Event Planning Is On The Rise, and So Are You

If you’re an event planner, you’ve probably seen a lot of growth in clientele and event numbers over the past few years. By 2028, the global events industry market size is expected to be $2,194.40 billion, which is good news for an event planner like yourself! In fact, event planning jobs are expected to grow by 8% between 2023 and 2032. From jam-packed corporate events (in-person and virtual) to birthday parties and baby showers, event planning is clearly a growing field. These uptrends can spell exceptional growth for your event planning business, which also comes with more work. Therefore, it might be worth it to consider hiring an event planning virtual assistant.

Why Should You Hire an Event Planning Virtual Assistant?

An example of a virtual event planner assistant for global firms

As an event manager, you want the events you put together to exceed your client’s expectations, but we know this isn’t an easy feat. After all, there are so many moving pieces involved when organizing an in-person event, virtual event, and/or hybrid event. The last thing you want to do is drop the ball when helping others celebrate a special moment or coordinating corporate retreats meant to enhance a company’s brand.

The level of responsibility involved in retrieving materials, working with vendors, listening to your client’s requests, and more can lead to stress and overwhelm. Your growing event planning to-do list likely leaves you feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, especially if you’re running your business alone. 

However, you don’t have to carry the weight of responsibility all by yourself. A virtual assistant for event planners is a cost-effective way to get the high-level support you need without the employee price tag. They’re a flexible option for those who need a professional who can adjust to their changing business needs. 

Planner helping with a private event

Flexible

Virtual Event Planning Assistants only work when you need them to. So, if some months are have more events than others, they can adjust. In addition, if you need assistance after hours or during the weekends, that may also be possible. 

Efficient

We match our clients to top-tier U.S.-based Event Planning Virtual Assistants with the specialized skills required to complete the event tasks you need help with most. As a result, they are less likely to waste time or money when handling event planning to-dos. 

Cost Effective Solution

Event Planning Virtual Assistants are responsible for paying their own taxes, benefits, and computer equipment, allowing event business owners to save more than they would with in-house employees. 

Event planner on discovery call

Tasks You Can Delegate to a Virtual Event Planning Assistant

Event planner with some of her support system

With a growing clientele base comes a growing list of tasks. Virtual event planners and those with in-person events have a number of jobs to conduct every day. However, there’s no end to the tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant for those big events. People are often surprised by the numerous tasks a VA can do, even though they work remotely. Therefore, here are just a few ideas to consider when delegating to a remote event planning assistant.

A Virtual Event Planning Assistant Can Do Administrative Tasks

There are tons of administrative tasks you can assign to your virtual event planning assistant. For instance, they can help an event planner with: 

Virtual assistant doing administrative tasks
  • Recording notes in a CRM following client and prospect interactions
  • Sending contracts to clients and sending reminders if needed
  • Creating digital folders for each client
  • Developing and tracking client and vendor proposals
  • Creating budgets/budget management
  • Managing guest lists
  • Coordinating with other event professionals, like wedding planners
  • Aiding with travel arrangements and transportation details
  • Coordinating schedules for the business owner
  • keeping track of agenda format
  • Arranging a business meeting
  • Completing event logistics management and being aware of the small event details to ensure everything runs smoothly
  • Supporting calendars, committees, meetings, travel, expense reports, etc.
  • Event management, such as coordinating all event and venue details, including catering, technology needs, presentation materials, guest lists, security, entertainment, decorations, marketing materials, and travel support
  • Helping with vendor management, like gathering a vendors information for an event, etc.
  • Finding the perfect venue and handling the venue booking process from start to finish, which includes, but is not limited to, insurance requests, payment, and follow-up
  • Building and maintaining an extensive database of industry contacts, vendors, and venues
  • Overseeing client experiences from conception through post-event
  • Create invitations for an event
  • Pitch ideas for small and large events to help you provide memorable experiences
  • Aiding with people management during a virtual event
  • Helping with PR activities
  • And other administrative duties that are considered time-consuming tasks!
Virtual Event Planner Assistant doing administrative duties

Virtual Event Planning Assistants Can Help With Customer Support Tasks

Great customer support goes a long way in the event planning industry. Falling short in this area could be devastating, so it’s important to stay on top of things. A virtual assistant for planners could: 

Remote professional for event industry
  • Answer phones in a pleasant and friendly manner (if you schedule them to be available during a certain block of time)
  • Tell leads about the different services offered
  • Reaching out to previous clients to determine if they have additional needs
  • Take messages and give callers information about company services, menus, resources, hours of operation, etc. If they don’t know, they can direct the caller to the correct person.
  • Email requested materials to clients and staff
  • Manage communications with event sponsors, presenters, speakers, guests, etc.
  • Upsell services
  • Reply to text messages and emails

Virtual Assistants Can Aid With Social Media Management

Providing remote assistant services, like social media support

These days, it helps a lot to have a social media presence as an event planner. Some event planners have their photos and videos shared thousands of times, which can lead to more bookings and more money. However, trying to handle social media tasks while also doing your event planning duties isn’t easy to do alone. A virtual event planning assistant can help with the following social media tasks: 

  • Create a social media strategy for various platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
  • Retrieve your photos and videos and organize them in a digital folder so they can access them when generating content.
  • Help lay brand impressions to boost awareness
  • Research content that would resonate well with your audience
  • Use Canva, Photoshop, or another tool to design graphics that grab people’s attention
  • Schedule your social media content calendar
  • Monitor the analytics, like brand impressions, and make adjustments as necessary.
  • Reply to comments and direct messages that come in
  • And more!
Event planning virtual assistant providing social media assistance

Event Planning Virtual Assistants Can Help With Email Marketing

Social media can get leads to your website, but email marketing can turn them into paying clients. Let a virtual event planning assistant handle the following: 

Virtual assistant helping to send email promotions about upcoming events
  • Preparing campaign content by obtaining the copy, finding images, and creating graphics
  • Scheduling the content to send weekly, biweekly, monthly, or whatever frequency you choose
  • Evaluating the results to check for the open rate, clickthrough rate, and more
  • Uploading email addresses, names, and other details
  • Setting up automated emails
  • Segmenting your subscriber list
  • And more

A Remote Event Planning Assistant Can Help With Tech Tasks

Technology can help your business stay ahead of the curve, but it’s not everyone’s strong point. Fortunately, a virtual event planning assistant can help you with that, too! Your dedicated virtual assistant can do the following technical tasks: 

  • Add or update your portfolio to include new photos and videos
  • Organize blog posts so leads can read about previous events you’ve pulled off
  • Set up your CRM tool (e.g., Honeybook, Dubsado, Keap, Planning Pod) and/or project management software (Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.)
  • Assist with integrations that can help you automate various tasks
  • Set up a teaching platform like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc., so you can launch an online course to teach other in-person and/or virtual event planners.
  • And more!
Well organized virtual event assistant

Your Virtual Assistant Can Aid With Personal Tasks As Well 

Need a virtual assistant to help with your personal tasks as well? No problem! Here are some suggested ways a virtual assistant can help you: 

Assistant services for virtual event planners and various industries
  • Find and schedule house cleaners
  • Search and shop online for gifts, clothing, etc.
  • Manage the family calendar
  • Arrange for grocery delivery
  • Help plan vacations
  • Schedule doctor appointments and family events
  • Arrange for transportation
  • Research child care options
  • Set up pet care services (dog walking, vet visits, etc.)
  • Research senior care services
  • Help with meal planning

When Should You Hire an Event Planning Virtual Assistant?

One reason people delay hiring a virtual event planning assistant is because they’re unsure when they should do so. However, our rule of thumb is to hire during a slower season. For instance, January is said to be the slowest time of year for events, so you could hire a virtual event planner assistant during that time.

But you’re probably wondering why in the world you want to hire them during a slower season. Well, because when you’re busy, you’ll likely find it difficult to train them on how to assist you in your business. Plus, when you’re already overwhelmed, you just want to fill the role. However, that could mean hiring someone who doesn’t truly meet your business needs.

Virtual event planner assistant helping with online private event
Event planning virtual assistant

As an event planner, you already know how overwhelming things can get when you have events back-to-back, so it’s not ideally the best time to get someone acclimated to your business processes. When it’s slower, you have time to teach them and let them practice.

Another time you could hire is on a project basis, so they can handle tasks you’re either not good at or don’t like. For instance, maybe you temporarily need a virtual assistant to create quarterly email templates or help with tech tasks.

What Qualities Do Great Virtual Event Planning Assistants Have?

When hiring virtual assistants, especially those for an event planner, you should look for the following qualities:

Virtual assistants helping virtual event planner
  • Solid event planning experience, like corporate event planning/corporate retreats, private events, team building events, engagement parties, and more. Skilled professionals can hit the ground running.
  • Strong problem-solving abilities, allowing them to deliver smooth execution and a top notch service even during challenging moments.
  • Well organized, especially as it relates to vendor management and budget management. An event planning virtual assistant should know how to effectively prioritize tasks.
  • Great time management skills. The perfect virtual assistant can deal with tight deadlines and still make sure an event runs smoothly.

How To Prepare for an Event Planning Virtual Assistant

Before event planners hire one or more virtual assistants, it’s best to have a strategy in place. Consider preparing by doing the following:

Experienced professionals helping with events
  • Determine what task or tasks you’d like the virtual event planning assistant to complete
  • Create work instructions
  • Determine the hours you’ll want your event planning VA to work
  • Jot down the tools they’ll use in your business
  • Decide on a budget for your VA
  • Schedule a discovery call with Imperative Concierge Services so we can match you to qualified virtual assistants.

Find the Perfect Virtual Event Planners Assistant

You’ve decided you need a virtual assistant for your growing event planning business, but where do you start? There are so many things to get done in a 24-hour day that finding the right virtual assistant can seem like an extra chore. Between event management and coordinating clients, who has time to set up a job listing and interview potential assistants?

Virtual event planner assistant

We Support Event Planners With Various Tasks

Let Imperative Concierge Services help you find the right virtual assistant for your event planning business! We have over 8 years of experience matching virtual assistants to our clients’ specific needs. In no time, you’ll be able to focus on your core activities again! Allow us to help you get some of your much-needed personal time back by hiring a virtual assistant.

Event Planners, Book A Discovery Call