So last night it was the PA of the Year Awards, organised by Executive PA magazine and held over two continents and two massive events, celebrating the work of PAs and EAs across the globe. We love seeing this. As an events company we know just how hard PAs work, because we work with them a lot.
The PA role and the event organiser’s role are pretty close – both require mind-bending attention to detail, both require strong organisational skills. Both require you to be diplomatic, able to work ridiculous hours, talk to people from all walks of life and all continents, and keep smiling throughout! The difference as far as we can see is that us event organisers just do that for events, whereas PAs cover an absolute multitude of different jobs. Does that sound familiar, PAs?!
Late Night London published recent research showing that a stunning 96% of PAs are responsible for organising their company’s events, with many (16%) handling annual budgets of up to £90,000 and the majority of at least up to £50,000. That’s not small beans by any means. The report also found that although companies were less keen on expensive formal events, budgets hadn’t actually decreased, but the formats had just changed. So smaller events were more popular, with an eye on the budget. The overall news is positive though with 68% of PAs agreeing that both internal and external events were still highly valued for the role they support in business. Good news for us all!
So what does that mean to us as event planners and how do PAs work with us?
OK, so the biggest thing that happens to us here is that we find venues for PAs. It’s as straightforward as that. As an agency we get paid commission by the venue so we can do the search bit free for the client. It’s a no-brainer really. We know PAs generally want to put their own stamp on the event content and location, but the venue bit? That is time-consuming, if nothing else. So we find they come to us to get help finding the right place. It costs them nothing and we make a buck from the venue, so it’s win-win all round. Happy days.
If you’re a PA with an event looming and you need a good venue, just ask us. We won’t butt in on the rest of your event, unless you want us to (and we have some good stuff to offer) but we could save you hours of searching – all over the globe – and you’d be making us smile too!
Congratulations to everyone who won last night, but also to the multitude of PAs and EAs out there (and their teams!), doing amazing jobs. We salute you!
Contact us on enquiries@event-venue-finder.com