3 Tips to Avoid Burnout While Managing Events

April 16, 2019

Event planners wear a ton of hats. From juggling venues and caterers to managing staff members, selling sponsorships and negotiating with vendors, you have no shortage of responsibilities. If you don’t have an organizational strategy in place, that to-do list can become overpowering.

While the highs of successful events are hard to match, the weeks leading up to those events are incredibly stressful. Most event professionals struggle through plenty of sleepless nights as they fret over important details, and they often have too many things on their plates to handle anything time-consuming. The prospect of burnout only adds more potential stress to the role.

To minimize these feeling of stress and ensure your event goes off without a hitch, use these three tips:

1. Create an event promotion calendar

Anything that you can do to plan ahead of time will reduce the amount of last-minute panic you encounter later. Your event promotion plan is no different, especially if you’re planning multiple events at the same time.

Use a promotional calendar template for events to help you keep track of your marketing activities in one place. You’re able to input exact dates for every email invite, paid advertising campaign and social media promotion, ensuring you no longer have to think on the fly.

2. Use automation for your event promotions

After you’ve created an event promotion calendar, you can then automate the promotions themselves. The average event organizer uses more than 10 different tech tools, but automation will help you streamline your tasks.

For example, platforms like Hootsuite allow you to schedule your social promotions from one hub instead of logging into every social network your event uses. You can also save time by automatically publishing your Facebook Events from your event registration platform. As a bonus, this step will also make it easier for attendees to register.

3. Template the emails you send most often

Writing event emails each day takes a lot of time away from more important tasks. You’re probably writing a lot of similar emails, so why not turn them into templates? Think about the number of invites, last-minute reminders, and purchase confirmations you can template and then customize for different events and audiences. By writing a handful of emails instead of hundreds, you'll save yourself the time and headache of coming up with interesting copy every time.

Your event-planning checklist probably never seems to get shorter as you get closer to an event. More tasks are added to the pile as new contingencies pop up and carving out time to unwind likely seems like an impossible dream. But doing everything you can to avoid burnout in advance will help you stay focused on the task at hand and excited for what’s to come — a fabulous event.

 

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Overview: The award-winning Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) goes the extra mile to make every day extraordinary by offering customer service excellence and industry-leading partnerships. From their dedicated in-house Rigging team to their robust Exhibitor Services, The Center of Hospitality brings your imagination to life by helping you host unforgettable meetings and events. With more than 2 million square feet of exhibit space, world-class services and a dream destination, we are committed to making even the most ambitious conventions a reality. In October 2023, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve allocating Tourist Development Tax funding for the $560 million Phase 5A completion of the OCCC. The Convention Way Grand Concourse project will include enhancements to the North-South Building, featuring an additional 60,000 square feet of meeting space, an 80,000- square-foot ballroom and new entry to the North-South Building along Convention Way. “We are thrilled to begin work on completing our North-South Building which will allow us to meet the growing needs of our clients,” said OCCC Executive Director Mark Tester. “As an economic driver for the community, this project will provide the Center with connectivity and meeting space to host more events and continue to infuse the local economy with new money and expanding business opportunities.” Amenities: The Center of Hospitality goes above and beyond by offering world-class customer service and industry-leading partnerships. From the largest convention center Wi-Fi network to custom LAN/WAN design, the Center takes pride in enhancing exhibitor and customer experience.  The OCCC is the exclusive provider of electricity (24-hour power at no additional cost), aerial rigging and lighting, water, natural gas and propane, compressed air, and cable TV services. Convenience The Center is at the epicenter of the destination, with an abundance of hotels, restaurants, and attractions within walking distance. Pedestrian bridges connect both buildings to more than 5,200 rooms and is within a 15-minute drive from the Orlando International Airport. The convenience of the location goes hand-in-hand with top notch service to help meet an event’s every need. Gold Key Members The OCCC’s Gold Key Members represent the best of the best when it comes to exceptional service and exclusive benefits for clients, exhibitors and guests. The Center’s Gold Key memberships with Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Walt Disney World greatly enhance meeting planner and attendee experiences offering world-renowned venues, immersive experiences and creative resources for their events. OCCC Events: This fiscal year, the OCCC is projected to host 168 events, 1.7 million attendees, and $2.9 billion in economic impact.  The Center’s top five events during their 2022-2023 fiscal year included:  AAU Jr. National Volleyball Championships 2023 200,000 Attendees $257 Million in Economic Impact MEGACON 2023 160,000 Attendees $205 Million in Economic Impact Open Championship Series 2023 69,500 Attendees $89 Million in Economic Impact Sunshine Classic 2023 42,000 Attendees $54 Million in Economic Impact Premiere Orlando 2023 42,000 Attendees $108 Million in Economic Impact