Director, Events Jobs

The OSU Foundation leads fundraising and alumni engagement efforts for Oregon State University. The Foundation’s Marketing and Communications team creates experiences, tells stories and builds communities that inspire alumni, donors and friends to join OSU in making the world a better place.

The organization hosts a number of events, both online and in-person, that advance the university’s brand, inspire philanthropy, express gratitude and drive engagement. Participation in our events is one of the key ways we engage alumni and donors in the life of the university and build relationships; therefore, our events offerings are critical to our organizational success. With over 500,000 alumni and donor records in our CRM, a commitment to technology and “platform thinking” is essential if we are to scale experiences for our community.

A key leader on this team, the Director of Events is responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of a wide range of central event experiences for OSU alumni, donors and friends. While the organization hosts many events, large and small, and while the central events team may have supporting roles in those events, the responsibility of this position is the organization’s central events, primarily focused on donor audiences. In addition to department leadership responsibilities, the Director maintains a portfolio of events that they develop and implement, including day-of, onsite execution. This position is highly visible, internally and externally, often representing the Foundation to its most significant constituents.

The Director of Events reports to the Assistant Vice President for Marketing and Communications and supervises the other central events team members.

Work Location

This position is based in Corvallis, Oregon, and works out of the OSU Foundation Corvallis office.

Core Day Language

The Foundation offers a program called Core Work Days, a hybrid approach combining remote and in-office work days. Unless traveling for work, Foundation employees are in office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and work remotely, if preferred, on Monday and Friday.

Measures of Success

• Strong Leadership of the Central Events Team: Committed to upholding our core values internally and externally at all times as well as a commitment to the success and professional development of the central events team.
• Post-Event Surveys will be conducted for each central event, and guest ratings and other survey results will be a factor in the success of the event as well as provide information for improvement.
• Commitment to Message Platform: The visibility of the organization and the university is elevated, as measured in survey feedback.
• Individual Event Plans: Creation of event plans for each central event, including goals, attendance strategies and staffing (i.e., identification of the central events team lead as well as other key partners and their roles)
• Attendance Strategies: Each central event will have a clearly articulated attendance strategy with assigned responsibilities for audience development.
• Overall Event Plan for the Fiscal Year: Creation of the annual event plan for the organization

Key Partners

• Frequent collaboration with the offices of senior university leaders, such as the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost.
• Frequent collaboration with OSU’s University Relations and Marketing team, including the director of university events.
• Frequent collaboration with vendors, including university vendors such as Media Services and external vendors.
• Daily collaboration with the Foundation’s senior leadership team and event planners from the principal gifts, stewardship, alumni experience, athletics and board relations teams.

Major Duties

Leadership

• Develop and execute an annual plan for central events that advances and complements the organization’s goals while ensuring coordination among Foundation teams and university partners producing activities and events for similar audiences.
• Supervise, lead, develop and mentor central events team in a way that exemplifies our core values at all times; provide regular performance feedback and coaching, develop annual plans with measurable outcomes and accountabilities, conduct performance reviews.

• Convene and lead monthly meetings with event planning colleagues throughout the Foundation, coordinate efforts, and formally share details of upcoming events with development and alumni relations staff so they can make full strategic use of the engagement opportunities.

• Create and implement segmented attendance strategies for events ranging from direct mail to personal outreach by colleagues and volunteers to achieve quantitative and qualitative attendance goals.

• Collaborate with colleagues to develop and execute post-event communication strategies and calls to action that deepen attendees’ engagement with the university.

• Analyze the effectiveness of events compared to goals. Lead debriefing sessions with key constituents. Produce post-event reports for leadership. Apply knowledge gained to future events of similar scope and purpose.

• Manage the central events budget. Produce clear, comprehensive cost analyses of individual events.

• Develop, maintain and ensure the consistent use of event protocols and processes.

• Proactively explore best practices for event planning and delivery and mentor the team in adopting industry best practices.

Event Production

• Develop and execute plans for individual events — virtual, hybrid and in-person — with clear accountability that ensures the right people hear the right messages through the right experiences to advance the organization’s engagement and communications goals.
• Develop strategic creative briefs that include event agendas, key messages, logistics, themes, attendance strategies, audience follow-up actions and more. Review event plans through one-on-one meetings and group presentations and incorporate feedback into final plans. Manage the briefing process for university leadership for applicable events.
• Directly manage a portfolio of events, including onsite execution.
• Develop and implement event production plans and schedules, coordinating with marketing and communications colleagues regarding print and digital collateral. Work closely with communicators to integrate key messaging tailored to event audiences in all collateral and scripting and identify appropriate talent (students, faculty, alumni, volunteers) to feature in events.
• Draft Requests for Proposals, oversee competitive bid processes, interview and select vendors and negotiate contracts for transportation, lodging, food, meeting rooms, entertainment, photography, technology, video and other services.

Perform other duties as required.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge of:

• Event-specific contracts (caterers, florists, hotel and banquet space)
• Event safety protocols (permitting, onsite security, etc.)
• Computer software including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, database and project tracking programs, Zoom
• Principles and practices of events organization and management (virtual, hybrid and in-person)

Proven skill in:

• Management, supervision and leadership
• Setting and managing priorities and planning and organizing
• Negotiation with vendors, contractors and others
• Budget oversight
• Problem-solving and managing difficult situations
• Written and verbal communication
• Engaging event attendees
• Incorporating technology solutions to event operations (registration, tabling, check-in, coding, etc.)
• Planning and delivering in-person, virtual and hybrid events

Ability to:

• Be aware of, control, and express one's emotions appropriately, and to handle interpersonal relationships maturely, thoughtfully and empathetically, including the ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds
• Analyze problems, identify alternative solutions, project consequences of proposed actions and implement approved recommendations
• Produce clear, concise and accurate management proposals and reports
• Excel in a collaborative environment with diverse stakeholders
• Think openly and creatively
• Stay current with industry trends and best practices
• Lead a team whose members are not all in the same physical office
• Create, execute and meet attendance goals
• Learn and embrace technology, and coach others through using different platforms

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and five years of progressively responsible experience in professional event planning and event execution and staff supervision. Education and experience equivalencies will be considered. Must possess a valid Oregon Driver’s License or acquire one upon hire.

Core Values

We strive to be one of the best places to work in the country. We know that our success depends in large part on the people who carry out our mission. It’s what we do – and how we do it – that makes the difference. Our core values reflect our approach to work and to each other, and we are committed to conduct consistent with these values.

collaborative · responsible · respectful · inclusive · innovative