AFL-CIO

Senior Meeting Planner
Meetings and Travel

Based in Washington, DC
[Headquarters]

 

Are you passionate about economic fairness and social justice? Do you want to improve the lives of working people and strengthen the labor movement? If you answered, “Yes!” then the AFL-CIO may be the right place for you. We are the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, and our team of dynamic professionals is dedicated to growing worker power and ensuring every working person has a voice on the job. When you work at the AFL-CIO, you’re more than just an individual employee—you’re helping to lead a movement with a proud history and a bright future ahead.

The AFL-CIO works to ensure that all workers experience fairness and equality in the workplace. It seeks to uplift the lives of workers of color, women, the LGBTQ community, and other underrepresented communities in partnership with the AFL-CIO’s affiliate unions, State Federations, Central and Area Labor Councils, constituency groups, and community partners.

The Meetings and Travel Department is an Administrative department within the AFL-CIO. This department provides meeting planning and travel services and support for over 50+ conferences, meetings and events annually to internal and external customers. The position serves as the department Coordinator by handling aspects of drafting budgets and RFP's (request for proposals), onsite meeting coordination, travel and registration management and/or support and post-event reconciliation.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Carry out logistical aspects for assigned meetings, conferences, and events to include: location scouting, on-site management, and post-meeting wrap-up (i.e., bill review, debrief, etc.);
• Create online registration websites and maintain all aspects of the registration system (reports, payments, refunds, updates, etc.);
• Serve as an onsite registration manager for assigned meeting, conferences and conventions. Train staff and volunteers on registration system and assist with setting registration policies when necessary;
• Coordinate and draft attendee messages via registration system (for up to 1,000 people);
• Assist with drafting preliminary budgets for all meetings, analyze for cost-effective comparison and make recommendations accordingly;
• Effectively communicate with internal and external customers to determine all meeting specifications to draft RFPs (request for proposals) and ensuring that RFPs (request for proposals) are within fiscal year considerations are met;
• Distribute RFPs (request for proposals), review incoming proposals and prepare executive summary for director's review;
• Obtain, analyze, edit and make recommendations for contracts from hotels and other vendors for director's review;
• Develops a schedule of deadlines and coordinates actions to meet deadlines with internal and external customers;
• Coordinate meeting logistics with hotel and vendor contacts, including but not limited to F&B (food and beverage), meeting room sets, A/V (audio/visual), and IT (information technology) needs, shipping arrangements, and miscellaneous preparations;
• Make menu selections and ensure special dietary needs, variety, and fiscal considerations are met;
• Effectively communicate with customers to ensure final specs are properly coordinated and within budget prior to signing of BEOs (banquet event orders);
• Review and finalize BEOs (banquet event orders) prior to signature (some BEOs might require Director or Deputy Director's approval);
• Assist internal and external customers with the development of meeting agendas to ensure the program is within contract boundaries;
• Serve as a liaison for event coordination with both AFL-CIO staff and elected leaders and staff from affiliates, external organizations, and outside vendors;
• Assist with executing on-site meeting details at executive council meetings, conventions, and other external AFL-CIO meetings as assigned;
• Coordinate with Digital Strategies and Programming Departments to ensure content between organizational and registration websites mirrors one another.
• Act as liaison between AFL-CIO and selected venues for external AFL-CIO meetings, conferences and conventions;
• Collects, reviews, and analyzes historical meeting data in order to predict future trends;
• Manage all aspects of the department's event calendar to track meetings from RFP (request for proposal) development through event conclusion;
• Suggests new processes or procedures for working more efficiently and effectively, particularly through the use of innovative technologies;
• Coordinate private dining agreements and menu selections;
• Administrative duties as required or assigned, but not limited to coordinating ground transportation, maintaining a calendar of events, group housing and transient reservations, and invoice reconciliation.;
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• Minimum 2 years of consecutive experience with all aspects of meeting planning and event coordination for events of 25 people or more;
• Minimum 1 year experience with food and beverage menus, meeting room set-ups, audio-visual items;
• Familiarity with creating budgets for cost-analysis purposes;
• Demonstrated ability to understand, interpret, support, and apply organizational and department policies and procedures;
• Demonstrated ability to exercise good political, fiscal judgment and discretion;
• Demonstrated ability to handle highly confidential information;
• Demonstrated ability to exercise high attention to detail;
• Experience working with executive staff and elected leaders from affiliates and other external organizations;
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks and support multiple managers while meeting competing deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability working as a team player;
• Excellent communication, verbal, written, and analytical skills;
• Positive and proactive attitude with excellent organizational and interpersonal skills;
• Highly motivated and a demonstrated self-starter;
• Excellent collaboration, problem-solving, and customer service skills;
• Highly proficient in all Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, demonstrated exposure with a travel management company, and Internet research;
• Desire to receive training/education in the field of meeting planning;
• Desire to learn a CAD program, to create detailed schematics.
• Ability to work long and extended hours.

Required tests include:
Clerical, Spreadsheet, Intermediate Excel, Typing, and Judgement Hospitality Industry Glossary Test and Menu Proposal/Cost Analysis

Hours will be 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Starting annual salary: $75,272.42

Apply here: https://aflcio.exacthire.com/

Equal Opportunity Employer