Most event planners are order takers

Something I believe that does not make me popular at planner conferences:

Most event planners are order takers. They set minimums that make their own lives easy, send a PDF, and disappear until event week. The work that looks "extra" is usually the work that matters most.

Cosmetic vs. structural

I came up through hotels, front desk to general manager to turnaround consulting, where I ran every department at once with the clock running. When you have managed housekeeping, banquets, and the front desk in the same week, you learn which details are cosmetic and which ones will collapse the whole guest experience if they slip.

A room block attrition clause is not cosmetic. The transfer schedule is not cosmetic. Knowing which attendees land at 11pm and making sure someone is thinking about them is not cosmetic.

The order-taker model treats all of that as someone else's problem. It is the event.

High touch is the job description

I build systems that let me do more for each traveler. That is the entire business model. High touch is the job description.

That means I know who needs a quiet room and who wants to be near the action. It means the dietary restrictions are confirmed with the banquet captain by name, not left to a buffet label. It means when a flight lands at midnight, someone has already thought about how that person gets to the hotel and what they will find when they get there.

It all shows up in how the event feels.

Fine vs. unforgettable

I wonder sometimes how many events are remembered as "fine" when they could have been the one people talk about for years. The gap between fine and unforgettable is almost never budget. It is attention.

Attention is a choice. It is the choice to track the room block weekly instead of monthly. To walk the meeting room the night before and count the chairs. To read the banquet event order against what was agreed at the site visit, line by line.

That is the planner I want to be. The one who does the work that looks extra, because it usually turns out to be the whole point.