David Adler (@DavidAdler) is the C.E.O. and founder of BizBash.
In my 40 years of attending events and talking to professionals in the industry, I’ve found that most organizers face the same fears: Did I invite the right people? What if no one shows up? Is this the right night? Am I serving the right food and drink? Will people enjoy the experience?
I suffered through the very same insecurities recently, hosting my first holiday party in a long time. And it struck me; event organizers are the most courageous people I know. If you’ve ever watched Brené Brown’s TED Talk on courage and the power of vulnerability, you’ll realize that putting on an event is the ultimate exposure. It’s not just the judgment and opinions, but the fact that almost anything can go wrong quickly.
Don’t believe me? Last year CareerCast named event coordinator the eighth most stressful job in America. And what’s amazing is that it is one of the hottest jobs of the century because of the satisfaction one gets from going through the complete process. It is one of the closest things to an Outward Bound experience. Once you can do it, you are exhilarated and have unbelievable confidence.
But what I think we forget sometimes is that event organizing is a team sport. This industry has grown tremendously in the past few decades, so much so that there are thousands of skilled professionals to trust and rely on. That holiday party I mentioned earlier? I never would have survived without a safety net, which turned out to be Neuman’s Kitchen, one of the many fantastic catering firms in New York. It was Neuman’s that held my hand as I hyperventilated my way through the process. As the C.E.O. of BizBash, I felt pressure to incorporate the most cutting-edge ideas, so I questioned all my decisions.
However, my decision to bring in a professional team like Neuman's was the right one, which I realized as soon as the initial walkthrough. I knew I could trust a high-caliber caterer with years of experience. They had a system and smart people who knew how to make me feel comfortable and hide my insecurity. Their chef came up with ideas that were more creative than I could have imagined, using “vessels” and techniques that made the food not only taste incredible, but also presented in a way that made my apartment feel like it was ready for an Architectural Digest photo shoot.
It made me realize that when you hire a caterer or an experienced partner, you are not just getting their food and drink, but also their years of “workflow” analysis and systems that allow the host and guests the maximum time to mix and mingle. The food becomes the conversations and the drinks become a social lubricant for a one-of-a-kind experience.
So let this not only be a coming out story, but one that proves that we as event and meeting professionals can only be successful when we rely on our peers and colleagues. I am admitting that creating events is terrifying and hiring the right partners to make it happen is not a sign of weakness but the courage to be visible and in the “arena.” To steal a great Teddy Roosevelt quote from his “The Man in the Arena” speech:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
