Events & Production Manager

The Creative Collective NYC is a community and creative agency creating some of the most dynamic moments celebrating Black creatives, including CultureCon.

ROLE OVERVIEW: 

The Events & Production Manager for CultureCon and the Creative Collective NYC and is responsible for developing, producing and managing best-in-class events for the company. This role works cross-functionally with the sales and accounts team and key stakeholders on all aspects of event production from ideation through execution including client servicing and sponsorship, event marketing, programming, digital content strategy, internal management, agency and vendor management, talent relations, public relations, budget management and reconciliation. 

This role requires a highly detail-oriented, process-obsessed, creative, entrepreneurial and strategic thinker with a deep understanding of all aspects of production related to live events, virtual events, conferences, and related sponsored/branded video content. The Events & Production Manager should anticipate industry trends that will affect the business, in the short and long term and make recommendations accordingly.

The Events & Production Manager reports directly to the CEO and is responsible for providing thoughtful leadership, communication, guidance and management to the events and production team and takes personal stake in their career development. This role will start as a six month contract with the opportunity to continue full time and compensation for this role will be based on a negotiable project rate. You must be based in the NYC metropolitan area to be considered for this role.

Evergreen Responsibilities

• Develop and manage successful event strategies across the company by working with the CEO and key stakeholders to execute successful programming based on client and audience needs, budget, and company goals.
• Own the company event calendar and identify and track event priorities for each department through the full life cycle of events
• Manage Events & Brand Coordinator on the implementation of community programming and identify and secure interesting and aligned community partnerships throughout the year
• Oversee relationships and negotiate contracts between the Creative Collective NYC and key event vendors 
• Identify event team staffing opportunities and work with leadership to continue to build out the events team

CultureCon & CultureCon Tentpole events

• Support in developing the overall strategy and programming format of CultureCon and additional tentpole events
• Serve as project manager of the lifecycle of CultureCon execution and ensure that internal teams are tracking against project priorities; this individual is the key driver to project success
• Brief internal and external teams to ensure they are well versed in high level conference information and how their team/deliverables works within the ecosystem 
• Manage the annual CultureCon production budget, with a strong focus on cost efficiencies and work closely with the sales and marketing to determine ticket benchmarks to meet event revenue goals 
• Work closely with the sales team on tracking sold and available real estate across programming and activations. Collaborate with the post-sale brand experience team to build out brand production onboarding materials for each tentpole event
• Lead the optimization of internal project processes (promo codes, photos, talent journey, etc) for CultureCon
• Manage project coordinator and production agency on day to day event responsibilities by delegating tasks effectively, setting deadlines, and giving feedback
• Consolidate feedback from the event to create actionable recommendations for future events.

Key Drivers to Success in this Role:

• 5-7 years of event planning experience
• Past experience leading large teams and large-scale events (over 1,500 attendees) with multiple moving parts and the understanding of different communication style across key stakeholders
• A sense of urgency when deadlines are approaching and the ability to execute against those deadlines
• True ownership of the assigned event - we are a team, but this role is the nucleus of the project
• Getting very granular with budgets, timeline, and process
• Analytical thinking and problem solving, with an eye for detail with an ability to identify solutions and next steps.
• Results-oriented and the ability to anticipate a manageable pacing for self and team.
• Using past learnings to inform recommendations and decisions for future events
• A keen understanding of business priorities when engaging vendors/external contractors
• Communicating effectively with both leadership and direct reports and an understanding of different working and communication styles
• Prioritization of developing junior event team members and effectively delegating to create a true support system
• Proactively identifying key decisions that should be made inclusive of timelines, staffing plans, and other priority considerations.