Event Industry Burnout: What It Actually Looks Like (And How to Catch It Early

Event Industry Burnout: Why We Get It Wrong, and How to Catch It Early

Years ago, when I was touring bands up and down the East Coast as a music promoter, that job ended with me at home in bed crying for a week. Not thirty minutes. A week.

At the time, I called it depression. I've said that to people for years.

It wasn't until I sat down with leadership advisor Mel Kettle for Episode 23 of The Event Show that I understood what actually happened to me. It wasn't depression. It was burnout, and in our industry, we get that distinction wrong constantly.

What's the difference between exhaustion and burnout?

Exhaustion is a symptom of burnout, but you can be exhausted without being burnt out. Mel, who spent her early career as a PCO before leading a team that delivered 300 events in a single year for Microsoft, describes true burnout as a loss of cognitive and executive function. You stop being able to make decisions that used to be easy. You're overwhelmed by things that were business as usual a year ago. You default to busywork because your brain physically can't hold the strategic stuff anymore.

A long weekend doesn't fix that. If it's genuine burnout, it needs real recovery time, not a nap and a lie-in.

That's the gap in language that let me misname what happened to me. I was burnt out, not depressed, and the fix for one isn't the fix for the other.

Why is burnout so common in event management?

Anyone in this industry knows the shape of it: long hours, back-to-back delivery periods, the adrenaline of a live event followed by nothing. You get hooked on the intensity of delivery, and then it just stops. There's rarely a built-in moment to come down before you're straight back into the next brief, or straight back into being "on" for your family.

Mel's own burnout, decades earlier, built the same way. Long hours, high pressure, unrelenting event and conference calendars, and very little space to notice what was happening to her body until it became impossible to ignore.

How does burnout actually build? The feathers, bricks, trucks framework

Mel's framework for how burnout builds is one of the most useful things I've come across on this topic, because it explains why so many of us don't see it coming.

Feathers are the small daily shifts that feel harmless on their own: one more glass of wine a night, less exercise, takeaway instead of home-cooked meals, more caffeine to get through the day.

Bricks are the bigger warning signs your body sends once the feathers pile up: chest pains, high blood pressure, trouble sleeping.

The truck is the moment it all catches up with you. For Mel, that was a doctor telling her she'd have a stroke before she turned 30 if she didn't change course. Her 30th birthday was four months away.

The feathers are where you want to catch it. By the time you're dealing with a truck, recovery can take years, not weeks. Mel's took two to three.

What actually helps event professionals recover?

Here's what Mel says has worked for her, and still does:

• Food. More fruit and vegetables (there's a direct link to mental health, according to Deakin University's Food and Mood Centre), less processed food, less alcohol.
• Movement. Nothing dramatic. Swimming twice a week at lunchtime, walking on weekends. She noticed the difference quickly.
• Humour. Genuinely, deliberately watching something that makes you laugh. You can't feel low while you're laughing. Hers is Ted Lasso.
• Boundaries. "I'm not available" is a complete sentence. You don't owe anyone a reason, even when the work has landed in your lap through a referral you feel obligated to.
• Connection without spending. Walks, coffee, even doing life admin together instead of always defaulting to dinners out.

I'll add one from my own experience: if your work involves touring or travel, build in a buffer. I used to book two extra days at the end of a two-week tour, in the same location, with zero work required. Just quiet time. It gives you a day to come down before you're back to being "on" for everyone else.

How do I know if I'm burnt out or just having a hard week?

If a long weekend or a good night's sleep fixes it, it's probably exhaustion or a rough patch. If you're struggling to make decisions you'd normally make without thinking, feeling overwhelmed by things that used to be routine, or noticing your habits sliding without really registering it, that's worth paying attention to. The earlier you catch the feathers, the less likely you'll end up dealing with a truck.

The three things to start with

1. Stay connected with people, even in small, low-cost ways.
2. Prioritise your self-care and start building boundaries, even one at a time.
3. Get yourself checked out. If it's been over a year since a proper doctor's visit, blood pressure check, skin check or dentist appointment, book it.

Listen to the full conversation

There's a lot more in the full episode, including how Mel worked out her business's "sweet spot" as a small operator, and what she calls human leadership.

🎧 Listen to Episode 23 of The Event Show: [link]

Mel's book, Fully Connected, and more of her work is at melkettle.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.