Not being able to see the forest for the trees. Being so focused on the destination that you forget to enjoy the journey. There are countless cliches that point to human nature’s inability to balance the expanse of the horizon against the minutia before us. The funniest part is that it’s often easy for us to watch others fall victim to this trope while it’s nearly impossible to identify it in our own actions until the big picture or the small details smack us in the face. In my professional realm, I most often see this come to fruition in event planning and execution. 

Event planning requires the scales of the big picture and the small details to remain balanced. How someone feels when they walk into the room is equally as important as the number of tea towels to order – and whether said towels will be disposable or washable linens. Often, clients get sucked into one or the other, being so focused on the overall event that they’re incapable of making small decisions. Or, being so stuck in the trenches that they lose sight of the party’s purpose. This is where an event support professional, like the team at Obsidian, shines.

When you hire event support, you’re investing in a team that can devote resources to the big picture and the small details simultaneously. At Obsidian, your account lead will be your vision caster. They’ll listen to your goals, help you define your audience and shape the ideas that will make your event come to life. That applies to all types of events and whenever you bring us into the planning process. Whether you have a fledgling idea that you need to coax into flight or have an event that’s been running well, but not well enough, for decades. Your account lead will tap a well of expertise to pour life into events young and old, painting a portrait along the way that will help you envision the event before it happens.

And while your account lead walks you through the event landscape, your account support will take on the small details: from booking vendors to presenting choices that ease decision-making on behalf of your internal team. All of this will provide you with enough information to know the small details are being managed while building your understanding of the larger picture. And, because they’re working in concert with your vision-casting account lead, you can trust that each choice brings you one step closer to your dream event. 

With general preparation and event management off of your plate, you can be freed up to devote your resources to the tasks that matter most at the event. If you’re hosting a fundraiser, maybe that’s planning how you’ll work the room to talk with key donors and corporate sponsors. If you’re having an anniversary celebration for your colleagues, maybe it’s creating a rousing presentation to inspire productivity into the future. Having an event partner means that you and your team can spend time preparing for the work that you have to do without having to worry about bistro tables and A/V equipment arrival times. 

On the day of your event, if you’ve hired an event partner to support your efforts, you’ll find that you can appreciate both the forest and the trees. You’ll know the care that went into ultimately choosing the washable linen towels, how the A/V team arrived early as your team recommended and that bistro tables were the best choice for happy hour. But you’ll also appreciate that your overall vision was brought to life while you were simultaneously freed up to make choices and spend time on the components only you could contribute. 

So while we’re not arborists, Obsidian’s team is equipped with the proverbial know-how to shape the forest of your event by paying attention to each individual tree. And as you walk out the door after the event wraps, you’ll find that you deeply appreciated both. 

Want help with your event? We can talk with you soon about guiding your event from ideation through execution.