Senior Event Development Director

MISSION 

Ideate, develop and negotiate details for new domestic and international destination events. Directly engage, strengthen, lead and develop relationships with agencies, agents, managers, artists, brands and other persons/entities interested in creating new legacy destination events. Support the company’s strong growth goals by closing new events.

DESCRIPTORS 

Relationship Builder, Proactive, Balanced, Organized, Multi-Tasker Poised, Diplomatic, Determined, Communicator Negotiator, Positive, Creative, Solutions Oriented Respectful

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Establish, develop and foster relationships with agencies, agents,managers, artists, brands, key decisions makers/influencers and other creators/entities interested in creating new legacy destination events (for assigned territory if applicable).

• Ideate and develop the full concept for an event pitch, including the negotiation of all deal points.

• Engage in the strategy development for genres, artists, programs, brand partners, etc. from whom the Company should seek business in order to have a balanced portfolio across multiple verticals that is optimally positioned in the industry

• Drive Company growth goals by closing new events with a key focus on events that have the ability to be successful for multiple years.

• Get contracts signed in a timely manner.

• Develop strong relationships with the major agency and management firms to drive additional business leads and to close desired programs of the most favorable deal terms possible (which will vary with the stature of the artist involved)

• Participate strategy development for partnerships to support strong business development funnel including prospect lead generation and acquisition, outbound/inbound strategy, finder fees utilization, land vs sea lead allocations, strategic partnerships, etc.

• Work with the Biz Dev to team understand the block and routing for cruise events on 18-24 month in advance basis in order to ensure our blocks are locked first with enough time to properly plan and launch an event.

• Perform competitive analysis on talent acts, deal structures, industry trends, etc. and create recommendations as appropriate.

• Provide creative solutions to team and partner needs by uncovering true needs, obstacles and opportunities.

• Plan, coordinate and participate in agency visits, conferences and events in order to enhance our relationships and increase awareness our brand and capabilities.

• Prepare and conduct sales presentations for training purposes (both internal and external).

• Ensure a proactive broad awareness of Company events and capabilities to the industry and how we are the best in the business.

• Determine strategy for managing actively hunting for new leads vs responding to call-ins / referral leads and appropriate resource allocation to manage both

• Own and lead hunting for any new programs, both full events and affinity programs, to be pursued with an understanding of block commitments that need to be fulfilled domestically or internationally.

• Work with the Biz Dev team on clearly communicating relationships and targeted prospect list of new bands and brands to ensure there is no pitch cross over.

• Work with the Bus Dev team to filter list to best prospects and utilize the team tools for data analysis to support these decisions.

• Build and deliver tailored and professional presentations as well as offer

• sheets.

• Create or oversee the creation of budgets for all applicable new event prospects, evaluating best deal structure for the prospect and evaluating internal scenario metrics such as break-even and sellout potential to then recommend the deal

• Work with the Biz Dev team on refining and improving internal tools, pitch decks, resources and reports needed and share best practices with the Biz Dev team

• Properly set expectations and timelines for partners as the closed business is transitioned to the Event Management Team.

• Create the Running Start document and Event Sheet for each new event in order to kick off the event internally.

• Garner a broad understanding of the events financial budget including revenue streams, expense categories, cabin inventory, etc. including building budgets, communicating financial impact of decisions to partners.

• Communicate event information to partners (trends, projections, etc.) and following-up to obtain necessary decisions and approvals (that then impact various other departments within in the Company)

• Evaluate competitive landscape (companies, programs, locations, etc.)

• Provide recommendations on country location, venue selection, pricing and business model considerations.

• Attend several of the Company’s festivals annually as a host for relationship building and lead generation, and to have expert knowledge of our events are executed in order to properly sell them.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree required (or equivalent experience)

• 12+ years of experience required

• Experience with music or entertainment industry required

• Experience as a talent buyer, agent and/or manager strongly preferred

• International experience strongly preferred

• Ability to work independently and remotely with a proactive self-starter mentality

• Must have good verbal, written, interpersonal and communication skills

• Strong relational skills including diplomacy, positivity and respectful attitude

• Strong creativity balanced with strong organization skills and ability to multitask

• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changes or challenges

• Computer proficiency (Email, Word, and strong Excel skills)

DISCUSSIONS YOU LEAD

Responsible for collaborating with all levels of the business in a senior leadership capacity. Own recommendations of which new genres, artists, brand partners and programs to initially pursue and ultimately which programs to move forward with. Own decision making and informed recommendations related to ensuring successful launch, flight, advance and landing of the cruise event for all parties involved.

WHO LEADS YOU 

VP of Events, Marketing & Community