Let us be honest. You have to be a little bit crazy to work in events, and perhaps a touch masochistic too.
There is no other explanation for looking at an industry that is constantly ranked as one of the most stressful in the world and thinking, yes, that is the job for me.
The amount of chaos we put up with on a daily basis would sound mad to anyone outside our industry.
A normal person does not hear:
The CEO wants to change the agenda.
The keynote speaker has gone missing.
The client does not remember approving that budget.
Someone has moved all the chairs.
And then calmly reply, no worries, I will sort it.
Event planners do it without missing a beat.
We spend months planning an experience that lasts a few hours, or maybe a couple of days. We manage clients, budgets, timelines, suppliers, venues and hundreds of tiny details that no one ever notices unless something goes wrong.
There is no nine to five. You are either working flat out or you are on call. There is no off switch.
To survive, you need stamina, patience, diplomacy and the rare skill of saying no while making the client feel completely supported.
You also need a few different personalities:
One for the client.
One for the suppliers.
One for your team.
One that whispers what on earth is happening, right before you walk back out with a smile.
When the event finally ends, your feet hurt, your nervous system is shot and you are standing in a cold loading bay at three in the morning waiting for the last van to leave.
Then you cannot wait to do it all over again.
We do it because we love making the impossible happen. We get a genuine hit from turning an empty space into an experience people will talk about for years.
Others might think we have lost our minds, but the reality is simple. We love this work far too much to do anything else.
