Senior Director, Event Planning

Position Summary:

The Senior Director, Event Planning will be a member of the group’s senior leadership team, responsible for leading a team of events professionals to execute and grow a portfolio of complex, fast-growing events for senior business leaders across multiple industries. You will lead the strategic development and execution of high-impact events (in-person, hybrid and/or virtual) that deliver memorable experiences for attendees, speakers and sponsors, and grow revenue year over year, in close collaboration with peers leading programming, sourcing, sales, and marketing. Success in this role will be defined by developing a well-oiled event planning and delivery function; designing modern event experiences and sponsor activations; delivering on annual revenue and expense plans; receiving consistent positive feedback from event stakeholders on experiences.  

Accountabilities:

• Event Strategy
  • Create effective event strategies and onsite formats that grow revenue
  • Train the team on event industry trends, solutions and activations; proactively lead the team to evolve and deliver superior experiences
  • Design experiences using both tried and true and new event and content formats, creating memorable interactions for current and future attendees, speakers and sponsors, with a focus on new activation ideas and implementation plans to grow sponsorship revenue
  • Create and maintain a strong visual brand system for the events portfolio
  • Provide expertise and guidance to business units executing other types of events including roundtables, briefings, virtual offerings, and the international team’s larger events
• Event Planning & Production
  • Own the event planning and delivery processes; engage in continuous learning and improvement of processes and systems and ensure all best practices and reporting are being implemented
  • Ensure delivery of event planning and implementation milestones and communicate effectively as needed
  • Deliver the U.S. events portfolio on or under budget
  • Be present on site at most events, taking an active role and supporting the day-to-day team as needed
• Vendor Management
  • Ensure continuous evaluation of existing and potential vendors for current needs and for growth planning
  • Ensure effective RFP and onboarding processes for new vendors, contractors or other third party resources
• Team Leadership
  • Coach, mentor and guide a high performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, transparency, creativity, accountability and client service
  • Engage in hands-on talent development and education to grow existing and future team members

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with 15+ years of event planning and production experience across in-person and hybrid formats. Agency or MICE industry experience a plus
• 8+ years people management / leadership experience
• Superior competency with event planning and production elements. Demonstrated experience managing venues and production companies, executing RFPs and evaluating performance
• Excellent technical skills and ability to learn and adapt to collaboration platforms (i.e. Teams), project management tools and online systems
• Strong collaboration and influence – able to get things done in a matrixed environment with experience managing multiple, senior level stakeholders and balancing competing objectives
• Strong client service approach; solution-oriented; growth-minded
• Excellence in project management and time management
• Detail obsessed with positive attitude, strong work ethic, and team player mentality
• Strong oral and written communication skills

 

What We Offer

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The Conference Board is proud to embrace best practices in employee wellbeing. We offer a competitive total compensation package. As part of our benefits package, we offer flexibility with remote working capabilities, employer-sponsored learning and development, advancement opportunities, on-site health initiatives, a communal and collaborative working environment, and a strong sense of comradery with sports teams, clubs, volunteer opportunities, and employee events.

The Conference Board does not discriminate. We are an equal opportunity employer/M/F/Vet/Disabled.