How “Event Planner” Went from Being the Job I Didn’t Want to the Job I Love

It is late afternoon. I am standing by the backstage, watching the graduates climb up on stage to sing their song. It is the grand finale of the whole event.

I’m not supposed to be there, at least not as the head coordinator. My job originally had been to assist the part-time main event planner, who had left to go back to our office. The responsibility to direct the ceremony had fallen into my hands. Not by choice, but because I knew the flow best, and I had been coordinating the rehearsals in his absence. “You know what to do anyway,” the main event coordinator had told me before departing.

The whole ceremony has rushed by in a blur. I don’t remember much of it, aside from pacing around the backstage throughout the ceremony. Since the start, the technical script has been in my hands, and I have been murmuring the event details over and over again. “After the opening prayer by Mr. So and So, Mrs. So and So will come on stage to give the welcoming remarks. Entrance is on stage right. The exit is on stage left. Cue the stagehands to give the microphone.”

I look up at the burst of applause. The song is over, and the graduates are taking the photos. From the floor that holds the audience, the proud parents congratulate each other. The head of our organisation approaches me. “Well done,” he says. “See? You have it in you.” I laugh and thank him. And then he tells me words I will never forget: “You are never alone. Whenever you’re coordinating events for this organisation, you are standing on the shoulders of the leaders who will lift you up and support you.”

Eight years ago

A year before the graduation, I had applied at an educational organisation and had accepted my very first job as an administrative assistant. I loved the community, loved the goal we strove towards. I loved the advocacy that kept our hearts pumping and our adrenaline on high. Then came the first event.

I thought it would be easy. We had hired professional event planners to coordinate everything. From the behind-the-scenes preparations to the actual event day, they were the ones running the show. We even had a marketing agency in charge of promoting the event. The attendee sign-ups were increasing as the day grew closer. The excitement was building up. Even if I was just the admin assistant helping out with the little tasks, everything felt so exciting. I was glad to be in the middle of it.

Until the actual event day when everything fell apart.

Months of preparation unravelled in seconds. Plans that had been carefully constructed and rehearsed to ensure their success came tumbling to the ground. Roles were mixed up, lines crossed, tears shed. And the event hadn’t officially begun.

That day sealed it for me: I would never work in events. They were too stressful, too unpredictable, too complicated, too exhausting. Even after the event, when our organisation head approached me and asked me if I wanted to work in events, I’d say no, citing my first experience as my reason.

That was in 2012. Eight years have passed since then. Eight years since my stout, firm, and somewhat stubborn declaration. Eight years, and I have been with events ever since, coordinating almost a hundred them in total! Life definitely has a sense of humour.

From admin assistant to event planner

What made me change my mind? I can’t pinpoint the exact time and place. You know how it is with companies and organisations around the world. People resign, switch jobs, find their calling and purpose elsewhere. That’s what happened to the organisation where I worked.

At first, my main task was to provide admin support to whoever needed it. That was when I found myself helping out the events department for a couple of parties and seminars. And then it happened. One year and four months after my first (and horrible) event experience, I signed a new contract to be the event planner for the whole organisation.

If you’ve ever played Wedding Dash, you would most likely have met Quinn, the organiser whose job is to oversee everything. As the player, you get to step into her shoes to coordinate weddings; you see the world through her eyes. It’s your task to make sure that the guests get served promptly and according to their wishes. At the same time, you have to make sure the bride doesn’t come down with a bad case of hysterics. And Great-Aunt mustn’t get too loud and weepy, and Great-Uncle mustn’t become drunk and noisy. Oh, and did I mention that the cake mustn’t fall and the kitchen mustn’t catch fire and the music mustn’t stop?

It’s a fun game. And it pretty much illustrates the job of an event planner—keeping an eye on everything while maintaining your calm in the middle of all the chaos.

When I played that game as a high schooler, I didn’t know I would become an event planner in the future. Even then, Quinn, as the event planner, was someone to look up to with her cook, calm demeanour. I admired her, but at the same time, I was also terrified. I didn’t think I could ever exhibit that same kind of grace under so much pressure.

It’s easier when you’ve had months of planning. Even then, something will always happen on the actual day that you never quite expected. It’s even more challenging when you have events that are within a couple of weeks of each other—and sometimes days—and you are the only full-time event planner in the whole organisation. The whirlpool of to-do lists, registration numbers to watch out for, budgets, Gantt charts—all ready to drown you alive. You can imagine the confusion, the madness as the events draw near. You’re in danger of interchanging facts and information if you don’t remain focused.

From something I didn’t want to something I love

I’ve always been the backstage girl. The one to help the kids into their costumes during theatre productions. The one to create props or proofread Keynote slides so things are orderly when flashed on the screen. I wasn’t one to take lead by directing people around. I wasn’t one to hold orientations for volunteers or talks for parents about their child’s graduation requirements. I didn’t like Microsoft Excel and budgets and anything to do with money.

My job as an event planner stripped me of creating excuses so I didn’t have to do the things I used to be uncomfortable doing. The funny thing now is, I enjoy events so much and can’t imagine a life without being in the event planning industry. From something I didn’t want, my job as an event planner has become something I really love. From refusing the position when it was offered to me twice, I’m now at the early stages of starting my own event planning business.

I love events. I love the way you have to pay attention to details when you plan them. I love the adrenaline that comes a few days before the event when you see everything falling into place. I love brainstorming ideas and hoping the attendees will enjoy them. I love seeing their faces when they do. I love packing up and going home at the end of the day after a successful event. With aching feet, a hungry tummy, and all, but knowing that every weary bone and throbbing muscle is worth it.