My journey in events started when I was 11 years old with my beautiful mother in a small East African country called Ethiopia. My mother was a wedding stylist and she had 2 big boys that she put to work and got them to do everything from sewing the drapes to picking up furniture and moving it in the event hall. She also used our muscles to organise public events that had a mix of activities from fashion shows to dance groups and performing for a crowd (I was the hip-hop dancer alongside my brother). Back then I didn’t know if I wanted to be in events, but I knew that I had a great love for music and being behind the scenes to help out the organiser and see people smiling while enjoying themselves at the event. Events has always been a big part of my life and I thoroughly enjoy seeing them come to life or simply attending them.
Event managers aren’t given the praise and acknowledgement which we deserve and we are partly accountable for this. As an event manager, we are the runners and organisers who work tirelessly behind the scenes on the day and months prior to the event. It’s our responsibility to make the event run seamlessly and with this we make ourselves invisible on event day and our efforts are credited to the event and organisation that runs the event.
Great event managers and organisers create incredible experiences with the focus of connecting people. The power of a great event manager is in their ability to understand a particular subject matter, company, genre and translating this into an engaging experience that connects people, face-to-face and create lasting impressions. Think about the greatest events you have been to. It could be as a concert, wedding, conference or a sporting event. Think about the memories shared and the people you met. The elation of that experience is what creates new relationships and stronger connections. The experience of that moment to be a part of history when attending a sporting event, a life changing keynote speaker or your favourite musician creates those memories and makes events one of the most powerful human connection platform in the world.
We are going through a tough time in events and one thing is for sure, live events won’t be fully operational till we find a vaccine for COVID. The other thing that we know for sure is that people, businesses, musicians and everyone that has been affected by COVID still needs to connect with other people. Event managers have now moved to a Virtual and Hybrid model and we’re still the best people to connect your people. Don’t cancel or postpone your upcoming events. Adapt, learn and push through these times as hosting your events through these new platforms is even more important than ever to stay connected with your clients, staff and stakeholders.
This job is definitely not for the faint hearted (5th stressful job after a policeman and fireman). The toll that it can take out of you will make you wonder why you put yourself through this position. The truth is the only reason why you’d want to continue in an industry like this, is because you truly love what you do.
We're here to stay and we are here to serve you.
Contact us today on info@iconcorpevents.com.
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