Ranked as being the 6th most stressful job in 2019[1], event planners and event coordinators will be no stranger to their high-pressure environment and the strenuous efforts of ensuring a successful event. With the high expectations of delivering an exciting experience, event planners can find that they are subject to stress and work-related burnout, affecting the event itself and personal mental health.

Stress affects people differently, and individual people have different tolerances to stress within their roles, a small amount of healthy stress may result of being passionate to excel in the job, but predominately it will be unhealthy stress, with the event planning itself and all the factors that make up the role.

Unrealistic expectations, tight deadlines and budget restraints may be common causes to event planners’ stress, as well as the overall requirement to deliver positive and profitable events. Symptoms of stress could include headaches, migraines, low energy, body aches and pains as well as changes in appetite[2]. Having long-term stress could lead to other medical conditions such as increased blood pressure, stomach cramps and nausea, anxiety, and depression.

There are several ways to help reduce stress levels and help avoid them when organising events.

Share the Workload

Where possible, surrounding yourself with a team you can trust to help make important decisions on your behalf can help eliminate the overall stress by spreading the workload. Setting goals together and surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals allows you to make quicker decisions and leverage the experience of a wider team. 

Work Life Balance

Pressure can build a tense work environment and needing to have separation between work and home is key to keeping stress at bay. Unplug your devices and only answer emails within a set period; though the event planning is important to the event, you need to allow for some boundaries to ensure you are taking care of yourself also.

Optimising Planning

To help with limiting the stress of planning an event, it may be useful to set out a plan prior, during and post event. This can help to cover all event possibilities and allow for planning of worse case scenarios. With every aspect of the event planned out, planning follow up events will become easier. Read The 4 steps to event planning cycle to help streamline your overall planning process.

Use Event Technology

Event management technology can help with the workload of event planning and streamline the overall process. Rather than using multiple spreadsheets to plan, planning software can store all information in one place and help to automate and digitalise tasks such as sending emails, registration and entering attendee information. In addition, specialised event apps can help with the lead up and day of the event, to assist attendees and maximise your time to enjoy your own event.

Keen to eliminate your frustrations with expo planning? Find out how ExpoBeacon can streamline and assist your event.

 

Article Sources: 

[1] Most stressful jobs in the United States in 2019, Statista,2019 https://www.statista.com/statistics/507098/us-most-stressful-jobs/

[2] 10 strategies to reduce event planning stress and boost productivity , Nisha N, 2020, www.zoho.com/backstage/thegreenroom/reduce-event-planning-stress-and-boost-productivity.html