They Think Positively

Negativity can harm your event prof career because it knocks your confidence and stops you from believing you can achieve things. This is then reflected outwards to clients or attendees who may start to lose faith in you and no longer trust your judgment!

Successful event planners look at the positives, even if something starts to go wrong. They use positivism to fight it and find a solution to avoid escalating the problem. This is also one of the ways they handle the inevitable stress that comes with the job of event planning and maintain focus and productivity.

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They Turn Struggles Into Opportunities

Where others might see problems, successful event planners see solutions or the potential to learn, show what they are made of, and gain experience. Even event planning fails can be rife with opportunities to develop and help you achieve success in the future. Creating opportunities also allows successful thinkers to make the most of their time and be more productive.

They Teach Others

Very successful event planners know that other people’s successes are not their failures so they don’t just consider themselves, they help and teach others. Successful event planners see this as an opportunity to learn from different perspectives and gain experience relating and talking to others which comes in handy when dealing with clients. Helping to teach others, whether they are in their event team or outside of their job role also creates positive networking, opportunities and offers resources for the future. All the while they are developing a reputation for being an industry expert making them even  more desirable and paving the way to further opportunities.

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They Focus On What They Want

Ever heard of the phrase “the grass is greener on the side you water it”? A successful event planner will know what they want and focus on how to get there, as there is no point complaining about not reaching your goals if you aren’t doing things to facilitate them. Maintaining focus and thinking about which actions will better help them to achieve their goals helps successful event planners to get there and since their goals usually include creating kick-ass events, clients love them!

They Are Always Learning

We all read plenty of information each day but that doesn’t mean that we always put it into practice. Within the fast-paced event industry, trends are constantly changing and evolving so if they aren’t actioned straight away, they quickly become irrelevant. A successful event planner is always looking for ways to expand their skills and build on the foundation that they already have, whether that is attending workshops, seminars, webinars, or reading reports. What’s most  important, they put these new skills into action.

They Persevere

Understanding that you don’t get anywhere by giving up is key in their mind and helps to motivate them to pursue what they want. Persevering through bad times often yields rewards and helps mentally strengthen their resolve for the future. This fortitude makes them stronger and more confident to handle anything that is thrown at them.

They Look To Their Idols For Examples

Successful event planners know that there is a lot to be learned from the adversity and success of others so you will often find successful thinkers looking at what their idols have done and adapting it to suit their industry or situation. It is one thing to learn from your own mistakes but learning from the mistakes of others helps you to avoid them in the first place. With that in mind,  who do you admire? Who do you aspire to be or look towards as an example?

They Carve Their Own Path

Sometimes doing what is best can be difficult, particularly if it is the road less travelled, but successful thinkers don’t follow the herd, they make their own way and are followed down. Whether it is coming up with original ideas, adapting a traditional theme, or incorporating trends, they don’t disregard thoughts and ideas based on what others think or do, they go with their instincts and carve their own path to success.

They Don’t Wish

It’s okay to want to make changes but if you want to achieve them, there is no point in wishing as this doesn’t actually get anything done and that is why successful event planners avoid it. They make changes happen which requires planning, organization, and a lot of effort. Wishing is just the hope things will change in the future. Successful event planners facilitate the changes that they want to make rather than sit and wait for things to happen.

They Recognize Potential

Successful event planners know the power of their network and relationships and can spot a potential opportunity, client, trend, or colleague that can be useful to them from a mile away and most importantly, they nurture it to make it more valuable to them. Spotting potential business opportunities can be tricky, particularly in a highly competitive environment when decisions are made very quickly, but successful thinkers can process this information and have confidence in their own decision making and instincts to know what is worth pursuing and what isn’t.

 

They Follow Through

If they say they are going to do something they will, because they won’t be wasting time and energy on something that isn’t going to come to fruition. For successful thinkers, they plan in their mind as they go along, meaning that if they aren’t going to implement something it is quickly discarded in place of something more useful. Being reliable and trusted as an event planner is key for maintaining client and colleague relationships, which will also boost your chances of success. So if you have a lot going on in your mind now, consider which things you will actually follow through with, add them to your to-do-list, get rid of the rest, and work on making those things happen!

They Persuade and Negotiate

While event planners have to be persuasive, they also have to learn to give a little. Those successful event planners are not only negotiation ninjas, but they think in terms of the best deal they can get while persuading others that they have gotten what they want so that both sides are happy. It is not just with others that persuasion and negotiation comes in handy, t is also important to persuade and negotiate with yourself to help motivate you to do the tasks you don’t want to do but get them done regardless and stop you from fixating on other areas that might not be productive.

They Appreciate Hard Work

Success doesn’t come easy and event planners know the hard work and dedication it takes to put on an event and become an industry expert so they always appreciate hard work. While others may look for an easier option, successful thinkers get down to the task at hand and appreciate that putting the time and effort in now will yield results later. They focus on this rather than wasting time  trying to avoid the harder parts of the role.

They can also appreciate hard work in others so they tend to gravitate towards hard-working members of the event team to help and collaborate more often. If you can show that you are a hard worker, this is definitely how you can get noticed and learn more from a successful eventprof first-hand!

They Look For Collaborations

When it comes to making big changes and making things happen, particularly in events, you very rarely do it all by yourself so event planners are constantly networking and sniffing out the best people to collaborate with to make an event a success. They also make sure to make a note of relevant brands and startups that are making an impact in the industry in order to contact them to collaborate and start relationships with them early on!

They Reflect

The most successful event professionals are always looking for ways to improve and one of the most effective methods for this is to reflect. Whether it is on mistakes or successes, taking time each day to reflect on tasks, performance, and their own development helps to keep them on track and focused. They don’t make excuses, they just learn and process best practices. Plus, reflecting can help, particularly when dealing with difficult clients or suppliers, as it can give you a different perspective on their behavior and allows you to come to a solution more easily!

They Step Outside Their Comfort Zone

Successful event planners enjoy a challenge and in order to do this, they must push the boundaries and step outside of the comfort zone   in order to gain new experiences and potential contacts to improve in the future. Doing this also ensures that they are evolving and learning, even from the mistakes. As they go along, they reflect on it all and try to turn everything into a positive. These new experiences also lead to inspiration and innovative ideas for events which is why they become more successful.

Manage Their Stress

Event stress comes with the territory of being an event planner so that doesn’t mean successful thinkers aren’t affected by it, it just means they have tools and tactics in place to deal with it more effectively so it doesn’t get the better of them. By maintaining this level of focus, despite the stresses, it boosts their confidence and makes them more productive and less likely to suffer from burnout.

In Conclusion

It’s important to remember that success doesn’t happen overnight and using these thought processes takes time to implement and naturally become a part of your thinking. It is also key to know that successful event planners do not try to copy others, as they are innovative thinkers. Adapt your own thinking in line with what you want and it will be more effective at helping you achieve your full potential.