BellaNaija is pleased to announce a new column for our special readers - Ask FVO! Funmi Victor-Okigbo (FVO) is an expert in event planning & management, and is now a BellaNaija contributor.
FVO is the Chief Executive and Lead
Production Designer of No Surprises Events. Her corporate client base
spans industries as diverse as technology, entertainment, banking,
government and consumer goods across sub-Saharan Africa.
Need help planning a family dinner,
birthday party, seminar, wedding, board meeting, concert or just curious
about how the professionals do some of their amazing tricks? If you
have a burning question, just Ask FVO and get a focused, clear,
no-nonsense answer!
***
Hi FVO,
I’ve spent the last 6 years in the
banking industry and have decided that I want to work in Events
Coordination. I just think life is too short for monotonous jobs and I’m
looking to inject fun into my career. I’ve chosen events because while
it might be hard work, it appears very glamorous and a good way to spend
time whilst making oodles of money. How would you suggest I get
started? Given I’m an experienced professional, I don’t feel I should
have to start at the bottom of the ladder. I’d really appreciate your
advice.
***
Hi Temi!
First I’d like to ask why you want to
make a switch to the Events industry? I’m hoping it’s much more than
about the glam and money! You must be truly passionate about it and be
ready to work your way from bottom to the top as the jobs may not be as
frequent in the beginning as you’d love and this will be your true test.
Events management is not as glamorous as
a lot of people think because let’s face it, we make the events happen
so we are ‘backstage’ most of the time and for the money making part you
have to be patient as it takes a while to ‘make money’ there are lots
of overheads you have to consider like phone bills, staff salaries (you
may not have a lot at the beginning but at some point you’ll need help 
You may have been in the banking
industry for a while and even though you may have transferable skills,
like communication and problem solving skills, some of those skills
still need to be honed in the events industry (and this is not to take
anything away from the banking industry) for example at the bank you may
only need to communicate with a few people at the time and most times
maybe to the same people, however in the events industry you will have
to communicate to different clients and lots of vendors at the same
time, one email may not just do it sometimes, you may have to follow it
up with a phone calls just to be sure! It’s important that your message
is clear as there are no dress rehearsals, you have to get it right the
first time so clear communication is extremely important. You can only
get good at this on the job!
Are any of you looking to make a change into an event management career? What expectations do you have? Let me hear from you.
***
Send your questions for FVO to askFVO(at)nosurprisesevents.com stating
your name and where you are writing from. The editor reserves the right
to edit submissions for content brevity and clarity. We regret that we
cannot provide individual answers to questions sent in and cannot state
at which exact date answers would be published.
We look forward to reading your emails and tweets with questions.
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