On the outside, the world of event management looks glamorous – you meet important people, go to amazing venues, dress up for fancy parties and sometimes you even get sweet freebies. People just seem to think that everything “comes together” and “falls into place”. As a PR student, I’ve been told that events are a lot of work but it wasn’t until I helped to organise and run one that I fully realised.
Last week I had my first proper event management experience at the Pharmacy Guild Forum held at Crown (I had a taste of event management earlier in my internship helping with registrations at the NDIS Conference). The two-day conference is an annual event for community pharmacy owners to provide them with information and discuss topical issues in the industry.
Prior to the event I was tasked with writing the run sheet, packing the gift bags and putting together the lanyards. During the event, I assisted with registrations, ushering and taking microphones around in the Q&A times.
The days were long and it was a task to get up so early but I found it quite a pleasant experience. It wasn’t as hectic as I expected to be – there were some crazy periods but most of the event ran smoothly. I was lucky enough to sit in on some really interesting sessions. I got some great insights into the pharmacy industry and was thoroughly entertained by stand up comedian Peter Berner’s session. A number of presentations were even relevant to my own studies and career focusing on retail management, customer acquisition and retention, and social media.
Based on my recent experience, here are my top event management tips:
- Pay attention to the details
This was absolutely crucial when I was writing the run sheet. It took me two days to complete it and that was without including the audiovisual cues. The run sheet is like a bible for an event so you can’t afford to miss anything.
- Preparation is key
A smooth event usually indicates thorough planning and preparation. Things can still go wrong but good preparation can prevent a lot of unnecessary problems and equip people to respond to issues more effectively. One of the event sessions was delayed as the presentation slides hadn’t been given to the AV crew. In this instance preparation was lacking – the slides should’ve been given to the AV crew at the beginning of the day.
- Look after your staff
During the event, myself and other interns were asked to get food and coffees for the AV crew and our supervisors. I saw that this was really appreciated. In any work situation, it’s good to feel valued and makes people more motivated to work hard. My supervisor also told me that in her experiences working with Crown, the support and service offered by the staff was always great. I witnessed this in the way the Crown staff would always check in, respond to calls and offer to buy coffees for my supervisors. It’s great knowing you have people you can rely on especially when things get stressful.
- Focus on the attendees first
At the registrations desk the goodie bags were stacked in boxes. This became an issue as we got busier as it was harder to grab bags easily. I’d start pulling bags out to make them easier to grab and putting the empty boxes away. To me this was important but one of my supervisors told me that I should be focusing on registering the attendees. By trying to organise the area I was making the attendees wait in line for longer. Your attendees should always be your first focus.
My experience has given me a new appreciation for event management and taught me some valuable lessons. As I’ve only just scratched the surface I’m still unsure if this is something I want to do in my future career – I like being organised and have a good attention to detail but I’m not sure if I would be able to deal with the stress on a regular basis. I’m looking forward to helping out with the Women in Mining event next Friday and seeing how it will vary from my experience at the Pharmacy Guild Forum.