The essentials
- Permanent, full-time
- £30 - 35k (depending on experience)
- Hybrid working (4 days in office with 1 day per week working from home)
What you'll be doing
The main purpose of this role is to grow the venue hire pipeline of business and deliver venue hire events and specialist group events to excellent standards ensuring repeat business and maximising new sales opportunities. We are seeking a professional, confident candidate who enjoys the end-to-end process of events and is keen to make their mark on venue hire at the Society. You will also be highly organised with a keen eye for detail and confident being the 'gatekeeper' of the room bookings diary at the society.
Overall responsibilities / requirements
Venue Hire Sales & Marketing:
- To deal with all venue sales enquiries in a timely and efficient manner.
- To build and maintain an effective pipeline of venue hire enquiries. Including attending venue hire showcases and B2B networking events as necessary.
- Professional and friendly manner, confident in delivering and leading on showrounds to prospective clients.
- To produce venue hire literature and ensure that all material relating to the venue facilities is kept up to date.
- To meet venue hire sales targets for 2024 as set by the Society and build effective sales pipelines for 2025.
- Liaise with Marketing Teams to produce bespoke posts and newsletters for members, venue hire leads and special offers for venue hire throughout the year, maximising engagement.
- Support the Head of Events with all key cultivation events including venue hire showcases and any new business ventures.
Venue Hire Administration:
- To maintain safe working practices in conjunction with Health & Safety policies.
- Work collaboratively with Buildings Manager to communicate key information taking place across Burlington House.
- To liaise with AV company with regards to timings, payments, staff needs, training and use of equipment / set up for events.
- To liaise with caterers with regards to timings, payments, staff attending, training and room set up for events.
- To produce a weekly booking sheet for all staff to communicate bookings across the building.
- To produce and meet budgets for events in consultation with the Head of Events
- Manage the venue hire diary, ensuring it is kept up to date and all bookings are accurately recorded.
- To check all incoming invoices against quotes/information received and pass to accounts for payment.
- To raise and resolve any invoice queries in a timely manner.
Event Operations:
- To deliver all venue hire and specialist group events to excellent standards.
- To liaise with speakers and venue hire delegates and communicate all logistical details in a timely fashion including H&S briefings, PEEP plans and Risk Assessments.
- To make any other logistical arrangements that are necessary for the smooth running of events covering timings, parking, room set-ups etc.
- To ensure that all events are accessible and organised within the disability discrimination legislation.
- To support the events team with ad-hoc events out of hours where needed across the year.
- Ensure the events spaces are well maintained in collaboration with the Buildings Manager.
Teamwork:
- To be proactive in identifying areas for potential improvement in the events programme
- To take part in developing more efficient ways of working within the team
- To ensure that positive working relationships are created with other departments at GSL
- To participate in team meetings and wider meetings including External Relations and Health & Safety.
Other responsibilities and expectations:
- The post holder is expected to work flexibly to respond to changing needs at The Geological Society. As the Conference Office operates a room hire service it is expected that the postholder will undertake out-of-hours work to ensure that this service can operate. Excess hours worked will be compensated for by time off in lieu.
- The post holder is expected to undertake any other responsibilities or tasks consistent with the role and/or reasonably required by the Head of Events.
What we're looking for
- Excellent organisational skills.
- Experience 2-3 years working in events and/or venue background.
- A commercial mindset with natural aptitude for sales.
- Confident induvial with a can-do attitude, uses initiative to make things happen.
- Excellent reporting and negotiation skills.
- Ability to work to deadlines and juggle a varied and busy workload.
- Team player, working effectively both independently and in a team.
- Proven experience of working across multiple projects to tight deadlines.
- Competent with Microsoft Office programmes.
- Collaborative spirit, willing to work across multiple teams to achieve best possible outcomes.
- Strong level of spelling and grammar.
The ideal candidate will have:
ESSENTIAL:
- Experience of event sales and marketing
- Experience of working with external suppliers and speakers
- Personable, customer service and networking skills
- Awareness of the events industry
- Awareness of running events for similar organisation / or venue based.
DESIRABLE:
- Degree qualification
- Working within a venue similar to Burlington House
- Image editing / design skills.
A bit about us
Founded in 1807, we are the oldest geological society in the world. Today, we are a world-leading communicator of Earth science - through publishing, library and information services, cutting-edge scientific conferences, education activities and outreach to the general public. We also provide impartial scientific information and evidence to support policy-making and public debate about the challenges facing humanity.
The Geological Society is a registered charity and employs just over 50 staff at its offices in London and Bath. Our London office is situated in the beautiful London hotspot of Piccadilly in Burlington House, just next door to The Royal Academy.
As an employee conscious company, we invest in our staff by emphasising training, growth and progression in every role. We firmly believe in a positive work/life balance and offer a flexible approach to working from home as well as 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays) when you start with the option to add 2 extra days per year.
The Society is committed to fostering an inclusive culture that promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a harmonious inclusive environment in which the rights and dignity of all its members visitors and staff are respected. We are an equal opportunities employer and the post-holder will be expected to adhere to and support the Society's commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.
How to apply
As an equal opportunity employer, we kindly ask for applicants to anonymise CVs and cover letters before submitting by replacing your full name with initials.
To apply for this position, please forward a copy of your CV together with a short cover letter (500 words maximum) by an email via the button below.
Please ensure that your cover letter highlights your experience.
We would also be grateful if you could let us know if you will require any special provision as a result of any disability should you be called for interview.