What does an event planner do?
An event planner is responsible for organizing events, following the clients' needs, instructions, and budget goals. Event planners must be highly communicative to coordinate and negotiate contracts with suppliers, third-party vendors, and venue rentals. They finalize the guest list, catering services, and assist with marketing materials to promote the event. An event planner should also have a broad knowledge of the current market industry trends, which plays a vital role in planning and organizing future event opportunities.
Event planner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real event planner resumes:
- Manage client RFP s, develop detailed proposals & client pitches.
- Produce, implement, and manage sales lead forms and online surveys to determine overall ROI.
- Manage VIP & bottle service, sell tickets, hire promoters, promotional models, disc jockeys & staff for venues.
- Manage and ship all marketing and advertising kits and giveaways for career fairs, on-campus presentations, final rounds and orientations.
- Coordinate and host successful client seminars, creating invitations and promotional materials, booking venues, and selecting guest speakers.
- Coordinate travel arrangements, including booking airfare, hotel and transportation.
- Hand-Pic and select to work in one of the most sensitive and demanding divisions on the USCENTCOM staff.
- Schedule and inform members about the events by sending reminders through social media such as Facebook, email and messengers.
- Contract for onsite management of highly complex meetings and conferences as well as on-site registration and trade show lead retrieval.
- Plan all aspects of groups and meetings, including RFP's, budget, destination management, and travel/ transportation.
- Provide input on post-event tracking and ROI analysis to help measure the company's marketing initiatives and to improve future performance.
- Serve as an onsite liaison between clients and vendors during events, as well as planning, organizing and facilitating events.
- Promote business with daily Facebook postings.
- Design highly confidential/attorney-client privilege documents and multimedia PowerPoint presentations.
- Prepare banquet event orders (BEO s) & work closely with all departments to ensure quality events.
Event planner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Event Planners are proficient in Customer Service, Vendor Contracts, and Plan Events. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, and Negotiation skills.
We break down the percentage of Event Planners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 15%
Provided extra-curricular student learning activities involving art and media Make-up Consultant and Product Specialist Delivered excellent customer service working for M.A.C.
- Vendor Contracts, 12%
Negotiated vendor contracts and maintained positive relationships with suppliers such as hotels, destination management companies and speakers.
- Plan Events, 8%
Plan events by securing location, audiovisual equipment, staffing, advertising, ticket sales, concessions and stage management.
- Event Management, 6%
Recruited and organized student volunteers, conducted campus outreach to students and city residents, administrative assistance in event management.
- PowerPoint, 5%
Designed highly confidential/attorney-client privileged documents and multimedia PowerPoint presentations.
- Event Logistics, 3%
Provided the highest quality client/attorney experience by ensuring the event logistics, staging and production were thoroughly planned and flawlessly executed.
Common skills that an event planner uses to do their job include "customer service," "vendor contracts," and "plan events." You can find details on the most important event planner responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for an event planner to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what event planners do because "meeting, convention, and event planners exchange information with clients, suppliers, and event staff." Additionally, an event planner resume shows how event planners use communication skills: "design all communications affiliated with community events and outreach for l.a. marler studio, including press releases and social media campaigns. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform event planner duties is interpersonal skills. Event planners responsibilities require that "meeting, convention, and event planners must establish and maintain positive relationships with clients and suppliers." Event planners also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "organized promotional events including open houses prepared children birthday parties utilized strong interpersonal skills with customers during events"
Negotiation skills. event planners are also known for negotiation skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to event planner responsibilities, because "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to secure quality products and services at reasonable prices for their clients." An event planner resume example shows how negotiation skills is used in the workplace: "involved in vendor selection, hotel negotiation, on-site management and program implementation. "
Organizational skills. event planner responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "meeting, convention, and event planners must multitask, pay attention to details, and meet tight deadlines." This resume example shows what event planners do with organizational skills on a typical day: "maximized meeting efficiency negotiating vendor contracts, fostering strong relationships, and ensuring top quality guest meetings with optimal organizational rates. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for an event planner to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what event planners relies on this skill, since "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to anticipate potential issues and prepare creative solutions that satisfy clients." How this skill relates to event planner duties can be seen in an example from an event planner resume snippet: "cost conscious; develop solutions to maximize budgets and deliver rewarding memorable private and corporate events. "
The three companies that hire the most event planners are:
- The Research Foundation for SUNY11 event planners jobs
- Rose Hills Mortuary6 event planners jobs
- Stanford University6 event planners jobs
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Compare different event planners
Event planner vs. Party coordinator
A conference coordinator organizes professional gatherings and meetings according to a client's needs and preferences. There are also instances where they may plan reunions, parties, and other events. Their responsibilities begin at meeting the clients to identify their needs and preferences, including the event's purpose or themes. From there, a conference coordinator develops plans, secures venues and speakers, books caterers and other equipment, prepares and processes requests, and maintains records of all transactions, presenting invoices to the clients. Moreover, a conference coordinator must be proactive and resolve any conflicts or issues should any arise.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between event planners and party coordinator. For instance, event planner responsibilities require skills such as "vendor contracts," "plan events," "event management," and "event logistics." Whereas a party coordinator is skilled in "kids," "cpr," "allergies," and "pos." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Party coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than event planners. In fact, party coordinators are 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Event planner vs. Conference coordinator
A site coordinator is responsible for organizing special events and programs based on a client's specifications or a business's needs. Site coordinators ensure that the plan will go well by monitoring their resources, coordinating with third-party services, researching the best settings, finalizing the list of attendees, and managing the budget goals. A site coordinator usually works with the marketing department of an organization for promotional strategies and addresses any concerns that an attendee might have.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, event planner responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "plan events," "planning process," and "social events." Meanwhile, a conference coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "conference calls," "reservations," "event planning," and "audio visual equipment." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Conference coordinators earn a lower average salary than event planners. But conference coordinators earn the highest pay in the telecommunication industry, with an average salary of $48,429. Additionally, event planners earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $53,126 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Conference coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than event planners. In fact, they're 3.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for event planners in the next 3-5 years?
Siddharth Mobar
Assistant Professor, Lasell University
Event planner vs. Site coordinator
An event director or director of the event is responsible for organizing a successful execution of an event. This job is demanding and involves a varied range of tasks and obligations, from planning and overseeing the cast and crew recruited, supervise training for effective execution of the event. They manage how to effectively deal with people from staff and crew to sponsors, and talents, especially in tight schedules and difficult circumstances. Moreover, the event director is the representative of the event when dealing with the benefactors of the event, media group for promotion coverage, and people outside the industry.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an event planner is likely to be skilled in "vendor contracts," "plan events," "event management," and "event logistics," while a typical site coordinator is skilled in "data entry," "cpr," "direct supervision," and "team work."
Site coordinators earn the best pay in the manufacturing industry, where they command an average salary of $41,125. Event planners earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $53,126.Most site coordinators achieve a higher degree level compared to event planners. For example, they're 6.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Event planner vs. Director of events
Types of event planner
Updated January 8, 2025
