New Year’s Resolutions for Professional Event Planners
It’s time to put together some New Year’s resolutions (if you haven’t done so already) that will ensure you get organized, positive, and down to business in 2018.
In years past, we suggested some resolutions that we thought might help you get ahead of the competition, widen your client base, and boost your reputation. We hope these ideas helped, but we know how tricky it can be to actually keep your New Year’s resolutions (and start new routines) during the busy holiday season. Consider the coming year a fresh start, and set some brand new goals!
Your year in review
Don’t fret if you had the best of intentions at the beginning of 2017 with your resolutions. Even the best of us start a new year strong and motivated and get distracted as the months go by. The great thing about having 2018 on the horizon is that you can try again to reach your goals. Even if you achieved the goals you set for yourself last year (and congratulations if you did!), it’s time to set some new ones and take your achievements even further.
We will say this, though – make sure you set realistic resolutions. It’s wonderful to be ambitious and push yourself in your event planning career, but you want to ensure that you can actually hit the mark. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment in the year ahead. Set goals that will move you down the road toward improvement, both personally and professionally.
Welcome 2018!
The resolutions you set for yourself in 2018 will be dependent on your own career goals and interests. And based on how last year’s resolutions turned out, you likely have a good idea of which ones you want to try again (and which to let go of!). You may also want to go in an entirely new direction in the coming year based on what worked and what didn’t. To inspire you, here are the event planning New Year’s resolutions we’re making for 2018:
1. Stay in touch with customers
Throughout your event planning career, one of the most important skills that you’ll develop is how to network in the industry. You’ll connect with new clients, vendors, and even other planners in your local area, and this is how you’ll grow your business! You may know this already, but it bears repeating – professional event planning isn’t the kind of business where you’re finished with a client once the event is complete. Networking with past clients is a very useful tactic to secure repeat business, but you have to go about it the right way.
The last thing you want to do is make your past clients feel hassled. Rather, you want them to be excited to work with you again, so you need to keep in contact with them from the very start. You can do this through post-event phone calls, letters and emails, and even thank you gifts. These are subtle, yet effective ways of making sure your clients remember you and keep your services in mind the next time they need to recommend an event planner, or have another event to plan!
Keeping in touch with your clients is also a very easy resolution to keep, as it only requires a bit of advance planning and scheduling to make clients feel valued (and make sure you stay at the top of their list!).
2. Streamline your process
It’s no secret that professional event planners have seriously busy jobs. Whether you’re meeting with new clients for a consultation or scoping out a venue, you’re always on the go, and staying organized is extremely important. In the past, you may have depended on paper lists or binders (and those are great tactics, don’t get us wrong!), but a new year is an excellent opportunity to upgrade your processes, and perhaps start using tablets or other electronic devices to help you. Not only will a tablet or similar device keep all the details you need in one place, clients will also think you’re modern and up-to-date.
By adopting new technologies and using them to streamline your event planning process, your day-to-day duties will become much easier. You’ll have a much better time staying on track!
3. Learn a new technique
One of the best pieces of advice that we can give you as an event planner is to never stop learning. No matter how many events you’ve planned, difficult situations you’ve managed, or courses you’ve taken, you can always keep learning your craft. Whether it’s a new approach to organizing your meetings with clients or even just a new color scheme expected to be popular this season, make learning a technique high on your list of resolutions.
As an event planner, the more tips and tricks you can add to your repertoire, the more valuable you’ll become to clients. We’ll let you in on a little secret – the best event planning professionals are those who understand that there is no end to the learning process. If you want to take your skills and knowledge to even higher levels, we recommend checking out some advanced specialization courses such as Event Décor and Destination Wedding Planning – imagine how in-demand you’ll be with these specific skills under your belt!
4. Adopt a positive vocabulary
No one ever said that an event planning career was easy. It’s not! You’re going to run into difficult personalities and face challenging situations on a regular basis – it’s just the nature of the job. However, feeling negative is no way to handle difficulties, and won’t be useful to you as a professional event planner. Therefore, a great resolution to make for 2018 is to adopt a positive vocabulary, and focus on changing the kinds of words you use to describe the situations you find yourself in.
For example, instead of blurting out that the caterer delivered the wrong desserts and you’ve been waiting for an hour, try stating that the caterer made a mistake and brought the wrong desserts, but they’re remedying the situation as quickly as they can. You may not realize the impact of your words (and your inner dialogue), but trust us, when you start removing a negative tone, you’ll feel much calmer and in control when stressful situations arise. Also, clients and vendors alike will pick up on your positive attitude and know that you can handle whatever comes your way!
I think that we all have resolutions but rarely stick to them. I prefer to try having monthly goals or targets instead of trying to change everything overnight from one year to the next!
This is a good and informative points for the new year 2018. Whenever a new year approaches, it is wise that we have to look forward with positive ideas and thoughts and plan accordingly. Meanwhile, we have to learn from our past mistakes also. …