Be a part of a dynamic team whose work enriches the health of communities by strengthening city and county health departments. At the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), we are united by our work to improve our country's over 3,300 U.S. local health departments. We represent the voice of local public health while striving to live out our core values of equity, excellence, participation, respect, integrity, leadership, science, and innovation. We provide our employees with meaningful work, opportunities to learn and grow, a strong work/life balance, and a flexible, hybrid work schedule while being a part of a collaborative team.

We are interested in growing our team with passionate, committed, and innovative individuals. The Exhibits and Sponsorship Manager (Senior Specialist) will join NACCHO at a time of dynamic growth. This position is important in the Membership and Meetings Department.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Exhibits and Sponsorship Manager (Senior Specialist) contributes to the advancement of local public health practice by performing a range of responsibilities related to helping grow NACCHO’s annual conferences and Affiliate Business Partner (ABP) Program. This position provides logistical, organizational, and business development support within NACCHO’s Meetings Team and reports to the Manager, Affiliate Partnerships & Sponsorships.

The Senior Specialist plays a critical role in growing NACCHO’s unrestricted revenue for NACCHO’s flagship annual hybrid conferences: the Preparedness Summit and NACCHO360, as well as additional meetings that include exhibits and sponsorships. The position works collaboratively across the Membership and Meetings teams to ensure the effective fulfillment and management of deliverables related to exhibitors and sponsors.

Other key functions for this position include the oversight of processes and procedures to ensure efficiency, responsiveness, and cost-effectiveness regarding NACCHO’s annual conferences sponsorships and exhibits, and the organization and maintenance of the data files for the Meetings area in the association’s database, website, and conference management platform. In addition, the Senior Specialist supports the work of the Affiliate Business Partner (ABP) Program through maintenance efforts, cross-selling, and tracking deliverables with other responsibilities as needed.

This position requires a high-energy candidate that thrives in a fast-paced, team environment and excels at developing customer relationships with high-level external stakeholders. The work involves managing key internal processes with coworkers, members, vendors, and other external groups, and requires a high-level of discretion and independent judgment. The Senior Specialist will collaborate with NACCHO staff and members to grow existing account relationships and develop new business opportunities.

COMPETENCIES AND EXPECTATIONS:

• Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; collects and researches data; uses intuition and experience to complement data; designs work flows and procedures.
• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.
• Project Management - Develops project plans; coordinates projects; communicates changes and progress; completes projects on time and budget; manages project team activities.
• Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others.
• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.
• Interpersonal Skills - Focuses on solving conflict, not blaming; maintains confidentiality; listens to others without interrupting; keeps emotions under control; remains open to others' ideas and tries new things.
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions; demonstrates group presentation skills; participates in meetings.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet needs; presents numerical data effectively; able to read and interpret written information.
• Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; supports everyone's efforts to succeed.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; keeps commitments; inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically; upholds organizational values.
• Organizational Support - Follows policies and procedures; completes administrative tasks correctly and on time; supports organization's goals and values; benefits organization through outside activities; supports affirmative action and respects diversity.
• Motivation - Sets and achieves challenging goals; demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles; measures self against standard of excellence; takes calculated risks to accomplish goals.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Quantity - Meets productivity standards; completes work in a timely manner; strives to increase productivity; works quickly.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; determines appropriate action beyond guidelines; reports potentially unsafe conditions; uses equipment and materials properly.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; arrives at meetings and appointments on time.
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan.
• Initiative - Volunteers readily; undertakes self-development activities; seeks increased responsibilities; takes independent actions and calculated risks; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities; asks for and offers help when needed.
• Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES:

• Recruits and cultivates relationships with corporate sponsors for NACCHO’s two major annual conferences: the Preparedness Summit and the NACCHO360 Conference.
• Expands the footprint of sponsorship opportunities related to ancillary NACCHO meetings such as PHI*con and Board & SACCHO Leadership Week
• Solicits new and works to retain previous affiliate partners, exhibitors, and sponsors for NACCHO to meet its annual conferences sales/budget projections.
• Collaborates with the Director of Meetings and the Manager of Affiliate Partnerships, Sponsorships, & Exhibits to develop budget goals, sales plans, and marketing and promotional campaigns.
• Develops and executes strategic sales plans that appropriately position NACCHO’s brand, audience, and member benefits in relation to local public health departments.
• Prospects, negotiates, and secures partnerships in line with NACCHO’s principles, working collaboratively across other areas of the organization (e.g., programmatic teams, finance, IT, etc.).
• Provides weekly and monthly sales reports to monitor progress to goals, quality control checks of booths, square footage, floor plans, revenue, sponsor opportunities, and exhibitor and sponsor data.
• Gives weekly exhibit and sponsorship updates (events, content, and webinars) to the Membership and Meetings team.
• Manages the sales process from pricing to contract execution, payment, and financial record keeping and reporting.
• Establishes and maintains successful customer relationships, identifies customer needs while applying skills and knowledge to determine client solutions and identify opportunities for affiliate partners, exhibitors, and sponsors.
• Develops and executes retention strategies for existing affiliate partners, exhibitors, and sponsors.
• Creates strategies for generating leads; implements communication and marketing strategy to insure successful sales conversion.
• Conducts market research quarterly to identify best practices regarding exhibits and sponsorship.
• Builds timeline for exhibitor and sponsorship prospectus development and implementation.
• Assists the Manager, Affiliate Partnerships, Sponsorships, and Exhibits in creating the exhibitor and sponsorship prospectus and related material to support NACCHO’s annual conferences, in collaboration with the Meetings Team.
• Manages fulfillment of all exhibitor and sponsorship agreements.
• Updates and maintains exhibitor and sponsor data in association management system (AMS) and other databases.
• Coordinates operational and production schedules for pre-show marketing, pre-show communications, on-site logistics, and post-show communications and evaluations.
• Creates exhibitor and sponsor evaluation in conjunction with the Research & Evaluations Team.
• Works with Meetings Team to confirm logistics and disseminate exhibitor kit information to all vendors.
• Serves as key contact for all exhibitors and sponsors at NACCHO’s annual conferences, from set-up to tear down.
• Works with Membership Team to ensure that invoicing and billing processes are completed promptly and correctly; reconciles outstanding payments from affiliate business partners, exhibitors, and sponsors within 60 days after the conferences.
• Manages existing high-level sponsors and works to secure additional, multi-year agreements.
• Uses CRM and conference management tools to track exhibitor and sponsor engagement, including registrations, invoicing, contract signage and collections.
• Collaborates with IT and Membership/Meetings Team to integrate sponsor information into website and conference app and develop digital and print marketing as needed.
• Meets external deadlines regarding marketing emails, program agendas and timelines, collateral needs, program ad requests, promotional emails, and other benefits included within affiliate partnership and sponsorship packages.
• Performs other related duties, assignments, and projects as required.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:

Bachelor's degree and certification in relevant professional field with a minimum of 5-7 years relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience, including a relevant certification. Master’s degree in a relevant field preferred. Previous management experience with a membership-based organization or association that includes member acquisition, engagement, and retention aspects is preferred. Public health experience preferred. Experience in a business-to-business analysis and its many practitioners.

• Natural curiosity and willingness to understand business analysis and its many practitioners.
• An “underdog” mentality with a desire to promote and support the public health workforce.
• Charismatic and dynamic presentation skills, able to be delivered both in person and remotely via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
• Technically savvy and self-service oriented.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with an ability to thrive in an environment built on trust and independence.

Abilities

• Demonstrated history of establishing and consistently meeting or exceeding business development targets.
• Ability to collaborate among a range of key business areas (marketing, event management, communications, affiliate partners, sponsors & exhibitors)
• Ability to move between business development and account management seamlessly.
• Strong portfolio of skills around negotiating and closing deals through communicating value.
• Ability to leverage data in creating compelling presentations for clients, senior leadership, and decision makers.
• Ability to take initiative and work independently as necessary to achieve high performance in position.
• Full accountability for all work responsibilities and outcomes, and for input to team(s).
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals.
• Ability to write routine reports and correspondence.
• Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the organization
• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, commissions, proportion, percentages, area, circumference and volume.
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form.
• Spreadsheet and Word Processing software experience required.
• Ability to utilize technology to maximum efficiency, including (but not limited to) Microsoft Office 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); experience with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software such as NetForum, Salesforce, Zoho, or other association and conference management software is preferred.

Skills

• Strong writing, proofreading, and editing skills.
• Strong organizational and customer service skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Extremely detail-oriented; highest degree of accuracy in all activities.
• Persuasive communication skills, both written and verbal.

About National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), a national organization representing nearly 3,000 local health departments nationwide, has an immediate opening for a Manager - Affiliate Partnerships, Sponsorships, and Exhibits.

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