Skift Take
If work or event life has been getting you down recently you need a pick me up. Polish your skills with these fun and motivational audiobooks for every eventprof!
You know how to do your job but here are a list of audiobook resources that will help to boost the skills you already have and make you better equipped to deal with every day work and stress. Although not all of these audiobooks are business facing, they are all motivational and can add to your repertoire as an event professional to improve your life and work.
From time management and teamwork to mental efficiency and motivation we have the best audiobooks that every event professional needs to stock up on if they are looking to succeed. You will find yourself walking away with more motivation, a boost in skills and a new appreciation for your job role as well as your life with our top picks with a combination of free and paid resources.
The Benefits of Audiobooks
Audiobooks provide an easily accessible way to gain information and learn new skills without staring at a computer screen. Audio resources can fit into your current busy schedule, for example add these to your phone and listen to them while you travel to work, burn a CD and play it in the car while you are driving or even relax in the evening and have it playing while you are cooking dinner. Audio recordings allow you more freedom than their counterparts which can make them an easy and convenient escape. Some of these resources are also available in video format or transcripts too.
Free Audiobooks
We all have those time sucking tasks that we need to streamline but as well as that we need to stop the mad rush and panic that sets in when we are up against deadlines, and this is where this audiobook helps! Event planning requires a lot of time management but this audio book by Arnold Bennett is particularly useful because it outlines how even time wasters can make the most use of their 24 hours in the day. It highlights that you start a day with 24 hours and gives some insight into actually being able to use as much as you can to boost your productivity and reduce your stress over time related tasks.
This 8 minute short download is a free cognitative self-help audiobook that addresses the importance of planning to help you take calculated risks and improve the likelihood of success and career progression. It also discusses obstacles you may face and addresses fears such as risk which can limit you in the fast paced, highly competitive event industry. Although it is only a short download it can fit in around your daily schedule, you can listen to it frequently and it serves as an excellent reminder about overcoming fear for your own success and stopping yourself from standing in your own way.
An interesting listen for eventprofs looking to further understand how to market or advertise events. Author, Rory Sutherland discusses how products don’t change but the customer perception does and this can be useful within the event industry. The way you market an event creates a perception of it, for example the type of attendees that are attracted or the level of exclusivity and this audiobook gives a lot of useful insight into this area and the concept of “value”.
An interesting talk by Daniel Pink at a popular TED conference that is particularly beneficial for event planners looking to progress into management in the future. What is discussed is not only how to stay motivated but what motivates others and how to drive them. Also discussed is how different task types need different motivating factors behind them and what you can do when you need to come up with creative solutions (useful for creative event planning). You can download the audio or video for this talk to watch or listen wherever you are.
Another audiobook by Arnold Bennett that addresses the concept of brain exercise to enhance your efficiency. Loosely what is discussed is the concept of exercising our physical bodies without exercising our minds and this focuses on improving your mental capabilities. During event planning you often have to multi-task and focus on several areas to meet deadlines as well as juggling clients and suppliers which can leave you feeling mentally drained at the end of the day. This audiobook aims to help combat the tired feeling and can help you cope with the demands that a role in the event industry brings with it.
Paid
Although this was created over 70 years ago, it still stands the test of time and is one of the best-selling business books of all time. The main focus that will benefit event professionals is how to get people to like you and bring them round to your way of thinking, without creating resentment, which can be the sign of a true leader. In the people-focused event industry this audiobook will be useful in your life and your work.
*Although usually paid for, this audiobook is free on some Amazon apps and with a free audible trial*
If you are struggling to come up with creative narratives for your event or you are simply having a mental block then consider listening to this audiobook by Amy Wallace and Ed Catmull. You may have heard of Catmull because he was a co-founder of Pixar animation, along with John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, and has had a successful business career as well.
This audiobook can help you to encourage creativity and innovation within your team, which can give you a leg up on the competition and improve event quality for your attendees. Regain your creative passion and start to enjoy the planning process more by getting motivated and helping to dominate your events using this audiobook.
This motivating audiobook from Daniel Pink discusses the truth about what motivates us as well as how you can find satisfaction in your work again. As the event industry is constantly changing it can become a chore to keep up and push forward which can often lead to burnout and losing the enjoyment and passion that is essential in event planning. Pink helps to reignite this drive by examining your genuine motivations and helping you to uncover what truly makes you happy in your life as well as your work.
Event professionals frequently have to negotiate, whether it is around the office, in their team or with clients and suppliers. This audiobook by Noah Goldstein helps to improve your persuasiveness as well as your confidence as you begin to be taken more seriously and get your own way. This will also help you to become an influencer which is particularly useful during social media or marketing phases of the planning process and can benefit management, sales and advertising areas as well. No matter what type of event planning or management you do, persuasion is an excellent skill to have in your arsenal.
Event planning inevitably means you will have to work with others and in most cases you will form part of a larger team for an organisation or brand. This audiobook focuses on teamwork by Pat Riley, a famous American motivational speaker in the 90’s. He uses his professional basketball coaching as a metaphor for teamwork in organisation and you can’t help but be motivated and understand what he discusses. Focusing on team dynamics, complacency, balancing roles and types of people and the flow of teamwork it is an older audiobook but still very relevant today. Add this to your repertoire and you will walk away feeling motivated and equipped for handling a team or even just being a good team player.
This self-help audiobook is different from the others because it focuses less on business, however it is extremely motivational, funny and uplifting to help change your attitude and you can still apply this to the event industry. While it discusses avoiding self-sabotage behaviour in between hilarious inspirational stories, advice and a swear word or two, this audiobook can teach you to appreciate your life and make you more proactive. For an eventprof swamped with work it is exactly what you need to escape, find yourself and come back to work stronger than ever.
In Conclusion
We hope that you have pinpointed some areas that you would like to focus on first, although we recommend listening to them all at some point. Ultimately these audiobooks will add to your skillset and improve the talent that you already have to improve your work and home life and make you happier and motivated all-round.
