How should I start out in the events? My dream is to work as a programmer or coordinator in the music/film/LGBTQ fest industry.
I'll be going to grad school for International Events Management in Manchester. I'm curious to know if there are any organisations that would be great to work with starting out (or even for the long run). Are most of the positions in the events industry freelance? Should I involve myself with several events/companies simultaneously?
Replies9
- @Abbie Garcia I'd be happy to help - drop me a message if you have any questions :)
- @Ingrid Stroom Hi Ingrid,Thank you so much for your advice! I'm learning to navigate through all the options in the events industry. It would be great to chat and learn more from you!
- @Anna Jagric Hi Anna,Thank you so much for you insight. It seems like there are a lot of options and I think I just need to figure out how to navigate through all of them to sustain myself.
- @Pedro Pontoni Hi Pedro! I would love to connect and get to working on something with you!
- @Jack Sullivan Thank you so much for your insight! I'd love to learn more from you from your own experiences in the industry.
- I couldn't agree more with all of the below, especially starting in-house to rack up some experience before moving freelance.I also wouldn't focus specifically on the industries you've mentioned and cast your net a bit wider to begin with; I started my events career at a College, which was far from where I wanted/want to be, but it was the foot in the door I needed.
- Hi Abbie,As Anna already reall well described it all depends on many things. It's definitely a good idea to volunteer as much as you can in similar kind of events you'd like to work in. That way you build up some network for yourself and also become more known for those people that work in the industry. While you're still studying and not fully sure which path you want to take then it might also be a good idea to select different events/companies to work with instead of specialising too much on one of a kind stuff. I would really recommend to use that time to build knowledge all-around and specialise at a later stage. The more inside out you know how events work the more beneficial it is for yourself in the future.Unless you build up a great network during your studies then it can take some time before you have enough projects to work as freelancer. It's also something to analyze once you're really about to enter the job market. I've went from working as in-house festival production coordinator to freelance project manager/production coordinator and even then it took a bit of time to make sure everyone knows what I'm doing and would know to call me and buy my services. And now I'm working on building up my own company in that line.Feel free to reach out if you're interested in a chat!Cheers,i.
- Hi Abbie,The question of freelance vs in-house is a common one, and it will be a recurring question in your career. There are some sectors which default to in-house more often, and some that tend to hire freelance more often.Earlier in your career it might be easier for you to find an in-house role. Starting freelance with no practical experience might make it harder for you. If you want to freelance, you can easily build up experience by volunteering in events coordination and helping out at events. TedEx events are very fun and well run to volunteer at. In my experience, nothing beats first hand and being 'on the ground' at events. You build up great tacit understand of the small things that make production smooth.Your route might depend a little on what kind of events you would like to be involved in or run.If you would like to disucss this more, drop me a DM as I work as a coach and could support you.Good luck!Anna
- That's cool!It's actually kind of what I was doing back in Brazil, but haven't been able to do that here in the UK.Let me know if you need help to do this research together or even maybe brainstorming a way to create something together!
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