Prevue’s Survival Strategies Visionary Summit lived up to its name, showcasing speakers who offered real-life solutions to help planners cope with problems inherent to their profession.
The Opal Sol on Clearwater Beach was the sunny setting where 30+ event planners attending the Survival Strategies Summit from May 19-21 learned how to advocate for themselves, take care of their emotional health and learn how to say the magic word: No.
“The meeting planning industry just moved from number five to number three… on the list of the world’s most stressful jobs,” noted speaker Carla Cobos Hull, CMP, CMM.
“Firefighters are number one and military is number two,” Cobos Hull noted during her session, Escape the Grind: Master Balance, Beat Burnout and Lead Like a Pro.
She shared a startling statistic from her research: 83 percent of planners feel burned out 70 to 100 percent of the time. In addition, 75 percent have considered leaving the industry.
“So what’s fueling the fire? The pressure comes because we manage people,” she said and listed the primary stressors in the stressful world of event planners.
- Toxic timelines
- Always-on mentality
- Perfection culture
- Lack of recovery
- Poor boundaries
- Lack of support
- 24/7 availability
- Client urgency
“It’s emotional labor with no recovery space,” she said “In a hero culture that glorifies exhaustion… you end up with a lack of boundaries and personal agency.”
Cobos Hull shared her personal story about burning out on the job, twice, after asking for—and not receiving—help from her boss, whose advice was basically “that’s just how this industry is.”
That answer wasn’t good enough, Cobos Hull finally decided, and struck out on her own, determined to bring those who needed help along with her.
“I’m here to build something better going forward,” she said. “I chose to lead differently and advocate for myself. I chose to heal.”
‘Job Purposing’
Also hoping to improve the quality of planners’ lives and careers was keynote speaker Bea Boccalandro, whose session—The Survival Strategy Event Managers Desparately Need: Job Purposing—revealed something that came as a surprise to many in the audience: Job satisfaction doesn’t necessarily come from “following your passion” but from helping other people.
“Everyone needs meaningful work, but the majority don’t,” Boccalandro said. “Any time we make a contribution to others, that is meaningful work. We need to find a way to do this for our teams,” she added.
Boccalandro noted that professions like medicine and teaching have helping others built right in; but no matter what job you have, she says, including “social purpose”—anything from volunteering in the community to mentoring a colleague—at work will bring more job satisfaction than even a high salary.
Boccalandro encouraged planners and business owners to design and implement activities that give something to others.
“Job purposing is like a vitamin, but you only need trace amounts,” she told the audience. “Engagement, retention and morale go up, with 24 percent higher productivity.”
Be the CEO
The Summit’s third keynote speaker was Dr. Michael Time, whose program—Be the CEO of Your Life. Reimagine Your Mindset—suggested that planners behave like entrepreneurs… not that they had to go out and start their own businesses, but to implement certain strategies, including:
- Innovate and create
- Be adaptable
- Perservere
- Trust your coworkers
- Form relationships
Dr. Time also introduced a novel but compelling thought: Use your pain. Pain is, he said, one of life’s only guarantees; and that while happiness, success and fulfillment might come to some and are often fleeting, pain visits all walks of life at some point.
“You can turn pain into gold,” he said. “Don’t deny your pain. Use that energy toward something positive.”
As always, this Prevue Visionary Summit included 1:1 appointments between planners and sponsors along with site inspections and plenty of networking breaks.
In addition, the exemplary culinary talents of the chefs of Opal Sol and her adjacent sister property, Opal Sands, had attendees returning for seconds (and maybe thirds).
Feeling the planner pressure? Check out our Survival Strategies Summit Playlist on Spotify! Let these tracks carry you through. It’s a playlist made by Summit attendees and Prevue, and it’s only getting better.
