The Emotional Labor of Event Work

Let’s Talk About What No One Talks About

You planned the agenda, ran the meetings, managed the vendors, juggled the personalities, balanced the budget, handled the crisis… and smiled through all of it.

And when it was over, you heard:

“That went great!”

But inside? You were exhausted.
Not just physically — emotionally.

What Emotional Labor Looks Like in Events

It’s the constant effort to:

• Stay composed when things go sideways, even as your heart rate spikes

• Manage your tone even when you’re managing chaos, because how you show up sets the tone for everyone else

• Absorb everyone else’s anxiety and stay ‘positive’, even when you’re running on empty

• Make people feel seen, heard, and safe, all while carrying 90 other things on your mental checklist

It’s invisible. But it’s real. And it’s costly.

Why It Matters

Because it accumulates.

Emotional labor isn’t just a tough day — it’s a pattern. And when it’s unacknowledged, it leads to burnout, disconnection, and attrition.

Especially in mission-driven or people-facing roles, emotional labor is the job — but it often goes uncounted in how we measure workload, effectiveness, or leadership potential.

In a 2021 Deloitte study on workplace well-being, 77% of professionals reported burnout at their current job, and one of the key contributors was the emotional toll of unseen work1.

What We Can Do About It

• Name it — Call out that this is part of the work. Don’t downplay what it takes to emotionally lead a team or an audience.

• Normalize checking in — Ask how people feel, not just what they did. Emotional check-ins are culture-building.

• Build peer support — Create intentional space to vent, reflect, decompress. Informal peer networks can be powerful buffers.

• Set real boundaries — You can care deeply without carrying everything. Model emotional sustainability.

• Lead with empathy, not self-erasure — Compassionate leadership doesn’t mean ignoring your own capacity.

👏 Final Thought

This work isn’t just strategy.
It’s emotional. Relational. Personal.

You’re not weak because you feel it.
You’re strong because you carry it — and keep showing up.

But even the strongest leaders need support.

Let’s stop pretending emotional labor is invisible — and start building cultures that see it, value it, and share the weight.

How We Can Help

At Eventcraft Studios, we work with teams to build emotionally sustainable leadership cultures—where empathy and performance aren’t at odds, and no one has to carry it all alone. Let’s talk about how to embed well-being into the core of your event leadership model. Contact us at todd@eventcraftstudios.com or www.eventcraftstudios.com/contact.

Citations

1. Deloitte. (2021). Burnout Survey: Women @ Work.
   Retrieved from: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/women-at-work-global-outlook.html ↩