Meeting Planner Careers

If you are just starting your even planner career, you may not have been faced with having to change a supplier you have been doing business with for some time. While all of us like the simplicity of hiring the same person each time we need a certain job done, it doesn’t always work out for the best. Here is a case in point.

A large printing company in a major Midwest city had supplied all the printing for a small medical education event company. A few years ago the owner passed away and the company fell into the hands of the owner’s offspring. And fall it did, clear to the floor.

One day the planners called the printing company and ended its seven-year-long relationship. However, rather than get information about past jobs in writing from the company, the planners relied on their own files, which were minimal and contained no details. When they chose another print shop, it was like learning how to order printing all over again.

In addition, the planning agency almost ran into the same problem with the next printer they chose. The problems with the original printer were largely from disorganization, and this is a problem common to print shops. They had to shop for a well-established printer that had done large print runs as the mainstay of their business before they were satisfied. As a result, they were almost late with a print run for an important conference.

However, the planners did discuss the issues that separated them from their original printers and the new printer they ended up staying with understood that behavior would lose them the account as well. This proved to the planners that preparing to change suppliers before actually doing it goes a long way toward a smooth switch.

Lately it seems that lots of people want to have multiple skills for others to draw upon, especially if they are in business for themselves. However, making yourself an expert in a subject can be a real boost for a meeting planner, especially in the area of educational meetings. Here’s why….

Experts Know the Little Details

If you are an all-around event planner and someone asks you to plan a continuing education meeting for nephrologists, you may have to turn down some big money because you had to look up the word nephrologist to begin with. However, if you specialized in continuing education events for the medical field, you may have been able to do the job.

Additional Education

Many specialists in meetings like the above come from other backgrounds. For instance, the medical event specialist may have a background in nursing or hospital administration. She might know what is required for these sessions in order to provide accredited continuing education credits for doctors. She may also know which technologies are necessary for each meeting–the last thing anyone wants is guesswork on a meeting with that level of importance.

Of course, medicine is not the only field where a specialty is necessary. Look at meetings and conferences scheduled for various job categories–searching the Internet should get you a lot of them–to see if there is one that is right for you.