If you organize events, you know that planning is a tool that you need to master. What’s more, an events professional needs to learn how to manage their day-to-day efficiently to complete as many tasks as possible in advance. That way stress and last minute improvisation won’t ruin all of your hard work.
As a matter of fact, Events Coordinator has been voted as one of the most stressful professions in the world. Actually, according to one survey published recently in the United States, it’s number 5 on the list, behind only soldiers, fire fighters, airline pilots and police officers.
Obviously, these professions are very different, but each of them include a variety of factors that can lead to daily stress such as competitiveness, deadlines, physical demands, dealing with clients and/or the public, trips, unexpected occurrences, being subject to public opinion or putting your life or the life of others at risk (fortunately this last factor doesn’t come into play too often for event planners).
To make sure that stress doesn’t take over your life and so you can move forward with all of your pending tasks, the best thing to do is get organized. An event planner needs to be productive and plan ahead so that the day of the event doesn’t turn into a race against the clock to get everything done, especially if anything unexpected occurs. A successful event isn’t improvised but instead is well planned far in advance.
Here we offer you some tips so that you can be more productive in your day-to-day work when you’re organizing an event:
- Make lists. Breaking bigger jobs into a series of smaller tasks helps us to be less overwhelmed so that we can move forward. The GTD (Getting things done) System is one of the most popular in the world for helping to order your thoughts and to manage that feeling of “I have so much to do that I don’t even know where to begin”. The GTD is based on the principle that a person needs to “erase” their mental to-do list and instead keep it in a strategic location. This way you’ve liberated your mind from the work of trying to remember everything you have to do, so you’re able to focus on carrying out the task at hand well.
- To do that, you must create specific lists of tasks for each context or area. Within one event for example, you would make one list for the venue search, another for guest management, etc. You can check the list of tips and checklists we have prepared for you here.
- Trust in technology to free up mental space. Don’t store everything in your head: it’s impossible. Have faith in Apps. Evernote, Todoist, Asana, Google Calendar, Trello, Remember The Milk, Chaos Control or Wunderlist are only some of the thousands of digital solutions that can help you manage your day-to-day – and that of your team – more efficiently.
- Keep in mind what motivates you. Why are you involved in this event? What’s brought you here? Remember your strengths and what you like most about your job. Spending some time listening to your favorite music or thinking about your loved ones can give you an extra dose of energy.
- Exercise and get enough rest. Getting time away from your computer screen is essential to feel rejuvenated so you can face the planning of an event with renewed vigor. Move, go out into natural light, go for a walk….and sleep.
- Respect deadlines. Deadlines are sacred. Missing a deadline contributes to increasing stress and can lead to the dreaded procrastination.
- Don’t multitask. Maybe you believe that you’re saving time if you answer an email while you’re on a call. But you’re incorrect: doing many things at the same time increases mental fatigue and therefore the possibility of making mistakes. It’s best to focus on only one task at a time.
Remember that no successful event is the result of improvising, but of planning and good management. Besides following this advice, you can count on the assistance of the professionals from NH Hotel Group Meetings & Events. Our team will help you organize the event you imagine – taking care of all of the necessary details – and reduce your stress load.
