house » Blog » A stressful day in the life of an event planner
Tracey Ryan, Head of Marketing EMEA, SimpleView
Planning an event is easy!
It’s so nice to get “advice” from everyone about how you can do it better next time. I really wonder if there is anyone (in any department) who thinks event planning is really that easy. In fact, even if you’re in the middle of planning your latest event, you’ve probably already planned several events, including your next big one, and have tried-and-true methods that cover the planning, organization, and execution. But with so many things happening at once, so many different aspects to consider, and so little actually in your control, even the most experienced planners can panic when asked, “Have you thought about this?”
Having managed international marketing teams, and still being the go-to event planner for each organization, events are definitely my favorite part of the job. However, I also admit to being a bit of a control freak, and this is where event planning and my love for being in control are a bit misaligned. After all, as I said before, there are a lot of aspects of event planning that are outside of your control.
I’d like to know if any of the following apply to you:
Registration
No matter how compelling your invitation is, how original your website design is, or how relevant your agenda is, getting people to actually register for your event (free or paid) is a nightmare. Let’s be honest, even if you’ve built the most amazing experience, with all the elements you think your attendees want and work on improving it every year, they still won’t register. They won’t register if you tell them, “Yes, we have at least 25 clients who still need to register.” They won’t register if you repeatedly announce that early registration is over. There’s literally nothing you can do except call your attendees and have them register themselves. This is not ideal when you’re trying to calculate the exact number of people for your event. Just because you create an event doesn’t mean they’ll show up.
Early bird rate
Why do we set a deadline for discounted rates so staff and attendees think they’re the exception? Early bird deadlines are set because venues and caterers need to know the final headcount well before the event, or they risk ordering too little or too much. Deadlines are there for a reason, and not just because they want to rush people into registering (well, maybe a little bit).
Sponsorship
You’ve created a compelling agenda, offered opportunities for partners to participate, offered various package options depending on budget, and built something that feels valuable not only to your partners but also to your own staff, clients and SLTs, but no one wants to support your event. Why would people not want to commit to something that could actually bring a clear and demonstrable ROI if leveraged properly? Leveraging properly means you can’t just sit at the table and hope for the best. Networking and pre-event marketing is key, but still, many people walk away complaining that they didn’t get much out of the event when they weren’t willing to put in the effort. What do you want to get out of the event? Can you negotiate if the package isn’t quite right? Talk to me! Sometimes it’s better to say no quickly than a drawn-out yes.
And even if they verbally agree and seem excited about the opportunity, why take forever to return the paperwork, leaving you wondering if they’ll sponsor you or not? From a planning, financial and promotional standpoint, this isn’t helpful at all. If you confirm too late, there’s very little we can do to help you with all-important pre-event marketing.
Last minute, unexpected, high-value items
The most infuriating thing for me is unexpected bills for things I needed and planned on having, but wasn’t told I had to pay for. “How could that happen?” you ask. Last year they delivered it to me for free, so why should I have to pay this year? Suddenly, a tight budget that’s trying to make miracles happen becomes even tighter.
Unexpected invoices can wreak havoc on your event and prevent it from delivering that finishing touch – the thing that leaves a memorable impression and encourages people to register again next year.
Illness or the dreaded “C” word?
I hate to say the word illness. We have been struggling with illness for a long time, but illness is definitely still a factor that is out of our control; speakers, delegates, and even myself. This is where full transparency of the event is key. It is very important that you know that you are 100% going to be there and that the show will go on if you can’t. Regarding speakers, if they are in-house speakers, can someone else fill in? – I don’t want to go to the extent of having to fill in, but if the presentation is written well before the event and the notes are solid, someone could fill in.
But not being able to hear external speakers is a whole different matter, and there’s not much you can do to minimize the damage other than being prepared to quickly reschedule your plans and have systems and apps in place to help you manage everything in real time.
Natural disaster
Yes, here I fully admit defeat: there is absolutely no room for complaint when something happens that is absolutely out of your control.
So what’s the answer? As an event planner, I need to have the one thing in my toolbox that I can control. Something that’s easy to use, intuitive, and really puts everything under control in one place: an event management system. I can track how much revenue I’m making from my event (yes, this is one of my top priorities). I can change the agenda, presenters, and rooms in real time. Plus, this syncs instantly with the mobile app, so if I needed to make changes mid-event, I could do so seamlessly. I can add and remove sponsors, and of course, most importantly, I can send all communications from one place. Everything is under my control, accessible at all times in one place, on one platform, the only constant in the ever-changing role of event management.
Event planning will always be my favorite part of marketing, and while you can never control everything of course, it’s comforting to know that at least one (fairly large) area is covered and always stable.
Tracy Ryan is a marketing professional with over 30 years of experience in strategic marketing planning, marketing communications and campaign management in regional, pan-EMEA and international roles. She currently serves as Head of EMEA Marketing for Simpleview, a software, creative and data analytics company, partnering with destinations and their agencies to increase stakeholder engagement, attract visitors and win convention and event bids. Since joining in January 2022, Tracy has been focused on growing awareness of the Simpleview and Eventsforce brands across EMEA, expanding the EMEA marketing function and creating a compelling EMEA marketing strategy that contributes to business growth.
Prior to Simpleview, Tracy served as Chief Marketing Officer at telecommunications scale-up Natterbox, where she increased sales pipeline by 123%, ran account-based marketing programs and developed brand advocates across international accounts, and has also held senior marketing roles at Faethm AI, Telogis, Websense and BEA Systems.
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