Grad Lauren jumping for joy in Botanic Gardens Sydney
Major project pitch week is always an exciting, crazy, scary, full-on, amazing week at College of Event Management. But when one of our students presents his/her major project to the industry panel and positively blows them away to the point where he/she is virtually offered a job on the spot, that’s a particularly good day for us all. Yep, it happens that way sometimes and certainly did in the case of now graduate Lauren Lister. Read on to see our latest Graduate Profile: Lauren Lister.
Since graduating here’s Lauren’s event career trajectory:
- Functions Coordinator at Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney
- Experience Manager at Hidden Door Experiences
Read on to hear what Laurne has to say about events in general, a typical work day in the event industry and what it takes to be a good great event manager…
CoEM: What do you love about events?
Lauren: An event is an experience for all attendees. Some events become a memorable moment which one will treasure for a lifetime.
The idea of being able to contribute to the execution of those memorable positive lifetime experiences seems pretty cool to me.
What was one of the most valuable lessons you took away from the course?
The ability to present my ideas and passions confidently in front of a panel of event industry leaders.
A typical work day at Royal Botanic Gardens?
A typical work day begins with a walk through the Gardens. I then arrive at my desk and open my emails from overnight. While getting on top of the new event enquiries I also am project managing dozens of other upcoming events happening. I constantly refer to a checklist to ensure all procedures are up to date with each event. I look after any enquiry from indoor function bookings, sport field bookings, team building bookings, filming and photography permit requests, marquee bookings to activations and media launches. I am able to conduct pre and post site inspections for one of the most beautiful locations in Sydney.
The majority of events we coordinate are weddings, engagements, Christmas parties and brand launches. My favourite type of event to work on are activations as they are always a little out of the ordinary and challenge the usual regulations and require you to think outside the box.
Wedding party at royal botanic gardens
What attributes do you think make a great event manager?
To work as a great event manager you need to be able to work under pressure and remain logical and calm. You need to understand all aspects of events and need to keep learning as situations arise so it’s best to engage any opportunity you receive that might contribute to your knowledge of events.
Highlight of your event career so far?
Securing a well known global network deal which then contributed to a large amount of revenue for my department. I also got to work on New Years Eve as a site manager and LOVED it.
Do you have any advice for other event management graduates?
NETWORK! And volunteer as much as you can, some of the jobs may not be so glamorous but it all helps to get your name out there.
Postscript: Lauren has moved on from Royal Botanic Gardens. She is currently the Experience Manager for Hidden Door Experiences.
Graduates from College of Event Management are job-ready! If you’re wanting to find out more about a career in event management there’s plenty of information on our website about our specialised event courses. Any of our course advisors will be more than happy to chat to you on 02 9280 4912 or you can contact us HERE >>
