Post-Event Depression

First Posted May 21, 2010

Ask most planners and they will tell you…generally, people have no idea what they do, the stress they deal with and the fires they put out (that no one ever knows about). Post-event depression is real and here are a few tips to help your current and prospective clients deal with it.

Let’s set some ground rules: This doesn’t necessarily happen at every event and you can correctly assume higher stress surrounding an event corresponds to the amount of post-event depression a planner experiences.

Planners deal with post-event-stress-relief in different ways. Some may retreat to their home and sleep/hibernate for 24 hours (or more). Others may need to blow off some steam and get together with friends for a round of golf, a night out or a girls’ weekend. And for those who are planning multiple events simultaneously, they may save it up and, once a month, need a combination of spa and massage therapy to work out the knots in their feet, back and neck. Regardless of the remedy, the common thread is that in this ‘do more with less’ economy, planners need downtime, just like everyone else.

For suppliers, this means a few things. First, don’t call/e-mail the day after the event with your service-survey and expect an immediate response. Second, if you want to score some brownie points, find out what the planner does to relax and tailor your thank-you gift to suit that client’s needs. I can’t tell you how many spa packages I’ve received as thank-you gifts and given them away (sorry) to my team to use for their post-event treat. You don’t have to spend piles of money to achieve this result; even knowing their favourite kind of tea and buying them a little sample will be very much appreciated.

We all talk about relationships and how important they are. The best way to ensure loyalty and, ultimately, repeat business, is to remember to treat your client like a human being first; respect that they are under as much stress as anyone and helping them deal with it after a successful event will be remembered for a very long time…not to mention the great word of mouth you will receive.