Emma Hedin Victoria's Event Manager of the Year

What elements of your Advanced Diploma of Events at William Angliss Institute did you find most interesting and/or challenging?

The most interesting elements of my course were the event-related ones, such as project management, and also the marketing subjects. I found that these subjects really gave us a good insight into our future careers, and I was pleased to discover that I really enjoyed it.

I also personally enjoyed the finance subjects and being able to walk in to a role and already understanding and being able to put together a budget was very helpful.

What's a typical day for you in your current role?

The first thing I do is go through my calendar to see what meetings I have scheduled in for the day. I go through all my emails and I always try to have a to do list going so I know what's ahead of me each day. No day is ever the same in the office. Some days I might be going from meeting to meeting and on to a menu tasting and I won't be back at my desk until 3pm that afternoon. While other days I spend the entire day at my desk planning for the next big event. I think it's the variation that makes this job so much fun.

What makes you passionate about the events industry?

It is such a fun and dynamic industry. The people within the industry are really passionate and supportive. We all work hard but the reward of a successful event makes it worth all the time and effort you have put in.

Melbourne is also a fantastic city to live and work if you are passionate about events; there is always something going on and plenty of opportunities to get involved.

What also makes me passionate about my job is the event experience from start to finish; you work really hard leading up to an event to ensure the day will run as smooth as possible, all the excitement you feel during the event, the joy of seeing the event roll out and guests having a good time and finally the exhausted happy feeling when you have successfully delivered an event.

Emma won the Event Manager of the Year award at the Meetings & Events Australia Industry VIC Awards and will represent Victoria at the National Awards.