Getting Started In Event Planning
Do you wonder how to get started in event planning?
In this video, seasoned event planner, Kim, shares her secrets to getting started in event planning.
Many event planners work their way up the career ladder before landing their dream job or starting their own business. But independent event planner Kim Lejarzo Coutts started her event planning career with a job planning events at the coveted JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Costa Rica.
What It Takes To Become A Successful Event Planner
I talked with Kim about where her love of event planning came from, her advice for other event planners in the making and what it takes to get started in event planning and become a successful event planner. She ought to know. She’s planned events for big corporate names like The World Bank, Sara Lee Foods and KFC!
Kim has worked in Costa Rica at Marriott Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Delta Hotels as well as a DMC, a destination management company in Vancouver. So, she’s got lots of background and insight into the event planning world.
Where do you start?
“I think for me it started probably when I was in high school or probably early university. I just always remember getting a group of people together and always planning, like, fun social events.
So, the one that sticks out in my mind was actually a horseback riding event. I always like to go horseback riding every couple of years and I just remember getting a group of friends to go out where we were in Winnipeg. I think it was Assiniboine Park – or not Assiniboine Park – but one of the parks out there and basically get a group together and, you know, make sure that everything was organized, from the transportation to the number of people going, getting the friends to come out – all that kind of stuff.
And from there, I’ve always been sort of a social planner planning everybody’s, you know, baby showers and wedding showers and you name it. So, that’s where I get started and then I decided to make a career out of it.”
I’d love to hear from you, what are your secrets to getting started in event planning? Leave a comment and let me know! If you have a question that you’d like to ask an expert event planner in an upcoming Event Planning Blueprint TV segment, comment below. Thanks for watching!
