The words “I don’t want to work in the event planning space” came out of my mouth more times than I can count. Know what else I said I’d never do? I said I’d never work or live anywhere near Georgetown in DC since it was “SO not me,” live in a basement apartment, or go to a Baptist church. Well. Guess what? 

In 2012 I moved to DC for a job at Georgetown University and came to love both Georgetown and the city, often walking the five or six miles home in spring and summer, taking a route through DuPont Circle down to Farragut north and past the north side of the White House and onto Pennsylvania Avenue or heading through Foggy Bottom and around the south side of the White House to walk home along the National Mall. 

I joined Capitol Hill Baptist Church in 2013, and my time as a member there was one of the sweetest – and most formative – seasons of my adult life as a Christian. 

In 2015, I moved into a basement apartment on Capitol Hill, living underneath a family of six from church. That basement was my tiny, loud and wonderful home through my engagement to my husband in 2017, as our first home together after we got married, and then until we moved to Georgia in 2019. 

Between 2007 and 2019, I worked in various roles professionally that required me to plan and run events, create and implement process improvements and manage strategic communication plans starting with small projects and then progressively growing to include events of more than 2,500 people.

I was seeing successful outcomes in those roles and being asked to train others for success in their roles as well. So when I considered starting a business in 2019, I once again ate my words and started a business focused on equipping others to plan and manage successful events and communications. And I wouldn’t change any of it. I’m often reminded of Proverbs 16:9, which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” This is so true, and I’m so thankful for it! I’d have missed out on so much if left to live in the “nevers” of my own small plans rather than embracing the better plans that the Lord had for my life – including managing events and communications.

Despite my initial hesitancy to work in the event space (mostly because of the long hours and weekend work), I love what I do. I even came to appreciate the exhaustion of pre-Covid events when I would wear out my Vans sneakers after being on my feet literally all day for events that had been in the making for months.

What I enjoy the most, though, is the immediate and tangible results that come with event and communication planning and management. I can quantifiably measure effectiveness and see the end result after long hours of planning and strategic implementation. Seeing what works and what doesn’t work happens in real-time, and there’s nothing quite like watching all of the parts of the plan come together to form a successful event – whether that event is virtual or in person. 

I know that for many of you, planning events and mapping out strategic communication plans to support the goals of your organization may fall into the “and other duties as assigned” category of your job. Maybe you also even said you would never work on these things, and yet here you are. 

So what are some things that you enjoy about this part of your work? What are the challenges? What are the skills you’d like to acquire to make this part of your work more enjoyable, as well as to make your events and communications actually work FOR you? I’d love to know! Send me an email at rebecca@rebeccawaldrop.com and let’s chat.