Planner Olympics 2012

Photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/communitiesuk/

Two thoughts have been cooking together in my head lately. With the London 2012 Summer Olympics all over my various dashboards, it's hard not to think of all of the related events and the planners involved. This year, CareerCast.com also listed event planning as the #6 most stressful job - right behind soldiers, firefighters, and police. (Really?)

I hereby propose the hashtag #plannerolympics to my event planning community. If you've ever gone 8 hours without a restroom break, worn high heels on concrete convention hall floors for 12, or (my true story) sat politely eating nothing during a 2-hour menu tasting whilst 12 weeks pregnant and starving (because the client barely touched her food and I didn't want to look rude), then #plannerolympics is for you.

July and August in Oregon are especially trying for independent event planners as we juggle current clients with incoming inquiries for next year, while also fielding last-minute inquiries for every event type imaginable. Strength, stamina, patience, and focus...needed by medalist athletes and professional event planners alike!

So whichever social tool you're using, be it Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Tumblr, or Google+ ... tell me about your #plannerolympics. Long distance marathon walking? Heavy decor deadlift? The "don't put that steak entrée in front of our vegetarian VIP" sprint? Do tell!

Internship available at Portland Children's Museum

I was recently contacted by Claire Tronvig, the Volunteer Coordinator at Portland Children's Museum, who alerted me of an interesting opportunity for a wedding planner who is interested in transitioning into nonprofit events. This half-time internship reports directly to the Director of Development and will focus on assisting with fund raising events for PCM that support donor creation and retention while meeting and, hopefully, exceeding budgeted expectations. 

More about this internship can be found after the jump. To apply, please contact Claire at ctronvig@portlandcm.org.

Keeping your business's blog and your editorial blog separate

As event planners, we wear lots of hats. Because there are so many aspects to planning events (are you a designer/stylist? A logistician? Do corporate? Social? etc. etc...) we get used to multitasking.

So it is with event planner blogs. I read avidly, and it's great to see so many people sharing their ideas and best practices. One thing I think is dangerous about blogging though, is when the motive for a blog is not transparent.

Example: the other day, I stumbled across a wedding I had coordinated, on a beautiful, editorial-looking blog. The writing was well-crafted, and the blogger advertised that they accepted submissions through Two Bright Lights. In every way it appeared to be an editorial post, although I thought it was weird that, except for some fine print at the bottom, there was no mention of my company specifically as the wedding coordinator. On the other hand, vendors for the cake, flowers, and attire were mentioned and name-checked in detail.

A few weeks later I saw an update, where the blogger shared a brand new social media page and excitedly announced a new division of their coordinating business. Confused, I went back to their About page. After reading, I realized the blog belonged to an event planner in the Portland area and that it doubled as their business blog and website.

I recommend that businesses not do this. Posting a detailed blog post about an event called a "Real Wedding" on your event planning business blog implies that you have some connection to the event. If you are blogging to increase awareness of your event planning business, you are subtly passing off these "Real Weddings" as your own work.

If you want to be a journalist-blogger that covers real weddings, great. If you wish to be an editor of beautifully curated content, that's wonderful! (Offbeat Bride and Every Last Detail are some sites that do this very well.)

On the other hand, if you are a planner marketing your business by blogging, post "Real Weddings" of only your own events. Be very clear about the use of pictures for events that you're not connected with. That way your motives are clear, and you won't appear to be trying to mislead the public.

Agree? Think I'm way off base? Leave it in the comments.

Image of me, working the Oregon Nurses Association 2011 convention, courtesy Casey Campbell.

Voting open for NW Meetings and Events Best of 2012

Event professionals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho can show their appreciation for their favorite meeting venues and services in the pages of Northwest Meetings and Events magazine. Voting is now open for the magazine's "Best of 2012", where hotels, attractions, and service providers can be nominated for the Readers' Choice Best of Awards.

Make sure to cast your vote before the deadline on February 24th.

{ Be a Better Event Planner } Handling client email

Wrapping up a recent corporate event, I noticed that there were 258 emails in the folder I had set aside for this client. I'm sure there will be a few more when you take into account post-event recaps and invoices. Even with the low, conservative estimate of five minutes spent working on each emailed request or action item, that's almost 21 hours of event planning work based on emails alone. In reality it's probably far more.

As an event planner, are you accounting for the work you do over email when you are estimating the job for the client and planning out your workflow? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to Ramberg Media Images for the graphic.

Blogging for your Event Planner Business

EJP Events is no stranger to event planner blogging - and Special Events magazine noticed that today, asking us to share some thoughts about why an event planner would blog and what's in it for them as a business.

You can read the entire article, "Event Pros Who Make Blogs Pay Off" at Special Events Magazine's website. Thanks to editor Lisa Hurley for reaching out to us and quoting us in the article.

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon on Flickr

Favorite iPhone apps for Event Planners

Planning an event is so much easier with a smartphone, don't you agree? While I know there are lots of choices out there, it seems the tool of choice in the special events world is, surprise, surprise -- the iPhone from Apple. I thought it would be fun to make a list of the apps I can't seem to live without, and see if you all agree.



- Sunrise, Sunset Does what it says on the box. Calculates sunrise and sunset times. Perfect if your client is wondering if they need additional lighting, or if they'll get enough use out of their candles or twinkle lights.

- TideApp if you're doing an event on the beach, you need a tide table! Otherwise your wedding ceremony or employee picnic could end up with cold, wet, feet!

- SoundLevel Never get busted again, keep the neighbors happy, and stay on the good side of the law. This app is a decibel meter. Simply stand at the borders of your event and check to make sure you are within the legal limits (usually 80 dB within a city).

- Google Apps (Calendar, gmail, Tasks, Documents) Not specifically for event planning, but oh so helpful to have your calendar, email, and task list in the cloud so you can check it at any time. You can also share with employees or contractors at different levels of security so everyone has the latest updates.

- Bar Stocker I might be cheating a little bit, since this is my own app. But it was so annoying to open Excel every time I wanted to calculate how much liquor, beer, and wine I needed for my upcoming events. Bar Stocker lets you input number of guests, length of event, season, and type of attendees and does all the work for you.

- AccuWeather Premium . Critical for your outdoor events, for travel, and just all around good to know weather information. I pay additional for the premium service so I can get a detailed 15-day-forecast.

- Tally Counter How many people actually attended the event? Tally Counter lets you stand in the back and click as you count heads.

- iHandy Level Is that picture of the retirement party honoree level? Is the arbor you're setting up perfectly straight? This app makes use of the iPhone accelerometer so you can check.

and of course, what busy event planner could live without...
- Chipotle Ordering
I'm only half kidding. If it weren't for Chipotle on those on-the-go days I wonder what I would eat.

What are your favorite special event planning iPhone apps? Do please share!