Events and Experiences Coordinator
Career Opportunity: EVENTS & EXPERIENCES COORDINATOR
Join the award-winning West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce!
COMPANY DESCRIPTION: The award-winning WDM Chamber of Commerce is seeking an Events & Experiences Coordinator to help lead our events and programming. At the WDM Chamber, we believe that we can do incredible things and make the biggest impact when we work together in an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging, openness, and transparency and where everyone’s ideas are heard. We pride ourselves on a positive and fun work environment where it is not just doing the work, but we care deeply about HOW we do the work. Our vision is to make WDM the best place in the world to live, work, and play.
JOB DESCRIPTION: In this role, you will be the subject matter expert on all-things-events and help to deliver compelling experiences that position WDM, and the region, as the best place in the world to live, work, and play. As a strong leader with a passion for building memorable experiences and who thrives on forming relationships and bringing people together, you will be helping to support many of our signature events including Mentoring for Women, Athene Black & Brown Business Summit, Annual Dinner & Citizen of the Year, Raccoon River Palooza, and more. You will also lead a variety of impactful monthly events from luncheons to networking events to other program gatherings. As a community organization that is known for holding 150 events and gatherings each year, the WDM Chamber is looking for someone who is seeking a role that is fulfilling and truly impactful. In this role, you will be helping with increasing event attendance, thinking of new ways to make events memorable and meaningful, and help our city grow.
QUALIFICATIONS: We are seeking to hire someone who has a passion for working with the public and hosting events, loves doing their best, is customer service oriented, has a passion for helping others, and can thrive in a fast paced, collaborative, and innovative environment. Our candidate is positive, creative, can prioritize tasks, is comfortable leading and delegating, is able to juggle many different projects at one time, works well under pressure, and is able to think on their feet.
Ideally, our candidate would have the following skill sets they would bring to this exciting position:
• 2+ years of events experience, and that can be in a college, internship or university setting, or early career.
• Strong oral and written communication skills with the ability to connect the dots between multiple audiences.
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Experience in a fast-paced environment and ability to manage changing priorities while meeting deadlines.
• Comfortable working with PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, and is open to learning new platforms.
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
• Enjoys coming up with new, innovative ideas to help take our events to the next level and provide a ‘must attend’ experience.
• Excited about working with top level leaders in our community and excited about helping to achieve WDM goals to position our city as the best in America to live, work, and play.
Specific Duties Include:
• Manage both internal and community calendars pertaining to Chamber events and meetings.
• Help President & CEO with a variety of operations opportunities including helping to organize board meetings, DEI Committee, and Explore WDM Committee.
• Coordinate event logistics and attendee registrations.
• Work closely with the Marketing Communications Coordinator to strategize promotions and programming to reach event attendance goals.
• Help set up events including printing out name badges, coordinating with venues, determining food, décor, audio visual, experiential elements, etc.
• Set order of show, communicate with speakers, presenters, sponsors, and offer new ideas and suggestions for event enhancement.
• Work with professional speakers (when applicable), analyze, review and sign contracts to determine the best fit for events.
• Create speaker rubric (when applicable) for determining best speaker for events.
• Greeting participants and speakers at events, help at check in, work with WDM Chamber Ambassadors, volunteers, and Chamber staff.
• Help organize and lead various committees for the WDM Chamber including the Explore WDM Committee who organizes the regional festival Raccoon River Palooza.
• Lead high school or college intern(s) to support the event duties throughout the year.
• Continuously build out and keep record of systems and best practices to work towards making the role more efficient and streamlined as we grow.
• Develop and help set event schedule/calendar annually.
• Update internal WDM Chamber event Master Calendar and send out calendar invites to team and community (when applicable).
• Support Chamber staff as needed and perform other duties as assigned.
• Handle behind the scenes needs of Zoom events/meetings as needed.
What it Takes to Join Our Team:
• A bachelor’s degree in Event Management, Marketing, Communications, or related field.
• Experience planning/executing events for from small to large groups.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• A self-starter who can handle multiple responsibilities, prioritize work schedules, and complete tasks by the due date.
• A high degree of personal motivation, a desire to make an immediate contribution, and possession of a distinct sense of urgency.
• A balance of the ability to work independently while also valuing and seeking out collaboration opportunities.
• The position requires the ability to gather information, take the initiative and make critical decisions.
• Exemplary time management skills and deadline oriented.
• A passion for West Des Moines – and the region - and helping others.
• Positive, creative, and innovative mindset.
• Ability to work traditional business hours in addition to some morning and evening events.
• Enjoy working in a hybrid environment.
• Relish in going above and beyond to help make impacts.
• Relish in process, program, and product improvement.
• Reliable vehicle.
• Cellular phone.
• Ability to carry from 5 – 20 pounds.
Dynamic Benefits:
• Flexible, hybrid work environment.
• Generous PTO and special holiday hours.
• Paid Fridays off in the summer as well as the week off between Christmas and New Year.
• 401K with a 4% match and 100% vesting from the onset of making your investments. You will be eligible one month after your start date.
• $25,000 in life insurance; opportunity to purchase more at greatly reduced rates.
• Discounts on services including LifeLock, AFLAC.
• Short Term disability and Long-Term disability.
• Employer Assistance Program at no charge.
• Medical, Dental, Vision; several plans are offered. The company provides $400 each month toward your premium and many employees have no or very little health insurance payment that goes out of their paycheck due to our relationship with Connectify HR.
• Free parking in the dynamic West Glen area.
• Attendance at numerous WDM Chamber & Community Events at no charge.
• Professional development and conference opportunities.
• Company credit card.
• Expense report reimbursement with mileage at the standard IRS mileage rate.
• Attendance at numerous WDM Chamber & Community Events at no charge.
• The ability to attend the award-winning WDM Leadership Academy Sessions at no charge.
• The opportunity to be part of an award-winning team and help to continue to make additional impact in our region and state.
Equal Opportunity Employer: The West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Application Process: If you are passionate about making a difference in our community, building strong relationships, and being part of a thriving organization, we encourage you to apply. If this sounds exciting to you, email meredith@wdmchamber.org with your resume and any information that would be helpful for this role. Please include the following as your subject for your email: “EVENTS & EXPERIENCES COORDINATOR POSITION”. For more information, visit www.wdmchamber.org or find us on social media.
