While the tumult in the meetings industry over the past few years has shaken out many veteran event planners, young people apparently see a decidedly positive outlook for the profession and for themselves in it.
Las Vegas-based The International School of Hospitality (TISOH), which offers a certificate program in event planning, has enjoyed an annual growth rate in meeting course enrollment of nearly 30 percent over the last few years, nearly double the rate of the school’s four other hospitality programs, according to executive director Timothy M. Lam.
About one-third of the 70 people attending TISOH for the first term of 2013 are enrolled in the convention management and event planning program, according to Lam.
Lam attributes the increased interest in meeting planning partly to the profession’s positive career outlook but also partly to Las Vegas’s stature as the country’s top destination for conventions and trade shows.
“They see growth in meetings and events,” Lam says of TISOH students, many of whom already work in the hospitality industry in lower-level positions like valet parking or food service.
Students view the TISOH certificate, which costs about $3,000 and takes about three to six months to earn, as an entry mainly into coordinator positions for meetings suppliers in hotel convention services, equipment rental and destination management, according to Lam.
While women far outnumber men at the school, the ratio is even higher in event planning, according to Lam: 95 percent female as compared with about two-thirds female in the concierge program.
He couldn’t explain why the gender balance remains so traditionally skewed toward females except to say that perhaps more female students might have previously planned a social event, and “they realize that event planning is something they really enjoy.”
Perhaps like many people embarking on a new endeavor, Lam says the students, who are mainly in their 20s, too often focus on the profession’s glory rather than the guts required to succeed in it.
“In meetings and events, many individuals dream of this career and have specific notions on what they will be doing,” he says. “Most are overly glamorized and not realistic. They envision leaving school and working directly with clients, planning big galas.”
But, Lam adds, “Internships really help drive the point home…that this field entails long hours and hard work. They might work the registration desk. Then they realize there’s a significant amount of grunt work.”
