Activities Director

The job of an Activities Director involves drinks with umbrellas, nights of bingo, and lots and lots of dancing. But don’t get too excited. Those things are for the people you work for.

The strange thing about the job of Activities Director is that it exists in two places that are complete opposites: retirement homes and resorts. In both places though, the goals are the same. As an Activities Director, you arrange games and events, and make sure the residents are having the time of their lives.

The biggest things to keep in mind are the interests and abilities of your audience. For example, at a resort, you might offer a secondary activity for kids, whereas in a retirement community, this wouldn’t make much sense. On the flip side, if you’re working with the elderly, you need to think of those people who either can’t or don’t want to leave their rooms, and arrange for someone to come and play games or read to them.

However, some of your responsibilities don’t change whether you’re working with retirement home residents or resort guests. For example, you oversee those who work under you, usually assistants or volunteers. These are the people who actually run the event, doing everything from setting up before the event begins, facilitating the activities, and then taking everything down after it’s over.

You’re the one who hires and trains these people, and manages their work. You come up with the plan for the evening, then give them tasks to make sure it all goes off without a hitch.