Careers > Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners

Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners

$52.56K Median Salary 16.4K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 17.6% Job Growth

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About This Career

Coordinate activities of staff, convention personnel, or clients to make arrangements for group meetings, events, or conventions.

Reported Job Titles

Catering Director, Conference Planner, Conference Planning Manager, Conference Services Director, Conference Services Manager, Convention Services Director, Convention Services Manager (CSM), Event Coordinator, Events Manager, Special Events Coordinator

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Skills You'll Need

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Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Speech Recognition

Written Comprehension

Written Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Problem Sensitivity

Fluency of Ideas

Speech Clarity

Inductive Reasoning

Near Vision

Originality

Information Ordering

Category Flexibility

Far Vision

Selective Attention

Mathematical Reasoning

Time Sharing

Visualization

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Communications and Media

Administrative

Administration and Management

Computers and Electronics

Public Safety and Security

Law and Government

Skills

Active Listening

Reading Comprehension

Speaking

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Service Orientation

Social Perceptiveness

Time Management

Complex Problem Solving

Judgment and Decision Making

Monitoring

Persuasion

Writing

Active Learning

Negotiation

Management of Personnel Resources

Systems Analysis

Systems Evaluation

Instructing

Management of Financial Resources

Technology Skills

Project management software

Word processing software

Data base user interface and query software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Customer relationship management CRM software

Web page creation and editing software

Geographic information system

Electronic mail software

Desktop publishing software

Financial analysis software

Presentation software

Spreadsheet software

Video conferencing software

Desktop communications software

Network conferencing software

Facilities management software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Sales and marketing software

Internet browser software

Web platform development software

Tools

Two way radios

Videoconferencing systems

Notebook computers

Public address systems

Desktop computers

Overhead projectors

Personal computers

Multimedia projectors

Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Communications and Media: Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.

Technology Skills

Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Customer relationship management CRM software: Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge; Microsoft Dynamics; Salesforce.com Salesforce CRM
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; Google Sites; LinkedIn; Social media sites
Geographic information system: ESRI ArcView; Geographic information system GIS systems
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher
Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Video conferencing software: Teleconferencing software
Desktop communications software: Edmodo
Network conferencing software: LogMeIn GoToWebinar
Facilities management software: Maintenance management software
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Sales and marketing software: Google Ads; HubSpot software; Marketo Marketing Automation
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Web platform development software: Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP