From my experience peoples careers are typically driven by one of two points, money or lifestyle. A career in events certainly gives you the latter, but because of this it is a competitive world. From my own experience it seems getting ‘experience’ is a big factor in this, but it’s not the only factor. This blog outlines some of the other things you can do to equip yourself for a successful events career.
1) Pick a reputable company to learn your trade
It’s standard practise for someone looking to start a building trade to do a two-year apprenticeship, the events industry is no different. You may not do an internship as such, but your first role in the events industry is where you will learn all the skills you will need to have a successful career in events. Therefore, it is important that you pick an events company that works in the sector you would like to work in (this leads to points two and three), that they have the correct values as a company and well connected employees.
2) Know which sort of events you want to become a specialist in
Events covers a wide range of areas including; sport, weddings, conventions, meetings, music festivals and cultural festivals, the list is endless. Although the basic project, people and technical management of events is largely the same, there will be lots of specific areas to your sector of choice, so to give yourself the best chance of building a successful career by starting in this sector.
3) Get to know the right people and learn from them
Ensure you get to know the experts in your event industry, they have the knowledge and experience you will need from delivering years of events. With the understanding that knowledge is the most valuable commodity in the events world, it's important to reach out to this people where possible. Everyone is busy but the right person will happily share their knowledge and experiences with you. Later down the line in your events career these people may also be the ones that can offer you work or contracts.
4) Be a yes person
Events can be long hard days with the added stress of making the event a success for yourself or a client. If you want to be respected in the events world it helps to be a yes person (even it’s a ‘yes I’ll do my best to find a solution or a work around for the problem'). This helps to make you a reliable, dependable and likable person for your colleagues. An example that jumps out for me is a colleague that drove to Nottingham overnight to pick up 2000 extra safety pins for the rider race numbers during the 2019 Road Cycling World Championships (thanks Susan, I still owe you for that one!).
5) Teach yourself to be calm and effective in high pressure situations
High pressure situations are inevitable during an event, ensuring you respond to these situations when they arise in a calm and controlled manor is critical, allowing you to effectively lead your event team. It will also prepare you for operating an event control room in the future, this requires a person to be able to communicate effectively and remaining calm when speaking with people on the ground to get all the information recorded for the situation.
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