Vantaggi
As a Senior Conference Producer with the company since 2019, I've produced events in the legal, operational excellence, pharmaceutical, shared services and finance spaces - some of which have been conferences, some exchanges, some virtual events. That in and of itself is a testament to the wide array of opportunities to explore different sectors and stretch your production capabilities. I'm now taking a leading role in one of our portfolios, because having explored so many different sectors I've been able to identify where my interests lie and where I think I can bring value to the business. Conference producers are actively encouraged to think ahead in such a way, critically thinking about where they want to be so that the company can support. For instance, IQPC run management development courses to assist in the transition to more senior roles and regular review to identify areas of development. As a conference producer, once you've launched a product into the market you work closely with marketing, sponsorship, operations and delegate sales to drive the success of your campaign. It can be challenging at first to get to grips with campaign metrics, critical success factors and how to monitor the success of any campaign in real-time, but I've found that your colleagues here will always be ready to assist and support. Your success is their success and vice versa. It's an exciting time to be in the events space as we move beyond the pandemic, and with so many new technologies and innovations that need investigating in key sectors, the opportunity for those producing events is huge. If you're intellectually curious and enjoy developing your ideas and making them happen, you'll do well here. Other pros I'd say are: - Hybrid working - great for conference producers as I find the work from home days are great for deep dive project management, research and product creation; the office days are great for meetings, collaboration, testing ideas, and getting to know your colleagues - International travel - a great way to visit some amazing places! In our team, we have events across the US and Europe - Friendly colleagues - conference production can be very dog-eat-dog, but you'll learn quickly here (if you don't know already) that working collaboratively and respectfully is the way to get success. The atmosphere in the office on office days is friendly and vibrant
Svantaggi
As the conference producer, there's always another deadline. I don't believe there's any such thing as enjoying a deadline, and balancing not only your own deadlines but those of other people can be challenging. What I will say here is that the way to stay ahead of this is to speak loud and clear about challenges when you hit them, because there's many different ways to reach a result, and you'll do your mental health no end of favours by not carrying the weight of deadlines alone. It can be frustrating when producing a conference if you don't see the results you need to see in terms of sponsorship or delegate sales. Knowing whether it's a question of the product itself or just campaign strategy can be tough and frustrating. The company has recruited heavily in the past year, so that's a lot of relationship to try and build and a lot of your success will rest on that relationship side. It can really throw a campaign is a staff member leaves, or if you have to onboard new members late in a campaign, but as ever the answer usually lies in just identifying how to make it work in a collaborative spirit. Some other cons: - The personal allowance you get given for food etc. when going to events abroad won't get you very far given inflation! I often come back from events having had to reach into my own pockets to cover the basics of the cost of running an event - Resourcing (personnel) on your event will inevitably be in competition with other events the company are running. This can lead to resourcing being pulled from your events as another event is decided to be in greater need. - Some times you may find competition from other events within a given portfolio, meaning you are competing for the same sponsors. From a portfolio perspective, that's healthy - but as an individual conference producer you can lose out.
