The Madness & The Magic in Event Management

On day 1 of classes, I always ask my students this question, “ Why did you choose Event Planning as a course?"

The answers bring alive the most multifaceted perspectives of the industry from clean and unbiased minds.

Some of the responses are:

• I want to become famous by doing events.
• It is a very glamorous industry
• I want to learn about new trends in the event business
• I want to know all about new fashion & attire
• I want to meet celebrities
• I want to become an expert with the basics, work for 10 years and then teach like you mam to encourage others to be event managers.
• It will make me travel everywhere in India and abroad
• Meeting lot of different people and make new friends
• It is creative & fun
• After working for an event company for 2 years, I want to open my own event management firm.

All the reactions above have two key underlying themes:

a) Aspirations & b) Opportunity.

That is the biggest USP of the trade. Event Management embraces the vastness of dreams and the development of skill to bring them alive.  The high experiential value makes this extremely global, creative, young, dynamic, fast growing & lucrative trade a real bliss to be a part of.

Event Management is now an extremely structured industry due to it’s high demand. Today’s generation entering the profession is a lucky one. There are institutes offering courses to initiate prospective event managers smoothly into this profession. The foundation of anyone entering the business after having studied it always gives him or her an upper hand over another candidate without the necessary event educational base.  The curriculums spread out over a year or two, are well balanced between theory and practical training. That gives people a real quality entry to at least do an initial elimination of choice to be in it or not.  

The mystical world of events is not just a ‘job’ or ‘career’. It is a really cohesive journey of growth of various aspects of life at large.  We as event managers shoulder various really key responsibilities such as:

• Learning the real definition of teamwork and living it on a daily basis.
• Interacting with people at various levels and amicably molding our behaviors to create comfort for everyone who we are working with.
• Dealing with individuals from diverse educational & domestic backgrounds & from small and large cities and countries & highly skilled in specialized tasks.
• Brainstorming to bring alive some creative brilliance.
• Collaborating talent to create an impactful experience for all stakeholders with the power of creativity.
• Event managers identify heroes and design platforms to bring them to the forefront.
• In this profession one gets the autonomy to perform and lead with humble conviction. 

An individual who selects the above career is being constantly pushed mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually to keep raising the bar.  The result is a very solid human being.

Event managers develop high levels of emotional intelligence, are bustling with energy and positivity, are strong willed by always being solution providers, learn with an attitude of gratitude and develop great leadership skills. They get groomed in to managing themselves by understanding the importance of ‘me time’, relationships with colleagues & clients, friends and family and time management with detail and precision.

In the end, event managers with a lot of hard work, grit, glory, fun, long hours, persistence and a smile put various pieces of the puzzle together to create a really dreamy bespoke ensemble.  We make dreams of our guests come true, bring a smile to their faces and become a memorable spec in their life forever.

So I tell my students this; ‘the love for such a highly demanding world of events is like being pregnant! You either are pregnant or not. Similarly you either love events or you don’t. There is no middle ground”. The only way to find out is to immerse yourself in to this ocean of opportunity. All the above responses will surely make sense.

The high that one feels by seeing your mind come alive in the form of an event set is nothing but truly intoxicating. The backend and backstage madness takes center stage in a manner, which is magical.

 - Ms.Kanika Sethi Babbar

   Faculty, Event Management and PR