Stress-less Event Planning for Chiefs of Staff

Let’s have a round of applause for the behind the scenes people - the Chiefs of Staff, the business managers, and the executive admins - you make the world go round!

In a time of belt tightening where employees are constantly being asked to “do more with less,” these roles are often asked to navigate tough organizational shifts, strategic planning, and creatively (maybe miraculously) keep morale up. And, as 74% of US companies have implemented a hybrid or remote work model, events have become a way to drive connection. Connection between employees, customers, sales people, partners, and everyone in-between. And who often ends up planning these events?

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You guessed it, the behind the scenes people!

I know from personal experience how 1) important an event can be to rally a team around a collective strategy and drive morale, 2) how much WORK it takes to execute these events, and 3) how this is just one of many priorities these roles are juggling.

I was Chief of Staff for a 200-person global organization at my last company and was tasked with bringing everyone out for a 4-day fiscal year kickoff in July of 2022 - planning all of the logistics, managing the content, AND emceeing the event - all while managing a fiscal year transition and leading strategic changes for everything from compensation plans to role success guides and running the day-to-day rhythm of the business. I had never planned an event of that magnitude before and the pressure was heightened as it was the first time we were bringing our mostly new organization together since the pandemic.

The event ended up being fantastic - it drove connection, the logistics were (almost) seamless, and our leadership was able to land their strategic agenda, but I was exhausted and burnt out. I couldn’t help but wondering, isn’t there a better way to do this? A way to pull off an effortless event that accomplishes your strategic objectives without almost breaking the team tasked with planning it.

When Lauren Marturano shared Zinnia’s mission of building an event platform that enables companies to provide their event budget, high level details and goals, and let Zinnia do the rest, I thought it was genius. It would have been a game changer for my event, and I hope to help take the load off of others who are in a similar position.

If time is money, we have found that people spend over 120 hours on average to plan a single event - that is 3 full weeks! Let us help you so you can focus on running your business smoothly, saving time, money, and your sanity.

Plan impactful offsites, effortlessly and visit GetZinnia.com.