“It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
I make my living by making plans. I plan for emergencies, for mistakes, for funds, for students. My natural inclination toward OCD-like behavior and the love of a good party make me a good fit for a career in events planning, but I’ll admit I ended up here by total accident. And to call it my ‘career’, I suppose, is a misnomer at this point, as I’m not sure I’ll be doing it all my life (we all know my true passion lay in communications, but that’s a post for another evening). Nonetheless, I currently find myself – my mind, all of my waking hours, and my office – consumed with the largest event I’ve ever had the privilege of planning. This event – a 3-day, globally recognized, big-wig entertaining conference – is happening in one week, and I’m incredibly proud.
We’ll see if I say the same thing two weeks from now, right? Check out some of my current enthusiasm after the jump.
In the mean time, I’ve been documenting – a bit – the daily life of an events planner at the twitter hashtag #lifeofaneventsplanner and driving my interns up the wall with photos. And so, here you go, photographic evidence that event planning isn’t as glamorous as chick flicks would make you think. An inside look at what goes in to all of your rubber chicken luncheons and those swag bags you immediately throw away once you’ve flown home.
Our newly arrived – not yet filled – swag bags!
An events coordinator’s best friends!
Stickies. Gift from the gods.
Our lovely back board display (it’s folded in half, but was my first project with the Institute when I started here last year!) and some of our information folders.
The rest of our folders (nearly 300 of them – all stuffed and ready to go!)
We have frisbees, magnets, whistles, sticky pads, notepads, pens, t-shirts, and swag bags, oh my!
Yours truly. Sort of.