The heartaches and headaches of event planning

How does one plan a successful event? As the saying goes, if there is a will there is a way. Unfortunately, that did not ring true for my experience in event planning during my placement at Interhill. Yes, the events were executed in the end, the outcome however were rather disappointing.

My first task as an intern was to plan an International Women's Day (IWD) event. As written in my prior post, this event came to be a collaboration between Interhill and Top Dog Factory to provide a free Muay Tai session for Interhill's female staff.

Naturally, being my first ever event, I poured my heart and soul into it. Angelyna, my supervisor was encouraging and offered suggestions. The first headache came when setting the date for the event, IWD is celebrated annually on the 8th of March, as the company's working hours is from 8 to 5, Monday to Friday and half a day on Saturday it was a challenge to actually come up with a timing when employees would feel encouraged to attend the event. The event was eventually set to happen in the last week of March. Preparation for the event went smoothly, with agreements for the venue and program coming through, the posters and invitations were eventually sent out and some attendance were confirmed.

The heartache however came on the day of the event, as only a handful of women staff turned up for the event. Nonetheless, we still went through with the event. I was told that this was a usual scenario as employees shied away from this sort of activities. This was a disappointing start to my internship, but the event itself was worthwhile.

Another challenge that I faced was getting the press release for an After School Project published. As the event was held in late April, right when the Sarawak Elections were coming to a climax, the media release was not published as the press focused their coverage on issues concerning the election.

But of course, my experience at Interhill has not been all doom and gloom. Nonetheless, the purpose of this post is to be honest about the challenges that I have faced, in doing so I am able to identify my shortcomings when planning these events. For starters, I should have had the foresight to plan my event when it does not coincide with other big events. Additionally, I have learned that it is a must to continuously engage the staff when inviting them to an event in order to make them to feel welcomed and comfortable to show up for the event.

Daphne Margaret Jolly
17895620/7E4A2937
Curtin Sarawak Campus