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Hospitality, Food, and Tourism - Careers

Hospitality, Food, and Tourism

Event Planner

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

An Event Planner coordinates promotional sales events, professional meetings and family events. Works with clients, develops event plans and budgets, finds appropriate sites, contracts for services and supplies, coordinates with on-site staff, oversees finances and assists during an event.

Job Outlook

There were 1217 Event Planner job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 39076 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Event Planner industry, which includes the Event Planner career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Event Planner jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $59,070.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $55,227.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Event Planner postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $46,220.

Education and Experience

Posted Event Planner jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree37.34%
Master's Degree2.76%
Doctoral Degree0.4%
Other17.57%

Posted Event Planner jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years51.26%
3 to 5 years40.42%
6 to 8 years5.48%
9+ years2.85%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Event Planner positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Communication (57.62%)
  • Customer Service (43.2%)
  • Planning (38.8%)
  • Management (35.84%)
  • Sales (29.68%)
  • Detail Oriented (28.48%)
  • Coordinating (28.45%)
  • Operations (24.26%)
  • Organizational Skills (20.06%)
  • Microsoft Office (19.64%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Event Planning (51.31%)
  • Event Management (45.77%)
  • Marketing (35.14%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Billing (12.3%)
  • Public Relations (5.73%)
  • Fundraising (7.67%)
  • Selling Techniques (12.63%)
  • Invoicing (13.51%)
  • Project Management (18.05%)
  • Booking (Sales) (0.44%)
  • Social Media (4.06%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Banquet Event Orders (8.74%)
  • Event Marketing (5.27%)
  • Event Operations (9.4%)
  • Conference Services (5.3%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Event Planner skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Event Coordinator
  • Event Manager
  • Event Staff
  • Special Events Coordinator
  • Conference Services Manager
  • Event Specialist
  • Special Events Manager
  • Convention Services Manager
  • Executive Meeting Manager

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Event Planner jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Michaels (1124)
  • Marriott International (1101)
  • Hilton (625)
  • Taco Bell (285)
  • Oak View Group (259)
  • Mission BBQ (223)
  • Hyatt (214)
  • Life Time (163)
  • ASM Global (161)
  • Crawl With US (157)

North Carolina

  • Lowe's (61)
  • Michaels (38)
  • University of North Carolina (37)
  • Marriott International (36)
  • The Blood Connection, Incorporated (30)
  • North Carolina State University (19)
  • Duke University (14)
  • Oak View Group (11)
  • Wake Forest University (10)
  • Leaf At Home LTD (8)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!