The 5 Event Planning Skills You Need to Succeed

The Top 5 Skills of Successful Event Planners

Are you an aspiring event planner? There are several important skills you need to master in order to grow a successful event planning career and make an impact in corporate event planning.

Event planners help companies grow and thrive by working to plan a variety of corporate events. These include company parties and picnics, business conferences, industry trade shows, team retreats, and more. With the right skills in hand, it’s possible to thrive in an event planning career and become the most requested corporate event planner in your area.

Want to know what these critical skills are? Read on to learn the 5 event planning skills you need to succeed.

1. Organizational Skills

Taking an event through its entire life cycle, from concept to reality, can be a challenge. Being a great event planner means you’ll need excellent organizational skills. You will need to be able to envision, plan, and coordinate in-person corporate events and virtual company experiences from start to finish.

The Balance Small Business recommends that event planners compile corporate event binders to help keep track of the many moving parts involved in a successful event. Some of the major details you’ll need to keep track of include:

• Key dates and deadlines
• Event schedule, including setup and tear-down
• Invitees and RSVPs
• Caterers and specialty menu orders
• Vendors, staff, and any related contracts
• Entertainment and activities
• Key points of contact
• List of corporate event gifts, such as logo-branded notebooks, corporate branded snacks, and custom company apparel
• Event budget tracking
• Hotel room information
• Any applicable travel details, including itineraries and booking

2. A Wide Network of Professional Connections

Being an event planner means you’ll need to cultivate a wide network of professional relationships. Nurturing these relationships--and building new ones--should be something you do regularly. You’ll always need to be on the lookout for great vendors, service providers, venues, and leaders who can help make your events memorable.

It’s essential to have a solid list of food service personnel, musicians and DJs, public speakers, and more available so you’ll know who to reach out to when it’s time to pull an event together. Try to gather more than one product or service provider in each area so you have plenty of options in terms of availability and budget. If you need to have company gifts, employee appreciation presents, or small corporate event favors made, it’s great to know a few resources such as Merchology! With your company logo added prominently on the front, Merchology can create long-lasting and thoughtful corporate gift ideas such as custom quarter-zips, corporate hats, or logo-branded drinkware.

3. People & Communication Skills

Whether you’re coordinating in-person conferences or virtual company experiences, you’ll need to have solid communication skills, both written and verbal. The ability to build rapport and trust with others is crucial. Corporate events require a lot of back-and-forth with many points of contact to keep the plan running smoothly. Keep in mind that you’ll need to be able to handle written and verbal agreements and contracts, as well.

4. Creativity

If you’re serious about being a great event planner, you’ll need to bring your creativity. Don’t be afraid to have fun while you’re dreaming up the next company party, trade show, or conference. You’ll need to consider the entertainment, food, and activities you want to have on deck.

Planning to give out corporate event gifts? It’s easy to create logo-branded gifts with Merchology. We offer top-quality brands your team will love, such as corporate YETI drinkware, custom Carhartt beanie hats, branded Patagonia apparel, and custom Moleskine notebooks--perfect for note-taking at your next conference.

For virtual celebrations and digital conferences, we offer the completely customizable MerchBox, which you can have delivered straight to your team members’ doorsteps. Simply choose a curated custom company gift box, upload your company logo, and we’ll send them out! Or take MerchBoxes to the next level by editing an existing box to perfectly suit your team. Check out our list of available box options including the Virtual Conference Kickoff gift box and the Welcome Aboard company set for some great digital swag ideas for 2024.

Keep in mind that event planning can be a demanding job. Pace yourself and take plenty of time for self-care as you go. If you’re feeling a bit stuck or burned out, Bizzabo has some great tips for getting your creativity flowing again.

5. Adaptability

As an event planner, you absolutely must be adaptable to change. You’re attempting to create an experience for your team in an environment that is constantly shifting. This was true even before the COVID pandemic, which forced companies to adopt an extra measure of flexibility.

Event planners must be ready to think on their feet--and outside the box, particularly when it comes to in-person, hybrid, and virtual company experiences. Even corporate event favors and company gift ideas have gotten a makeover. With so many events happening online, event planners have even adapted what kinds of swag to send to virtual participants.

You’ve Got This

Now that you know the five essential event planning skills you need to create memorable corporate events, it’s time to get your swag ideas for 2024 in order. Call a Merchologist today for help finding the perfect corporate event gifts!