Sr. Planner, Conferences Vendor Partnerships

The Senior Planner, Vendor Partnerships role is essential to the successful delivery of Gartner’s conference services sourcing strategy. This role involves collaborating with internal conference team members such as logistics, exhibitor operations, housing and registration to determine scope requirements, negotiate cost effective solutions and project manage supplier sourcing activities. The focus is on securing favorable contract terms, building foundational supplier relationships and contributing to the successful delivery of conference services.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Assist in collaborating with internal stakeholders (ie logistics, exhibitor operations, housing, and registration stakeholders to understand business needs. Based on these needs, assist stakeholders in defining complex scope requirements to source suitable suppliers with the scale and expertise to support our Conferences strategy.
• Support the analysis to aid in the management and selection of the best suppliers for our conferences.
• Abide by Gartner’s contract processes and policies, negotiate supplier pricing and business terms that minimize the risk to the company and deliver increased value.
• Assist in managing the supplier contract management processes to ensure timely execution of contract reviews and approvals.
• Develop strong relationships with contacts to ensure high quality standards are maintained, company expectations are met, and lines of communication are open.
• Monitor vendor partnership, performance metrics, and service delivery satisfaction and support the facilitation of business reviews for select suppliers i.e., Business & Operations Reviews.
• Support global conference services supplier consolidation initiatives to aid in streamlining suppliers to better leverage Gartner spend (time and purchases).
• Contribute to continuous improvement through ongoing contract and supplier management; collaborate with onsite planners to capture supplier performance feedback and follow up to ensure practices are adjusted accordingly where necessary.
• Assist in project management tasks including timelines and templates, and accurately track and evaluate results on overall project goals.
• 10-15% travel to conferences required per year.

Expected Results:

• Timely support of sourcing and negotiation best practices
• Provide collaborative internal stakeholder and external supplier experiences
• Contribute to operational effectiveness through consistent processes
• Successfully project manage contract renewals with multiple stakeholders to meet desired timelines

Professional Experience:

• 5-6 years  event management experience incl. end-to-end event management
• Extensive conferences onsite experience
• Basic understanding of contract negotiation and supplier management
• Knowledge of the overall procurement life cycle  
• Broad supplier relationship management experience

Key Competencies/ Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Willingness to learn and take accountability
• Strong time management skills and ability to multitask - high sense of urgency and prioritization
• Collaborative mindset with an eagerness to build relationships
• Developing project management, problem solving and analytical skills
• Strong financial management skills
• Fully competent in Microsoft office, especially PowerPoint and Excel

Key Contacts:

Internal Contacts - Conference Logistics, Exhibitor Operations, Housing & Registration leadership teams, Procurement Category Managers

External Contacts - Conference Services Supplier Contracts

Education:

Bachelor's Degree preferred

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