5 Minute Interview with A Senior Conference Producer
5 Minutes Interview with a Senior Conference Producer
How long have you been working in B2B Events?
10+ years
How did you get started in conference production?
After completing my BA and later, my Masters Degree in Business I found a conference production role and immediately felt it is a great match for my skills and interests! As producers need great verbal and written communication skills + understanding of business/economic subjects, thus a good match for humanities + business degrees. I started as a junior producer back then and then progressed to senior roles.
On top of that, my Mum was organiser of events and as a child, I attended some of them. I remember the buzz and the excitement of running a successful event.
What attracted you to your current role and company?
My current company has a very good reputation in the industry because they produce publications and events, and the quality of their publications and events is very high.
What’s been on your to-do list today?
Identifying potential leading speakers in several financial topics, approaching them and inviting them to speak at our conference; reading articles on related topics to add more detail to the event programme; inviting speakers for a sponsored Webinar; updating sponsorship leads list for a large multi-track event (liaise to other producers and sales team) and update management on the progress; checking with the marketing team that the events are on track.
Overall what do you most enjoy about your job?
Learning new business subjects during the research process, and meeting intelligent and charismatic people (speakers)!
What has been the most exciting project or task that you’ve worked on?
Many projects have been exciting. The most exciting was probably an Investment event where I managed to confirm world known speaker.
Have you found the different companies you worked at have had different expectations about the producer role or is the job pretty similar wherever you work?
I have been loyal and worked for over 10 years at one company so now it is my second company in this field. I must say the work scope is quite different here – probably because it is a Publications + events company, and the previous one was purely an Events company.
What is the best advice you’d give someone that’s considering a career as a Conference Producer?
Meeting speakers is the most rewarding and interesting part, so try to establish a good rapport with key speakers.
To find out more about career opportunities in Conference Production please get in touch:
T: 0203 488 2620
E: helen@jbrecruitment.co.uk