Mariana Gonzalez- Top Three Takeaways

This course allowed me to explore a side of meetings and events I was not familiar with. Overall, the course was thoroughly enjoyable and the material we covered, as well as exercises and field trips, gave me a solid and applicable foundation into the industry. Below are my main three takeaways from this course...

1. Project Management / Teamwork Software: Project management is one of the core elements of event and meeting planning. In this industry it is rare that someone would work completely on their on a project so knowing how to delegate tasks and projects is an essential characteristic every meeting planner should possess. Project management consists of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work that is required to meet a specific goal or milestone. By managing a project, the event planner and his or her team can and will know when each task is expected to be completed by and therefore can make an accurate estimate of when the entire project will be done. After being introduced to project management I am highly interested in learning how to use one or two more softwares, besides Teamwork, designed for project management. Additionally, I also want to look into taking a course specifically in project management as I believe it is something I will use all throughout my career in this industry.
2.  Planning for the Unexpected: In this course we covered all of the main aspects that need to be in place in order to have a successful event. We also were encouraged to think about alternate plans if something were to happen that was out of our control--how would we change our event or meeting plans to adapt to the new circumstances? When planning an event or meeting it is essential to think about the 'what if' and have a contingency plan for factors that could really put in jeopardy the success of our event. 
   
   A good example is the Haskayne BBQ case. How would the event change in case of bad weather or if they ran out of food? A good takeaway from this class is to know that things are not always going to go they way we want them to and to know how to deal with these circumstances and come up with solutions on the spot. 
3. Resources: The third, and probably most important takeaway from this class is the exposure we had to different types of resources in the industry. In Washington, D.C. there are so many different associations, event software industries, and meetings and events that are available to us for internships or simply as opportunities to learn more about the fields we want to go into. As we move forward in our careers it is important to discover everything that is available to us not only to learn more about what we like, but to increase our knowledge and awareness of the industry and its developments. I look forward to becoming more involved in the industry and share my experiences with Professors and fellow classmates and to also keep learning from them as well!