What do you do if you're experiencing burnout in event production?

Burnout in event production is the monster in the closet, lurking and waiting for the time to pounce. Traveling from event to event, city to city, state to state, country to country, all takes its toll and adds to the burnout. Making sure you and your team have time to breathe and maintain self-care and communicate effectively about what may need more attention is crucial in a fast-paced environment.

Recognizing the signs of burnout in event production is crucial! Working in a high demand, fast pass environment 24/7. It is essential to prioritize self-care. Delegate tasks where possible, set boundaries to maintain a healthy work-life balance, and take regular breaks to recharge. Seek support from colleagues or supervisors, and consider talking to a professional if symptoms persist. Remember, prioritizing your well-being is key to sustainable event production performance.

Knock off on time, set boundaries and find hobbies to do outside of work. Remember your work does not define you, you define yourself.

One of my tricks for recovering from burnout is to ask myself, "What part of this job would I still enjoy doing, even today?" My answer might be speaking with clients or meeting with potential vendors to discuss what we're contracting for. The second question I ask myself, then, is this: "Will it be okay if I do only these tasks for the next week / 5 days / 2 days?" And then that's exactly what I do. I rearrange my schedule to do only the work I still enjoy, for some amount of time. More often than not, I find that feeling of burnout lessening before I reach the end of my "deadline." (And then, once back to "regular" work, I begin considering how I might delegate away some of those tasks that seemed to contribute to burnout.)

I've found it to be true in life -- not only in event production -- that what we often refer to as burnout is actually only spending too much time doing tasks that we're not particularly good at or don't enjoy. Rarely do I burnout when I'm doing those parts of my job which I feel qualified for, confident in, and fully capable of doing -- managing people, negotiating contracts, speaking with clients, etc. Rather I feel burnout when I'm doing administration, finances, and spreadsheets. Of course I have to do some of that in my job, but I've found in large part I can prevent "burnout" by delegating many of these tasks to others on my staff who are good at them, or who enjoy them. I recently hired a VA for this very reason.