Annual Conference Program Manager - Virtual/Remote Position

As the Annual Conference Program Manager at American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), you will report directly to the CEO and be a major contributor to making our conference a success.  You will spend the majority of your time coordinating with colleagues and members, actively managing to-do items and day-to-day activities that ensure the consistent and exceptional delivery of conference content. The program manager has a significant interaction with volunteer leaders and plays a key role in communication and coordination across a variety of functions.  Your meticulous attention to detail, organization skills, acumen, customer service orientation, graciousness, poise, judgment, and follow-through will be critical to success.

ACRM is an international professional association and global community of both researchers and consumers of research in the field of rehabilitation. As rehabilitation science evolves, and as the world continues to adjust to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, our goal is to keep our community connected by creating opportunities to exchange and share information beyond the traditional environment of meetings and conferences. It usually takes 30 years for research to make it into practice – yet empowered consumers demand results now – so clinicians come to us for the latest research and content about the treatment options for their patients.

Responsibilities

Education & Programming

• Primary responsibility is to ensure sufficient submission and acceptance of high-quality content in a timely manner.

• Establish submission calendar and critical dates for all categories of submissions, communicating key dates to program committee and presenters. Develop and distribute results reports, based on established deadlines.

• Management and coordination of gathering all major session slides. Requires coordination with key staff and lead speakers for each session as well as the graphics team to assemble final decks for prerecording and real-time, live in-person streaming channels.

• Coordinate with incoming program committee chair to select committee members. Work with program committee to develop and select educational content for meetings and conferences.  Work with CME provider to design the call for proposals consistent with accreditation requirements.

• Coordinate and attend program committee meetings, including distributing meeting agendas and notes and tracking participation of program committee. Provide Program Committee Disclosures - ensure disclosures are posted in the system.  Assign reviews to Program Committee member based on their expertise.

• Liaise with key staff and volunteer leaders to gather requirements, develop, and manage online submission systems for all categories, administering proposal tools. Coordinating training and support for users and committee members (both written and via webinar), as needed.

• Create preliminary schedule of full conference for all educational sessions; provide to essential member groups for feedback. Work with program committee to review accepted content.

• Coordinate with presenters from 3-4 symposia sessions for each themed live discussion; work with Program Committee to identify moderators; track and report responses.

• Develop and distribute reports for multiple submission categories to key staff and volunteer leaders. Work with program committee to group and schedule presentations; determine moderators and distribute instructional materials.

• Work with Poster Award Chair to format poster award document for review; work with graphics team to identify winners in Online Program. Coordinate poster grand grounds from poster award winners for on-site conference.

• Coordinate meetings with Cadmium support for App Launch; work with key departments to develop content/information. Manage all Education/Programming aspects of the APP and populate the APP and online program, as needed.  Monitor and update ACRM Account in Apple and Google Play stores to remain compliant.

• Cooperate with groups and marketing and various team members for the development, editing and finalization of multiple slide presentations.

CME/CEU Accreditation Coordination Management

• Manage collaboration between CME provider and submission system team (Cadmium) to ensure program set-up in system. Notify CME provider of accepted content slides and recordings available for review and accreditation purposes.

• Collaborate, as needed to connect CME provider on behalf of ACRM, w/non-CME accreditation bodies and assist in identifying CME Professional Gaps as part of conference survey.

• Liaise with the CME provider regarding system tools that members may use.

• Communicate with CME provider to ensure surveys are built and being distributed via ACRM's technology, with communications being sent to attendees for incomplete tasks ensuring that conference attendees receive certification credits.

Speaker Communications

• Coordinating and distributing moderator invitations and instructions for Plenary, Special Symposia, Oral Presentations, Attendee Networking themes and content discussions, Chat with the Experts, and Poster Grand Rounds.

• Coordinate with Speaker Communications Manager to send notifications of presentation schedule date and times.

• Communicate and conduct video calls on the expectations and questions from speakers (Plenaries).

• Triage customer service communications, as related to programming management tasks.

On-Site Conference Coordination & Management

• Coordination of poster presentations including equipment and labor, scheduling, onsite uploading of digital files to digital poster stations via submission system, hard file or Wi-Fi.

• Staffing and coordination of the speaker ready room. Coordinate rehearsals with A/V provider and Cadmium live stream team to conduct onsite rehearsals and oversee live broadcasts from the general session room.

 Qualifications

• A bachelors degree
• At least 5 years of program development and meeting planning experience, including conferences, tradeshows, expositions, hotels and meeting registration. Experience liaising with high-level volunteer leaders.
• Experience using CadmiumCD and MS Office Suite are required, association management software, such as iMIS, is a plus.
• Experience working in a professional association is required, with experience in a medical association a plus.

 Attributes

• Analytical. You have the ability, curiosity, and interest to extract data from a variety of sources to produce meaningful reports.
• Collaborative. You have a proven track record of getting results by building strong relationships and partnerships. You share information and you work cooperatively at all levels. You earn trust by your actions and faithfully keep your promises.
• Detail-oriented. You have command of both the process and the details. You are known for your accuracy, and you get it done right the first time. You go beyond knowing what needs to be done, but also understand why it needs to be done.
• Flexible. You adjust to changing priorities and operate effectively in an ever-changing environment. You can think on the fly, shift gears, and keep commitments amid situations that are sometimes out of your control.
• Organized. You enjoy keeping multiple balls in the air while working on several projects. You thrive on checklists and advanced planning. You bring order to competing priorities and keep things running smoothly.
• Project manager. You efficiently track the details and manage the demands of multiple projects of varying importance. You plan ahead, manage tasks from start to finish, and keep everyone informed so they can bring their tasks to fruition with ease.

What’s Attractive to the Right Candidate?

• A global nonprofit with a mission to improve the lives of people with disabilities, we are the fastest-growing professional association in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
• You will be joining a dedicated team of professionals committed to our mission and you will play an important role in making our entire team more productive.
• We respect your life outside of work. In this role, you can work full-time from your home office with a limited need to travel.

• A bachelors degree
• At least 5 years of program development and meeting planning experience, including conferences, tradeshows, expositions, hotels and meeting registration. Experience liaising with high-level volunteer leaders.
• Experience using CadmiumCD and MS Office Suite are required, association management software, such as iMIS, is a plus.
• Experience working in a professional association is required, with experience in a medical association a plus.