What does an event specialist do?
Events specialists, also known as events producers or event planners, have many roles and responsibilities. They establish event concepts, select venues, secure sponsorships, and handle logistics for events. Also, they plan and manage event timelines, coordinate technical aspects, and manage risks. Event specialists are also responsible for communicating with vendors, organizing marketing materials, and liaising with event speakers. To become an event specialist, one should need to meet several qualifications that include having a degree in marketing, hospitality, or public relations. Organization skills and experience in project management are also important.
Event specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real event specialist resumes:
- Manage three key concierge brands with a high level of guest service and VIP attention.
- Manage RSVP lists, checked-in attendees at events, and insure guest satisfaction at all times.
- Build client pipeline by using SEO, Linkedin, Mattermarks, Angel.CO.
- Establish streamline budget management process, enabling overall department to effectively tracking spending trend and ROI.
- Post to Facebook and other media regarding up-coming event and/or event outcome.
- Promote upcoming events and shows through marketing materials, emails and twitter.
- Participate in the implementation of the first company-wide CRM, pipeline and contact management and tracking system.
- Network through social media such as; Makingstrideswalk.org, LinkedIn and Facebook, to maintain donor and participant relationships.
- Advertise and market to gain support for the organization by calls, email blasts, twitter account, etc.
- Provide support to property sales efforts as needed, including ensuring collateral for sales teams, giveaways for sales calls.
- Direct and install all online marketing, social media, and SEO and execute all online promotional materials for media.
- Implement satellite downlinks and PowerPoint presentations through video projection systems.
- Contract hotel and transportation services for collegiate and alumni association groups.
- Engage public interest through effective promotional activities such as giveaways and demonstrations.
- Develop alumni-networking event leveraging strategic research analysis of diverse alumni groups, expanding the organization's donor database.
Event specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 51% of Event Specialists are proficient in Brand Awareness, Product Preparation, and Product Demonstrations. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Negotiation skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Event Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Brand Awareness, 51%
Brand awareness, positive product impressions and increased sales through product demonstration, customer engagement and effective communication of brand highlights.
- Product Preparation, 14%
Performed daily product preparation and sampling during in-store demonstrations.
- Product Demonstrations, 5%
Facilitated supportive services and analysis customers and business partners to address special concerns and ease the transition during product demonstrations.
- Food Preparation, 4%
Utilize both food preparation skills and creativity to develop unique product arrangements.
- Food Safety, 4%
Maintain clean, professional appearance in keeping with company policy and food safety regulations
- Product Knowledge, 3%
Maximized sales and increased customer loyalty Skills Used Communication- non verbal and verbal Product knowledge Up-selling Charismatic
Most event specialists use their skills in "brand awareness," "product preparation," and "product demonstrations" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential event specialist responsibilities here:
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an event specialist to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "meeting, convention, and event planners must establish and maintain positive relationships with clients and suppliers." Event specialists often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "exhibit professionalism, customer service, presentation and interpersonal skills. "
Negotiation skills. Many event specialist duties rely on negotiation skills. "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to secure quality products and services at reasonable prices for their clients.," so an event specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways event specialist responsibilities rely on negotiation skills: "worked there from 03/12-05/12, moved back to nashville to continue school.-sales, demonstration of product.-customer service-negotiation"
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of event specialists is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday event specialist duties, as "meeting, convention, and event planners must multitask, pay attention to details, and meet tight deadlines." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "demonstrated expert communication and organizational skills; utilized microsoft word, excel, powerpoint. "
Problem-solving skills. A big part of what event specialists do relies on "problem-solving skills." You can see how essential it is to event specialist responsibilities because "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to anticipate potential issues and prepare creative solutions that satisfy clients." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical event specialist tasks: "meet with store management and senior associates to come up with solutions to improve sales and visibility of products. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for an event specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what event specialists relies on this skill, since "meeting, convention, and event planners exchange information with clients, suppliers, and event staff." How this skill relates to event specialist duties can be seen in an example from an event specialist resume snippet: "work with store management and maintain communication with supervisor. "
The three companies that hire the most event specialists are:
- Advantage Solutions102 event specialists jobs
- Marriott International81 event specialists jobs
- CROSSMARK33 event specialists jobs
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Compare different event specialists
Event specialist vs. Party coordinator
The role of planning committee members is to assist with designing and implementing an educational activity. They need to ensure that the leadership gives the continuing education (CE) developer enough time to complete the CE process. They are responsible for establishing a planning committee and maintaining access to all confirmed presenters and planners. Planning committee members are also responsible for meeting deadlines for submitting CE documents and clarifying any issues with the proposed CE documents.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, event specialist responsibilities require skills like "brand awareness," "product preparation," "product demonstrations," and "food preparation." Meanwhile a typical party coordinator has skills in areas such as "kids," "cpr," "allergies," and "pos." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that party coordinators earn slightly differ from event specialists. In particular, party coordinators are 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an event specialist. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Event specialist vs. Planning committee member
A conference coordinator organizes professional gatherings and meetings according to a client's needs and preferences. There are also instances where they may plan reunions, parties, and other events. Their responsibilities begin at meeting the clients to identify their needs and preferences, including the event's purpose or themes. From there, a conference coordinator develops plans, secures venues and speakers, books caterers and other equipment, prepares and processes requests, and maintains records of all transactions, presenting invoices to the clients. Moreover, a conference coordinator must be proactive and resolve any conflicts or issues should any arise.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, event specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "brand awareness," "product preparation," "product demonstrations," and "food preparation." Meanwhile, a planning committee member has duties that require skills in areas such as "safety committee," "community outreach," "financial statements," and "alumni." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, planning committee members achieve higher levels of education than event specialists. They're 10.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for event specialists in the next 3-5 years?
Siddharth Mobar
Assistant Professor, Lasell University
Event specialist vs. Conference coordinator
A site coordinator is responsible for organizing special events and programs based on a client's specifications or a business's needs. Site coordinators ensure that the plan will go well by monitoring their resources, coordinating with third-party services, researching the best settings, finalizing the list of attendees, and managing the budget goals. A site coordinator usually works with the marketing department of an organization for promotional strategies and addresses any concerns that an attendee might have.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an event specialist is likely to be skilled in "brand awareness," "product preparation," "product demonstrations," and "food preparation," while a typical conference coordinator is skilled in "reservations," "audio visual equipment," "conference planning," and "reservation system."
Conference coordinators make a very good living in the telecommunication industry with an average annual salary of $48,429. On the other hand, event specialists are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $44,799.conference coordinators typically earn higher educational levels compared to event specialists. Specifically, they're 6.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Event specialist vs. Site coordinator
Even though a few skill sets overlap between event specialists and site coordinators, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an event specialist might have more use for skills like "brand awareness," "product preparation," "product demonstrations," and "food preparation." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of site coordinators require skills like "data entry," "cpr," "direct supervision," and "team work. "
The manufacturing industry tends to pay the highest salaries for site coordinators, with average annual pay of $41,125. Comparatively, the highest event specialist annual salary comes from the technology industry.The average resume of site coordinators showed that they earn higher levels of education compared to event specialists. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 8.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.9%.Types of event specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
