The Wonderful World of Events

As much as I love event planning, I still have much more to learn. The only events I've had my paws in include birthday parties, classes, awareness, and a celebratory event. I know that my dream career would allow me to plan events in some form, but I'm not sure what kind of events I would like to be involved in.

I do know that I would prefer to work for either an organization or company to work in the business world. While I love weddings and each one is unique and beautiful, I wouldn’t want to be in the wedding planning business. I want to stay away from any bridezillas. By leaning towards promotional events and non-profits, I face yet another choice: non-profit or corporate?

The one company I have followed and admire for their marketing and promotional events is Benefit Cosmetics. The brand’s packaging and products are genius. All of the packing, designs, and promotions are adorable and fun. They say innovative and are always on top of the latest trends. They hold promotional events as well as launch parties and their PR team maintain strong relationships with customers by giving testers to makeup artists and YouTubers in order to reach their fans.

 I’m excited to learn how to plan and run larger scale events and hopefully find a career doing so!

Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!

 I interned at a marketing & public relations department in a local hospital. During my time there, i helped plan and manage events with the heads of the department. I was able to be involved in non-profit events, a health event, and a celebritory event. Each event came with its own challenges, but all of them were exciting.

Through the hospital, there are multiple health classes available to the public. These classes ranged on topics such as diabetes, heart issues, growing old, CPR classes, healthy eating, etc. I wrote press releases and updated the hospital's website to keep the public updated on which events were offered and when.

I also helped to plan and advertise for the hospital's annual event, Day of Dance. The event is jam packed with classes and demonastrations of several types of dance. The event provides attendees with the benefits of dance and exercise. The event was open to the public and we also spread the word through the hospital's Spirit of Women program. this program is designed to empower women and to teach women's health. I sent out invites and information to everyone signed up on the Spirit of Women's contact list.

The final event I was able to help with was a substantial one. The CEO of the hospital of over twenty years was retiring. This event took weeks of planning, double checking, setting up, and stressing. The party was held in a ballroom of a luxury hotel. Guests had the options on their RSVPs of either chicken, beef or a vegetarian meal. I arrived two hours prior to the event to help sort out name tags and seating arrangements. I greeted attendees as they arrived and helped them to get settled in. The party had close to 500 attendees which included political figures, doctors, and high-ups within the hospital. It was all together humbling to be in a room full of such powerful people. Several people spoke of their memories and favorite moments in the past years with the CEO and then she gave the final speech of the evening.

I feel so honored to have been given such an incredible internship with event planning experiences. But I still have much more to learn & I look forward to it!

Let's Celebrate!

Back in high school I worked at an arcade and sporting complex which featured go-karts and mini-golf. I was one of the lead team members for sales and setting up birthday parties. If a parent called in to book a party, the phone call was usually directed to me. Planning for these was pretty easy since there was a step by step system my workplace followed. All I had to do was fill in the blanks with names, dates, and details. I filed the paperwork and kept track of payments. On the day of these parties, I would set up the party area and, most often that not, my bosses would put me in charge of running the parties and overlooking them to make sure everything ran smoothly.

While my years at my first place of work didn't allow me to use my own creative touches for planning, I did learn how to run events as well as cater to people's personal requests for their parties. It was my first step into Public Relations and Event Planning.

But besides my work experience, I recently helped my sister plan for her twins' first birthday party. Grayson and Aston turned one this September and they had a monster themed party! (: We cut out and put together what felt like a hundred paper monsters mailed out invites, ordered way too many balloons, and found individual monster cakes for the boys. I went to my sister's the day before the party to help her set up and decorate (as well as entertain the boys while my sister cooked and cleaned the house).

Birthday parties are fun but take plenty of planning and behind the scenes work. Even during the event you hope to keep everyone entertained and happy. Also, eating, playing games, and watching the babies eat their first icing covered birthday cakes all before their nap time can be pretty stressful. But seeing big smiles and icing smeared all over their faces while they giggled made it all worth it!

First Thing's First

Before you can begin to plan for an event, you must form the foundation for one; the purpose for one. Maybe the event is a wedding, a 50th birthday bash, a promotional event for a corporation, or a non-profit event; regardless of what type of event it may be, the purpose must be established. Planning for an event can be full of ups and downs, but the hard work is always worth it.