Articles by Sharon Bonner

  • The Power of Mentorship in Events

      When I founded my event business in 1988, there were only five event planning companies in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fast forward to today, and I recently heard there are more than 700. It seems everyone is an event planner these days — caterers, florists, DJs, audiovisual companies, and countless others. At least, that’s what they claim. But are they really? When I started Bright Ideas Event Agency, I was completely on my own. I had no formal training, no…

  • Five Challenges Planners Face Today

      I have been an event producer for three and a half decades. I have lived through many recessions in the event industry and survived. And through all of these years, I have seen all kinds of challenges, but the new challenges we are facing today in the event industry are affecting our ability to do our job effectively. It is a known fact that planning events is stressful; in fact, event planning ranks up there with careers such as…