An event manager plans and delivers events: conferences, trade fairs, kick-offs, launches, festivals and customer events. The role owns everything from objectives and budget to delivery and evaluation, and often leads an event coordinator who handles the logistics. According to Statistics Sweden, the average monthly salary in the occupational group was 40,300 kronor in 2025.
What does an event manager do?
An event manager is responsible for making an event meet its objective within budget. The work starts months before the day and ends only when the evaluation is done.
It begins with the objective. A customer conference meant to bring in business is planned differently from a staff party meant to build a team, and everything that follows, from venue to programme, is chosen with that in mind. Then comes the budget, which decides what is possible, and the concept and programme. After that the suppliers: venue, technology, catering, transport, staging, speakers. Every contract is negotiated, and every supplier needs a schedule that fits with everyone else’s.
Closer to the day, logistics take over: attendee lists, dietary requirements, signage, a safety plan, a run sheet minute by minute. On site, the event manager is the one who decides when something goes wrong, and something always does. A speaker stuck at an airport, a projector that will not start. Afterwards comes the evaluation, the final budget and a report on what the event achieved.
What is the difference between an event manager and an event coordinator?
The event coordinator holds the logistics together: bookings, suppliers, schedules and attendees. The event manager owns the objectives, the budget and the decisions, and often leads one or more coordinators. In smaller organisations it is the same person.
Employers use the titles differently, so read the job ad closely. If it mentions budget responsibility, strategy and results, it is an event manager role. If it mentions bookings, attendee management and supplier contact, it is a coordinator role. Many start as a coordinator and move up to event manager after a few years and a few larger events.
Which skills does an event manager need?
Project management comes first. An event is a project with a fixed end date, and nobody can move the day. Finance follows close behind, because the budget decides almost every choice and has to be accounted for afterwards. Negotiation is needed with venues and suppliers. Marketing is needed to get the right people to come.
What separates an experienced event manager from a new one is the ability to solve problems under time pressure, in front of an audience, without it showing. That ability can be trained, but it is built mostly through events you have delivered.
How much does an event manager earn in Sweden?
Statistics Sweden counts event managers in the group for event and travel producers (occupation code 3332). The average monthly salary there was 40,300 kronor in 2025, according to Statistics Sweden’s wage structure statistics. The group covers both coordinators and managers, and the statistics do not separate them.
The profession is small. According to Statistics Sweden’s occupational register, just over 3,000 people were employed in the group in 2024, of whom nearly 1,800 were women. That makes experience from delivered events what counts most when an employer chooses between applicants.
How big is the events industry in Sweden?
The industry is larger than the occupational group suggests. According to Evenemang i siffror 2025, a report from Svensk Live, Svensk Scenkonst and the Swedish Sports Confederation, around 26 million tickets were sold across 87,000 events in 2024. That figure covers ticketed culture and sport only.
Conferences, trade fairs and corporate events come on top of it. That is where event managers work for companies, agencies, hotels and conference venues.
Which training leads to the job?
In Sweden a common route is a vocational higher education programme (yrkeshögskola) in events, meetings or hospitality, with work placements at employers built in. According to the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education, 81 percent of those who graduated from a vocational programme in 2024 were in work the year after.
The catalog covers several ways in. Event manager from FEI is the programme that carries the job title. Event & Destination Developer from IHM Business School links events with destination development. Certified Event Coordinator from Education Online focuses on trade fairs and events, and Music and Event Organiser from Campus Nyköping on concerts and the stage. A search for event courses lists the rest of the catalog.
What should you look for in a course?
Start with the outcome: what kind of events do you want to run, and what should you be able to do when the course is over? A course aimed at conferences and trade fairs looks different from one aimed at concerts and festivals. Then look at how much practical work is included, since delivered events are the first thing an employer asks about. Pick a format that fits your week, and ask what you get at the end. The same checks run through the guide to choosing the right course.
Every course on True Upskill issues a verifiable credential, so an employer can check it at its source in seconds instead of calling the provider.
Put it together
An event manager owns the event from objective and budget to evaluation, while the event coordinator holds the logistics together. The occupational group is small, just over 3,000 employees in 2024, with an average salary of 40,300 kronor in 2025, and the industry around it sold 26 million tickets in 2024. Vocational higher education is a common way in. Start with the event course search and pick the one that suits the kind of event you want to run.
FAQ
What does an event manager do?
An event manager is responsible for an event from idea to evaluation: objectives, concept, budget, venue, suppliers, programme, marketing, safety and delivery on the day. The role is judged on whether the event met its objective within budget.
What is the difference between an event manager and an event coordinator?
The event coordinator holds the logistics together: bookings, suppliers, schedules and attendees. The event manager owns the whole, meaning the objectives, the budget and the decisions, and often leads one or more coordinators. In smaller organisations it is the same person.
What qualifications do you need to become an event manager?
In Sweden a common route is a vocational higher education programme (yrkeshögskola) in events, meetings or hospitality, with work placements built in. Others come in from hotels, restaurants, marketing or production and add shorter courses in event planning and project management.
How much does an event manager earn in Sweden?
Statistics Sweden counts event managers in the occupational group for event and travel producers. The average monthly salary in that group was 40,300 kronor in 2025, across all sectors and both sexes.
Are there jobs for event managers in Sweden?
The profession is small. According to Statistics Sweden, just over 3,000 people were employed as event and travel producers in 2024. Experience from events you have delivered therefore carries a lot of weight when an employer chooses between applicants.