If you’re interested in starting a career as a professional event planner, it’s important to understand that the field is a competitive one with tons of new planners joining the industry every year. That being said, there are several ways in which you can stay ahead of the curve in terms of preparedness and resume optimization. From earning your event planner certificate to starting your own blog, let’s talk about some simple ways to give your business a head start on the competition. In the eyes of potential clients, the following key things can make the difference between hiring you, or picking one of your competitors:
1. Education
If you haven’t yet received any formal training in this field, you should consider making the investment. Although an event planning career may not have the same 9-5 structure of other jobs, it requires serious training, skills and organizational capabilities that are better learned through industry professionals than attempted on your own.
NYIAD’s online event planning course is designed exactly for this reason- to help you master the art of event planning, giving you the skills needed to succeed as a professional event planner. In our course, you will learn how to ensure the success of any event- from meetings and parties to fundraisers and company retreats. There are many types of gatherings worth preparing for- not just weddings and parties. Throughout our comprehensive curriculum, you will learn to effectively execute all of these niche functions by mastering the fine art of networking, working with vendors and handling every need of your clients.
2. Experience
In almost any career worth exploring, getting some hands on, real world experience is one of the most invaluable assets to your growth and confidence development as a capable industry professional. However, when it comes to something as important as a couple’s wedding day or an important business event, many amateur planners feel way too nervous to dive in and take on the responsibility of ensuring a flawless day. Lucky for our students, you can garner this crucial strength without ever having to leave your home. During the course, you will complete a Virtual Internship, a series of projects allowing you to grow by putting your skills to the test, planning mock events alongside your mentor. This mentor will actually be a real life, professional event planner- your teacher and guide who is there to review your work and help you improve.
3. Marketing
Once you’ve completed your training, you’ve planned some mock events at your virtual internship and you’ve worked with your mentor- you might feel totally ready to get out there and plan some real world events with actual clients. But how will you find them? That’s where the marketing portion of your course comes in. In NYIAD’s event planning course, unit 6 is all about professional pathways.
Getting started, we’ll take a much closer look at all the business-related intricacies of the event planning field, as well as all the possible opportunities for you to offer a niche service in your area. Once you have an idea of the business you can see for yourself in the future, we’ll start to talk about the most effective methods for bringing in new clients.
From creating a professional website to networking within the event planning community, you’ll be given some of the best advice on getting your name out there and promoting a positive image for your services and personal brand. After that, we’ll work on the ever-important and rapidly growing social media influence on small business success. We’ll talk about the best ways to promote your services and work on social media platforms as well as SEO best practices and blog maintenance, helping you develop a cohesive plan for incorporating this unique advertising platform into your business plan.
