Not everyone aspiring to be an event planner can be quite successful. Usually planners find success in one aspect or the other before making it big. People tend to be talented in one area or the other, be it hospitality management or organizational capabilities or creating new ideas or communicating exceptionally well or managing inventory. For example, Lee J. Howard Entertainment Inc. in Atlanta provided only entertainment initially. Then after the request of the clients, he ventured into other fields. Martin Van Keken of MVKA productions was a successful caterer before he took up hosting entire events.



Some event planners today were once working for other companies before they established their own businesses. There are numerous examples of such people who initially worked for others. Though the backgrounds of the event planners vary greatly, they share many traits and properties. First of the traits everyone reported was the passion for your event planning. Every successful planner said that they couldn't wait in the mornings to go their office everyday, which means that success comes from passion. Its going to be a hard work all day, but if you have passion, then success, rewards, name and money come automatically. It should be noted that almost everyone comes into the field not to become rich but because of the challenges it poses. They all wanted the client to give a hard time, and make them go crazy and after pulling it off, pat their backs.

Event planners need to have a kind of persona to make it big. Some of the most wanted traits are:

1. Organizational ability: Be able to keep an eye on everything going on rather than just jumbling through all the issues aimlessly.

2. Decision-making ability: Decision making within a matter of split second is what makes for a successful event planner.

3. Paying attention to minute details: Events need a lot of issues to be dealt with, so the list of details to be taken care can be quite exhaustive. Remembering all the details and delegating them properly is crucial. Lee J. Howard suggests working from the back to see how you get there.

4. Exceptional communication skills: One needs to convey one's thoughts and ideas in a simple yet effective manner to the clients, vendors, staff and others. Not only is giving information important, but also is the way it is given. Receiving back the answer is also vital since it shows how good a listener you are and thereby how open you are to new ideas. Communication can be verbal and also non-verbal (visual). Able to recognize a blank face when one doesn't understand what is being said can be quite useful.

5. Creativity: This trait is the most desired by many aspirants. When handling elements like designing an event, defining a theme, creating a new idea to manage an event in an entirely different way, one needs to be highly creative. Its not just being flashy or glamorous, but some simple things need creativity, like when one plan is not going to work in a particular scenario, then dishing out another plan that works better can also be defined as creativity.

6. Natural liking for people: As this business is people-oriented, being with people, liking their tastes, caring for them becomes an integral part.

7. Flexibility: Not everything will go as planned before. Some or the other thing will go wrong somewhere. Being able to handle such things before it spoils the whole event makes for a better planner.

8. Thinking tactically: There are always good and bad news. Able to convey them properly needs tact and frankness. If the budget goes beyond expected, one must be able to act cleverly and convey it properly to the client. Sometimes the design might be liked by many but not by the client, so tact will convince him to the design.

In addition to the above traits, there are some important properties like being honest, being candid, maintaining quality, being sensible in speeding up things, dealing with vendors, attitude towards the sub-ordinates which will make for a successful planner. One way to initiate learning is to offer your volunteering services to any big person so that you will know what make that person successful, rich and venerable at the same time.