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“When we were in school the guidance counsellor would never have mentioned event management. It was focused on the more traditional careers, like teaching. Plus I think the DIT degree course in event management only came out the year after I left school.
"So I went to UCD to do teaching, but decided after about two months I really wanted to do something else. I heard about the course in Fitzwilliam and looked into it – the more I read the more I thought it sounded really good.
"In that course there was a segment on event logistics, the role of the event planner, one on PR, one on crisis management, one on venues suitable for different events such as corporate events, celebrity events, weddings and sporting events. There was an awful lot of project work. We were given a brief and we had to organise a mock event to fit that brief. There were five people in each group and we had five big events to organise. Realistic projects - one was a charity event, one was a product launch and one was a company day out, so they focused on different areas. It was really practical because it was quite similar to what I did when I started here at Ovation.
"I’m in the DMC side of things, which is organising a trip for a group of people coming from another country. The last group I had in was a group of 100 from Denmark. They did the sea safari – a kind of high speed boat cruise that goes around Dublin harbour – they did extreme off road driving, then they had themed gala evenings. It was a really fun programme to work on, a 5-day programme. It was a banking group that came over on an incentive trip. Most of our business is incentives in my department. In the company we also have a conference dept and an events department.
"I’m definitely glad I chose this route, but event management is a lot harder than you think. Really look into it – there are long hours, so it’s not easy. You get to see loads of venues and places in Dublin that you wouldn’t even know existed, but you have to be prepared to put in the work. At the same time it’s fun and there’s an awful lot of perks – you get to do tastings, stay in great hotels, go to dinners and things.
"I know that there’s a number of courses out there now focusing on Event Management, like the ones in DIT and DBS. From what I’ve heard they seem like good courses and have lots of work experience. The main thing in this area is to get the work experience.”
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