Professional planning made headline news recently when a top Wedding Coordinator in Ireland said what everyone had been thinking for years: children should be banned from the big day!
According to newspaper reports, Tara Fay’s bold mission statement was quickly backed-up by an army of mums who for years have had to sit out their rightful place in the Time Warp – forced instead to change Brigid’s custard-stained dress or make sure the twins didn’t topple backwards into the wedding cake.
Thankfully, a career in planning doesn’t always require such contentious decisions to be made.
Right across the board – from the Events Coordinators and Events Managers to the Team Leaders and Conference and Banqueting Supervisors – decision-making is more likely to be carried out so that everyone is happy…and usually with not even the tiniest tot excluded.
The role of a Coordinator varies almost as much as the variety of events that must be managed. At the grandest end of the scale – such as major conferences, corporate parties and, yes, those weddings – an Events Coordinator can be indispensable.
Who else would forego the delights of socialising with everyone else to take care of the details, no matter how complex or how small?
A Coordinator will already have helped their client to define the scope of their event – the why, the when, the where, the how many, the how come and the how go, as well as what everyone will be eating and drinking…every minute will be set from beginning to end.
It all takes a very special skillset that majors on good communication and the ability to motivate. Whether you’re dealing in-house, such as a hotel or conference centre, with other Heads of Department, or with outside agents at a new location, the ability to convey precisely what you – that is your client – wants is vital.
As is the ability to remedy shortcomings where you find them without causing tantrums or walk-outs that could “ruin everything!”
Equally important, too, is a good eye for figures (not the bridesmaids, cheeky!) so you can set the budget and make sure everyone sticks to it. After all, you wouldn’t want to get the numbers wrong and leave a VIP standing forlorn and embarrassed on the stage without a seat.
And, as any Banqueting Manager worth their salt and pepper will tell you, never underestimate the number of puddings needed for the American Gastronomes on Tour or, for that matter, the volume of sherry on tap for Great Aunt Ina’s 70th.
In this senior role, therefore, you can be involved at every level of decision making, from marketing and selling banqueting space to helping shift tables to make room for the dancefloor.
Above all, however, you will need to be thinking one step ahead: and be able to keep calm when the great gods of calamity unexpectedly trip you up.
Even those with the most fastidious attention to detail can be surprised by events: The Coordinator with ambition to become a Team Leader will keep the head, think straight and come up with a solution before anything is even noticed.
And that’s the true talent of a professional Coordinator. No-one will even know you were there.
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