Director, Event Operations

Arlington, VA, United States

THIS IS A HYBRID POSITION. SELECTED CANDIDATE WILL WORK OUT OF THE VIRGINIA OFFICE.HIRING RANGE: 150,000 - 160,000 Summary The Director, Event Operations oversees the planning and execution of all live and virtual NACD education programs and specialty events and manages a team of event planners, registration, and virtual learning specialists. The Director’s primary responsibilities include: providing strategic direction in site/venue selection, contracting and production, registration and delivery of events, rigorously applying quality standards, controlling costs and influencing external and internal stakeholders. The Director successfully manages the prudent use of expenditures of over $5 million a year for hotel accommodations, F&B, Audio-visual, and outsourced provider services for over 10 events a year.This individual plays a crucial role in planning and communicating the annual educational programming calendar, working closely with various departments including marketing, chapters, partners/sponsors, member engagement, governance, and content development. The position will interact with numerous internal and external stakeholders and lead best- in- class executive events for our executive stakeholders.This role has oversight of the associated platforms used to deliver online education (including a learning management system) to provide asynchronous and synchronous, in-person and self-directed training options. This position requires technical expertise, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to provide coaching and feedback to internal employees, vendors and contractors. This is a hybrid role and selected candidate must be able to work at NACD’s Corporate Headquarters in Virginia. Essential Duties And Responsibilities Business Acumen Excellent negotiation skills on behalf of the organization. Leads contract negotiations ensuring compliance to policies, budgets, and other specific requirements. Successfully negotiates contracts working with legal team to ensure terms that are favorable to the organization and minimize attrition and other penalties/risks.

Successfully manages the prudent use of expenditures and outsourced provider services. Benchmarks market rates via requests for proposals.

Develop, implement, and track performance metrics and KPIs; assesses opportunities for improvement.

Drive overall in-person events budget management, owning KPIs, targets, and success metrics.

Proactively manages budgets, expenses, reviews and approves invoices and service payments to ensure timely and accurate disbursement to contractors and vendors as well as internal allocations of service costs.

Identifies emerging industry trends to ensure high-quality, high-touch educational experiences. Stay current, and often ahead of the curve, on event planning, design, and production trends.

Leadership & Communication Ability to manage a hybrid team, advance a high-performance culture, and drive a learning and growth mindset.

Demonstrated experience in navigating and managing cross-functional relationships within and outside an organization.

Must have excellent interpersonal skills and be an effective communicator with both internal and external stakeholders.

Communicates a clear and consistent message regarding team goals to produce desired results.

Inspires and leads team members and cross-functional stakeholders to create engaging and impactful experiences across all touchpoints for pre-event, event, and post-event moments.

Holds team accountable for desired service behaviors related to product and service delivery.

Works with direct reports to review scheduled events and troubleshoot potential challenges/conflicts.

Builds processes for repeatable and scalable in-person and virtual events.

Event Logistics Manage all aspects of live event planning meeting strict deadlines and budget demands.

Leads the planning and execution of our major annual events, including NACD Summit, and, where appropriate, acts as onsite lead/traffic cop during those events, ensuring the highest standards for registration, housing, food & beverage, room setup, audio-visual, lighting, transportation, and speaker-audience interactivity.

Operates as a center of excellence by providing exemplary meeting and event management services to internal business unit stakeholders.

Creates an atmosphere in all in-person event management operations that meets or exceeds expectations.

Develops working relationships with outside vendors, including hotels, other types of venues, audio/visual and technology vendors, drayage and installation vendors, and establishes prices and service agreements to enhance the in-person event experience and to increase profitability for NACD.

Focus on delivering unique and enhanced onsite experiences that make NACD stand out from the competition and consistently delight the membership.

Establish and improve relevant standard procedures and works with staff to consistently execute them. SOPs reflect changes in the business, including adoption of new technologies.

Ensures compliance with legal, insurance, health and safety regulations at all times.

Ownership of site selection process by coordinating with VP, Education to solicit and secure proposals from potential meeting venues.

Negotiates contracts and makes site selection decisions that balance cost effectiveness with a superb meeting experience for participants.

Periodically assesses the resourcing model for event delivery, identifying what activities should be kept in-house versus outsourced to third parties.

Travels to offsite events as necessary

Operations Ensures world class customer service related to learning events from the registration set up process through dissemination of continuing professional education (CPE) credits.

Ensures documentation and training for the team including SOPs and workflow management.

Ensures team develops and communicates appropriate crisis management/contingency plans for events.

Proactively assesses and ensures compliance with policies (including but not limited to Data Privacy) related to virtual events.

Ensure training offerings are planned, managed, and delivered to achieve and/or exceed budgeted revenue and net contribution goals.

Technology Systems In partnership with the IT team, manages external relationships with third party technology vendors with which NACD works to develop and execute virtual learning experiences.

Collaborate with IT Project Management and Operations & Solutions teams to continuously assess fit for purpose for our education technology solutions. Collaborate to ensure our technology is scalable for business growth and able to identify business unit requirements.

Ensure successful implementation and operations related to virtual education offerings (comprising hybrid conference, self-study, webinars, and similar offerings) across the learning portfolio.

For virtual live events, ensure focus on a flawless tech experience and continued focus on improving the virtual user experience, including innovating virtual networking and interactivity.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities This role has three direct reports, as well as their related team members. Specifically, this role supervises two Senior Managers of Events, and one Manager, Education Technology & Operations. This role may manage outsourced resources if more capacity is needed (e.g., a professional conference organizer (PCO)). Other Requirements Stand for long periods of time

Required to climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl

Lift up to 20 pounds and occasionally up to 50 pounds

Education/Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in management or business is required. Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) and Digital Event Strategist (DES) designations are preferred. A minimum of 10 years of Convention & Event Management experience demonstrating a steady career progression with increasing roles and responsibilities is required. A minimum of 10 years of managerial experience is required. Must have demonstrated experience leading and managing people including the ability to encourage, empower, and hold others accountable. Extensive experience in developing and managing event budgets and contracting is required. Knowledge and experience in planning, development and execution of events, and strategic annual plans is required, as is thorough knowledge and understanding of the Convention Industry Council practices and terminology. Must have exceptional oral and written communication skills as well as proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Must be able to manage multiple demanding projects simultaneously._____________________________________________________________________________________This position description summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be required to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.NACD employees are required to be fully vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus by their first day of employment. An employee is “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving their second dose of a two-dose vaccination series or two weeks after the first shot of a single-dose vaccine (or as described by the vaccine manufacturer). The salary/hourly range for this position is $150,000-$160,000 plus bonus potential. Compensation is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc.

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