You are not perfect. Things go wrong. As an event manager, you won’t pull off a successful event every single time. You could’ve just had a customer that was impossible to please or your dishes were not coming out right, or even you had an employee who had a mishap with the carving station. Just kidding about the last one, but really! If you’re an event manager and you felt you had a bad event, it can be extremely challenging to let it go and move on to the next one.
Below, we outlined a few tips on how an event manager should recover after a bad event.
1. Don’t Ignore What Went Wrong
You have the opportunity to learn from a bad event. Remember that a bad event happens to everyone, and not one event management company is perfect. It can be hard to own up to something especially if you think your event went wrong due to a petty issue. Say there was someone’s allergy that got missed or you kept getting constant feedback that the drinks suck. If you ignore things that went wrong then they will only carry over into your next event and your business further. You can try things like looking over your event from the guest’s perspective. “Ya the desserts came out late, but I couldn’t find half my servers,”is not a valid excuse that any guest would consider. Other people’s perspective will give you better insight on what exactly went wrong and how important the issue may be.
2. Don’t Stress About It
Stressing about a bad event won’t do anything for you. It will just work you and your team up into a frenzy. Also, don’t sweat the small stuff. Say you had an employee who showed up late to just this one event or this was the first time trying a new dish and it didn’t go over too well. It’s ok! Take a breather, sit down and examine all areas of the issue. It’s very easy to stress about a bad event and how that could affect your business long term. Just think that it won’t do you any good, and remember things like why you enjoy this industry in the first place.
3. Change Up the Process
Whether if this is first or you have had many bad events, it’s important you know what went wrong and if it’s continually going wrong. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the same result. Say you are constantly getting complaints about how bad the music was or how bad the catering was. If you are, it’s time to change things up. Hire a new DJ or a new Caterer. You are the Event Manager, and you make the rules for what processes people work with at the event. If things aren’t working, then change it up!
4. Fix What You Can
There are somethings that are easier to fix as an event management business than there are others. Things like bad food or not keeping up with event trends is something that can be easily fixed. High employee turnover and low employee morale are a different story. If you have a huge issue within your business, it may seem overwhelming to try and tackle it. Start by taking baby steps to fix the issue or issues. Fix what you can, when can. As long as you are making changes to better your business, you are increasing your success.
5. Find Your Next Opportunity
Don’t let a bad event get you down. Start searching for your next event to manage if you haven’t already. It’s important you don’t bring any negativity into your next event. Remember that it’s a fresh start and this is a new opportunity to kill it at being a successful event management business.
