What does a meeting/event planner do?
Meeting/event coordinators are skilled professionals who are responsible for organizing events or meetings while ensuring that these events run smoothly. These coordinators are required to inspect event venues and negotiate with vendors so that they can discuss proposals that can fit in their budget and goals of events or meetings. They must coordinate event logistics and services that can include equipment to run the event, lodging arrangements, and transportation for attendees. Meeting/event coordinators must also manage the event's budget while ensuring that all vendors get their payment.
Meeting/event planner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real meeting/event planner resumes:
- Lead tour groups through onsite NIH research technology labs.
- Plan, manage, and implement a portfolio of meetings and events for healthcare professionals.
- Manage arrangements for ABA leadership, including the president, officers, board and executive vice presidents.
- Achieve quarterly financial goal by upselling products and services and by identifying additional opportunities base on the event profile.
- Manage food and beverage, as outlined on BEOs, to confirm that all meals and room setups are correct.
- Manage relationships with vendors, hotel staff and DMC's to ensure delivery of services as defined by senior management.
- Prepare and present PowerPoint presentations for site selection considerations.
- Create PowerPoint templates for speakers and presenters and order all signage.
- Ensure security checks both with the hotel site and with the NIH campus staff.
- Contract with IMER to service CME meetings in oncology at medical facilities in Chicago area.
- Assure all BEO's where execute during all events (galas, conventions, weddings).
- Verify that faculty and attendees who attend the meeting are eligible to receive CME and CEU credits.
- Implement event strategy, management of the RFP process, venue selection, and ownership of budget forecasting and oversight.
- Initiate RFP's for venues to host conferences, meetings, retreats, galas, product launches, and sales meetings.
- Develop agenda and itinerary, organize and procure all speaker biographies and materials and logistics for successful program execution.
Meeting/event planner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Meeting/Event Planners are proficient in Event Planning, PowerPoint, and Event Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Negotiation skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Meeting/Event Planners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Event Planning, 16%
Coordinated and supervised large scale mass mailing invitation and confirmation process during event planning phase.
- PowerPoint, 10%
Designed highly confidential/attorney-client privileged documents and multimedia PowerPoint presentations.
- Event Management, 8%
Provided face-to-face marketing event management & project management services to local businesses and non-profit organizations.
- Beverage Selection, 5%
Worked with internal and external Catering and Banquet facilities on food and beverage selections.
- Cost Savings, 4%
Enter and update meeting information in meeting management technology including cost savings, final attendee registration and budget reconciliation.
- Contract Negotiations, 4%
Arranged contract negotiations, travel, set up/ take down and staging of band including entourage of 25.
Common skills that a meeting/event planner uses to do their job include "event planning," "powerpoint," and "event management." You can find details on the most important meeting/event planner responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a meeting/event planner to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "meeting, convention, and event planners exchange information with clients, suppliers, and event staff." Meeting/event planners often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "manage international components; handling travel, transportation, and communications for vip guests from germany, italy, and japan. "
Negotiation skills. Another essential skill to perform meeting/event planner duties is negotiation skills. Meeting/event planners responsibilities require that "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to secure quality products and services at reasonable prices for their clients." Meeting/event planners also use negotiation skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "contract negotiations (negotiate and secure event space, book talent, including musicians, bands, and disc jockeys). "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of meeting/event planners is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday meeting/event planner 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: "maintained all aspects of business functions-organizational development, staffing 1099 employees, all event planning, budgeting, contract negotiations; marketing/advertising"
Problem-solving skills. meeting/event planner responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "meeting, convention, and event planners must be able to anticipate potential issues and prepare creative solutions that satisfy clients." This resume example shows what meeting/event planners do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "assisted and resolved issues with members regarding their travel management needs to and from meetings by airplane and/or ground transportation. "
The three companies that hire the most meeting/event planners are:
- Compass Group USA11 meeting/event planners jobs
- CBRE Group10 meeting/event planners jobs
- CB Richard Ellis Memphis LLC5 meeting/event planners jobs
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Compare different meeting/event planners
Meeting/event planner vs. Party 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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a meeting/event planner are more likely to require skills like "event management," "beverage selection," "cost savings," and "contract negotiations." On the other hand, a job as a party coordinator requires skills like "kids," "cpr," "allergies," and "pos." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, party coordinators reach similar levels of education than meeting/event planners. Party coordinators are 1.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Meeting/event planner vs. Site coordinator
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.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that meeting/event planner responsibilities requires skills like "event planning," "event management," "beverage selection," and "cost savings." But a site coordinator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "data entry," "cpr," and "direct supervision."
Site coordinators may earn a lower salary than meeting/event planners, but site coordinators earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $41,125. On the other hand, meeting/event planners receive higher pay in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $52,591.In general, site coordinators achieve higher levels of education than meeting/event planners. They're 7.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for meeting/event planners in the next 3-5 years?
Siddharth Mobar
Assistant Professor, Lasell University
Meeting/event planner vs. Conference 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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from meeting/event planner resumes include skills like "beverage selection," "cost savings," "booking," and "ground transportation," whereas a conference coordinator is more likely to list skills in "conference calls," "reservations," "conference planning," and "reservation system. "
Conference coordinators earn the highest salary when working in the telecommunication industry, where they receive an average salary of $48,429. Comparatively, meeting/event planners have the highest earning potential in the finance industry, with an average salary of $52,591.Most conference coordinators achieve a similar degree level compared to meeting/event planners. For example, they're 4.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Meeting/event planner vs. Planning committee member
Types of meeting/event planner
Updated January 8, 2025
