Event Planning Roles: How to Staff an Event Team

Preparing for a significant event requires many different event planning roles to be filled by qualified staff members. All staff involved in an event’s production are essential, as they each work together within their roles to ensure that the occasion goes off without a hitch. 

For large events with many moving parts, companies must fill the event staff roles with the right individuals who can professionally take on the functions necessary for the job. For this reason, hiring the right workers for each event staff position is crucial. Read on to learn some effective recruitment practices for your event team.

How to Fill Event Planner Roles the Right Way

To organize an event, you must hire the right individuals with the right recruitment practices and techniques. Staff members in event roles will likely only be hired temporarily, and therefore your event staff hiring team should be sure to look for temporary candidates and identify the roles as being temporary when advertising the positions.

Of course, there are many additional aspects that your hiring team should keep in mind as well when performing recruitment for an event. The following list includes the question and topics to cover during the candidate interview and vetting processes:

What is your prior related work experience?

What is your work availability?

Are you capable of handling the demands of this role?

Do you have transportation to and from the role?

Do you meet the requirements and qualifications for this role?

Where to Find Event Staff?

There are many ways that you can locate event staff members. One popular way to get the word out about your open position is to create an event staff job description to advertise each of your roles and post them to job boards online.

Additionally, you can locate event staff members through reputable hiring agencies like Adia. Adia is an on-demand staffing solution and a great resource for finding experienced and pre-vetted employees for roles in event planning.

Event Planning Roles: Team Breakdown

Within the following section, we will go over several of the common event staff member roles and the various responsibilities and tasks that are associated with them. You can use this section to provide you with a better idea of the types of staff members you may need to hire to properly execute your next big event!

1. Management

Workers who are responsible for the management of an event are in charge of the other event staff members and ensure that each role is being properly executed. This can involve tasks like communicating goals and objectives for your event staff, delegating tasks to workers, and overseeing the actions of the workers. Additionally, they will act as a point of contact for other event staff members to address any questions and guide them through the preparation and execution of the event. 

The following positions are examples of event management roles:

• Head of Event – The Head of Event or Event Director is in charge of organizing and leading the event staff and all of the tasks related to event production.
• Program Administrators – Project Administrators provide support in event management and are responsible for arranging assignments, schedules, and action plans regarding the other staff member’s event activities.

2. Planning

Event planning is necessary to ensure that you have the materials and help required to conduct a successful event. This category of worker entails all of the positions involved in coordinating the administrating the event before it occurs. This can include tasks such as hiring an event team, identifying a budget for the event, planning the event’s activities, transportation, location, and more that can be found in a typical event planner job description. 

Qualified event planners should be able to ensure that your event is successful in execution and that your event is successful at achieving your company’s objectives. Therefore, it is important to hire the right event planner to suit your company’s needs. 

The following positions are examples of event planning team roles:

• Event Coordinator – Professionals in event coordinator roles oversee each of the tasks involved in corporate event planning. This means that you should hire a candidate for your event coordinator role who has leadership skills and is capable of managing the event logistics and ensuring each of the necessary plans are made to execute a problem-free event.
• Event Planner – Event planners are tasked with event planning roles and responsibilities and working with the company to design an event that will meet their needs and objectives. They make decisions on how the event should be prepared to fulfill the company’s goals.
• Creative Administrators – Creative administrators organize events and take care of the administrative tasks involved in their organization. This can involve the securing and booking of hotels and event locations, entertainment, and other necessary event aspects.
• Treasury Officer – Treasury officers keep track of the costs associated with the event and allocate money to each task to ensure that the event is produced within the company’s budget.

3. Marketing

Marketing is an important part of event planning. After all, you’ll need to spread the word about your event so that people know to come! 

Therefore, the right marketing staff members should be able to communicate your event to the public and all necessary individuals in a way that is professional and exciting. It is crucial that you find the right workers for these roles, as they will also be representing your company’s brand and will determine the success of the event in the eyes of its attendees.

The following positions are examples of event marketing roles:

• Marketing Coordinator – Marketing coordinators work with the other marketing staff members to develop the plans for executing the event’s marketing campaign. This involves staying informed on the latest trends and market data to develop a campaign that meets the event’s marketing goals.
• Sales Lead – Sales leads or Event Sales Managers are in charge of customer inquiries and negotiating contracts involved in event logistical planning. They may also be involved in generating attendance costs and allocating tickets for the event.
• Public Relations Officer – Public relations officers must manage the relationships between the event staff, consumers, the media, and other cooperative relationships. They also will be the point of contact for media outlets and generate event plans that will boost the company’s brand and image.
• Brand Ambassadors – Brand ambassadors will work on executing marketing campaign tasks to promote the event and support the company’s image.

4. Security

Security is necessary at events to ensure the safety of your event attendees and staff members. You never know what could happen at an event, so planning security staff for your event is the responsible way to keep everybody involved safe. 

Hiring qualified security staff members could make the difference between a successful event and a tragic one. Therefore, you should find staff members with the experience, skills, qualifications, and physical strength necessary to handle security threats and keep everybody involved in your events safe.

The following positions are examples of event security roles:

• Head of Security – A head of security will be responsible for organizing and performing all security actions and protocols for the event. They will also oversee other security staff members, assign them to their roles, and administer tasks to them that are necessary for the event’s security. The head of security also develops emergency plans and protocols should an unsafe situation occur.
• Security Staff – Security staff members at events ensure the security of the events either on-site or by monitoring the events through security camera footage. On-site security staff will security checkpoints at the event, check event IDs, assess security risks, and be on the lookout for suspicious or unsafe. They will also follow all security protocols identified by the head of security as necessary.

5. Catering

Guests enjoy attending events where refreshments and meals are provided. Catering staff members make this possible by creating and delivering foods and beverages to event attendees and ensuring that the event stays free of messes by clearing trash and dirty dishes after the meal.

A great catering crew can elevate the event experience for attendees, so you should look for talented individuals to fill your event catering roles. Fortunately, Adia’s on-demand staffing solution specializes in such workers, and you can easily access pre-vetted and qualified hospitality staff members to help with your event catering needs!

The following positions are examples of event catering roles:

• Catering Manager – Catering managers work with companies to plan the foods and beverages that will be served at the event. They should have great culinary skills to take care of the organization and planning of all event catering operations and lead the other catering staff members.
• Bartender – Bartenders must have the necessary certifications and qualifications to serve alcoholic beverages safely and appropriately at an event. This means checking IDs, creating and serving drinks, and ensuring that event guests drink responsibly. 
• Wait Staff – Event wait staff members are in charge of serving guests, cleaning tables, and carrying out all tasks involved in setting up and clearing the event dining areas. They should also be able to communicate effectively with event guests, answer questions, and address their concerns regarding the food and beverages served at the event.
• Cook – Cooks or event chefs prepare the foods to be served at the event. They must plan the food, ingredients, and equipment and ensure the quality and presentation of the food served at the events.

6. General Labor

General labor staff members refer to all of the individuals that work to prepare or clean up the event location. Additionally, they also include roles that support the guests during the event by taking tickets, providing information, greeting guests, and ushering them to the right places. These individuals will be interacting one on one with the attendees, so you must hire the right individuals with great people skills to appropriately represent your event. 

Fortunately, Adia also specializes in general labor staff workers. You can easily visit Adia’s on-demand staffing service to view and hire general labor staff members available for work in your area!

The following positions are examples of general labor roles:

• Cleaning Staff – Cleaning staff members will ensure that the location of your event is clean and tidy before and after the event takes place. They perform tasks such as sweeping, mopping, dusting, removing trash, and other activities to keep your event site safe and clean.
• Assembly/Disassembly Team – Event activities often involve materials and supplies like stages, tables, chairs, and more. The assembly/disassembly team members are in charge of safely putting together and taking apart the materials involved in the event.
• Ticketing/Information Staff – Ticketing and information staff members interact with event attendees to collect their tickets and answer any questions they may have about the logistics of the event. Therefore, excellent people skills are necessary for anyone in this role!
• Ushering Staff – Ushering staff members help lead guests to their designated seats, tables, or areas within the event location.
• Greeters/Hosts – Greeters and hosts should also have people skills, as they will help make your guests feel at home by welcoming them as they arrive at the event. They may also be tasked with answering attendee inquiries and assisting with the guests’ requests.

Build an Event Planning A-Team with Adia

Many different roles in event planning must be filled by qualified workers with the necessary skills. However, it doesn’t need to be difficult to find the right staff members for your events! Adia’s on-demand staffing platform connects employers to pre-vetted workers looking for jobs in their area. To learn more about what Adia’s staffing platform can do for you, visit https://adia.works/.