Self-care for event managers

14 years ago, I studied a masters in Event and Festival Management.

I did my dissertation on employee engagement in the events sector, and guess what consistently emerged as a downside of the job:

“Definitely I can say I feel stressed at work. Obviously it‘s not the technical sort of definition of stress. It‘s not sort of medical, but obviously it‘s a stressful industry.”

That’s the double-edged sword of running events: it can be the best buzz ever, and it can also be really stressful. (I thought about putting a statistic here, but we all work in this industry — we don’t need a research paper to tell us how it feels!)

In the spirit of starting 2025 as we mean to go on, here are my top self-care tips from my time organising events and from talking to other organisers every day. Actual specific ones that aren’t just “take a bath” or “write in your journal”.

Prepare for a crisis

A month out from the event, take a quiet two hours and make a contingency plan for every single thing you can think of that could go wrong. From the mundane to the drastic:

The venue has a massive fire right before the event and is unusable
There’s a block-wide powercut in the middle of the event
Your star speaker has an emergency and pulls out on the morning of
Your right-hand person gets food poisoning and can’t make it in
All the badge printers go offline during registration
One of your attendees is furious and trying to start trouble
Another attendee has a life threatening medical emergency in the foyer
Everyone suddenly goes vegan and there’s a shortage of meals!

Really visualise things going as badly as possible to help you focus on this exercise. It may feel stressful, but it’s a bit of stress now to save you more stress later.

Note down what you would do in each circumstance. Over the next month, do whatever tasks are needed to lay the groundwork for in case you have to implement your backup plan. A couple extra small todos per day should cover it.

Hopefully everything will go without a hitch on the day, but just knowing that you have a plan for if it doesn’t should help ease your mind and minimise the dreaded sleepless nights.

Rehearse

Maybe it’s my background in theatre studies, but I think a rehearsal is the best way to ease your mind ahead of any type of performance — including running an event.

The higher the stakes, the more you need to rehearse.

The best case scenario is getting all the key people, including speakers, together at the venue and going through the running order. More realistically, it’ll be you and your immediate team going through logistics, and separately walking your speakers through their own setup individually (maybe even virtually if they can’t get to the venue ahead of time).

Whatever people’s schedules will allow, try and get in as much rehearsal as close to how it’ll be on the day, as you can. It’ll highlight the things that worked on paper but don’t work in practice, and give you a last minute opportunity to plug any gaps in your plan.

That said, the most memorable moments often arise from serendipity, so you can still leave space in your plan to embrace the unplanned.

Dress comfortably

It’s show time and I better not see you in uncomfortable shoes! If I know two things about event day it’s that: a) I rack up more steps than I do in a typical week, and b) my temperature fluctuates wildly.

Running around gets me all heated but then as soon as there’s a quiet moment, something about the dip in adrenaline makes me start to shiver. And there’s nothing like being too hot or cold and having sore feet to make the day feel more stressful than it needs to be.

If I could recommend the ideal event organiser’s outfit it’d be:

The comfiest jeans or smart trousers you own
A t-shirt with your event’s branding on it (unless you want to be incognito, in which case any comfortable short-sleeved top)
A cardigan or branded hoodie that’s easy to throw on and pull off every few minutes
Trainers or at the very least flat supportive footwear
Optional for long haired people: a hair tie

I’d also pack a spare top and shoes so you can feel somewhat fresh if you decide to live it up at the after party. On that note, don’t forget deodorant. Trust me.

Plan your meals

Even more critical than a comfy outfit is keeping your blood sugar level stable. Know in advance what and when you’re going to eat, and make sure it’s put aside for you.

Don’t let it just be salty or sugary snacks either. I know it’s just one day, and I’m not saying you need to hit your goals for every single nutrient, but you’ll feel vastly better if you are properly fueled.

Choose things that are quick and easy to eat on the go:

Breakfast-style energy bars (like the kind with oats in them)
Hearty sandwiches, wraps or even burritos
Bananas, apples and other portable fruit
Hummus and crudites or crackers (pack mouthwash!)
Trail mix or nuts (though be careful if you have staff or attendees with airborne allergies)
Packaged smoothies, protein shakes, or yoghurt drinks
And don’t forget to drink water, ideally

Even if you feel you can power through on a snatched bite of leftover cupcake and swig of warm Diet Coke, why risk dehydration, fatigue and dizziness, increased irritability, and reduced cognitive function? Today of all days!

Have a private HQ

There should be somewhere, even if it’s just a storage cupboard, where you can go if you need a quiet moment; whether it’s to troubleshoot distraction-free or just to take a breath.

Only authorised people should be allowed in this space. Ideally, it should also have:

Somewhere comfortable to sit (have you sat down yet today?)
A stash of the aforementioned snacks
Somewhere to charge your devices
A printer if possible
Copies of all your key documents, which brings me to…

Async checklists

Everybody in the organising team who’s responsible for any task that impacts other people’s ability to do their job, should be able to check it off in a shared document that everyone can see.

This reduces the need for constant back and forth between team members, so you can focus on the vendors, speakers, sponsors and attendees who will undoubtedly be vying for your attention.

For this to work, make sure:

Everyone has bookmarked the document somewhere they can access it easily
The document is super simple to update, ideally just tapping a checkbox
There’s network access to keep it synced across everyone’s devices
Everyone understands that this will be the central source of truth they will refer to

I also suggest you keep this document as succinct as possible. Just a list of tasks arranged roughly in chronological order, with the person responsible for each task listed, and a checkbox to mark the task as completed.

To be clear, this is a digital checklist, so there doesn’t need to be a printed copy in your HQ, but separately, you should also have an “event handbook” — a reference manual with everything else you need to know, including:

Contact information
Details of vendors and contracts
Schedule and deadlines
Sponsor booth layouts
Wifi details
Emergency protocols
Tech specs
Catering details
Etc.

Keep a digital copy on your phone, but have a printed copy on hand at HQ just in case.

Outsource social media

You shouldn’t need to be checking ex-Twitter on top of everything else, so have someone else you trust keep an eye on your event’s social media accounts for the day. Tips for success:

Let them know what important messages they need to send (thanking sponsors, announcing competition winners, etc.)
Schedule whatever you can in advance, but make sure they have access to change or cancel scheduled posts in case of changes
Give them access to the handbook so they know how to answer questions
Brief them on the tone of voice they should use when posting
Have a plan for how and what to escalate to you

Take in the best bits

It’d be a shame to organise the event of the year and not get to experience any of it for yourself. Try and build time into your schedule to see the keynote presentation, if it interests you. Swap the clipboard in your hand for a beverage at the after party.

Delegate anything that doesn’t need to be done by you. This can be hard when the event feels like your baby, but you’ve done all the prep and put together a killer handbook — your team can pick it up from here.

And if you need an excuse to do this, call it research. How does the event feel from the attendees’ side? Knowing this will help you make next year even better.

Schedule a decompression day (or week!)

Ok, now it’s time to take that bath.

Try to schedule at least one day immediately (or very soon) after the event to do as little as possible. A lot of event organisers I know feel uncomfortable being “unproductive”, but physical and mental rest will help you bounce back quicker, so really it’s the most productive thing you can do!

The specifics can look however you want them to look: sleeping all day, watching back-to-back shows, playing video games, having a friend round. Just make sure it’s blocked out in your calendar.

And if you absolutely can’t get away with not checking your work phone or emails, try to timebox it so you can properly switch off for the rest of the day. Expense reports and thank you notes can wait 24 hours.

And then… it’s right into the next one, probably! But hopefully with no burn out in sight.