I plan to write more about event planning soon, byt there are a few quick things I would like to note until I have time to write a post:
- What can go wrong, will go wrong. The best thing to do is be prepared and stay calm. One guest complimented me on my demeanor. He said that demeanor shows a lot about a person and I showed that I can roll with things even when things aren’t quite right.
- You don’t get to enjoy the event. I took about three bites of my food and I was back up again, checking on the buffet and going around the room. My job was to make sure things ran smoothly and enjoying myself was low on my list of priorities. Luckily, the waitress was nice enough to give me a to-go bag of all the food served. I enjoyed the food after the event.
- The event will probably start late. You can’t control what time people arrive, even if you tell them to get there early. It helped that I built extra time into the schedule to help with this.
- Event planning is harder than it looks. My friend Jena told me this last year after she planned this same event. I didn’t quite believe her until I was in her position. I’m sure some things I did was criticized by others. But until someone is completely in charge of planning an event, I’m not sure they have much room to talk. You don’t know the hassles and stresses of event planning until you’ve actually done it.
- If you expect it to be simple, it won’t be. I bought 10 glass vases from the local dollar store. Several of them started leaking after being filled with water. You wouldn’t expect glass vases to not be able to hold water.
Rachel M. Esterline works as an account executive for Central Michigan Life, the nationally award-winning school newspaper at Central Michigan University. She is as an account executive for PR Central, CMU’s student-run public relations firm and as a public relations executive with the Student Government Association. Additionally, Rachel serves on the executive board of the Public Relations Student Society of America at CMU and has completed a seven-month internship with her university’s public relations and marketing department. Rachel will graduate in May 2010 with a degree in public relations with minors in journalism and communication.
