Event planners wear a lot of hats. This doesn’t matter if we are planning for in-person, virtual, or hybrid events, we are a one-stop-shop for doing all the things, and honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
We’ve talked before about what we actually do, but event planners often take on duties that seem like they have absolutely nothing to do with events. Here are 10 unexpected jobs that get rolled up into any event planner’s job description.
1. Research Specialist
Sometimes, we find an event inspiration picture online, show it to our clients, and they just have to have it. Needless to say, we have to go beyond a simple google search to find what we’re looking for. Event planners may spend days searching for a chair rental that once only existed in a rendering or a decor idea they found on Pinterest.
We don’t even want to tell you how long it took to find the wood chips we used as name cards for our event with bareMinerals – but we found them, ‘cuz that’s the way we roll.
2. Film Director
Nothing makes an event look more professional than live video introducing the event, or embedded in a PowerPoint presentation. At EOE, we don’t just do event design and floral arrangements. We put ourselves in the director’s chair to make our events look stellar with high-quality video production. Especially with virtual events, we make this category a reality.
3. Private eye
It’s 5 minutes till showtime, and your special guest speaker, whom you paid thousands of dollars In advance is 30 minutes away from the venue, on a stroll through the park. This is the stuff of nightmares, people. And it once happened to us. At EOE, we know how to throw together an impromptu emergency search party every now and then.
4. Professional Wrestler
Occasionally, someone tries to crash an event. We get it – we throw some pretty amazing & award-winning parties. We usually aren’t wearing capes and spandex, but we like to think our wrestler name would be “The Human Shield.” Ain’t nobody getting past registration with us on duty.
5. DELIVERY DRIVER
We bring a lot of stuff to and from events. Like, a lot. Sometimes the only way to know for sure everything’s at the right place at the right time is to drive it there yourself.
6. Travel agent
Do you want an event in San Diego? How about Washington D.C.? How about NYC? The point is, we go a lot of places for our clients. Travel means planes, trains & automobiles, hotel blocks, synchronized watches, etc. No matter where in the world your next event is taking you, we’ve already got a plan.
7. the closer
It’s not what you think, we promise.
Just because our event is over doesn’t mean we’re off the clock! After event-day, we get together with our clients to discuss how everything went down. We lovingly refer to these event wrap-up meetings as “post-mortems.” At East of Ellie, we’re constantly trying to get better and better. We look at what worked like a charm, what curve-balls we had to work around, and everything in between. We get the chance to work with our clients, again and again, so we try to learn from the way our guests responded to the event. That way, we can get working on new ideas and strategies to make the next one even better.
8. Gym Teacher
Corporate events aren’t all about presentations and meetings. We also throw some pretty epic team-building events. Does that occasionally mean renting out gyms and blowing up giant sumo wrestling rings to give our clients the adult field day of their dreams? You bet.
9. dj
Events need music. Everything’s gotta be on-vibe and on-brand, and heaven forbid that one song our client hates shows up on shuffle. We don’t set the mood with an auto-generated playlist – no way!
10. MAGICIAN
Okay, we kind of suck at card tricks. But, the things we can do with a fast-approaching deadline will amaze you. Just call us The Great Ellie-ni because we’re constantly pulling legendary events out of thin air.
Need an event planning team that does it all? Contact us and let’s talk about all the things we can do for you.