People often ask me what is one trait that all good Certified Meeting Professionals (CMPs) must possess. My answer is both short and long at the same time. The short answer is that you absolutely must be a Multi-tasking Ninja. However, by definition, a ninja possesses several skills that make them so good at what they do.
Ninjas are experts in their field; they are stealthy, fast, accurate, smart, and can blend in with their surroundings. Traits that a successful event planner also must have. Depending on the type and size of events you coordinate, all of the traits might need to be deployed at the same time. Let’s break this down.
Expert. The event professional is the person everyone looks to during the event. We have to have answers for everyone’s question. It doesn’t matter if it is our area of oversight or not or if we have an actual answer or not, we are the go-to question answerer every time.
Stealthy. When it’s critical that we get from one end of the convention center to the other, we need to be able to move through the crowd without being stopped. Those with burning questions who need answers are on the lookout for us. If we get delayed by everyone with a question every time they have one, we’ll never get anything accomplished. It takes talent to cross a room of people without making eye contact, crashing into anyone, or pausing for anything. Anything.
Fast. For the same reason we need to be able to stealthily move through a crowd, we need to be fast. When is the last time you saw an event professional wearing their stilettos? Um, never. We wear practical shoes even with our ballgowns. Even those of us who are 5’ tall can manage to get from point A to point B at a surprisingly rapid pace.
Accurate. There is no margin for error in event planning. The difference in paying for 100 people to eat a catered dinner and 1000 people to eat a catered dinner is not just one “0.” It can be thousands upon thousands of dollars. Or paying for a limo to pick up a speaker from the airport twice because you scheduled it at 10am when they are arriving at 10pm. A simple single digit can make a world of difference. Details matter.
Smart. I’m not going to elaborate here. Not everyone is cut out for event planning.
Blend in. Again, if we want to be able to observe multiple areas of the event, be in several different spaces in the course of the day, respond to many needs, make it back to the on-site office to get some work done, and leave the building to go back to our rooms without a bodyguard, we need to be able to blend into the surroundings. We need to master the art of slipping in and out of a room essentially unnoticed.
By having the ability to do multiple things at one time; being in more than one place at a time, able to listen and talk at the same time, reading and typing at the same time, sleeping and thinking at the same time… all of these are skills a multi-tasking event planning ninja should possess to survive long-term in the field.
Do you have a multi-tasking ninja story or skill you want to share?
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