What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

Have you ever wondered what truly motivates you to work? What are the underlying psychological principles that keep us going to work every day? In the TED video “What makes us feel good about our work?,” Dan Ariely discusses what key factors must be present in order to keep workers happy and enthusiastic about their jobs. He also applies these principles to simple tasks we perform such as building our own IKEA furniture.

In a simplistic view, people think money is the primary thing that motivates us to work, but is that true for everyone? Other factors are involved that make us feel good about our work.

Enjoyment is one key principle that motivates people. If you are in a specific field that you gives you joy, it will show in your results. Meaningful work also plays a big part in job satisfaction, such as if your work strives toward helping the company succeed or making a difference for your community or others (like a successful event!).

Acknowledgement also plays a large role in motivation and better work outcomes. When you get credit for your hard work, it pushes you to continue to go above and beyond.

A final aspect that Dan addresses about what makes us feel good about our work is putting in effort. When we actually put effort toward what we do, the end result is much better than if we were to complete the task half-heartedly. Knowing that your labor and time paid off with a successful result affirms that you know what you are doing and encourages you to keep it up!

Watch the TED video to learn more!

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Nine Ways (Beyond the Obvious) for Event Planners to Adapt to COVID-19

COVID-19 makes challenging times for Event Heroes

This blog and my social media stream are filled with helpful guidance for event planners. Recent posts here have covered topics like how to choose an event theme, how to use networking to build your event planning business, how to pick the ideal venue, and how to find the right vendors to work with.

That won’t change, even with live events shut down due to the coronavirus. Why? First, because the lock down is temporary. Just because we aren’t running live events right now doesn’t mean we should stop thinking about planning them or how to make our future events better. We will be producing live events again at some point.

When? No one knows for sure, but some of the best-informed sources predict that restrictions—at least some restrictions, in some places—will start to be eased before the end of May.

That doesn’t tell us exactly when live events will resume, but it’s worth noting the Democratic National Convention (starting August 17th) and Republican convention (August 24th) are both still on, at this point. That would indicate live events in the U.S. could start back up again sometime between early June and mid-August.

Second, this down time is excellent time for event professionals to brush up on your skills. Read this blog (of course!) as well as other leading event blogs and event industry publications. Listen to industry podcasts. Read business books. Maybe even pursue your first, or additional, event professional certifications.

Here are eight more great ways, beyond the obvious, to make this industry down time as productive as possible.

Tackle your “someday” list. We’ve all got a to-do list like this! Someday I’ll clean out my warehouse. Someday I’ll reorganize my office. Someday I’ll update my website. “Someday” is now!

Update your business plan. This should ideally be a “living” document that helps keep you on track, not a document collecting dust on a shelf. Pull it out, see how it compares to your real business, and update it. While you’re at it, update any forms, vendor contracts, and other business documents you use regularly.

Revisit your ideal client profile. Is it still the same? Your business has almost certainly evolved over time. If your ideal target client profile has changed, update that—along with all of your messaging (website, business cards, brochures, direct mail pieces, etc.) to make sure your marketing is hitting the right mark.

Reach out to vendors, venues…even competitors! Check in on them. Ask how they are doing, what they are doing, and if there is any way you can help. Even other planners you compete with may also be people you turn to (or who turn to you) if you run out of supplies, need to borrow equipment, or even for business referrals when you (or they) are booked or come across an opportunity that isn’t quite the right fit.

Look for ways to team up with vendors/competitors to produce something needed now. For example, helping with food pickup and delivery for medical pros and first responders.

Event Industry News recently reported on a network of event organisers and suppliers formed in the U.K. to “pool their resources and work together to assist with requests from the NHS, local government, charities and any other organisations that need help in the fight against the virus. The group includes suppliers with access to generators, furniture, comms equipment, tents and marquees, outdoor and indoor audio equipment, outdoor and indoor lighting, vehicles, staging equipment, heating equipment, venue dressing and many other items.”

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has put together a COVID-19 news and resources pages for event professionals, which includes a section on how organizations can help their local communities.

And BizBash has reported on how caterers, florists, venues, and other event vendors, from New Hampshire to southern California. are finding ways to help in their communities. These activities include donating food and other items to shelters and churches; serving free lunches to children affected by school shutdowns; and loaning tech equipment to schools and nursing homes, among others.

Don’t “market” — but do communicate. Create unique, appropriate messages for different groups: current clients (one-to-one communications), known prospects, and potential prospects.

But be careful with this! We’ve all seen too many examples of bad outreach. This isn’t the time to be tone-deaf or self-promotional. Be genuine, be informative about what’s happening within your company, and be brief.

Stay informed, so you can keep others informed. We monitor several industry news sources and aggregators so we easily see 40-50 stories every day about coronavirus. Of that number, we’ll share two or three, at most a handful, on our social channels, and the “best of the best” via direct email. Consider sharing the stories you come across that are most informative, actionable, and inspiring, with your contacts.

Move events online—but go beyond plain, boring, overdone webinars. When live events first started shutting down, there was a rush to move events online. The predictable result was that we are all now overwhelmed with webinar invitations, and quite frankly, getting webinared-out.

But there is an array of tools for online events beyond standard webinar platforms like Zoom, GoToMeeting, and WebEx. Brands are thinking outside the box with at-home event experiences like virtual concerts. Tools like Mural enable visual online collaboration, which is great for workshops and brainstorming sessions.  And avatar-based virtual event platforms mimic real-world meetings online; for example, letting you attend a keynote address or break-out sessions.

The Bottom Line

Hopefully, our industry return to something close to normal sooner rather than later. None of us have any control over that timing. But we do have control over what we do with the time we have now.

Do what you can to keep your business operating, and serve the community. Keep learning. Take care of “housekeeping” tasks so you are better prepared for live event production once that resumes. Stay in touch with your suppliers, clients, and prospects. And keep exploring new ideas. We’ll all get through this!

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A Day in the Life of an Event Planner

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The day in the life of an event planner is hectic and ever-changing. No one day is quite like another. That’s the exciting part of the job!  But you can expect your “typical” day to go something like this…

8:00 am: It’s go time! First things first, coffee. Once you get your morning jolt, it’s off to business. Communication is key. Email and phone calls are the start of almost every day. Make sure to check your messages in the morning so you can prioritize how the rest of your day will go. A to-do list is essential, not only to plan out your day, but your week and month as well.

9:30 am: Meeting with a new potential client (congrats!). Make sure you know their priorities before the meeting. Listen carefully to your client, and remember: this is their day. It doesn’t matter if this is for a party for five, 500, or 5,000. Every event counts.

Building a client list is crucial for an event planner, because if you do a good job they will likely come back, and recommend you to others.  Once you score your client (of course!) it is time to plan, plan, plan!

10:45 am: While you are starting to plan for your new client, you have to remember your other clients! An event planner usually will have more than one event going on at a time. It’s all about multi-tasking and keeping careful track of dates and times.

In a single day, you may have to call a caterer, a florist, a hotel, an event space, an AV provider, a speaker. and other vendors, partners, and suppliers. As it gets closer to the big day, you will need to go to the location to double check that everything looks right and is being set up correctly. It’s all in the details. Organization is an event planner’s most important skill.

12:30 pm: Lunchtime may be a break some days, but on others you may have to meet your clients to get updates, as this may be their only time to meet. It is important to continually be in contact throughout the event planning process. Make sure they are up to date. Share the good news about their favorite caterer and be honest if there are hiccups along the way.

2:00 pm: Throughout the rest of the day expect more calls and emails (remember communication!). Occasionally, you will have to meet with the hotels and florists, etc. to personally see everything is going according to plan.

6:00 pm: On most nights this will mean the end of your day, BUT we cannot forget about the events themselves. Of course, this means you get to attend the event you planned (for weeks and months!), and although you should enjoy a job well done, it is still your responsibility to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

This means checking microphones, table settings, food and more! Don’t forget the cleanup as well, either hiring a cleaning service or having your own staff do it personally. You can’t leave without the space looking the way it was when you arrived.

Event planning is not your typical nine-to-five job. Often, it involves nights and weekends. But, you get to be involved in a world where your imagination can run free. One of the greatest rewards is knowing that you are turning someone’s special day from their dream into a reality. Remember, planning can be stressful, but in the end it is well worth it all to see your event come to life.

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The Importance and Methods of Making Vision Boards

How and why to make a vision board

How often do you write out your goals? Daily? Monthly? Not at all? It may be time you assessed this practice and take it to the next level! Here’s how.

Write Out Your Goals

Setting goals for yourself is a great form of motivation, inspiration, and an overall reminder to keep you on track. Having your goals written down can help you assess your daily productivity and whether or not your time spent doing different activities will help lead you to that end goal or achievement.

Having different levels of goals can also be a great practice. Where do you see yourself in ten years, five years, a year from now, or even next month? If you are really proactive about setting goals and motivated enough to write out weekly or daily goals, do it!

What better time of the year to create your very own vision boards than during the time you are starting to implement your New Year’s resolutions (and hopefully not failing on any already!). Here’s how to started making your very own vision board today.

Dream Big!

 Photo by David Marcu

Don’t hold yourself back when setting your life goals, whether it is in your relationships, job, or personal life. Negative thoughts and images of ourselves are the biggest obstacle on our road to success. Let the imagination you had in your childhood take over and you’ll be surprised at what barriers that you previously though impossible to cross now fade away.

Visualize the Possibilities

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