As any career path an individual chooses to forgo, there are many steps to take to be the best at what you do. A sports event coordinator requires background, skills, traits, and many other responsibilities to be able to become successful in this industry. There are specific people that are meant to be sports event coordinators and become so passionate when doing so, which results them in being the most successful. There are many levels of work this profession offers, from starting at rock bottom to building your way up to the professional level of sports. As I research and learn about sport event coordinators, I hope to gain all the knowledge as I can to be able to pursue this as my career in the future.
The Start to Becoming a Sports Event Planner
A person that simply loves to organize all things, including people and places, then event planning would be a perfect path for that person. Through a world and news report, it has ranked event planning to be one of the top 20 for best businesses because of the pay it presents, the job opportunities it gives to people, and the life to work balance it allows people to have. However, becoming a sports event coordinator requires a lot of background and skills. In the professional world of event planning, a four-year degree is normally required.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Education and Experience
The best educational path for an individual that sees sports event management as their dream job is first receiving a business degree in sports management or athletic administration. Receiving a diploma before getting into this profession will help an individual gain intuition that will benefit them when picking a venue or the many things they are organizing. Usually, when an individual is just starting, they are not full time working or they are volunteering to gain more knowledge on how to be successful. It is extremely helpful for individuals becoming sport event coordinators to find other experienced sport event planners/coordinators who are willingly allowing someone to job shadow them. Before an individual is put in charge of a major professional event, a person is required years of experience before becoming a sports event coordinator. However, “Managing a sporting event is huge, complicated undertaking, and the training you can get in sports management degree programs can prepare you to manage everything from college soccer games to the Super Bowl” (2019). Sport event coordinators who are just getting into this specific career will soon have an entry-level job under a more experienced coordinator. These individuals will learn to prove themselves as successful sport event planners to be considered for bigger managing positions.
Industry
As for all different kinds of careers, there are ups, downs, positives, and negatives. For sport event coordinators, they are needed in both the public and private sections. Sport event coordinators can face putting more work into their jobs to be able to be successful within their careers. When starting and trying to build a business, a downside to this job would be putting in work all the days of the week, which include weekends and late nights. This profession requires more of running around, rather than a repeated 9 to 5 day, to meet different people and vendors to arrange for events. The hours and time tend to build up more when the event is getting closer, and also the event coordinator is expected to be present at each of the events they put on.
This profession does not have a fixed salary. However, compensation packages depend on if an individual works for a company or not, level of experience, and the number of projects they do. This profession requires a great deal of experience for an event planner to build up their salary. Usually, an event planner just starting will receive a salary that does not match the potential salary that they will see in years to come while they continue to be in this field. On an average salary, sport event planners earn $52,020 per year or say $25 an hour. Although some individuals in the sports event coordinating world may see this income, 10 percent of the lowest- paid coordinators make around $25,670 and the highest-paid earn around $83,030.
Advancing
There are other ways to advance while becoming a sports event coordinator and many things to know for aspiring this as a career. As people may have experience with arranging and organizing smaller gatherings, the skills are comparable as to what it takes for putting together major events. People may gain skills through experiences, including community involvement like school fundraisers, reunions, or charities. As people in this field will gain more experience by doing so, individuals will learn how to set goals, deadlines, be able to motivate others, create excitement, and think outside the box.
Ways to Advance
Conventions are great ways to get your name out there and connect with the right people that can be a source to help direct you to a successful job in the future. Panels of speakers speak about the industry involving the latest practices, which will help an individual gain new knowledge that will be a bonus for them to become a sports event coordinator. In today’s world, networking is one of the best ways to find the right path in the sports event coordinating industry. As a person is trying to get their name out their, professionalism and a great skill set will be a huge factor to work the way to the top of this industry.
Sports event coordinating is a very competitive field. Even if a person carries the greatest skill set and experience, they will still have to put in the work to be able to get customers and please them to a greater extent. Sport event coordinators are more than likely to have worked 40 or more hours a week. However, in this industry, there can be a lot of downtimes. Even though as one sport comes to an end another one starts up, there can be off-seasons where they will have less work that could last for months on end. Sports event coordinators have to work for their job, a degree does not clarify it. To be a successful event planner at a professional level, you need to work hard throughout college, years afterward, before getting the position, and during to work your way up to the higher end of the job. Sports event coordinating is not for everyone, these individuals need to be dedicated and passionate about business, sports, and event planning.
Landing a Job in this Profession
A great step to start in trying to get a job as a sports event planner is volunteering. Organizations, such as charities and nonprofits, could always use the help for putting on events to fundraise. However, an individual starting in this profession could advance by doing this by gaining more experience and knowledge on how to plan an event. Also, it could help get their name out there and allow them to meet people along the way that could help with furthering their career as a sports event coordinator. Building a portfolio is another great way to show the employers and clients what an individual can do as an event planner and what their work has been like in past events they have put on. To help build up a remarkable portfolio, an individual should go around their local community to enhance and add to their experiences.
To help understand what a good event looks like, individuals trying to advance in this profession should read relevant information that involves this industry and follow influencers in event coordinating to learn from them. Investing in your brand can further demonstrate and help show someone’s uniqueness that they have to offer as an event coordinator. In this industry, people should market themselves, for example, build a website, show evidence and pieces of information about whom you have worked with, show pictures of the events being organized, and share a piece of mind of the point of view you have. Another way to land your first job as an event coordinator is to approach an organization with a written proposal for that event coordinator job that is custom-made to the specific client.
Developing a Career as an Event Planner
Event coordinators have to work extremely hard to gain new clients and continue to develop their careers because this field is highly competitive. To help with a competitive advantage, one way is to get certified as an event planner. Two event planning certifications can be considered when wanting to get certified. The first is Certified Meeting Professional and the second is Certified Special Event Professional. The Certified Meeting Professional has been around for over three decades which tends to help professionals raise their level of knowledge and performance level. To be able to qualify for this specific certification, an individual will need at least three years of experience in the field of event planning. Certified Special Event Professional, like CMP, also requires three years of experience before being acknowledged to qualify. This certification can help add to someone’s ability and civility that will assist in developing their career ability.
Successful Sport Event Coordinators
While taking steps to become a successful sports event coordinator, creating a clear vision and communicating is one way to get everyone involved. Many big decisions are needed to be made while planning an event, for example, cost, food, venue, music, transportation, programs, and many more. As those are big decisions to be made to keep the audience happy, additional duties are attached such as handling registration and the guest list.
Sport event coordinators plan these events the best way possible to please their customers. However, people do not see the hard work and dedication that goes on before the event is put on. Sporting event coordinators plan every single detail that goes on within that specific event that varies from every level. Sport event coordinators have the task to put on these events and make sure it keeps their spectators and audience engaged.
Responsibilities
The pressure is on for sport event coordinators while they arrange every detail involved in preparing for an event. The involvement that coordinators are in include lodging for teams, purchasing transportation, media that is distributed to the team, the creation of emergency contingency plans, security for players and spectators, inspecting the facility, ticket sales, concession items being sold, and giving out tasks to other workers helping with the event.
Skills
A tight schedule is something sport event coordinators need to motivate workers to stick to. Successful event coordinators must have interpersonal skills for communicating and preparing instructions. In this industry, things can go wrong and fall apart when planning an event so the use of organized skills is necessary. If there was an emergency that happened during an event, sport event coordinators need to have great critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills to construct clever solutions. Other skills that are important to carry as a sports event coordinator is being a team player, working well with others, showing leadership roles, and be detail-oriented. Having composure to stay calm during high stress and intense situations is highly recommended for sport event coordinators to have.
The Big Picture
“The key to being a good sports event manager isn’t knowing the game incredibly well, or being an ace bookkeeper, it is being able to keep all the little pieces in your head at once, and knowing how to delegate tasks and motivate your workers to keep with a tight schedule while planning an event with tons of moving parts that could malfunction at any moment” (2019). The big picture to look at in sporting events and venue management refers to four top skills including time management, communication, organization, and energy.
Time management refers to the strong hand of scheduling to be able to do their jobs well. The event planner must inform everyone on what to do and what time everything is taking place for the event to run smoothly. Sport event coordinators work with people all day so the use of communication is key. Communication in this industry refers to face to face, many emails, constant phone calls, and meetings. Minimizing waste is important skills to have while event planning so making sure systems are in place at a major sporting event is something to organize beforehand. As sport event planners are interacting with people almost 100% of their time, they are always on call and need to keep composure when they are planning an event.
Traits and Secrets
How event planners see themselves and think are the most important traits to carry as an event planner. There are many things event planners need to think about when trying to establish a successful event. There are six secrets that professionals can follow to plan a successful sporting event and that can help escalate your business in a short amount of time. Also, there are eight traits known to help when planning an event. The top 8 traits of successful sport event planners are being prepared and planning for contingencies, having a passion for what you do, flexibility, staying level headed while under fire, having a vision, being attentive to detail, ability to listen and understand your client’s goals, and humility.
Top 8 Traits
The most successful event planners always follow the same system when preparing for an event as they stay one step ahead, have multiple backup plans, see the potential risks that could come ahead, having the confirmation of details and vendors, and checking everything they do numerous times to make sure it is perfect. Many challenges will appear when planning for an event so being passionate about event planning and knowing you can overcome all the obstacles is a trait to carry when doing this profession. In the event planning world, things are constantly changing and event planners have the objection working among nonstop shifts. Having a vision in event planning does just apply to the event design. In event planning, vision refers to being able to see contrasting elements as the event is being planned and is coming together. These elements include event theme, the targeted participants, setting, town, design and decorations, entertainment, and sponsors just to name a few. The vision of event planners should be focused on delivering exactly what the attendees want and even more than what they expect.
Sport event coordinators are individuals that people look to for guidance and who set the overall tone for the event. Sport event coordinators are ones that need to keep their composure, remain calm and collected, and have the patience to put the pieces together to make a successful event. The event planners that act on advice and input from their audiences become the most successful because they are listening to their clients and are taking in new ideas. The idea to deliver the ultimate experience and achieve the goals of their clients are things great event planners realize. Overall, event planners should know that the event is not about them and it is all about their clients and audience to deliver the best experience to them.
6 Secretes
There are six powerful secretes that come with planning a successful sporting event. “When it comes to sports, we simply love cheering on our favorite teams. So it makes sense, then, that creating a successful sporting event that draws attention to your brand and drives new clients toward your business is incredibly important”(2016). Boosting community spirit, creating stunning visuals, getting insured, finding a sponsor, marketing, and creating a team all lie in the secrets of creating a successful sporting event.
A person’s goals will fail in this profession is they do not amass the support of the community. Meeting up and communicating with local lawmakers to secure you have their support and ensure that the event fits the rules and regulations in that specific space. One of the best ways to tie in the community at your sporting event is to give a display that you are giving back to a local organization from the income of the event. When the goal is to have a fun and successful sporting event, partnering with the right business or sponsor can have a huge impact on how the event turns out. When thinking or expenses, you will be able to find volunteers and staff from who you choose to partner up with as an exchange for giveaways. Getting together a group of people you can trust and that are as passionate as you about the event is a great way to start a successful team. As doing so, you will see the event come together better than anticipated. There are many things to keep in mind while planning a sporting event. An individual's main goal during event planning should be wanting both clients and prospects engaged and satisfied through the entire event.
My Plan
Sport event coordinators have the task of planning every detail that goes into preparing the team and facility for game day. Before researching and learning about sports event coordinators, I did not know everything they do before, during, and after the event. My whole life I have been interested in planning sporting events around my local community and moving my way up to professional sports.
Background
I have grown up playing sports and continued playing through college. I played many sports when I was younger and proceeded with volleyball as I got older and went on to college. When I was an athlete, I participated in many sporting events. Some, for example, include junior Olympics, nationals, NWAC, and the California Pacific Conference. As I can still remember some events were put on better than others. Some events I was never was that amazed by. As I can learn from these events that I have attended first hand, I would still love to gain more knowledge on how to make sporting events more exciting for both the players and the audience involved.
Ideas
With learning and researching the key responsibilities of a sports event coordinator, I want to contribute my ideas and thoughts to make the event more fun, organized, and different from other every day sporting events. I would first ask the team and other people involved what they like and dislike, so I could please my clients which seems to be the most important in this industry. I want to make the atmosphere of the venue enjoyable and fun because I think the first impression of your audience and players walking in has a huge effect. There are many ways to make a sporting event good but I want to learn everything and contribute as many things as possible to make my sporting event that I plan and coordinate great.
Getting involved in this industry is very competitive and difficult but starting at a basic level and building my way up would be most successful for me. I would first try to get my name out to the public with the sports teams around my local community. Then I would contact previous directors and coaches I have had in the past to try and start planning events for them right away. I would start with my local community sports teams, then move my way up to high school, then college, and then plan to start at a professional level. With event planning for sports teams, the measure of success would be simply evaluated by the athletes, coaches, and fans. To measure my level of success, I would keep track of how many people showed up to the event, who stayed for the entire event and look at the reviews given on how the event was put on. Whatever the results are, I would be able to learn from the negatives and positives of each sporting event to make my events more enjoyable in the future. There are many things I have learned about sports event coordinators during this process of research that I will be able to apply in this career in the future.
Stuck on your essay?
