Sr. Project Manager, Meetings & Events

Overview

QED-C®, the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, is an industry association with the mission to grow the quantum economy through community-building and collaboration. QED-C currently serves over 250 member organizations operating in more than 20 countries. QED-C seeks an experienced Project Manager to grow the association’s meeting & event offerings into a profitable, million-dollar line of business that advances QED-C’s strategic goals to: engage & empower members, be the voice of the quantum industry, and inform & influence policy. This position is a part of a tight-knit management team, reports to the QED-C Deputy Director, and is responsible for strategic, operational, and financial leadership of QED-C’s event offerings, including conferences, tech expos, trade delegations, technical workshops, educational webinars, and networking functions.

Responsibilities

Strategy

• Develop, maintain, and implement an organization-level events strategy and policies that advance QED-C in its mission and strategic goals.
• Engage with volunteer leadership to develop and implement event-specific strategies (both collectively and individually) in line with the QED-C mission and strategic goals toward objectives of increasing member satisfaction and engagement in the first year.
• Manage event pricing and sponsorship to achieve and sustain net-positive revenue from signature events within three years.

Planning

• Responsible for overall events P&L; develop and maintain budgets for all events.
• Lead the planning and execution of in-person, hybrid, and virtual QED-C meetings & events. Oversee scheduling of meetings & events throughout the year. Collaborate with membership, operations, marketing, and volunteer liaison teams on association event programming, activities, and collateral to ensure a cohesive, positive experience.
• Develop an annual sponsorship prospectus. Cultivate sponsors and exhibitors that provide value to participants and to QED-C.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to perform venue selection and logistics activities, including BEO and guarantees, A/V, room set, and determining and communicating signage and promotional material collateral requirements.
• Develop and maintain event project plans, documentation, production schedules, and checklists.
• Manage stakeholder pre-event meetings and calls including kick-off, regular check-ins, and run-of-show; send post-meeting summaries and follow up on action items.
• Coordinate with speakers and presenters to arrange prep calls; collect bios, headshots, and presentations; communicate event logistics; and follow-up.
• Organize and schedule the shipment of materials to/from events.

Administration

• Negotiate and manage agreements and relationships with vendors/contractors supporting QED-C events, coordinating with internal stakeholders.
• Manage all aspects of event registration including creation of registration form/pages; monitoring registrations for accuracy and completeness; providing registration assistance to VIPs, speakers, and sponsors; reporting on sold vs. capacity; and badge creation.
• Maintain the inventory of event-related items and order supplies and promotional items.
• Perform post-event follow-ups: deploy satisfaction surveys, process invoices, distribute conference materials and presentations, and process cancellations and refunds according to event policy.
• Maintain event-related statistics for use in reports for internal and external stakeholders.
• Respond to general association and event-related inquiries.
• As this line of business grows, may hire and supervise one or more staff.

Execution

• Serve as on-site liaison for vendors/contractors.
• Manage on-site registration and logistics; ensure staffing of critical support areas on-site, including registration desk and in-room A/V support; conduct tech checks; coordinate and manage set-up, tear-down, packing, and other event assistance as needed; oversee placement of signage and collateral.
• Launch and staff virtual events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and minimum 10 years of relevant experience OR minimum 15 years of experience with progressive responsibilities in events management.
• Proficiency with the following business software:
  • Project management software (e.g., Asana)
  • Event registration platforms (e.g., Eventbrite)
  • Virtual meeting and webinar systems (e.g., Zoom)
  • Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (conditional formatting, pivot tables, etc.)
  • CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce or HubSpot)
  • BI tools (e.g., Strategy One)
• Demons