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I like organizing events...how do I make money out of it?

KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
edited June 2014 in Help / Advice Forum
I recently had a weird realization: I genuinely enjoy organzing events for people.

I'm a meetup organizer for a local group, and since I took over it the group has seemed to grow nicely. We seem to be one of the more popular groups in the area, have a good number of new and older members and I see more people mentioning they heard of us from a friend/recommendation. I put up the events, work out the logistics and make sure things flow nicely and everyone has fun. I'm also one of the to go people that organizes the trips in our circle of friends as well, and it was this weekend at the end out the trip that it really hit me. Looking over a table of 20 people at a really nice restaurant, everyone enjoying, having fun, gave me a feeling of accomplishment I rarely get at work.

So how do I translate this to a career/field of work? Apart from a travel agent, I have no idea what other jobs to look for..or how. I'm not looking to make any sudden drastic career change immediately, just something to look into.

Kyougu on

Posts

  • schussschuss Registered User regular
    Conference organizer is the big one. Biggest boy on that block is Reed Exhibitions (Their Reed Pop group does PAX). Also as a handler for TV shows etc, as when you watch No Reservations and things like that, they have local people who organize everything. Also PR or event organizer, as well as party planners/wedding planners.

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    Event organizers are a thing, you might look into that. You've seem to got fantastic references there. You may have to start low and volunteer for non profits though, and organize things like cancer walks and all that.

    From there with more professional contacts you might be able to move on to doing trade show organizations (work for like state/county to do local fairs?). Community relations is also a good field, which may not always be meetups/events, but, might be more in line with doing things you like to do.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • wrong_buttonwrong_button Registered User regular
    "Event planning" might be the keywords you're looking for. Kind of an extension of marketing. Everything from tradeshows, parties/meetings during tradeshows (like meet and greets), annual trips/conferences, all of that sort of stuff. Bigger companies - especially ones that use agents or sales reps - use folks like this a lot (I've worked in marketing for insurance, financial, etc. for a lot of years). That way we can focus more on the meetings aspect of conferences and not have to lose a ton of time monkeying with logistics of travel, accommodations, and "fun" parts of these events like mixers, day trips, golf outings, dinner, and general entertainment.

  • darkmayodarkmayo Registered User regular
    More than likely in your area there is companies that do just that. Event Planning. The IT company I work for exclusively uses a event planning group for our Christmas parties (which are totally awesome) build up a resume built of events you have planned and coordinated and all other relative experience and go job hunting.

    Switch SW-6182-1526-0041
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    Hotels, parks, convention centers, etc. may also have a planner on-staff to plan corporate or individual events like business meetings and weddings. A lot of companies will also have planners within differnt departments - usually marketing and sales, since they tend to travel more. Here's a job description for a job at Robert Half, for example.

    So a lot of choices, just got to know if you're looking to have different people and venues with lots of variety, or want to be more stable.

  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Like @bowen said, you're fortunate in that there's an easy way to get into this sort of thing and build up a good set of references, which is event planning for non-profits. Look around at the various charities and foundations and so on in your area and I'm sure you'll some that will be happy to have someone volunteer to do this sort of thing. Once you've got professionals who will vouch for your event planning skills you're good to go.

  • tinwhiskerstinwhiskers Registered User regular
    Depending on your tolerance for CRAZY people; wedding planning. Hell I know some of the caterers my wife and I looked at had referrals for people just to handle the day-of insanity/bullshit.

    This also has the advantage of(depending on your main job's flexibility) being something you can check out part-time. Since most people get married on Saturday or Friday. You are just making some calls and doing meetings after work.

    But once again it has the disadvantage of requiring you to deal with people who are straight up nuts.

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  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    Thanks all! The non profit idea seems like a great way to test the waters.

    It's honestly a bit frightening. I'm a poli science major and right now I work in banking. This would be an insane transition, and something I would have never thought I would be interested until I started running my meetup.

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