Position Summary:
Our customers – speakers, attendees, and sponsors - are leading executives from the largest companies in the United States. The Meeting Planner is responsible for helping deliver a high-quality experience for them at each meeting.
The Conference Board holds in person, hybrid and virtual events. In this role the Senior Meeting Planner will plan and execute both in-person and hybrid events, which include:
- Meetings held at a hotel or other public venue
- Meetings held at TCB offices
- Hybrid meetings
The Senior Meeting Planner will plan, manage and execute the logistics and operations of assigned events, including conferences, seminars and workshops. The Senior Meeting Planner will manage the larger, more complex meetings, including but not limited to meetings with 300-1,200 participants, multiple tracks/breakouts, off site events, and multiple sponsors/exhibitors.
Responsibilities:
- Serves as meeting planner for conferences, seminars and workshops
Essential Functions:
Conference and Seminar Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: assist with meeting venue site selection, site visits, hotel contract review and negotiation, menu selection, meeting specification details, accommodations for staff and speakers, audio visual equipment, sign preparation, overseeing registration material preparation, on-site management, auditing and reconciling invoices, payment of vendor bills.
Manage the logistics and meeting execution for assigned conferences and seminars:
- Review hotel contract terms to ensure hotel provides contracted concessions
- Monitor room blocks and adjust as needed
- Work with venue on menu selection, meeting specification details, accommodations for staff and speakers, audio visual equipment, banquet event orders and guarantees.
- Preparation of and oversight of on-site materials, including signs and attendee materials.
- On-site meeting management. Collaborate with Speaker Coordinator, Meetings Associate, Associate Director, Programming, Digital Operations and/or temporary staff to ensure logistical arrangements are in place and provide excellent customer service to attendees, speakers and sponsors.
- Arrange for temporary personnel at assigned meetings when necessary. Instruct them as to their duties and supervise their performance.
- Select and negotiate contracts with appropriate vendors for audio visual, and if required, restaurants and ground transportation.
- Collaborate with Senior Director, Sourcing, Contracting & Reporting to conduct venue site search and sourcing to select appropriate hotels and dates.
- Research hotels and other venues
- Review proposed meeting space to ensure space can accommodate meeting requirements, including agenda and estimated number of attendees
Build and maintain good working relationships with meeting suppliers: hotels, restaurants, audio visual, ground transportation and other meeting related vendors.
Collaborate with colleagues to ensure we meet and exceed our financial targets:
- Negotiate pricing with vendors to achieve the most favorable terms for The Conference Board.
- Review meeting location budgets for each event. Adhere budgets when planning and/or negotiating with meeting vendors (hotel, audio visual, temporary staff, ground transportation and any other meeting vendor).
- Maximize the use of the preferred vendors, when possible.
- Provide estimated site costs for monthly forecasts for each assigned project.
- Prepare final expense report for each assigned project as it relates to expenses incurred on site.
- Verify the accuracy of all meeting related invoices and forward to Associate Director, Facility & Events (I need to verify the correct title as it has been written differently in a few places) Operations for review.
Responsible for the input of hotel and meeting information into the CRM database.
Continuously seek opportunities to improve our processes and enhance the customer experience.
Perform additional duties as assigned by the Director of Operations.
Qualifications:
- Proficient in Word, Excel and PowerPoint and in applying Internet search processes
- Ability to work with senior level executives
- Keeps abreast of new industry trends
- Flexible, creative and a problem solver
- Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
- Strong ability to negotiate contract terms and conditions
- Advanced multi-tasking abilities. Ability to work on multiple projects in varying stages of development in the same time frame and with minimal supervision
- Superior prioritizing and time management skills, and the ability to meet deadlines consistently
- Self-starter with high motivation and initiative, and excellent problem-solving skills
- Bachelor’s degree
- 4+ years meeting planning or hotel experience
- Must be collaborative, able to work independently and in a team environment