Event Coordinator cover letter example

Event coordinators are idea and detail-oriented people … and just “people people” as well. For job seekers in this field, an outstanding event coordinator cover letter is your single best opportunity to showcase your enthusiasm, your likeability and your buttoned-down mind. If you write it right, your cover letter will demonstrate that you’re very good at your job.

Resume.io is a leading provider of expert advice and tools for job seekers in virtually any field. Our resources include more than 125 occupation-specific writing guides with corresponding cover letter examples.

The guide you’re reading now will address best practices for writing an outstanding cover letter for an event coordinator. Cover letter samples are provided to illustrate and to adapt for your own use. What we’ll touch on here:

• Why a cover letter for an event coordinator is crucial
• How to structure a cover letter
• How to optimize the impact of each cover letter section: header, greeting, introduction, body and conclusion
• How to design a good-looking cover letter
• Psychology of writing a persuasive cover letter
• How to write an unsuccessful cover letter — or more commonly, which mistakes to avoid.

Why an event coordinator needs a cover letter

First of all, virtually everyone looking for a new job needs a cover letter. Although a small minority of companies prefer to receive a resume only, you should always include a cover letter in a job application unless you’re specifically asked not to. It’s an essential way of conveying that you have not only the skills but the personality needed for this job.

Event coordinators are organized, energetic and collaborative, capable of brainstorming the broad outlines and nailing down the fine points of an event with a thousand moving parts. They are experts at working with others — inviting speakers, organizing crews, delegating tasks — and they are also persuasive promoters of their own events. 

As an event coordinator, you have to be vibrant, enthusiastic, communicative and interesting — and so does your cover letter. It should be a reflection of all the qualities that make you great at your job.

All of these qualities in a good event coordinator should serve you well as you promote yourself when applying for a job.

The purpose of a cover letter is to establish a personal connection with hiring managers, making them impressed enough to want to meet you. If you apply for a job by sending nothing but a resume, you should expect employers to wonder why. Is it because you’re randomly sending out so many resumes that you don’t have time to sit down and write a one-page letter to each recipient? Is it because you’re not good at writing, so rather than risk writing a bad letter, you just send no letter at all? Or is it because you feel so qualified for this job that you don’t find it necessary to write a simple letter asking for the job? 

Don’t give employers cause to ask any of these questions. Except in rare cases, a cover letter should be considered an essential part of any job application.

Best format for an event coordinator cover letter

A cover letter should be one page only, a maximum of 400 words, and every one of those words has to count. 

Follow this structure to make sure you’ve included everything you should and nothing you shouldn’t:

• Header
• Greeting
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
• Sign-off

Cover letter header

The header is the attractively designed space at the top of your cover letter where you mention your name, occupation, address, phone number and email. It’s meant to grab attention and convey your basic info. 

Obviously, the header is crucial because it tells employers how to reach you if they’re interested. But also, it serves as an important design element, allowing you to use a light splash of color, as well as interesting typography and layout, to make your entire letter look good at a glance.

Goal of the cover letter header: Stand out from other job applicants with an attractive design that also makes your identity and contact information visible at a glance. 

Cover letter greeting

The cover letter greeting, also known as a salutation, is the line where you say “Dear Mr. Bond” or “Dear Ms. Moneypenny.” 

If you can’t find out the name of the person who makes the hiring decisions, it’s acceptable to use something more generic like “Dear [Company] Hiring Manager.” But it’s always better to address a cover letter to a named individual. If you’re responding to a job posting where no name is listed, it might be worth making a phone call to the company to inquire.

People like to read their own names, and they are more likely to reply to letters that are personally addressed to them. It also demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail on your part if you’ve done your homework well enough to identify the person you should be addressing.

If you happen to know your cover letter recipient, there’s nothing wrong with addressing him or her by first name. But generally speaking, you should avoid being too casual in a letter where you’re asking for a job.

Goal of the cover letter greeting: Start off on a professional note by making a direct personal connection with the employer, addressing the recipient by name if possible.

Cover letter introduction

Open with a provocatively written first paragraph in the cover letter introduction. It identifies the job you’re seeking and provides a top-level statement about why you would be good at it (for example, your years of experience in similar jobs). 

Use language that’s lively and energetic, never boring or bland. Write a first paragraph that makes the reader want to read on. 

It’s important to find the right tone of voice — confident but not arrogant, positive but not presumptuous. 

Goal of the cover letter introduction: Catch the attention of hiring managers with a compelling preview of your qualifications that motivates them to read more.

Cover letter body

The central two or three paragraphs of your letter should do the heavy lifting, making your primary case for being the right candidate for this job. 

You may have alluded to your experience in your introduction, but here you should expand on that. And you want to be specific, using facts and figures wherever possible: for example, how many events you’ve coordinated, how many attendees, how many speakers and how much money was made.

Use anecdotes to describe specific challenges you’ve faced and how you resolved them successfully. Event coordinators in particular have the type of job that lends itself well to telling stories. For instance, a cover letter main paragraph might say: At one conference I organized for 200 sales executives, attendees were captivated by the after-dinner entertainment, during which an amazing artist painted a huge canvas while dancing to live music from a jazz band. 

If you have a relevant college degree or any certifications in the field, the body of your letter is the place to mention them. You can also use the body of your letter to address the specific needs of the employer you’re writing to and discuss how you could address them.

Goal of the cover letter body: Highlight your most relevant accomplishments in a relatable way, so the employer can envision your potential contributions.

Cover letter conclusion 

Close with a recap in your cover letter conclusion or ending, include a thank-you and a call to action. Let the reader know that you would be delighted to come in for an interview to offer a detailed preview of your ideas for events that would benefit this company. 

You might want to note that you’re always reachable at the contact info you’ve provided, and that you’re eager to talk more at the employer’s convenience. 

Goal of the cover letter closing: Close with contagious enthusiasm that will make your reader say, “I’ve got to talk to this person.”

Cover letter sign-off phrase

Close the cover letter with a “Sincerely,” “All my best” or the equivalent. Add a space and type your name. If you want, you can add a digital signature in electronic correspondence, although this isn’t considered necessary.

Designing your cover letter

As an event coordinator, you have a flair for promotion and a solid understanding of the importance of attractive design. Make your cover letter look as good as it reads by following these design and formatting tips:

• Fonts: Avoid exotic, splashy fonts that call attention to themselves, and go with a simple, modern font that’s easy to read.
• Font size: Make your font size no larger than 12 points and no smaller than 10. Resist the temptation to make your letter fit onto one page by downsizing the font, and instead trim any verbiage from your letter that doesn’t need to be there.
• Margins: Use a 1-inch margin on the top, bottom and both sides of your letter. Again, resist the urge to make your letter fit onto one page by reducing the margins, or your page will look cramped and crowded.
• Text alignment: Align text left (not justified from margin to margin), to provide a little air at the end of each line.
• Paragraphs: Do not indent your paragraphs, but leave a blank space between them. And avoid big, blocky chunks of text by holding each paragraph to a reasonable length.
• Save as PDF: Unless you’re sending your job application through the mail (or delivering it in person), your resume and cover letter will be electronic files that you either attach to an email or upload through a system provided by the company. Unless you’re asked to use some other format, always save your documents as PDFs. This will preserve your formatting so that your documents look the same on any device.
• Use a template: You’ll sidestep most of the pitfalls mentioned here if you start with a professionally designed cover letter template like those we offer at resume.io.

Psychology of a winning cover letter

Always remember that you are not writing to convince anyone that they can help you — but that you can help them. Your point is not that you deserve a job, but that you can help the employer solve problems, save time and grow revenue.

So while your letter will inevitably contain a lot of information about you, it must also be focused on the reader. It always helps if you can say something specific about the employer you’re targeting. 

Demonstrate that you’re aware of the company’s strengths and also its needs, and explain how you can address those needs. This can be the most powerful part of your letter, but at the very least, it will show that you aren’t just mass-mailing the same cover letter to multiple employers.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the person on the receiving end of this letter. Would you want to meet the person who wrote it, and perhaps work with that person for years to come? Does any of the content sound arrogant or presumptuous, or is it written in a lively but appropriate style?

Be certain that you have chosen the right qualities, skills and achievements to highlight. Your space is so limited in this letter that you must pick and choose. And remember that this decision may differ from one letter to the next, so tailor each letter to each employer. And remember to be specific about milestones in your career that demonstrate your effectiveness as an event coordinator.

How to write a failing cover letter

Here are some of the most common mistakes that job applicants make in crafting a cover letter:

• Typos and other writing errors: Misspelled words, bad grammar, excessive capitalization or weird punctuation are all turnoffs, if not instant disqualifiers. If writing is not your long suit, find an editor to review and revise your letter before you send it.
• Clichés, HR-speak and fluff: If you’re a “self-starter” and a “team player” who “thinks outside the box,” please find another way of saying so than these age-old clichés. Avoid language that recruiters have seen a thousand times before. And avoid “fluff,” which is a collection of corporate or fancy terms  that don’t say anything real or sincere. Use original, meaningful language and make every word count.
• Mass mailings: A generic cover letter that is copy-pasted to multiple recipients tends to stand out for all the wrong reasons. It doesn’t address the needs of the company receiving the letter, and it doesn’t demonstrate that you have studied your target at all. Make every cover letter unique and specifically targeted to each recipient.
• Irrelevant info: Don’t be too chatty about your love of cats or scrapbooking. Use the space you have to highlight information that is strictly relevant to the qualities and experiences that make you a good event coordinator.
• Formatting errors and ugly design: Ignoring any of the design advice above will get you in trouble. Your letter should look great at a glance. If it doesn’t, you have one strike against you before the recipient has read the first word.

Key takeaways for an event coordinator cover letter

1. Event coordinators are enthusiastic, organized individuals with a flair for promotion, and a cover letter is an outstanding opportunity to showcase all of these qualities.
2. A cover letter is essential for an event coordinator to demonstrate the personality and passion that the job requires.
3. Your cover letter should follow a standard structure to ensure that you’ve included everything that’s necessary but not veered off into unnecessary tangents.
4. Your letter should be attractively and professionally designed so that it looks as good as it reads.
5. Your letter should be written with a single-minded focus on your reader, emphasizing the employer’s needs and not your own.
6. In a one-page letter, you can’t afford any mistakes, so make sure your letter is free of content or design errors.