General?Purpose of?the?Position 

The Kellen meetings department is the service division that manages the meetings, conferences and trade shows for all of our clients.  Following Kellen Best Practices, the Manager, Meetings and Expositions manages the planning and execution of successful and profitable conference and trade show programs while maintaining a high level of customer service to client account team, to client committees, and to program participants for both internal and external clients.  The Manager, Meetings & Expositions specifically plans and manages meetings, conferences, trade shows and client functions (including managing vendors and event staff), and plays an integral role in all event pre-planning, for assigned client accounts. 

This job operates in a hybrid-office environment with a two day in-office requirement every Tuesday and Wednesday. The candidate who fills the role must be in commuting distance from our office in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City or Washington DC.

Essential?Functions 

Strategy?and Leadership 

• Consults with internal and external stakeholders to determine event’s goals, objectives, budget and desired outcomes for clients and event participants. 

• Expands network, participates in knowledge sharing, and serves as representative and thought leader on external committees. 
• Counsels clients on industry best practices and contributes innovative and effective ideas to client strategic planning and process analyses. 
• Builds and maintains strong internal and external client relationships. 
• Advises clients of emerging technologies, processes and best practices and the impact of same on attendee engagement. 

Conference Logistics 

• Build and must maintain strong internal and external client relationships  
• Possess a working knowledge, and assure the successful execution of: 
  • Hotel RFP and contracting  
  • online registration  
  • hotel room block management 
  • budget development and management 

• Identifies and understands event participant objectives and outcomes 
• Researches, recommends and selects meeting sites and activities that support objectives 
• Negotiates and manages vendors and contracts 
• Manages, negotiate terms, and executes Hotel and other Meeting Venue contracts 
• Travels (including some international) for site selection and onsite meeting management 
• Develops meeting specifications including banquet event orders and work plans including timeline and budget 
• Coordinates and manages pre-planning meetings with client account team, including management, sales, education programming and other related personnel 
• Coordinates all information for meetings, events and trade shows, and disseminate appropriately 
• Coordinates logistics planning including agenda/program development, speaker engagement, food and beverage menu selections, air and ground transportation arrangements registration and housing processes and audiovisual/technical needs 
• Develops and manages meeting budgets with client teams 
• Tracks meeting and event expenditures to stay within or below budget 
• Tracks attendance, registration, hotel history and attendee satisfaction 
• Prepares and compiles routine and ad hoc status reports on group activities, such as meeting statistics and metrics 
• Provides onsite management of meetings, events and trade shows to include oversight of vendors 
• For those client accounts that include trade shows: 

• initiates proposals with general contractor 
• negotiates and manages contracts 
• provides onsite management including exhibitor management 
• acts as intermediary between general contractor, venue manager and exhibitors 

• Implements contingency plans as needed onsite 
• Troubleshoots and solves onsite problems seamlessly 
• Completes post-event tasks including reconciliation of expenses, evaluation of event and report on meeting results