Event Services Manager

Western Washington University with over 15000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school is nationally recognized for its educational programs students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham Washington a coastal community of 90000 overlooking Bellingham Bay the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes Bremerton Everett Port Angeles and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes such as being named one of the top public masters-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success increasing our Washington impact and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship research and creative activity. Westerns greatest strength is the outstanding students faculty staff and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can pursuit of this excellence individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff faculty administration student and external constituents. Further individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic societal environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The Event Services Manager directs event setup and technical services including supervision scheduling and training of 2 full-time staff and up to 40 student employees estimating costs establishing service agreements and coordinating logistics with customers (i.e. student staff faculty and off-campus event planners) service providers and space addition this position supervises and oversees the Reservations and Access area of the Viking Union who confirm and review over 11000 space reservations and management of 100s of keys.

This position provides expertise consultation policy interpretation risk assessment logistical planning and negotiating with stakeholders (Deans Directors Event Coordinators and space approvers) to support the execution of events.

This position guides customers through the planning process and helps navigate the complexity of university policies laws and procedure including freedom of expression and public assembly for use of university facilities for events.

This position provides mentorship to student supervisors creating experiential education and professional development opportunities for students in event planning and service delivery.

This position is a Budget Authority and is responsible for a $475000 Budget and completes monthly customer billing totaling over $148000.

This position may be required to work occasional evenings or weekends as needed to support major events.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

50% - Management of Event Services

• Directs the operations of Event Services including Audio/Visual Reservations and Event Staff services offered to support the logistics and production of events/conferences held at the Viking Union and other venues at WWU.
• Develops procedures and standards for the reservation of space and utilization of services offered to clients.
• Reviews the quality of Viking Union Facility Meeting Spaces and Venues and their furnishings and equipment.
• Consults with clients on event logistics for WWU special events and supervises the delivery of event support services. Assigns staff to consult with and deliver event support services to clients for more routine events.
• Schedules event staff for setup and take down of event furnishings monitoring capacity taking tickets and crowd management.
• Generates estimates for events and issues service agreements for space and services used by event planners and sponsors.
• Leads and delegates the reconciliation of charges of space use and services provided to clients. Invoices clients for all Event Services rentals and services.
• Develops organizational practices to support student event programming.
• Supports universitys preparation for freedom of expression and other unplanned activities.
• Orders services and submits work orders on behalf of Student Involvement Organizations in support of complex student events.
• Develops and recommends fee structures and rates for service delivery and room rentals.
• Establishes annual goals for Event Services Team and periodically evaluates the quality and capacity of service delivery.

15% - Oversight of Reservation Desk Operations

• Supervises staff in processing and approving reservation requests for the Viking Union Facilities (VU Lakewood Viqueen etc.) and Associated Student Motorpool as well as additional processes for the approval of extracurricular space use of academic classrooms and exterior space.
• Reviews and ensures proper procedures are in place for the assignment and tracking of keys and the checkout of departmental equipment. Refers access control issues to Area Access Manager.
• Delegates and reviews billing for space and equipment use.

15% - Oversight of Audio/Visual Technical Operations

• Supervises staff in the delivery of professional Audio and Visual support services for special events on campus including live sound reinforcement projection digital presentations event lighting and virtual meetings.
• Reviews weekly service schedule with Audio Visual Services Coordinator and verifies events are adequately staffed and logistics are efficient.
• Delegates and reviews the billing of Audio/Visual Services.

10% - Supervise and Direct the Work of Event Services Staff

• Provides general supervision to Event Services Audio/Visual Services Coordinator (1.0FTE) Reservations and Access Coordinator (1.0 FTE) (1) paraprofessional student supervisors student crews of 15-20 employees and second line supervision of 15-20 student employees.
• Approves leave vacation schedules and approves overtime as necessary.
• Reviews and prioritizes work assignments within Event Services operations.
• Schedules employees to provide adequate staff for event service delivery and reservations support.
• Supports and participates in training to enhance professional development including areas of inclusion diversity multicultural and cross-cultural communication and other related topics.
• Provides training for Event Services staff and crews in topics such as setup/take down of equipment crowd management onsite ticket sales sound and technical support for events that meet professional standards of practice; this includes but is not limited to ADA standards University policy for cash handling departmental space use policies practices etc.
• Evaluates employees and recommends professional development and training opportunities for staff.
• Independently conducts hiring processes of student employees and leads hiring processes for full time staff and temporary staff that support inclusion and equity objectives of campus.

5% - Software and Technology

• Use event management software to track reservations record event details and produce reports.
• Use advanced features of event management software to generate custom reports refine department workflow and collect specific information about events; this supports other space approvers across campus beyond just the Viking Union.
• Uses specialized software for creating building floor plans and two-dimensional diagrams to support event planning.
• Demonstrate competency in Microsoft Office products for communication and distribution of event information.
• Maintain an appropriate knowledge of audio and visual equipment and can select appropriate systems and accessories needed to produce a wide variety of events.
• Provide leadership and acts as a software administrator to other on campus departments using event management software to manage space and services

5% - Fiscal Management

• Budget Authority for expenses in Event Services budget approving purchases and transfer of funds.
• Supervises and plans the cyclic purchase of new equipment for Event Services Area and Viking Union Facilities and Meeting Spaces.
• Monitors transactions in Event Services budget to ensure expenses and revenue are within allocation.
• Creates and issues invoices for billing to on campus users and to off-campus event planners.
• Develops and recommends service fees including increases and adjustments to rates structures.
• Interprets policy and fee structures to determine the appropriate service charges and rates for events.

• Bachelors Degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• 2 years of event planning production or venue management experience or equivalent education
• Demonstrated well rounded experiences working effectively in highly diverse and inclusive environments
• Proficiency working with Microsoft Office products (Outlook Word Excel etc.)
• Experience supervising employees including responsibility for hiring training and evaluating performance
• Strong interpersonal skills including communicating in writing in person and facilitating meetings
• Attention to detail
• Demonstrated in-depth experience using software that schedules space and manages resources

• Coursework in Event planning Business Management or Communications
• 4 years experience in event facility operations and/or related field
• Experience using Mazevo space scheduling software or similar product that tracks space reservations and resource allocation
• Experience with reconciling invoicing or billing clients
• Familiarity with audio-visual equipment used in small and large meeting rooms and venues
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with creating training for adult learners or college students
• Experience working in a higher education setting

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position.

A cover letter and resume are required and should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications. Please include the names and contact information of three professional references. References will only be contacted if necessary with notice provided beforehand.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity compliance with applicable laws WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race ethnicity color national origin age citizenship or immigration status pregnancy use of protective leave genetic status sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression marital status creed religion veteran or military status disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local law in its programs or activities including employment admissions and educational programs. See WWUs Policies onProhibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class and Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sex. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance Title IX and ADA Coordinator Western Washington University Old Main 126 (MS 9021) 516 High Street Bellingham WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay);

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation please contactHuman Resources Disability Services 360.650.3751 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (The Clery Act). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Westerns campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use crime prevention the reporting of crimes sexual assault and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of Student Life at . The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes a sexual misconduct background check.