In my last blog I outlined what I perceive to be the eight emotional stages of event management. Let’s discuss a little more stages 6, 7 and 8; depression, exhaustion and recovery. I think they all tend to blend together somewhat and are not as easily separated as the earlier stages.

In the letdown after it’s over, you have to be careful. It’s important to maintain your vigilance and be on guard because the depression and exhaustion is coming.

Early in my career I was given responsibility for putting together and running an awards banquet. This was my first solo responsibility and I was anxious to do it right. It all went off quite well and when it was over I stayed to pack up all the props and paraphernalia.

It was a warm summer night. The hotel had turned off the A/C, so I took off my new blazer to get everything wrapped up and put in my car. When finished I went into the bar to fetch my boss who I had to drive home. He appeared pleased with the night’s event and invited me to have a drink.

We didn’t stay too long and when I got home I realized I didn’t have my brand new blazer. Early the next morning I called and went back to the hotel, but there was no sign of it. If I didn’t feel bad enough now, I knew I had to face the wrath of my wife.

That was my first lesson in vigilance. A few years later after a first very successful consumer show, I had agreed to accept an invitation to attend a session of the Arizona Academy as a “recorder”. The academy was a group of high profile civic, business and academic leaders who met twice a year for four days to discuss and make recommendations on issues of importance to the state.

I had worked night and day for more than a year to produce this event and when it was over I was exhilarated with the success and exhausted. My job as a recorder was to summarize the discussions of my breakout group to the group, as well as the plenary session at the end of each day. The task was interesting but demanded a lot of attention.

It was difficult because I was over tired, couldn’t sleep and was “wired” to the hilt. My performance as a recorder was not my finest hour.

I learned I needed to be more careful about the invitations I accepted.

About the same time as my event aftershock I had occasion to talk with a gentlemen who ran a counterpart organization in another city. He told me after his show he would go to bed for 5 or 6 days. I was young and thought he must be kidding. Made more fun of him than I should have.

As I advanced in years I never went to bed for 5 or 6 days, but I better understood why he did.

When the event is over you have to be careful and cognizant of these last stages in the event let down. Each of us is different and has to find the right amounts of rest, solitude and increasing levels of exercise and socialization that works best for our recovery.

What do you think?

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