Last week I wrote about how Philadelphia has stumbled in their plans to host the Pope in September. You can read about the story here. While the comedy isn't over, it's a great opportunity to talk about some of the nuances of hosting a large scale city-wide event for a VIP.
The Power of Relationship Building
I remember when webinars, conference calling, and other event technology first came about. Everyone was afraid that technology would over take the meeting industry and there would be no need for face-to-face meetings anymore. These fears were eventually squashed and the events industry continued on. Face-to-face meetings are not going away and in fact the meeting and event industry is booming! The reason? Relationships.
The Domino Effect
Being an event planner is like setting up dominoes. You place each piece meticulously one after the other and make sure that none of them knock over or the entire operation might fall apart. It feels just like this video - which I couldn't take my eyes off of by the way. I found a shorter video first, but this one was just epic!
Planning for the Unexpected
In my previous position at Rider I would take hundreds of high school students visiting from Italy, Kazakhstan, Spain, Portugal, and other places on tour to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. I was essentially a cruise director without the boat. The students were visiting in the summer for two weeks where they would go to class for 3 hours in the morning and learn English. The remaining 21 hours was up to the Study Tours Counselors to take them to various tourist attractions.
When Technology Fails
We have no idea how much we rely on technology in our lives until it fails us. When it fails, it is like losing one of our arms. As an event planner, about 90% of my work is computer-based, which makes it incredibly convenient to work at home, on the road, communicate with people far away, work on presentations, and basically run my life. However, there are times when technology fails and it is important to know how to deal with that.