I recently had a conversation with someone that I found to be quite profound and a great reminder of why I do what I do: plan events. I had the chance to share with her my heart and the passion and purpose with which I approach planning events. For many years though I thought of event planning as just a job and that I would go to college, get a degree, and start my career. It wasn’t until I had been planning events for seven years that I discovered my true calling or passion was actually the very thing I had been doing all those years. I did not discover this while I was running an event or up to my eyeballs in details planning the next conference. I discovered this by going to a concert as an attendee and taking it in. My purpose in going to the concert was ultimately because I was going to be planning a conference for that band in a few short months and I wanted to know what to expect. When I showed up I realized that God had other plans for me that night. As I sat in the audience and I looked around at everyone whose life was being impacted, I felt like God said, “This is why you do what you do. This is why I gave you the gifts and abilities that you have so that you can lay the foundation by planning the details of the event so that the speakers and artists can focus on what I want to do through them to impact the audience.” I approach planning events as an act of service to the speakers, artists, and attendees.
For those of you who are Christians that probably makes a lot of sense to you. The same is true for all types of events. As event planners, we lay the foundation with all the details we plan so that the speakers/artists can get up on that stage and share their message that hopefully changes the audience, helps them grow and learn new things, and impacts people.
One thing I shared with this young lady was that it is important that when you are running an event, that you take a couple of minutes to step into a session and see the impact it is having on the attendees. Everyone will be fine without you for a couple of minutes. Turn off your radio. Silence your cell phone. Take 5-10 minutes and enjoy your hard work and maybe you will get something out of what the person on stage is saying.
Take a moment and let me know why you plan events? What is your heart and passion? What advice do you have?
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
If you have ever done an event that required the use of volunteers, then you know how valuable they are. Without volunteers we would not be able to pull off the setup, event logistics, and load out at events. Today I witnessed a huge team of volunteers setup for the LeadNow/Fusion Conferences at Irving Bible Church. They flew through the setup process with amazing speed and a servant’s attitude. What they expected to take 7 hours took 5 hours due to the dedication of the volunteers.
I think that often we take our volunteers for granted. We need to take time to thank our volunteers for their time and their help. If you did not have them there, you and your staff would be doing everything on your own. At your next event, take a moment to meet each volunteer and thank them.
What have you done to show your volunteers that you value them?
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
Events are ultimately for the attendee. It is important to keep this in mind whenever you are running an event. It is so easy as Event Managers to get caught up in the details of what needs to happen at the event (i.e. did the catering get dropped at the right time, is the AV correct, is there signage to direct attendees, are the speakers or bands onsite, is the registration system working properly, etc.). The list goes on and on of the many details that we as Event Managers are required to manage during an event. With all this happening, it is easy to forget why we do what we do.
It is imperative that Event Managers take a few moments to step into a session or breakout and hear the speakers. See what the attendees are experiencing. Watch their faces and see how they are impacted. When you catch an attendee in an elevator, don’t tell them who you are. Instead ask them about their experience at the event. Take a moment to listen and learn what you are doing right and what you can improve on. Perhaps there will be things you can implement into the event right then that will change the experience for that attendee.
We all do events for different reasons. When I got into event planning, it was to see the lives of attendees changed and impacted. I find that I have to remind myself from time to time. That means that I force myself to find a few moments to experience the event that I worked so hard to put on for the attendees. Sometime the event may impact you in unexpected ways.
Why did you get into event planning? What do you do to remind yourself of the reason for why you plan events?
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
What do you do when the unexpected happens? Most of the time you will not have to deal with natural disasters effecting your events. However, if you do enough events, at some point you will run into this situation as I did yesterday. I was informed by our venue that a portion of their building flooded due to all the rain that they have had. The portion that flooded happened to be all of our meeting rooms. She informed me that we would likely need to move rooms but that we could make the final determination during the walk through yesterday. It was a challenge because we had just finished printing 500 26-page event guides with all the room assignments and would not have time to get these redone due to the lateness of receiving this information. To make it more challenging I had a new contract planner doing the event because I was unable to go due to another event. The thought was that we would send her to do the walk through and determine if we could keep our original rooms or if we would need to move and attempt to reprint just the schedule portion of the event guide. In doing the walk through our venue contact came up with a brilliant idea to alleviate the concerns we had about changing all of our rooms. She said that she would just change the names on the outside of the rooms since the attendees would not know the difference. The building thankfully had alternate rooms to move our event to and the flexibility to make the change as painless as possible for our attendees. Due to this innovative idea, our attendees will never know that there was a problem.
Take time to think about all the options and ask people for their thoughts because they may be able to come up with the idea that makes the most sense.
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
In this economy, when budget cuts are commonplace and events are being slashed or the planning being brought back in house, why should you consider hiring an Independent Event Planner? Well, there are many reasons.
Event Planners are the experts at doing events. With the economy challenges we are facing, attendance numbers are lower and those that attend are waiting till the last few weeks to register. Those attendees that were willing to pay to attend your event expect it to be a quality event that is well planned and executed. They want their money to be well spent. When you remove the expert and require staff that have not planned or executed events to do just that, the attendee experience suffers. Unhappy attendees do not tend to return to future events and negative feedback can spread fast through the use of social media.
Outsourcing to an Event Planner may seem to be a higher cost compared to having a staff person plan your events. In all actuality, the staff planner receives benefits, must have taxes withheld, and is on salary for the entire year whether you do one event or 20 events. The Independent Event Planner is only paid for the events you contract them to do. They do not receive benefits or have taxes withheld.
The staff planner may have the same vendor contacts as the Independent planner, but they cannot lump clients together to get better deals from the vendors. They have built relationships with vendors and can often get a better deal than if you cold-called the vendor.
Often staff event planners have other job responsibilities and events get added to that list when they come around. Most Independent Event Planners have a nitch market that they work in (i.e. medical meetings, educational conferences, corporate, weddings and parties, non-profit, religious, etc). Event Planners know the ins and outs of planning events in their nitch and their experience could save you money because they know the right questions to ask.
Event Planners are a tremendous asset to the success of events. If you have never considered hiring an Independent Event Planner or company to assist you with your events, it would be worth your time to check into it and find an event planner that specializes in your type of event. Please feel free to contact Winn Events. We customize our event packages to meet your specific event planning needs. We specialize in non-profit, religious, and corporate events.
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
African Children holding their hands under a clean water pump
On October 24th, I’m turning 32.
At first, this seemed surreal, even daunting.
But then I remembered that millions of people don’t live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they don’t have access to clean, safe water. As many of you know, Shaun and I have had the opportunity to travel to Africa on a couple of occasions. We have seen first hand, the effects unclean drinking water have on a community. Something we take for granted on a daily basis, can truly make a world of difference for those in need.
So I’m not scared of turning 32 anymore. In fact, I’m celebrating my birthday like never before.
I’m asking for $32 from everyone I know – and every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater wells in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is “proved” when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth.
My goal is to raise $1000 by my birthday, October 24th.
To Donate to my Charity Water birthday fund, please visit:
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
I had the pleasure of doing a cultural event with the Bengalie Association of DFW this past weekend. The beautiful outfits, dancing, and music were spectacular. There were so many warm, friendly, and welcoming people at the event. It was truly a joy to learn more about the culture and help make their event a success.
In doing a cultural event there are a few key things to keep in mind.
1. Communication is key – Anytime that you work with people from another culture, it is important to have clear communication. I found success by over communicating and understanding their needs. Communicate often throughout the process leading up to the event and during the event. Make sure you are accessible throughout the event so they can find you.
2. Cultural Sensitivity – If you have ever traveled oversees, you know that cultural sensitivity to the people of that culture is key to interacting effectively with them. The same applies to running cultural events. You have to be sensitive to what is important to the client. What is the purpose of the event? Will the event include cultural music, dancing, art, speaking? If the speaker will not speak English, make sure that they provide someone to sit in the audio booth to help direct the sound, video, lighting staff.
3. Research – Take time to research the culture or look at the client’s website so you have a better understanding of who the client is and what is important to them. Look at past events that they have done on their website.
Event Planners, what suggestions do you have to plan successful cultural events?
Winn Events is a full-service event planning & management company that offers customized packages. Check out http://www.winnevents.com/ for more information.
Thank you to all the veterans out there that have made our lives in this great country possible. You are amazing & we can never repay you! 5 days ago
Spent an hour at Starbucks this morning dreaming and thinking about the future. Amazing how a Skinny Vanilla latte and pumpkin scone inspire 5 days ago
