Category Archives: junior event

Empower Them: planning a junior event

By | empower them, junior event, mentoring, sales and marketing tips, working with interns | No Comments

POP QUIZ TIME – answer yes or no:

  • has your phone stopped ringing as much, lately?
  • you want to reach your ideal client, but you’re not sure how to get in front of him/her.
  • looking ahead in 1-3 months, do you wish you had more events booked?
  • ever wonder how your competitor always seems to plan all the very best venue open houses in your city?
  • do you feel stuck on a hamster wheel, spinning round and round, working around the clock, desperately juggling it all?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, this week’s Empower Them task is absolutely MADE for you and your interns/apprentices.  It’s okay, thank me later.

Our “Empower Them” ideas are all about tasks you could delegate to your interns and apprentices that would enrich their learning experience during their internship.  They appreciate it when you give them responsibilities that challenge them, guidance all along in the project and help them gain tangible skills as a wedding planner.  So, here goes…

The Knot Magazine - Austin Market Mixer - planned by interns, led by Mary of The Simplifiers

The Knot Magazine – Austin Market Mixer – planned by interns, led by Mary of The Simplifiers; photo credit: Cory Ryan Photography

TASK: have your team plan a “junior event”

Now, wait a second…stay with me for a second.  I know what you’re thinking...”WHAT!!?!  We’re not going to just let an untrained intern plan an ENTIRE event for our firm!!?!”

Yup, you’re right.

Who would be silly enough to put an untrained person in front of a client?

You’re going to:
  • train them
  • give them the base tools
  • give them guidance and a safety net to fall back on, if and when they need advice

…and you’re gonna set them free.  Because you know as well as I do…there’s only so much you can read about event planning, eventually, you’ve just got to get your hands in it and DO IT.

So, here’s how to do it in five easy steps…

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Hands-on Requires Letting Go.

By | junior event, mentoring, Millennials, VIP Summer Class of 2015, working with interns | No Comments

For interns, I firmly believe there is only so much you can read about event planning…at some point (I suggest, after six weeks), you just have to do it.

I have planned hundreds of events, of all shapes and sizes, since 2003 and I must admit, I learn something new with every single one.  Maybe we figured out the ballroom lights in Mercury Hall are on dimmers that sometimes self-adjust as if they are haunted…or that the loading dock at that one particular downtown hotel (you know the one) is a NIGHTMARE for load-in/out.  Or maybe we learned how best to communicate with that DJ who never seems to respond to any emails we send them…not one, not at all.

These are the true teaching moments.

And in these “finesse” moments, it truly tests your abilities to stay calm, cool and collected…and your true colors shine.

Can you think fast on your feet and do it with a smile?
(photo credit: Nadine Photography)

moments like these make wedding planning look easy – photo credit: Nadine Photography

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