I didn't always know that I was destined to be an event planner. But I should have. I generally liked to be in charge of details, and loved organizing events. Looking back, there is a moment that I should have known this would be my career.
When I went to college I began majoring in secondary education and math. I wanted to be a high school math teacher. I was great at math in high school, but after 3 semester of math courses, it stopped making sense. So I did what over half of college students do, I changed majors to public relations and event planning. These classes were certainly more my speed. Now that I am many years into my career, I can look back and identify the moment where I should have realized that I was meant to be an event planner.
I was just 16 years old and asked to organize one of the 5 locations of the Annual Mt. Olive Halloween Tournament. This soccer tournament was put on by the local soccer club. It was a tournament that I had participated in myself for many years. My dad was the co-chair of the tournament and needed volunteers to run our various locations. I volunteered and he thought that I was capable enough to handle it. He put me in charge of the high school site.
Overnight there was rain... lots and lots of rain. It even rained most of the morning. He dropped me off there and had me greet the referees, get the games setup and ready to go, and try and keep the games on schedule. We had 3 matches going on at once in two separate locations at the High School, but I ran the show like clockwork.
Around lunchtime, there was so much rain that one of the fields was no playable. It was getting dangerous. I already had brooms that the referee and I were using between games and at halftime to push the standing water off the field. But, our efforts were in vain and the rain began to be too much. We needed a plan B.
I called my dad and told him the conditions were bad, and the field was in no shape to continue playing. I asked him what to do. He hung up with me and began making other arrangements. Within minutes he had a solution. Route everyone to the Tinc Road location and put them on Field 2. I'm on my way over shortly. I sprang into action. All the traffic that pulled up to play on that field was effectively re-routed to the new location without issue.
Expecting a complete disaster, my dad and the co-chair, Hank, pulled up to the field. They were anticipating angry and confused parents. They were prepared to offer food vouchers and tournament refunds. But when they arrived, there were no angry parent mobs, or traffic lines. I had successfully routed everyone to the new location with little effort. They were shocked.
I should have known this would be my calling. At just 16 years old, I had handled myself like a professional. No angry parents, no refunds, the games were played, and the show went on. They talked afterwards that some parents that they had put at other locations could not have handled this situation as gracefully as I did. I was proud. And dad was proud.
When I called my dad in college years later to tell him I was changing majors, he was shocked. But, after his initial shock he pulled out this story and said, "I should have known this would be your calling because of how you handled re-routing people at the soccer tournament all those years ago." Touche dad! We should have known.
When did you know that you were going to go into your chosen profession? Did you have an "aha moment"? Email me at: eventssimplifieddr@gmail.com.