Event Architects To Know in 2024 - Kaitlin Zwirek, The Event Agency
Kaitlin Zwirek, of The Event Agency, discusses how she builds and plans meetings and events in the evolving hospitality landscape of 2024.
Luke Whalin
Mar 7, 2024
Welcome to the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series, where we highlight event professionals making waves across the events industry to share lessons learned and raise awareness of their invaluable contributions.
Name: Kaitlin Zwirek
Company Name: The Event Agency
Job Title: Director & Owner
Can you briefly tell us about your background in event planning and how you got started in the industry?
My journey in event planning started back in 2009/2010 when I first got the inclination that maybe events were my thing. I worked in the nonprofit sector for a few years and then joined a corporate event company in Montreal in 2013 as an intern. What was supposed to be a 6-week internship lasted 7 years; I grew from an intern to event coordinator to senior event producer and worked on designing and producing incredible events across North America. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, I decided it was time to take a leap and start my own agency. A dream I had had for years that felt right in the midst of a global pandemic (go figure!). The Event Agency was incorporated in June 2020. We spent the first year and a half really focused on learning virtual and hybrid events - in studios and online and took away many new skills into late 2021 as live events slowly started resurfacing. Since then, TEA has grown exponentially! We focus on large corporate events where we manage significant logistics, challenges, and designs to produce an incredible guest experience. In 2023, our work took us across Canada and into Europe!
How do you go about selecting the perfect hotel or venue? What factors weigh most heavily in your decision?
First, we focus on location, hotel/venue amenities, and budget. We are always looking for hotels and venues that provide an ROI for our events, an exceptional service, and a collaborative experience for us as event managers.
What does the initial planning phase of securing a venue look like for you? Could you walk us through your initial steps?
We spend a significant amount of time researching local hotels and venues, reading reviews, and talking with the tourism board in the event city. Using the local Tourism resources is an efficient way to gain insight and knowledge of what exists and lean on their team to expedite the process. From there, we send out RFPs to all locations and start conversations around specific details for our event before selecting a top 3 to show our clients.
Do you use frameworks, templates, or other tools/documents to help you stay organized and manage the event planning process?
Of course! I'm a big believer that efficient event planning needs an internal system and process. We have templates for all client-facing documents (scope of work, concept proposal, budget, run of shows) and a master event doc that includes the guest list, dietary restrictions, accommodations, travel, etc. All event files are in their own folder on our OneDrive for easy access and seamless communication between our team. Internally, we use ClickUp as our project management system for tasks and to-dos, as well as Slack for internal communication. It's an evolving system that will continue to grow and change as the company evolves, but one that works very well so far!
Do you have any specific strategies or insights for enhancing the attendee experience at your events?
It's important for us to really understand the company's culture, employee demographic, and the end goal/reasoning for the event. From there, we build an event experience around prioritizing these three banners. How do we create an experience that makes guests feel comfortable, excited, and engaged? Many times, that's ensuring we've managed all the little details that feel personal to each guest.
Effective communication is crucial in any planning process. How do you ensure you and your event stakeholders are always on the same page?
We always setup weekly and biweekly calls with our stakeholders to ensure the planning process is moving forward smoothly. This creates structure in the process with agendas sent out before every call to keep us on track. We also try to keep all event updates in one document that gets updated as the event evolves. This way, we avoid v.1, v.2, v.2.1, etc., and ensure everyone is always referring to the right document.
Always stay calm! Often, our role as the event producers becomes the most significant when there is an emergency onsite. Becoming flustered or stressed won't do anyone any good - so focus on staying calm and thinking logically about what resources you have onsite or nearby that can help you.
While you can't always plan for every emergency, you can certainly mitigate unexpected situations and prepare for the unknown. For large events, hiring event security is always a top priority (this is in addition to the security provided by the venue). They are hired by our team, briefed on the event details and potential risks, and stationed accordingly around the space. When emergencies arise, having a team of professionals around you to manage their sectors is incredibly helpful and then allows us, as the producers, to use our critical thinking to put a progressive plan in place for the next steps.
What are the typical steps you take in the post-event phase?
We always schedule a post-mortem with our clients to share feedback, understand what went well and what should be tweaked for next time, and how their guests experienced the event. It's a crucial part of planning as it allows us to debrief and put a plan in place for the next event.
What advice would you offer someone just starting their career in the meetings and events industry?
The most important thing you can do to get started is lean in all the way to learning and absorbing event planning. Offer to volunteer, intern, shadow an event professional and don't be afraid to ask a ton of questions while you do so. Remember, event planning isn't glamorous, it's very long days with a lot of moving parts, so be ready to live it as we live it! If you do, you'll see how beneficial it is to have real experience in the field.