As I celebrate my 20th anniversary as an event planner, it's a perfect time to take a retrospective journey and assess the changes, transformations, and improvements that have occurred over the past two decades in the industry.
Certain elements that were once commonplace in events have gradually faded away in recent times.
Optics and Liability
For instance, the era of Host bars, where excess drinking was the norm during
Event planning is an exhilarating and dynamic profession that requires a unique blend of creativity, organization, and interpersonal skills. It's hard to believe that I started my first agency job in July of 2003! After dedicating two decades of my life to this industry, I am humbled and honored to share the valuable lessons and insights I've gained along the way. As I reflect on my twenty-year tenure as an event planner, let’s look at
Asking an event planner for a proposal can seem simple enough when someone has never hired a professional event planner or event coordinator. However, in the last few months, I have had some odd requests for proposals (RFP). Event planning can be a complex and time-consuming process, requiring careful planning and execution. The RFP is a key tool used to help organizations find the right vendor or service provider for their event.
Organizing an event, whether it’s a meeting / conference, stampede event or a corporate holiday celebration, can be a daunting task. From managing vendors and coordinating logistics to ensuring everything runs smoothly on the day of the event, there are numerous details that require careful attention. This is where a certified professional event planner comes in.
A certified professional event planner is a trained and experienced
It has been a hot minute since I have had a chance to write a blog post. As I recapped my 2022 – it appears that last year was the busiest year yet for Jennifer James Events - and I know I’m not the only one. Live events are coming back – but what we observed in the last quarter for many businesses is that they hadn’t planned for holiday event season, and many were scrambling to find not only venues but reliable and reputable event
Is Event Sponsorship Important? YES!
Event sponsorship for some events can have a huge impact to the bottom line of an event or organizations fiscal success. I have been very fortunate to have worked on some very successful event sponsorship campaigns for tradeshows, conferences, associations and fundraisers. I even managed to create a sponsorship package for my local chapter of event professionals that was the
Fun fact. In 2020 (pre-pandemic) we built the Ultimate Event Planning Guide, which can be found for download on www.jenniferjamesevents.com
The thought process behind building this guide was an outline for anyone considering planning a corporate social event or even social event on a large scale.
The first place we recommend starting is with discovery questions that determine your event purpose, objectives, and goals.
Well, here we are two years into the pandemic. We have cancelled, postponed, and "pivoted". Virtual and hybrid events have come a long way but we have learned that people yearn to be together. For those of us that have been fortunate enough to continue working throughout the pandemic – it seems like planning, re-planning, and contingency planning is imperative.
While people want to be together everyone has different feelings and
I have been very fortunate to have been an event planner for the past 18 years. Even saying 18 years makes me wonder where all that time has gone! Before becoming an event planner, I had many other jobs and experiences that I now know helped get me ready for this business. Here are some examples. I went to broadcasting school, so I was great at researching and working in groups. I worked as a server, so I have an affinity for what it
