Tammie Hawkins

Tammie Hawkins has over two decades’ worth of experience in event planning and has run her own business for over five years, organizing a variety of events. She knows the importance of choosing the right service provider for every event. This is especially true when choosing a wedding photographer. “The wedding photographer is also going to be one of the most important people at the event, as they are tasked with capturing the big day in all its glory,” she wrote in a post not long ago. “That makes picking the right person vital.” Consider the following tips to make sure that all your special moments are preserved the way you want.

First, tap into your network to find a referral. Start by asking for recommendations from friends and family, especially those who just got married. Ask if you can look over their wedding photos. Also, look through Facebook pages, and websites for blog posts, client reviews and samples of work. After you have a list of potentials, start conducting interviews. The photographers should have two or three sample wedding albums to show you. Examine the photos for qualities such as clarity, color and composition. Also, determine whether or not you like the photographer’s style. If not, are they willing to adjust their style to satisfy your taste? Once you have found the professional you are looking for, determine costs and sign the contract. Make sure you have clear communication of the details of the ceremony, reception and the specifics of the photographs that you want. The contract is in place to remind both parties of the services and terms that were agreed upon.

Tammie Hawkins is a highly esteemed event planner based in the Los Angeles area. She works hard to maintain good relationships with top event vendors in the Los Angeles area.

Tammie Hawkins - Tips For Operating An Event Planning Business

Tammie Hawkins owns her own event planning business. She is very successful in the Los Angeles area and has many people who she works with on a regular basis. If you are operating your own event planning business, these tips can help.

Stay Organized
Anyone who owns their own business needs to be organized. You will have to keep records for your client and for yourself. You will need to keep an organized office and desk and have all of your files in their place so you can reference them if needed. Organization is essential to success.

Advertise
You will be responsible for finding your own clients and that means you will need to advertise. You should advertise in as many places as possible to ensure that you are reaching a lot of people and making people aware of your services.

Competitive Price
Event planning is a competitive business and you want to make sure you are offering unique services and competitive prices. Don’t be afraid to check out the other event planners in your area to find out what they are offering and how much they are charging for their services. You can then base your own prices and services on the competition.

Tammie Hawkins finds that owning her own business is both challenging and rewarding. If you are going to operate your own event planning business, follow the above tips to make it more successful.

Tammie Hawkins - Setting A Budget For A Party

Tammie Hawkins is an event planner. She works closely with people to help them get the most out of their events while still sticking to their budgets. If you are trying to plan a party for yourself or someone else on a budget, these tips can help.

Prioritize

Decide on the most important aspects of your party and which ones you are willing to splurge on. You will want to use the majority of your money for these things and plan your budget around them. You can always use any leftover money to add more things later.

Get Creative

Party planning can be expensive and if you can’t afford to buy everything, you may want to consider making it yourself. You can often make things much cheaper than you can buy them and homemade items are often better quality and more personal.

Alternatives

If you can't afford to have the exact detail you want for your party, look for a more affordable alternative. You may be able to find something similar for a lower price. In some cases, you may even be able to find something you like better at a lesser price.

Tammie Hawkins knows that many clients have to stay on a budget when it comes to planning their party or event. If you are planning an event and need to keep your costs down, the above tips can help. A budget can help you stay on track and get the most out of your event.

Tammie Hawkins - Tips For Planning A Graduation Party

Tammie Hawkins likes to plan parties. She is a professional event planner who has helped plan numerous parties and special events for people all over the Los Angeles area. If you are planning to host a graduation party, these tips can help make it even more special.

Invites

Graduations are often a busy time for many people and if you want to ensure that all of your guests have time to make plans for your party, you need to get their invitations to them as soon as possible. You should consider sending your invitations out two to three weeks before the date of the party.

Food

You want to have plenty of food to serve guests at your party. Aside from cake and drinks, you may want to consider cookout style foods or finger foods and side dishes. Snacks are also a simple and inexpensive option.

Decorations

Many people choose to go with a common graduation theme or something simple like a color scheme. If you want to make the party even more personal, you can add decorations that appeal to the graduate’s tastes and lifestyle, such as a sports theme or music theme.

If you decide to plan events like Tammie Hawkins and want to plan a great graduation party for a client or a special graduate in your life, consider the above tips. Anyone can plan a great party with the right skills and tools.

Tammie Hawkins - Qualities Of A Successful Event Planner

Tammie Hawkins is a successful event planner who works in Los Angeles. She is always busy and has a lot of clients who enjoy her work. She has been working as an event planner for several years and many of the clients refer her to others and continue to have her plan their own events. Party planners have certain qualities that Tammie Hawkins just happens to possess.

Organized

An event planner has to be very organized in order to keep the details of different parties straight and to be able to find all the records and supplies needed for each party. You should be able to keep your desk clean, your computer files organized and have all of your party supplies and gear organized and easy to find and sort through. Being organized will help you plan parties quickly and keep your clients happy.

Friendly

People who are looking to plan an event are often excited about it and want to work with someone who shares their excitement and is easy to talk to. You should be able to talk to all different kinds of people and make each of them feel comfortable and confident in your ability to help them plan the perfect party. Nobody wants to do business with someone who is grumpy or seems burdened with the client’s request. Make sure you are going out of your way to be friendly and make your clients feel good.

Eye For Details

When it comes to event planning, the smallest details can make the biggest differences. A good event planner will have an eye for details. He or she will be able to look at the big picture and know what details are necessary to make the event extra special or more personal. In some cases, a client may request certain details and the party planner will know how to add them to the party in the proper way.

Resourceful

Event planning isn’t always easy and it can sometimes be hard to find the right place for a party or event or the right tools and supplies. A good event planner has to be resourceful and able to use the things available to plan the event to the best of his or her abilities. An event planner may even have to make decorations, flowers or other things for the event if they cannot be purchased or found elsewhere.

If you think you might possess the qualities of a successful event planner like Tammie Hawkins, you may want to pursue a career in the industry. Event planning may be fun, but it can also be challenging. Make sure you have what it takes to do the job.

Tammie Hawkins - Why I Love to Read

Tammie Hawkins is a prominent Los Angeles event planner, but she is also an avid reader who enjoys a very wide range of material. Over the years, she has enjoyed everything from literary fiction to thrillers to non-fiction books, and continues to explore new genres. Hawkins has found that there are many benefits to reading regularly, and incorporates it into her daily routine. Here are some of the most important reasons to start reading.

Reading is a great escape from your everyday life. This is especially important to consider if you are very stressed out and are looking for something to help you feel calmer and forget your problems for a while. Even reading for just ten or twenty minutes every day can help you feel less anxious and worried.

Reading helps you to learn new things. By reading, you can have access to a huge amount of information that you would otherwise never learn about. Both fiction and non-fiction can provide you with new insights and ideas to inspire you.
Frequent reading keeps your brain sharp and your vocabulary strong. Unlike other common activities like watching television, reading challenges your brain and forces you to actively think, which is very important for brain functioning, especially as you age.

In addition to these mental health benefits, reading is a very cost-effective way to entertain yourself. Compared to the costs of movies or cable TV, books are very inexpensive to obtain, especially if you make use of your local library.

Tammie Hawkins loves to read, and enjoys these and many other benefits of reading every day

Tammie Hawkins - Staying Involved in the Event Planning Industry

As one of Los Angeles’ most respected event planners, Tammie Hawkins is committed to keeping up with trends in the industry. The event planning industry is something that is very global, and is constantly changing and evolving depending on clients’ needs and preferences. Hawkins finds that staying up to date on event planning trends helps her to create events for her clients that are very exciting and dynamic.

Hawkins holds event planning certifications from two organizations: Certified Meeting Planners and the International Special Events Society. These organizations, as well as many others, provide her with resources that help her to stay informed and involved in event planning trends. The Convention Industry Council, which provides the Certified Meeting Planner qualification, offers many industry conferences and conventions that allow event planners to networks with each other, as well as learn about new technology and trends and further their knowledge. There are also many other conferences around North America and Europe for event planners to attend, most notably BizBash’s Expo and Plan-A-Thon events.

Tammie Hawkins also enjoys reading industry publications, as these are an easy and inexpensive way for her to keep up with event planning news and gain inspiration for her own work. She loves reading event planning magazines such as Special Events Magazine and Biz Bash Magazine. She also frequently reads event planning blogs and news articles. Hawkins’ dedication to her industry is what has set her business apart from the multitudes of other event planning companies in southern California and beyond.

Tammie Hawkins - How to Become an Event Planner

Tammie Hawkins has enjoyed a long and successful career in the event planning industry. She is currently the head of her own event planning business in Los Angeles, and creates events for a large variety of clients, many of which are executives or large companies in the entertainment industry. Prior to starting her own business in 2010, she worked for several large and reputable event planning companies in L.A. Becoming an event planner is a great choice for anyone who is very organized, loves to be creative, and is friendly and social. If you are interested in becoming an event planner, there are several steps you can take to get started in your career.

Most event planning companies prefer that their employees have Bachelor’s degrees, so the first step to becoming an event planner is attending college or university. There are many degrees you can get that will be useful for event planning. The most relevant degree to event planning is hospitality management, but business, marketing, and public relations degrees are also helpful. If you choose to major in anything other than hospitality, be sure to take some elective classes that relate to hospitality to further your knowledge and prep you for your career.
In addition to obtaining a Bachelor’s degree, it is also helpful to get an event planning certification to show potential employers that you are knowledgeable and qualified to work in the industry. There are many event planning certifications, and the most common in the United States is the Certified Meeting Professional qualification from the Convention Industry Council. Other popular event planning certification groups include the International Special Events Society and the Society of Government Meeting Professionals. To obtain these credentials, you will have to take extra classes and may need to fulfill certain practical experience requirements as well.
After you have completed your education, the next step to becoming an event planner is to gain real world experience. This is most commonly done through an internship, where you will work at an event planning company to learn the ropes. If you cannot get involved in an internship, another way to get industry experience is to volunteer to help with the organization and set-up of individual events in your area. This is one of the most important things that event planners look for on a resume.
After you have completed your internship and have your foot in the door of the industry, the next thing to do is to continue networking! Try to make as many connections as you can – you never know when someone may be able to help you out or get you an opportunity in the future. Tammie Hawkins recommends attending industry events and conferences to meet new people and find new projects and clients.

Tammie Hawkins: Tips For Planning Events On A Budget

Tammie Hawkins has found that it is very rare to have free reign when planning an event, as most of her clients have a pre-defined budget that they need to stick to. In order to a success in the industry you need to understand how to stick to a budget while still providing your client with the best event possible, so here are a couple of tips that should help those who are struggling.

Use Spreadsheets

They may be a little boring to some, but spreadsheets can be an absolute lifesaver when you are planning an event. Make sure to keep a record of every single expense that the event incurs, all of which can be kept in your spreadsheet for reference. You may even wish to create a formula that deducts the amount of each new expense from the total budget, allowing you to see exactly what you have left for other aspects of the event.

Do Your Research

No matter what aspect of the event you are planning, be it catering, entertainment or booking the venue, there are always going to be a number of options available to you. You need to make sure that you explore every one of these possibilities in order to find the ones that suit your client’s budget while also offering them what they are looking for out of the event. It takes a lot of legwork but it will prove to be worthwhile once you start developing a reputation for planning great events amongst your client base.

Save Money Wherever You Can

When planning the event Tammie Hawkins recommends asking your client about what you can do to save a few dollars. For example, it is much more cost-effective to send free invitations using Facebook than it is to have them professionally made. Any little money-savers like that are always worth exploring.

Tammie Hawkins - Popular Event Planning Services

Tammie Hawkins is one of Los Angeles’ top event planners, with over twenty years of experience in the business and her own event planning company. Although she specializes in entertainment and media industry events, there are many different services that event planners can provide for their clients. For example, Hawkins’ portfolio includes a variety of events ranging from corporate luncheons and dinners to rooftop industry parties. Here are just a few of the services that most event planners offer, and when you should take advantage of them.

Consulting sessions: This is where your event begins to take shape. You will sit down with your wedding planner and discuss your vision for the event, as well as your budget and any other logistical factors that you already have figured out. The event planner will then work within the parameters that you have given to make your vision come to life.
Design: The event planner will then create a design to work with for your event. They will work with you to determine exactly what you want the venue to be and the space to look like, as well as the food and entertainment that you will be providing during the event. They will ensure that everything fits with the theme of the event.
Vendor coordination and budgeting: An event planner can work with you to help you stick to your budget. They will help you choose all of the vendors that you will be working with to create your event. As the liaison between you and the vendors, they can help negotiate contracts tastefully. Event planners also know the best people in the industry for catering, marketing, visual design, and more, so you will be sure to find the best vendors for your needs.
On-site coordination and scheduling: When the day of the event rolls around, you don’t want to be worrying about things like the food, music, or flowers. This is where your event planner comes in – they will work with the venue and the vendors to ensure that everything is in the right place at the right time. They will manage all contact between your company and the vendors, so that you are not overwhelmed and can focus on networking and enjoying your event. They will also ensure that if they are any problems during the event, they are resolved quickly.

As one of Los Angeles’ top event planners, Tammie Hawkins provides all of these services and more to her clients. She has helped many businesses plan events that have boosted sales and helped people make connections. She highly recommends using an event planner to make sure your event is the best that it possibly can be.

Tammie Hawkins - How To Choose A Good Wedding Photographer

Tammie Hawkins has planned weddings for a number of clients in Los Angeles, which requires her to be able to select suitable service providers for everything from the creation of invitations to the catering. The wedding photographer is also going to be one of the most important people at the event, as they are tasked with capturing the big day in all of its glory. That makes picking the right person vital, so consider all of the following if you’re looking for a wedding photographer.

Do Your Homework

Before you even consider hiring a photographer, you need to take a look at their previous portfolio of work to see if they are able to capture the style that you are looking for. It may seem like something of a chore to spend so much time doing research, but you are going to be happy you did once you get a set of amazing wedding photos that will last for a lifetime. Failure to do homework or going for a cheaper option may result in terrible pictures that don’t really capture the big day.

Interview Candidates

While you may have your eye on one or two photographers from your research, it is still a good idea to interview a number of different candidates so that you can get individual quotes from them and find out about any scheduling issues early on. This also gives you the opportunity to find out of the photographer is somebody that you will be happy to have at your wedding, which is important because they are going to be there all day long.

Understand Your Rights

Before hiring your chosen photographer, Tammie Hawkins recommends having a conversation about who owns the rights to the photographs after the event. Most photographers will want to retain the rights so that they can use the pictures in future promotional materials, which may be something that you’re uncomfortable with.

Tammie Hawkins: Tips For Organizing An Office Christmas Party

Tammie Hawkins is an experienced events planner who is based in Los Angeles and has worked alongside a number of companies to help them arrange corporate Christmas parties for their staff. There are a number of things that you must keep in mind in order to arrange a successful Christmas party, including all of the following.

The Budget

The amount you have to spend on the party is going to influence every decision that you make about it, so it is important to understand your budget from the off. Speak to the client and ask them to give you a maximum threshold that you won’t be allowed to go past. This will allow you to eliminate venues or entertainment choices that don’t fit into the budget quickly, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the party instead.

Decorations

Choosing a theme for a Christmas party is not always as easy as it might appear, though there are a number of common decorations that you will find most Christmas parties have. Make sure that you are well stocked up on tinsel, with a variety of colors available, and that you have a high quality Christmas tree ordered. You should spend as much time as possible getting the décor right, as the party is meant to feel different to any other event that the company may hold during the course of the year.

Entertainment

There are many entertainment options for office Christmas parties that you can consider. Tammie Hawkins notes that Santa Clause impersonators are a great choice if the party involves kids, but can also help to set the mood in an adults-only party. Consider hiring a DJ to play Christmas tunes and having a number of entertainers, such as magicians, wandering around the venue to put a smile on the faces of attendees.

Tammie Hawkins - How to Get the Most Out of Travelling

Travelling is a great way to improve yourself personally as well as professionally. Tammie Hawkins regularly travels and takes trips to countries around the world. She is a professional event planner and business owner in Los Angeles, California and always uses her travels for inspiration. As a practiced traveler, she knows all of the secrets to getting the most out of her travels.

Before she steps on the plane, she organizes several important aspects of her trip. She knows that if she is travelling to a country where she does not speak the language, she has to take several steps before she gets there. She always prints out the directions to her hotel in English as well as the native language. She also works hard to learn a few key phrases in that language. She knows that getting lost can waste a lot of time, therefore she always prepares the information she needs.

When you plan a trip to another country, look up some of the major tourist destinations in the cities you are travelling to. It is important to see their historic areas. However, it is also important to experience their culture. Try not to schedule every hour of your trip, take some time to relax in the city you are staying in. Visit some of the local shops and restaurants, you should also try to talk and socialize with the residents of that city. Tammie Hawkins loves meeting people in different cities and countries. She always takes time to get to know people while she is travelling.

Tammie Hawkins - 3 Ways Education Can Improve your Career

Not every career requires a college education. Tammie Hawkins is an event planner in Los Angeles, California and uses her education well. Even though she did not necessarily need to attend college, however, her education has proven to be useful to her career. She has an education in communications and public relations and has used that knowledge to advance her career.

Education can be highly useful for a business owner. No matter what degree you hold, the process of earning that degree will often help you develop organizational skills. Earning a degree requires class time as well as coursework completion. Going through this process can teach you how to keep your appointments and how to meet deadlines. Each of these skills and habits are vital to succeeding in the professional world.

A college education can help you discover a career path. Many students are unsure of what they want to focus their career on. A college education can expose you to several different career options and could help you pick which career you want to devote your life to.

Education can also help your career by exposing you to networking opportunities. While you are a student, you can intern with local companies and gain connections with the help of your professors. Networking can help you find future job opportunities and advance your career. Tammie Hawkins earned an education from University of California, Los Angeles because she knew that she would one day be a business owner as well as an event planner.

Tammie Hawkins - Build a Successful Business with These 3 Tips

Starting a business requires a lot of work and dedication. Tammie Hawkins is an event planner in Los Angeles, California who has been running her own business since 1999. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. After she earned her degrees in communications as well as public relations, she began working for ACME Planning. She spent six years working with this company in order to learn how to manage a business and work with clients. She loved working for this company and alongside other experienced professionals. However, she always dreamed of opening her own business and building her own list of clients. Before she opened her own company, she made sure to follow three important steps.

An entrepreneur should understand early on that in order to be a successful business owner, he or she will need experience as well as education. An aspiring business owner should start their career by earning an education. It is a great idea to earn an education in either business administration, or a field related to the industry of their business. A college education can teach these professionals how to communicate effectively with others. If you are building a business, you should be able to communicate with clients, partners, and potential investors both verbally as well as through writing. Education will also teach these new entrepreneurs discipline and how to stay organized. Once you have education and discipline, gaining experience is the next step. It is important to learn how to interact with others in a professional manner. If you want your business to succeed, gaining experience in your industry is vital.

The next step is to advertise. If you are opening a new business, it is essential that you make sure your business is well advertised. This can be accomplished through marketing as well as word of mouth. Before you open your business, you should invest in good advertising. It is important for the local communities and neighborhoods to know about your grand opening. Word of mouth is also helpful. You should spend time networking and making connections in your industry. This could help increase traffic within your business and it could help increase your list of clients or customers.

The third step to building a successful business is to provide excellent products and customer services. Once you have opened your doors, it is essential that you impress your clients and customers. In order to keep your business afloat, you will need to offer high quality products and five-star customer service. If your customers or clients are satisfied with what your business offers, then they will return to your company. Tammie Hawkins is a skilled event planner and an intelligent business woman. She worked hard to build her company and keep it successful.

Tammie Hawkins - Travel to Improve Your Event Planning Skills

Traveling to different countries and cities can be inspiring for any professional. Tammie Hawkins is a talented event planner in Los Angeles, California. She works all over the city and the state to plan and organize events. She often handles weddings, anniversary parties, corporate events, and many other types of parties and dinners. She loves working with a variety of clients to put together exciting and memorable events. When she is not working on an event, she enjoys travelling all around the world. During her travels, she enjoys finding inspiration for future events and parties. She finds that incorporating pieces of culture and history in her events makes them richer and more memorable.

Tammie Hawkins organizes and plans several weddings. Her organizational skills and her connections with various vendors make her the perfect join for a wedding. Many couples enjoy having a themed wedding. They enjoy having elegant weddings that have touches of Paris, or romantic weddings that are reminiscent of Rome. Hawkins Events, LLC is always able to deliver these themes. Hawkins has travelled all over the world and loves visiting a variety of countries and cities. Whenever she visits a city in another country, she pays attention to the colors and the architecture of that city. She looks for unique culture practices that she can incorporate into a future wedding. If her clients ask her to organize a traditional Scottish wedding, Tammie Hawkins will be able to accomplish the task beautifully. She loves being able to combine her passion for travel with her love of event planning.

Event planning is a career that is highly dependent on working with other people. Hawkins has a wide array of clients and is always looking for more. In order to be successful, she has to work with a wide variety of personalities and understand many different people. Her travelling experiences have helped her cope with this aspect of her job. She has travelled all over the world, and being a social person, she always takes the time to talk to new people. She enjoys chatting with strangers while on a bus or an airplane, and loves talking to the locals of the cities she visits. As far as she is concerned, there is nothing better than meeting and having fun with the people who live in the cities she visits. This habit of hers has made her very good with people. She is able to get along and socialize with any type of personality. This skill has helped her become a successful event planner. Event planning is a difficult career that involves stellar organizational skills as well as creativity and great social skills.

Tammie Hawkins has all of these traits because she is hard working and well-traveled.

Tammie Hawkins: Tips For Planning a Wedding

Tammie Hawkins works with all sorts of different clients and has experience planning many events, but she always finds that helping to organize a wedding brings a particular brand of joy to her heart. That isn’t to say it is easy, by any means, so she has developed the following tips for people who are currently planning their big day and are starting to really feel the stress of it all.

Budget For Everything

Your budget needs to be as comprehensive as possible if you are going to stand a chance of organizing the best possible wedding for you. Before you start searching for anything, make a list of everything that you are going to need to spend money on, from the dress through to the venue and caterers, and write down how much you are willing to spend on each thing. This may not always be set in stone, but it gives you a base to work from when you get into the planning.

See As Many Venues As Possible

Even if you have a venue in mind for the wedding, it is still a good idea to take the time to examine as many different venues as possible before making a final choice. Not only does this present the possibility of unveiling a venue that may be even better suited to what you want from the big day, but it may also give you some leverage when speaking to the owners of the venue you have your eye on. After all, they want your business and if you can tell them another venue offers what they do for less they may be willing to come down in price.

Making Guests Social

Tammie Hawkins knows that weddings bring together people from all walks of life who may not have spent much time around each other before. You can help them to socialize and make the whole occasion more enjoyable by doing things like writing a line about each guest on their place card at the dinner table, which gives them and others the opportunity to find out more about the people around them.

Choosing the Right Venue with Event Planner Tammie Hawkins

Choosing the perfect venue for an event is one of the most important aspects of Event Planning, according to Tammie Hawkins. The venue sets the scene for the entire function, and a poorly chosen venue has the chance of ruining even the most lavish occasion. There are many things to consider when choosing the ideal venue, with the first item being the cost. If the client's budget for an event is ten thousand dollars, it does not make sense to spend six thousand on the venue. That leaves no room for adequate food and beverage, décor, and all of the other details.

Venues must always be looked at from a discriminating standpoint.
Just because a certain country club, hotel, or banquet hall carries a stellar reputation, does not mean it will fit the client's needs. A good Event Planner knows this, and checks possible venues accordingly. The client and the planner must look at the existing décor of the venue. While chairs and tables can certainly be moved, items like windows and doors are permanent features. Also, the décor of the venue may not work with the theme for the event. A client wanting a wedding with a winter theme will not find red walls and black tile floors conducive to their theme.

Lastly, Tammie Hawkins says that she always verifies the logistics and services of the venue. If the client is anticipating 300 guests, does the venue have enough parking space to accommodate that many cars?

Tammie Hawkins: Tips For Working Under Pressure

Having been a professional events planner who owns her own company for a number of years, Tammie Hawkins understands what it means to work under pressure. Stressed out clients and working with so many different contractors can really pile up on a person over time, so she has developed the following tips that should help anybody who is dealing with career pressure.

Organize Your Time

One of the biggest skills anyone can have in their career is the ability to organize their time effectively, especially if they work in a high pressure career. Create a basic plan for each day so that you understand where you need to be and when at all times. The day may not always go as planned, but at least you will have a structure to follow.

Talk to Someone

Talking always helps when you are dealing with pressure, so make sure you have a good support system underneath you that can help you to relieve your stresses after a difficult day. Of course, you can’t do this with clients, especially if the source of the pressure is an unreasonable customer, so make sure you have somebody in your personal life available who is willing to hear you out and let you vent every once in a while.

Take a Step Back

Tammie Hawkins has come to realize that you can often feel like you are in a little work bubble that feels like it is impossible to escape from when you are working under pressure. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that taking a step back and relaxing is simply wasting time that could be spent on work, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, taking a little time to step away can help you to clear your mind and approach the work from a fresh perspective.

Tammie Hawkins and the Benefits of Proper Event Budgeting

According to Tammie Hawkins, a fun and memorable event is not successful if it strays over the client's budget. It does not matter how great everything turned out or how many photos were taken. One of the reasons the client hired an event planner was to make sure that the budget was adhered to, which means that her job is about far more than decoration and fun details. Event planners are always tasked with managing the finances of the event or meeting they are organizing. Unfortunately, it can be too easy to go over budget. One of the easiest methods for avoiding this common mistake is to clarify the important priorities at the very first client meeting.

When Hawkins initially sits down with a new client, the first item she addresses is their total budget for the event. If the person or group says they have twelve thousand dollars to spend, that is the number she works with. She never rounds up or estimates that more money may reveal itself down the road. Based on whatever budget she is given, she works with her clients to prioritize the needed items for the event. The most important of these costs is going to be the venue. Based upon her given funding, the venue choices will vary greatly.

After a venue selection is made, Tammie Hawkins says that selecting the catering for the event is the next logical step. Once venue and catering are handled, the remaining funds can be distributed as needed.

Tammie Hawkins: Tips For Planning The Perfect Event

Planning events is what Tammie Hawkins, but she understands that a lot of people struggle to get things to come together into one perfect moment. She has developed the following tips that she thinks will be helpful to anybody who is looking to plan an event, no matter what the size.

Communication Is Important

Failing to communicate important information about the event, such as when it is being held and where, at the earliest possible opportunity will lead to people simply not being able to turn up because they have prior engagements. As soon as you have a venue, time and date set in stone, you need to get the message out there by way of invites, social media and any other tools that you have at your disposal. An event isn’t an event until people know about it.

Plan For The Unexpected

When you are organizing an event you will generally be pretty aware of the things that are in your control. While it is important to focus on those, you also need to consider things that could go wrong and create contingencies, where relevant, in the event that they do. For example, the weather at an outdoor event is never going to be guaranteed, so you need to make sure that your planning period takes that into account and comes up with a plan B if it takes a turn for the worst.

Budget Before You Buy

Tammie Hawkins has found that one of the biggest mistakes people make when planning an event is failing to understand their budget before they start searching for venues, caterers and everything else that goes into the event. This can lead to disappointment when you find you can’t afford what you want or overspending that puts you in financial trouble. Understand exactly what you have to spend and make your plans based around that.

Tammie Hawkins' Tips for Planning a Successful Auction

As an Event Planner, one of the many fun events Tammie Hawkins gets to plan on occasion are auctions. Auctions require quite a bit of work, especially if you wish to pull them off successfully. As the entire purpose of an auction is to raise or earn money, in some capacity, it is important that the event goes off without a hitch. If you want your next auction to be a raging success, the following tips and tricks will ensure a great turnout and profit.

It is never too early to start planning your next auction. In fact, most well attended auctions are planned at least one year in advance. This gives the planner and the staff plenty of time to arrange the details of a venue, advertising, auctioned merchandise, and customers. Another important aspect of event planning an auction is the acquiring of items to auction. Depending upon the type of auction, including who or what the final money is to benefit, the items procured may correlate with a theme. However, do not go overboard on the theme. The best plan is to provide a variety of things that people would want to purchase. Remember, just because you would want to buy a fruit basket, does not mean that everyone else wants to as well. Tammie Hawkins says that sending thank you notes after the auction is always a great way to show appreciation and secure donations for the next auction she plans.

Tammie Hawkins: The Importance of Enjoying Your Career

Tammie Hawkins has always been passionate about the event planning industry, which is why she has achieved the successes that she has. She also understands that this passion is important because it means she actively enjoys her career, rather than waking up every day and dreading the trip into work. She has highlighted the following reasons why enjoying what you do is so important.

Motivation

If you are working towards something you truly believe in, you’re going to find that you are much more motivated to do a good job. This is not only good for your personal well-being, as increased levels of motivation can help you strive towards more personal goals as well, but also means that you will be providing a higher standard of service to the people that you work with. As we all know, better service leads to repeat business and good word of mouth, which is beneficial for your business and career.

You Are More Fulfilled

Most of us are searching for the things in life that will leave us feeling fulfilled. Even if you find these things in terms of personal relationships, homes or other aspects of your personal life, an unfulfilling career can leave you feeling drained and unhappy over time. However, if you enjoy what you do you will end up feeling much more fulfilled and happy in the fact that what you do really is a part of you, rather than something you do to pay the bills.

You Want to Keep Learning

Tammie Hawkins has found that constantly learning is always important if you want to progress in any career. However, if you have no passion for the industry that you work in, you’re going to find it all the more difficult to develop the drive you need in order to learn more about it.

Tammie Hawkins Understands the Difference Between Even Planning and Management

Tammie Hawkins has discovered that the titles of Event Planner and Event Manager are often used interchangeably, even though they are not the same position. In fact, an Event Planner and an Event Manager are two completely different roles, with contrasting concentrations and responsibilities. It is because of this confusion that there are clients who do not know which person they should hire to create their dream event or meeting.

An Event Manager is a person who works for the venue where the event is being held. For example, if a client is having a wedding reception at a five-star hotel, the hotel's Banquet Manager would be the Event Manager. As this person works for the hotel, it is the interests of the hotel that they are focused on. Their duties only eclipse the tasks that ensure the hotel operations sun smoothly, on time, and according to the signed contract. Typically, an Event Manager does not spend the extra time needed to cater to the clients’ ever-changing needs.

An Event Planner is completely different, in that their only goal is to help the client have a successful event or meeting. In the situation of a wedding, an Event Planner not only handles the delicate details of food and beverage service, staff, menus, parking, and hundreds of other items, they also befriend the client. A good event planner, like Tammie Hawkins works with the customer every step of the way to make a fantastic event possible.

Weddings and Anniversaries

Tammie Hawkins is a professional events planner who has planned many different types of special events over the years. She says she must be a romantic at heart, because her favorite type of event to plan, by far, is the wedding anniversary.

“And the older the marriage is, the better,” she adds with a smile.

She once planned for a couple’s 75th wedding anniversary. “Those don’t come along every day, needless to say.” Compared to weddings, anniversary events tend to be small affairs, with seldom more than a few dozen people on hand. “This is especially true in the early years – fifteen or less. Couples usually like to go off on a second honeymoon. As they get older, though, there are usually children involved, and once they become adults they like to organize anniversary celebrations for their parents. Which is where we come in.”

For the big milestone anniversaries a party is usually in the offing. Tammie Hawkins says it’s better to include the couple in the planning, rather than make it a surprise party, although of course personal preference comes into play here: “Some people really like surprise parties.”

She recommends at least a month of lead time, and preferably two. Invitations should go out about four weeks before the event. “A lot of times couples don’t want people bringing gifts – more often than not, in fact,” she says. “I tell my clients that it’s important to discuss this and respect the wishes of the couple. It’s always a good idea to put that on the invitation, because it can be embarrassing if some people bring a gift and others don’t. The party is about celebrating love everlasting, and you don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable for any reason whatsoever.”

For The Do-It-Yourselfers...

Tammie Hawkins says that she is not in the habit of sharing trade secrets on a public forum, but doesn’t mind sharing some tips with the readers of her blog.

She is the founder and CEO of Hawkins Events, LLC, a Los Angeles-based Special Events planning company. She makes two to three posts on her company blog each week, and uses the forum to talk about anything from business to her grandmother’s recipe for pumpkin pie, which she shared with readers just before Thanksgiving one year.

“You should leave event planning to the professionals!” she wrote in a recent post. “But we all know that there are committed do-it-yourselfers out there – and is there any better way to grow as a person than to take on new challenges?

“So, if you’re not going to heed my sage advice and call us at Hawkins Events, LLC, to plan your event, here are a few tips you may find useful. The first consideration should always be: how do you want your event to look and feel? Of course the answer to this question is determined in large part by the sort of event it is. Once you have answered this key question, make a checklist of the things that need to get done. It should include the date and time of the event and how much money you want to spend on it.
“Identify the venue and schedule it well ahead of time. Book some kind of entertainment: if it’s a kid’s birthday party, magicians or jugglers or storytellers are ideal.

“Above all, make sure that it is a meaningful event. This is guaranteed to make it a success!”

Damage Control

Tammie Hawkins is the President and CEO of Hawkins Events, LLC, a Los Angeles Special Events company. She communicates with her clients and just about anyone else through her company’s blog, on which she shares industry insights along with occasional flights of fancy.

“I had a client cancel on me last week,” she wrote in a post not long ago. “It was a big contract, and we had to do some scrambling to shore up our immediate short-term prospects. We succeeded, and all is well.

“But it got me to thinking about my previous employer, Acme Events, founded and still run by my good friend and mentor, Jill Samuelson. A small part of the business at that time was public relations. It has since been phased out, but that’s why Jill hired me in the first place, to work in the PR department.

“I got pretty good at damage control. If that client who cancelled on us last week had talked to me first, I think I could have saved them a lot of trouble (and probably the contract, too!). There are some hard lessons I learned about damage control that would have served him well. So I thought I’d use this post to share them.

If a crisis hits your company, own it. Immediately publish an explanation of what happened and the steps you are taking to make it right.
Apologize, and be sincere about it. Make sure the amount of information you share is adequeate.
Don’t feed the fire. Pressure can bring out the worst in any of us. Don’t succumb to it.
Get on top of your story before your competitors do. Don’t let them use it to destroy you.

Bad things happen to good people and good companies. If you follow these suggestions, you’re likely to survive your crisis and endure.

Don’t Do It Yourself

The conventional wisdom is that if you want something done right, do it yourself. That is true for many things, but there are some things that are best left to the professionals – brain surgery, for example.

Another example, not quite so much a matter of life or death, is event planning. When it comes to corporate events, in particular, an event can make or break a campaign, so if its planning and execution is left to someone with little or no experience, it might just flop – and take a million dollar campaign down with it. If you find yourself in the position of having to organize a special event but don’t have the background, here are some tips that might just help save the day.

1. Break out the whiteboard. Event planning is all about...well, planning. No matter what kind of event it is, map out a strategy. Define your goal, look at your audience, and do some hard thinking about everything that needs to be done to pull it off.

2. Establish a budget. To do it right, you’re going to have to spend some money. Know how much you have to work with. Itemize a list of expenses and be sure to have a column for “miscellaneous,” because there are almost always unforeseen developments that drive up the cost – especially if this is your first time planning an event.

3. Establish the venue. Depending on the nature of the event, it’s critical that you know if you’ll need a ballroom, a park pavilion, or something else.

Tammie Hawkins is a professional event planner and the CEO of Hawkins Events, LLC.

Event Planning - A Rewarding Career

Event planners have a knack for organization and the instincts to make any event go off without a hitch. No large scale party is completely free of last-minute snags of one kind or another, but part of an event planner’s job is to anticipate them, and to help their clients plan the event they want and organize every detail around their needs.

Event planners have to exhibit excellent customer service skills because most of the job revolves around interacting with each client on a one-on-one basis. These professionals have to hash out what their clients want and need for their event and deliver those results on the day of.

Event planners enjoy wall-to-wall details and have to be very detail-oriented. One common even that many event planners help create are weddings. Any couple getting married is full of emotion and anticipation for one of the happiest moments of their lives. Event planners have to sort out all of the details of weddings, from the table décor to the DJ for the reception. They have to work closely with the couple so that they know their needs are being met, and everything will be ready for their special day.

Tammie Hawkins was an event planner for a Los Angeles company for six years before starting her own event planning company. Hawkins wanted to work for herself and do what she loves for a living as an event planner. Her business continues to grow as word of her excellent services, and comprehensive plans spread throughout the L.A. area.

Managing a Successful Business - Handling Customer Complaints

Every business-to-customer company has difficulties, from time to time, with customer satisfaction. Even those that consistently deliver exactly what the customers want are going have angry customers at times; it’s just a part of doing business. What separates the successful companies from those that fail is how they handle customer complaints.

Salesmen always say, “the customer is always right.” As a small business owner, you have to take this to heart. Usually, small businesses, especially when they are just starting out, can’t afford to lose customers based on poor reviews and other negative word-of-mouth retellings. In order to pacify angry customers, you have to be willing to meet them halfway.

Sometimes, you can’t help a customer who just seems to have a bone to pick. Nothing will be satisfactory for these customers, and you can only take so much time out of your day to try to pacify them. However, most customers are perfectly reasonable people who, because of a miscommunication or a mistake on your business’s part, are dissatisfied with their service. In these cases, it’s always better to make a compromise, such as store credit, extra services or refunds, than to attempt to negotiate with the customer on their terms.

Tammie Hawkins is a successful business owner living and working in the Los Angeles area. She has worked with many customers over her six years of owning her event planning company, and she says that she plans on expanding her operations in the coming months. Her business maintains its excellent reputation for her ability to meet customers halfway on complaints and whatever other issues they may have.

What You Can Do With A Communications Degree

If you’ve chosen to pursue Communications as a major, the possibilities for when you graduate are endless. Communications teaches you how to interact with others in the world better. These skills are applicable to many aspects of your life, from your career choices to your relationships. Communications majors develop uncommon skills that they can use to begin careers in any number of fields. Many go on to become event planners, office managers, assistants, department heads, and more. Even if you find a job that doesn’t seem to have much to do with your Communication degree after you graduate, you will find that the skills and practices you developed in Communications classes will be extremely helpful in navigating any kind of corporate ladder.

Communications degrees help people achieve what they want out of the business world. Many pursue advanced business degrees after earning an undergraduate degree in Communications and start their own businesses. Others find their degree perfectly suited to pursue the career they have always wanted. Studying Communications as an academic discipline allows you to put your communication skills to good work supporting whatever dream you have.

Tammie Hawkins earned a Communications Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She used her newfound communication skills to get a job as an assistant at an event planning company. Over time, she learned how the business worked and eventually started her own event planning company in L.A. Today, she helps many people in the L.A. area plan their own perfect party.

Success as an Event Planner - What it Takes

Most event planners are by nature extremely organized perfectionists whose idea of a good day is creating the perfect atmosphere for someone’s big day right down to the finest details. People want to become event planners because they think that planning events is easy, and the money is good. The truly serious event planners know that planning large events like weddings takes large amounts of time and effort to get every detail exactly right. It takes an exceptionally detail-oriented person to succeed as an event planner. Working and communicating with customers is also a huge component of successful event planning.

Many event planners have Communications degrees because the discipline gives them the skills and experience they need to effectively communicate with customers in a business context. Event planners network and spread their business through word-of-mouth and connections they made through their excellent work and their reputation. In order make it as an event planner on their own, event planners have to work with people in other industries, with customers, and with other businesses to create the perfect event for each client. Event planners also have to be flexible, able to work on many different kinds of events, from weddings to bar mitzvahs to corporate events. The more versatile they are, the more successful event planners will be.

Tammie Hawkins has long developed the skills to be a successful event planner. From her time at UCLA studying Communication, she has gained the experience and the abilities she needed to be a successful event planner with her own event planning business in Los Angeles.

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