by Tahira Endean
Earlier in 2024 I looked at the many stressors we have facing us as event professionals. It can feel overwhelming, and this leads to everything from a mild sense of panic to procrastination and eventually burnout. We take on external pressure and we add our own expectations of ourselves, and often the social media image we have built of ourselves.
If you are reading this when the holiday season is looming, you have probably added on another layer of expectations as we try to make everything perfect. I can’t tell you to stop, because I have done it too. There was the year I opted out of putting up the tree and decorating the house, and plopped down a lovely silver garland Christmas tree made of coat hangers our son had made at school, about 18” tall, onto a stool, plugged it in, added some presents and called it done. Many years later, our children shared this. Our son thought it was great because he had made the tree, and our daughter remembered it as the Christmas that almost was. Burned out? We could call it that. It affected the people I care about most and the clients and likely even my boss had no idea how much pressure I was feeling.
We have a good number of awards programs for events globally and recently the ADMEI awards for DMCs came out and one category is sticking with me, the Best Six-Week Challenge Event. Nod to yourself if you worked on any event last year that went from RFP to completed (except the final billing) in six weeks. Admirable, challenging, satisfying, exhausting – all these words can probably be applied. We will likely keep doing this as an industry, because the clients ask and because we have the know-how. But, at what cost to the team members responsible?
This is my suggestion to you: pick one thing. Just one that you know will make you feel good about what your output is. This might mean saying no to tasks that are not critical for you to do or to allow yourself space to focus on what you are best at now. For me, I have an insatiable appetite for event design and all its iterations and rabbit-holes of knowledge. I don’t love balancing a spreadsheet down and haven’t built a graph bar in years. I partner with people that are really good at the things that I am not good at. We all have our thing, focus on yours.
If you are leading a team, and they step up to the challenges over and over again, how are you building a reward and recognition structure that you can action: one that feels as special (if not as complex) as the clients you are servicing on your toughest programs?
Are you partnering with suppliers that take care of their team members too, so that they are set up to deliver excellence? These are the conversations we often don’t have, but we have all heard the back-of-house complaints or felt them ourselves. These are the feelings that limit our ability to deliver ultimate hospitality, so how do we design our workplaces so these feelings can be erased, managed or supported? These don’t all have easy answers, but they are the beautiful questions – the ones without easy answers we need to be asking ourselves honestly.
Then pick one thing that will bring you what you need – call it peace, joy, a break in the pace before it becomes a crack and then a crevasse. This will be different for everyone. For example, one of my greatest joys every year is a cookie-baking day with a few girlfriends, some I might not see for much of the year. I pack up cookies for people I like, many who have been on the receiving end of these for 20 years now and know a small box of cookies will bring them joy. You might put out a “Just Five Minutes” sign on your bathroom door that lets your household know you need some alone time. Or go out for that tea with a friend, or you might be the person that tidies up all those filess or clear out a closet space. You do you.
We cannot be creative or find joy in work if we are trying to be everything to everyone; we simply run out of time. We can only create events that make a positive impact and bring meaningful moments to others when we have focus. We work in an incredible industry that contributes billions to the global economy. We build powerful relationships and collaborate with interesting people committed to growing our world forward and to be the best we can, so make space to lean into what gives you the space to contribute in your most positive fashion.
Tahira Endean is the head of programme for IMEX. With an extensive career in the business events industry and a background in intentional event design, she boasts a 30-year history of delivering global events and volunteering in the industry.
