Companies and individuals are always looking to hire people to plan their most important events. Opportunities exist to work for a company as an event planner. Or you can work for yourself. No specific education is required, although a four-year college degree in a related field does help in the event planning business.
Significance
Event planning involves organizing all types of events from a large-scale wine tasting fundraiser to a 50th anniversary party to meetings and conferences. You must have incredible people, communication and organizational skills and a certain amount of creativity. Event planning requires brainstorming event ideas and visualizing the steps needed to pull it off and working within a budget.
Corporate Events
The type of event a planner works usually falls into two categories, according to Entrepreneur.com. The first is corporate events. A corporate event planner is responsible for conferences, conventions, fundraising events, company meetings, holiday parties and board meetings.
Social Events
On the flip side is social event planning, which includes weddings, birthday parties, anniversary parties and reunions. You will usually work with an individual rather than a company. It is important to note that some event planners plan a mix of corporate and social events, but both require the same fundamental skills.
Types of Employers
As an event planner, you can work for yourself and choose the type of events you want to plan and the type of clients you want to work with. It also allows you to set your own schedule. You can also choose to work for a nonprofit organization or a for-profit business. Then you are a staff member and will be working with your company on implementing events from start to finish. Finally, you can choose to work for a specific event planning business, such as a wedding planning company.
Education and Experience
A college degree can help in the event planning world, including hospitality management, communications or business. While employers prefer their event planners to have four-year degrees, experience counts for a lot, too. To get experience, volunteer to plan a family member's 50th birthday party or offer to help a local event--or charity. By volunteering you will not only get experience for your resume, but you will also meet people in the event planning field.
