Meetings & Events Planner, Aunz

The
**Meetings & Events Planner** is primarily responsible for managing physical event planning tasks, including sourcing venues, negotiating contracts, managing pre-event planning tasks (housing, ground transportation, attendee management, food & beverage, audio-visual), leading team meetings, collaborating on event communications, executing events onsite and billing reconciliation while also exhibiting flexibility necessary to produce digital events. Ability to transition between multiple event platforms and event formats, depending on the objective of the event.

**Essential duties and responsibilities include the following.** Other duties may be assigned.
- Partner with cross-functional teams in the US to communicate details, manage registrations in EMS, Swap Card, and/or Zoom, schedule all necessary team meetings, tech office hours, Zoom calls, for digital events.
- Responsible for scheduling and communicating logístical details of assigned meetings and events with internal departments such as IT, Marketing, Creative Services, Finance, Service Center, and Event Operations Staff assigned to support the event, for internal weekly meetings, kick-off meetings, pre-cons, debriefs, and final financials.
- Gathers all necessary details to liaise with US events team to build online registration sites for all events with specific functionality (Request to Attend, Open Registration, Close Registration, Dietary Restrictions, Regions permitted to attend, Custom questions, etc.).
- Responsible for attendee management of all assigned events using registration systems (EMS, Swap Card, Zoom) working with teams across the organization to meet forecasted attendance of Advisors and Preferred Partners, collecting all necessary details related to event attendance, hotel accommodations/preferences, airport transfers, billing/invoicing, roommates/guests in attendance, dietary restrictions, badge updates, community memberships, room amenity needs, and personal agendas for events.
- Act as producer or co-producer of digital events (depending on assignments), managing flow of event, virtual breakout rooms, virtual waiting room, virtual general session room, and virtual staff office, sending Tech Support Staff to assist participants with audio/video, behind-the-scenes for seamless flow of digital events.
- Research hotel/venue options and successfully negotiate contracts, making strategic recommendations to internal stakeholders.
- Manage hotel room block, suite upgrades, while managing attrition clauses and deposit payment schedules.
- Responsible for creative menu planning and wine selections with sustainability in mind, while ensuring accurate food guarantees to balance both attendee needs and operational event budgets.
- Manage all onsite logistics and assigned staff, allocating resources accordingly and being mindful of non-exempt employee schedules, meal breaks, and tasks to accomplish throughout the pre-event and event days.
- Liaise with ground provider, onsite vendor and/or tourism boards when applicable, to ensure competitive rates, accurate airport transfers, efficient and organized transportation between hotels and offsite venues.
- Create, present for review, and manage event budgets for all assigned meetings and events.
- Partner with Marketing and external vendors to develop, proof, ship/receive all necessary marketing collateral for events (posters, banners, event magazines, badges, registration desk design, notepads, pens, bags, etc.).

**Educational and Skills Requirements**:

- Bachelor's degree, or any combination of education, training and experience, that demonstrates the ability to perform the position's duties
- CMP - Certified Meeting Professional (preferred but not essential)
- 4-7 years of event management experience in the hospitality sector (hotel, convention centre, destination management company), technology, pharmaceutical, or retail industries
- Work history to reflect the use of excellent negotiating skills including complex contract negotiations
- Must have the ability to work independently as well as thrive in a team environment
- Excellent attention to detail, have superior organization skills, able to perform tasks under pressure and work in a fast-paced environment
- Demonstrated ability to understand and improve processes and workflow
- Proficiency in MS Office, Word, Excel, Teams and PowerPoint.
- Must be flexible with hours and available to work weekends and holidays as necessary especially during peak conference season
- International and domestic travel required, potentially up to 15% of job
- Experience travelling domestically and internationally with knowledge of world cultures
- Highly organized with the ability to multi-task
- Flexible as each day is different, policies and processes can change
- Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills
- Able to collect and analyze complex information, problem-solve, and make decisions.
- Strong skills in inspiring the win-win-win
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