Manager Of Meetings

Sam Sterling
604 Harmony Lane
Pleasantville, CA 94588
(925) 555-1234

HIGHLIGHTS

· Ten years meeting planning experience.
· Strong interpersonal and organizational skills in a multi-task customer service environment.
· Work well as a team leader/member applying the principles of continuous quality improvement.
· Proficient in working with operating systems, office suites, personal information managers, Web page authoring programs, graphic layout, faxing and accounting programs.

EXPERIENCE

Independent Contractor, Washington, DC
1998 - Present
Sole Proprietor in establishing and managing meeting based contracts.
· Developed effective systems for accomplishing project goals, in the context of convention planning, to meet client project timeframes and outcomes successfully.
· Provided contracting services for meeting/event locations, external vendors and catering.
· Created and administered an in-house convention database and process to organize convention registrants and payments, concurrent sessions, food and beverage arrangements, audio visual needs for presenters, and meeting room setups.

SFB and Associates, Washington, DC
Manager of Meetings and Technology, 1995 - 1998
Senior Manager with full responsibility for the strategic planning, budgeting, implementation and management of a trade association's convention and technology functions. Managed four annual conventions, MIS and Internet activities.
· Enhanced internal and external conference operations to deliver a consistent profit while exceeding membership expectations.
· Directed the development and implementation of a new convention registration system that maximized attendee customer service and the organization of registration data.
· Managed computer consultant, convention staff, volunteer recruitment and hired temporary convention employees.
· Coordinated all microcomputer hardware/software installations and maintained association's Internet Web site.

SFB and Associates, Washington, DC
Manager of Meetings, 1995 - 1998
Manager responsible for pre-site and on-site and post convention planning and management of all association-sponsored conventions. Handled site selection, contract negotiation and signing, conference brochures, staff management, registration set-up and implementation and acted as point of contact for industry salespersons and vendors.
· Supervised and managed two 400 person conferences from agenda creation, speaker recruitment, brochure publication, hotel specifications and staff/resource allocation management.
· Successfully introduced a new budgeting process to the association.

Maxwell Management, Alexandria, VA
Manager of Conventions and Exhibits, 1992 - 1995
Supervising manager for association's annual conference consisting of 1,500 people, 120 exhibiting companies and 50 concurrent sessions. Responsible for all outside vendors, site selection, contract negotiations, program layout, advertising and logistics.
· Attained consistent growth in exhibit space and revenue through developing and implementing exhibitor recruitment/retention programs and by coordinating sales agendas.
· Increased annual conference attendance for two consecutive years through a combination of direct mail programs, fax broadcasting, trade-out advertising and brochure design.
· Maintained year-round contact with conference exhibitors while exploring new relationships with industry vendors, suppliers and advertisers to ensure support of the association in the future.
· Spearheaded in-house registration policies, procedures and database development.
· Increased advertising revenue 200% by creating a marketing program targeting past and current exhibitors.

EDUCATION

University of Virginia, Richmond, VA
B.A., Liberal Arts

PRWRA Anne Kramer - Alpha Bits - Virginia Beach, VA 23455 - akramer@kiscomputers.net