Meeting Planner Careers

Spring opens the door to the busiest time of the year for wedding planners. The following 3 qualities can make you a sought after wedding planner: be a good listener, be organized, and be kind.

The best wedding planner is a skilled listener. Sit quietly; take notes, allow the couple to express their dream wedding in detail. You may have to pull one or both of them back to earth, but for the moment, be willing to listen to plans for a clown themed wedding, a Bride of Chuckie theme wedding, or a Star Trek wedding event.

Organizational skills are essential for any event planning. Organization is literally the life’s blood of a wedding planner. Every detail is put down on paper, including a back-up plan for the inevitable glitches. If the people around you are losing their minds, but you are calm and organized, chances are you are a wedding planner.

A little kindness goes a long way toward smoothing out difficulties. Accidents happen, delivery trucks break down, things just happen. Even if or especially if someone is in the wrong, be kind. She will be more willing to help make things right if she doesn’t feel cornered. Kindness is the mark of a professional.

Cruises are a great option for corporate events, meetings and, of course, vacations, but many people – including wedding planners – often assume that cruise ship weddings are too expensive to fit most couples’ budgets. On the contrary, cruise ship weddings can actually save a couple and their family a considerable amount of money, in some cases slashing the costs nearly in half when compared to a land-based resort wedding and a separate honeymoon.

When couples opt for a cruise wedding, their friends and family will have a great time before and after the wedding without the couple having to worry about entertaining or housing out of town guests. They will also benefit from having a ready-made venue that is well-versed in onboard weddings, as well as the benefit of one, predetermined price, which will assist them significantly when determining their budget and preparing for their big day. If a wedding planner is part of the mix, they will find that planning cruise ship weddings is a simple process when they take advantage of the ship crew’s existing knowledge and resources.

The planning process can also be made simpler and more convenient by using the group cruise planning tool available at Seasite.com, a useful tool that wedding, meeting, event and incentive travel planners swear by.

Are you looking for exciting, new venue options that offer a completely unique environment and have not been completely overdone? If so, it is time to look outside of the typical resort, hotel and convention center options and explore the world of meeting venues that lies beyond these common options. In every major city, almost all mid-size cities and even most smaller towns you will find a variety of unique venue options that will impress your guests and show your clients that you can think outside of the ballroom.

Holding meetings at zoos, aquariums and museums is becoming a hot trend and has broadened the array of meeting venue options available to meeting planners. For example, elegant galas and fundraisers are held at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in beautiful Balboa Park each year and meeting, event and wedding planners are planning weddings, award ceremonies and fundraisers at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle on a regular basis. A wide variety of events also take place at the Miami Science Museum each month, including holiday parties, fundraisers, movie screenings, corporate events and meetings, cocktail receptions and weddings.

Planning your next event or meeting at a museum, zoo or other attraction is an ideal way to offer your clients new venue options and provide an interesting backdrop that will appeal to attendees. Many of these venues work with caterers and other vendors that are well-versed in working with the space and facilities available, making event planning a breeze.

Many people want to become event planners but don’t want to work for themselves. They understand their limitations and realize that they are not the entrepreneurial type, can’t take the risk required to start a business, or just simply don’t have the knowledge foundation to do so. Whatever the reason, those folks will be looking for employment in other companies. Here are the major places they will be hunting.

Human Resources Departments

Human resources positions often involve setting meetings for orientations, educational programs, company meetings, product launches, and celebrations. A planner who finds employment as a human resources officer may also be called upon to arrange press attendance, catering, photography and more. Read more…

Once you have completed your degree and are ready to start your career as an independent meeting planner, you may be wondering where to start. Even if you had an internship somewhere–and let’s face it, almost every graduate has had at least one–you still may not know how to approach self-employment. A word to the wise here would be, “don’t.”

Although you can certainly end up with your own meeting planning company, the fact is you will want some experience with an established company related to your future plans. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Event Planners

If you want to work with special events and festivals, try getting jobs in booking agencies, promotional companies, theaters, and public relations before you try this on your own. While you’re employed elsewhere, you can build relationships with people you will need to know later while you build your skill sets. Read more…

If you have checked out the career path of an event planner, you already know that there are many different ways you can go. From corporate jobs to freelance world, the possibilities are enormous. Here are some popular careers in the field to help you narrow down your choices.

Meeting Planners

These employees are entrusted with organizing, budgeting, arranging, and executing all kinds of meetings. From corporate board meetings to team building get-togethers, the meeting planner should be ready to assemble events from formal evenings to paint-ball competitions. Knowledge of VOIP is important, as some companies who want to hold international meetings turn to the internet to save money and time. Read more…

Organizing events may come naturally to you and in fact you might have helped someone organize an event too! The best example is your own birthday parties or your best pal’s marriage. These are memorable events and there surely must have been some planning involved. The guests’ list, selection of food and drinks, gifts, cakes, and the list goes on. These things require planning, smaller or bigger, skilled or semi-skilled. Similarly, most business events require planning and arrangements in advance. And planning business meetings has indeed become a skilled profession nowadays.

The event planners as we call them, plan conferences and meetings, look after coordination and conventions, and are responsible for smooth functioning of all the activities involved. The meeting planner’s job is to look after every small and big detail of an event. For example, if the meeting takes places out of town, the planner coordinates the flights and accommodation for the participants arriving from outside. Professional event planners are usually hired by the companies that lack time or skills to organize and assist a conference. Read more…