front of mind when they next require an event partner – after all, this business is all about relationships. Don’t forget about your suppliers, too – a great relationship with them will give you extra bargaining power.

Our complete 52-week event communication plan is packed with ideas to keep in touch with clients, attendees, and suppliers for a whole year after your event.

7. Ask for feedback

Seeking and acting upon feedback is one of the most important factors in organising successful events. As part of their performance measurement, great event planners ask for feedback from their attendees, participants, and stakeholders utilising specialist tools.

Eventbrite offers organisers the opportunity to easily seek opinions – both pre- and post-event – via integration with the survey tool, SurveyMonkey. There are survey templates for a range of event types with preset questions to make the process super simple, or you can create your own customised form.

Ready to reach for your performance goals?

As you can see, there’s no mystery to being a successful event organiser. It’s simply a case of being organised and systematic in your approach, listening (at least) as much as you talk, and always looking for ways to improve.

It’s also vital, as the scouts say, to always be prepared. Since the onset of COVID-19, we’ve all learned major lessons in being adaptable and having back-up plans. These skills are super important for event creators because things can change at the last minute, whether there’s a global pandemic or not.

Remember that if all else fails, technology often has your back. Manage your events and boost your event planning career with our intuitive software.