How to become an Event Project Manager?

Are you highly organized? A fluent communicator? Creatively minded? If you tick all these boxes, you can become an Events Manager. You will be tasked with orchestrating – among other things – fairs/exhibitions, seminars, speaker sessions and awards ceremonies – in a nutshell, any type of culture-building event for a corporate client.

Comment devenir chef de projet événementiel ?

What are the main duties of an Events Manager?

An Events Manager designs events, then organizes every aspect of the project. You work for a hospitality company or an agency as an employee or on a freelance basis. Through your activity, you improve team cohesion and help develop your clients’ corporate culture. More specifically, you are expected to:

Plan an event as per the brief:

an Events Manager studies the feasibility of the project in line with the planned event size or management guidance, then plans the implementation of the event operation.

Manage event contractors:

as Events Manager, you negotiate and select the services needed for the event. You must then personally track their logistics or delegate this task to your team.

Plan for risks:

an efficient organizer must draw up a contingency plan in case certain problems arise. The Events Manager is thus able to cope with unexpected occurrences.

Oversee the smooth running of the project:

the Events Manager supervises the entire event project. In this role, you are responsible for the success of the operation.

Measure the impact of the event:

the Events Manager measures attendee satisfaction. Using various tools, they assess the impact of the experience before administratively closing the event.

What skills are required to become an Events Manager?

To hold an Events Manager position, you must first acquire the following technical skills:

Project management methods enable you to analyze a situation in a complex environment. They are very useful for finding solutions quickly or recommending improvements. An Events Manager’s work is often project-driven. Specifically, they judiciously assign tasks to each colleague. They must therefore know how to coordinate transversal departments and lead teams.

Before taking up an event-related role, you must understand what is at stake. That is why knowledge of communications or marketing is a real asset to grasp the workings of an operation.

Estimating, readjusting and tracking expenditure is essential to comply with the brief. An Events Manager must be able to draw up a budget and stick to it, using management tools. Likewise, they must be able to produce quality procedures and check that the services provided are compliant.

Understanding the business of your client and its competitors is key for an event organizer. As such, you must know how to do market research and gather strategic information, in order to design the optimal operation.

An Events Manager will have learned to write sales proposals. They must also be able to write procedure-compliant tenders.

To excel in event management, these personal qualities will help:

creative
resistant to stress
well organized
business acumen

strong interpersonal skills
agile
flexible

What training do I need to become an Events Manager?

After a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualification in Communications, you will be ready for a Deputy Events Manager position. To move straight into an Events Manager role, a more advanced qualification is necessary. At Vatel, students can take the MBA in Hospitality (years 4 and 5 of higher education). The Event Manager specialization taught at Vatel Nîmes covers the business management, finance and communications of a hospitality company from the event engineering perspective. This job is also accessible to students graduating from a specialist business school.

How much does an Events Manager earn?

On a permanent contract in France, you can obtain a gross annual salary of between €26,000 and €38,000.1 Pay should increase quickly and may be supplemented by various bonuses.

What career development options does an Events Manager have?

After 2-3 years’ good experience, an Events Manager can move up to a Project Director role. If they desire more autonomy, setting up their own events agency is also a possibility.

The Vatel Hospitality Business School in Nîmes, an Events Management specialist, will teach you the fundamentals of this highly sought-after profession. The school offers an MBA in Hospitality that is highly rated by industry professionals. The Vatel Group has more than 40 years’ experience in Hospitality Management. Its degree courses are taught at five campuses in France – in Paris, Lyon, Nîmes, Bordeaux and Nantes – and more than 50 worldwide.