About the School, General Tips, Your Event Career
How to Pick the Right Event Planner School for YOU!
If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you’ve decided to finally turn your dream of becoming a professional event/wedding planner into a reality. First of all, let me just say congrats! You’ve just taken the most important step and you should definitely be proud of yourself. Now the question is: where should you get your professional certification training? Which event planner school is the right option for you?
Luckily, you’ve come to the right place – because today, that’s exactly what we’re here to discuss! So, find a comfy place to sit and put your feet up. In less time than it’d take to watch one episode of your favorite show on Netflix, I’m going to reveal everything you need to know to get your dream career started in the right direction!
The Importance of an Event Planner School
Okay, so the first thing you might be thinking is, “I thought that event/wedding planners don’t actually need a professional certification. So, why do I even need to consider enrolling in event planner school?”
While this is technically true, this train of thought is incorrect. True, planners aren’t required to have a certification (or even a reputable education) in order to work professionally. But in no way does this mean that they don’t need these things! Event and wedding planners are supposed to be subject-matter experts. And just like with any profession, anyone who calls themselves a “subject-matter expert” should have the necessary experience and credentials to their name. Not only will your education give you the necessary skill-set; it’ll dramatically increase your chances of booking clients, because they’ll be better able to trust you.
Think of it this way: would you go get a root canal done by a guy whose dentistry “training” consisted solely of watching YouTube videos? Probably not.
(And if so, I definitely have some questions…)
The fact is, clients expect the same standard from the planners they choose to pay and work with. After all, the celebrations and milestones you put together will be one of the most important days of their lives. Thus, their expectations will be high – and rightfully so. If a client ever has the choice between hiring a planner with a professional certification, versus hiring a planner without one, they will ALWAYS choose the former. Trust me, your best bet for long-term success is to add a reputable certification to your resume.
So, Which Event Planner School Should You Train With?
Now that you understand why professional training is critical, the next step is to decide where you should be getting this training. There are countless options at your disposal, both in terms of online and brick-and-mortar courses. But with so many choices, it can quickly become a little overwhelming. With so much information being thrown at you, how can you truly know which event planner school will be the best fit for YOU?
Ultimately, it all boils down to you, your learning style/preferences, and the goals you have for your event planning career.
The first place I’d recommend starting is to sit down with a pen and paper, and answer the following questions:
- Do you prefer to learn in a physical classroom? Or would you prefer to learn from the comfort of home?
- Is your schedule flexible enough to commit to set classroom hours every week? Or do you need more flexibility and the ability to set your own study schedule?
- What is your budget for this certification training? Can you afford to pay the full tuition upfront, or would you benefit from a monthly payment plan?
- What type of planner do you want to be? For instance, do you want to offer event and wedding planning? One more than the other? What about specialized services, such as corporate planning, luxury planning, virtual planning, etc.?
- Is there a certain amount of time you’d ideally like to graduate and earn your certification by?
- Consider your short AND long-term career goals. What would the event planner school’s training need to look like in order to help you achieve these goals?
By going through each question and answering them honestly, you’ll be able to make the first important decision: whether you want to attend a physical or an online event planner school.
In-Person Event Planner Schools
For some, brick-and-mortar event planner school is the only way to go. If you’re considering this route, all the power to you! However, it’s important that you consider every aspect of this decision. One definite perk is that you’ll be surrounded by your peers, in addition to your tutor. Being in the same room as these people – especially after a year and a half of isolation – is no doubt tempting. Furthermore, some people prefer to abide by a strict, set schedule. If you thrive on routine, it’s easy to understand why in-person training would be so appealing.
That being said, there are also some downsides. Firstly, tuition for a brick-and-mortar school is typically much pricier than that of an online event planner school. A fair chunk of your money won’t be going towards you or your actual training – but rather, to help the institution with overhead costs, such as building maintenance and staff salaries. Secondly, you’ll need to complete your training at the same pace as everyone else. So, if you’d prefer to graduate in 2-3 months, but the course is 6 months long, you’re basically out of luck. You’ll need to wait it out and stick to the pace of your peers.
Moreover, brick-and-mortar schools offer significantly less flexibility. If you have an emergency and can’t make that day’s class? That’s unfortunate, but also too bad. If you have a test schedule on the same day that your boss is asking you to come in, it’ll be on you to figure things out, compromise, and make it work. In a nutshell, the onus will be on YOU to adjust to the school’s schedule – not the other way around.
What About an Online Event Planner School?
If the COVID pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we’re all capable of adapting our lives to the digital world. Distanced learning has been around – and a popular option – for years, but over the course of 2020, it became the single most prominent form of education. What we all quickly discovered was that online learning offered the exact same quality of education, while making the experienced a LOT more personalized, flexible, and comfortable.
Yes, you won’t be sitting in the same classroom as your peers or your instructor. For some, this is a downside. That being said, the right event planner school will still provide many ways for you to connect and network with fellow students, graduates, tutors, etc. so that the absence of physical interactions is barely noticed! For example, QC Event School is incredible active on social media, and many of our students and alumni have connected through there. Additionally, we also provide an Online Student Center and a private Virtual Classroom on Facebook. The latter has become especially popular, as the QC community is easily able to come together, ask questions, swap experiences, and give insightful industry advice.
If you’re not a member of this Facebook group yet, I highly recommend joining. Heck, even if you’re not a QC student, you’re welcome to join for a 2-week trial. So, why not give it a try, right?
Tuition, Pace, and Flexibility
Let’s revisit the 3 downsides we just looked at for brick-and-mortar schools. The beauty of an online event planner school is that NONE of these apply! For starters, the cost of your training will be substantially cheaper with an online school. Namely, because there’s no physical campus to take care of or maintain. Furthermore, many online event planner schools – such as QC Event School – will give you a true bang for your buck by including EVERYTHING you need within that one course tuition fee. This means you won’t need to pay any additional costs for your course materials, a physical copy of your materials, shipping fees for those physical materials, etc.
Next, there’s the pace of online learning. With QC Event School, for instance, every course is 100% self-paced! From the day you first enroll, you get 2 full years to completed your studies. However, you can use as little or as much time as you need. There are no deadlines for assignments, quizzes – you name it. In fact, many of our graduates have found that by simply devoting 1-2 hours per week on their training, they were able to graduate and earn their certification in as little as 3 short months. I don’t know about you, but to me, this definitely sounds manageable for ANY schedule or lifestyle!
Lastly, online event planner school offers a level of flexibility you simply won’t be able to find anywhere else. Since there’s no pressure to travel to or attend in-person classes, you can complete all of your training from literally anywhere you want, at any time of the day. Yes, even in your jammies in the middle of the night. And yes, even in your career in-between errands. (We’ve literally had students do this before.)
Could there BE a better way to complete the training for your dream career? We think not!
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So, What Are You Waiting For?
Now that you’re interested in exploring distanced learning, it’s time to put on your detective hat and do some digging! My first recommendation would be to check out these 6 shady red flags to avoid when researching online schools. Afterwards, feel free to check out this review of QC Event School by our very own graduate, Katie Dionne!
Got any questions or comments? Tell us in the comments below! And as always, thank you so much for reading. 🙂
