With a tight labor market and extreme competition for talent acquisition, many organizations are re-thinking position descriptions and trying to do more with less. We are seeing a trend within some of our clients where people who previously held administrative or other marketing roles are now responsible for event planning, often with minimal training.
If you have been thrust into an event planning role, here are the top 3 things to know (and embrace!) as you settle into your new responsibilities:
It’s a never-ending cycle: buyer’s market, seller’s market, back to buyer’s market, and swing back to seller’s market. We are in a seller’s market right now as demand for venues is sky-high after 2 years of virtual events and event postponements/cancellations.
We are now 2+ months into this global pandemic, and the world of event planners is still being turned upside down every day.
A common mentality in March was to postpone events “to the spring” since spring would be long after a 2-week lockdown. At that time, it was very difficult to tell clients that spring was too aggressive and that we realistically should be looking further out or even considering cancelling. After being cooped up for 2 months, that conversation is not getting any easier.
In the past year, we have seen hurricanes devastate multiple Caribbean islands, snow storm after snow storm along the east coast, volcano eruptions in Hawaii, and wildfires spreading across California. Last month brought Hurricane Florence to the Carolinas, and flooding continued for weeks even after the storm itself had gone away. Earlier this month, Hurricane Michael left a path of destruction in areas of Florida.