The Event Manager role continues to be one of the most stressful and one of the most dynamic roles in the world. So what skills should event managers across the globe be focusing on as we get set to move into a new decade?

The skills needed to be an event manager in 2020 and beyond!

Before we gaze into the future, I would suggest that you take a few minutes to see what skills you should have at this point in time.

Over the last few years we have posted blogs on the “Skills Needed To Be An Event Manager” Here’s our 2017 list.

Our 2014 list and our list from 2013.

Yes, we really have being doing this for that long!

With so many skills to master which ones are no longer needed?

I would love to start this post by saying that you can drop most or all of those tasks NOW. However, that’s just not the case.

Our job is set to change, but most of the core skills and tasks are likely to be with us for a few more years. But I have to stress the “few”

In the coming years (depending on the organisations you work for or with) we won’t need to be masters of all of the skills we have previously required to perform our jobs.

That is because Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be taking on many of the traditional skills: yes I know it is annoying, the ones we have spent so long developing!

Change is coming.

But the great news is that you have time. These new skills won’t be demanded by employers or clients as soon as the calendars flip over to next year. We will all move slowly into this new world, because, the world of events moves slowly.

The 2020s really will be a transformational decade for the events industry. And as an event professional you really have to start concentrating on new skills NOW or at least being aware of them.

The most important point to consider as we move from the information economy to the connection economy is that our skills will have to be universal.

As the next decade unfolds, event managers will have to develop truly transferrable skills. We have to be less event managers and more highly skilled connectors, who just happen to run events.

So, what does this mean for event professionals now?

Of course we will still need to know how to run an event. We will still need to understand, if not actually oversee, how an event is marketed and sold. We must still understand contracts. We have to keep on top of health and safety and event logistics. However, more and more of those tasks will be taken over by automated and intelligent systems.

Artificial Intelligence will be able to read and amend a contract. It will be able to construct a conference programme. It will be able to write and schedule 100s of social media posts about your event. It will set prices that will maximise your profit. It will be able to collect and report detailed feedback on every element of your event.

It will do many of the things we have been doing for decades. And in some of the examples above, it ALREADY IS DOING these things.

A new horizon for event managers

As we head into a new decade we have to make sure we concentrate less on event specific training and more on learning the following seven areas. An Event Manager must:

  1. Become a problem solver
  2. Become a visual communicator
  3. Become a story teller
  4. Be more aware of the impact (or connections) of your role and our industry
  5. Understand how cutting edge technology including AI can help you, not replace you
  6. Learn to stand out
  7. Become super connected

Published On: September 25th, 2019 / Categories: Behavioural Change, Ethics, Festivals and outdoor, Innovation, millennials and gen-z, Technology /