There comes a time when your small organization is growing, there are more and more events, new ideas. So you think about the development of the company and hiring people who will help you and your co-workers in the duties. How to find ideal candidates who will stay with you for longer and bring new potential to the organization? What should be the characteristics of an ideal event coordinator? Foundation for getting the right person for the job is to know what you are looking for. Below we presented a few features common to all event coordinators regardless of whether they are involved in the organization of small workshops or international conferences.
Perfect work organization
In the event organization industry, many things happen simultaneously. The event coordinator must be focused and organized. He has to have control on every single step of the event organizing process. This multitasking is visible both during the precise planning of actions and perfect execution. Working in the event organization industry requires the ability to focus on superior goals while maintaining care for all the little things. An efficient coordinator is able to delegate tasks and construct emergency plans in the event of potential failures.
Stress resistance
The event coordinator is working in a dynamically changing environment. Fighting every kind of fire, spending the endless time on the phone, working late at nights (especially preceding the event itself) – this is what he does. So resistance to stress and flexibility are indispensable qualities, but also the proper skills of balancing professional and personal life due to prevent fast burnout.
Communication skills
The coordinator must be in constant contact with the attendees, informing them about the details and general issues, listening to their needs and presenting ideas for solving possible problems. He has to do it very efficiently – the success of the event depends on it! At the same time, the coordinator cooperates with suppliers, contractors, and many other entities, often simultaneously. He must, therefore, have comprehensive interpersonal skills: he has to know how to deal with conflict situations, but also precisely define the requirements towards suppliers or colleagues. The key to success is the precision of language.
Problem-solving skills
Many things can go wrong during the event. When a crisis happens, the coordinator must remain calm to be able to manage it without the emotions. This is especially important during ongoing events (no matters if it is a small training course, a workshop for local society or international conference) – when the problem appears the coordinator has to be ready to solve it. Participants can complain about different things and may be dissatisfied for many reasons: some of them may be justified but some of them not. Anyway, the coordinator has to be perfectly prepared to take an action.
Negotiation skills
The event coordinator participates in many negotiations, e.g., with catering suppliers, hotels managers or attendees. Therefore, he should be fluent in negotiating skills, which means that he must have the knowledge and be able to use it in the right way.
Computer and mobile devices
In modern times, without a computer, smartphone or tablet with access to the network, the work of the event coordinator is impossible. Therefore he must be familiar with applications related to event planning and budgeting, registration process, and organization of the event itself.
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Many things can go wrong during the event. When this happens, the coordinator must remain calm to be able to manage the crisis. This is especially important during ongoing events (no matter if it is the training course, workshop or conference). The conflict between a participant and the organizer may be destructive not only for this exact event but it can be a danger to the future ones. Participants may complain about this and that, sometimes they will be pointing fingers, or even shouting. They may be dissatisfied (LINK) for various reasons, sometimes irrational. The event coordinator has to be ready for handling this kind of situations.