Sr. Special Events Coordinator (Scheduling & Event Services)

Sr. Special Events Coordinator

Scheduling & Event Services within the division of Student Affairs at Johns Hopkins University on the Homewood Campus offers year-round space reservations with professional meeting services in addition to a comprehensive on-campus residential experience during the summer. Scheduling & Event Services provides a safe, professional, and service-oriented environment for the campus community and guests to participate in successful meetings, conferences, camps, and various programs. The department hosts over 6,500 events yearly, with over 200,000 guests from internal and external organizations hosted year-round, including the summer, which offers a unique on-campus living experience showcasing Johns Hopkins University.

We are seeking for an essential position to serves as a Sr. Special Event Coordinator for all logistics and services provided for conferences, meetings, and events through Scheduling & Event Services. The position supports the internal needs of student organizations and departments, as well as external events held on campus. The main role in this position is coordinating all on-campus logistics for events, including parking, catering, signage, room setup and diagrams, classroom usage, security, third-party rentals, A/V equipment and support, etc. This position requires on-site presence for events to troubleshoot issues and provide assistance to clients and guests, delivering excellent customer service. The SR Special Event Coordinator is the liaison for the office, bringing together all campus service providers and clients for weekly large planning consultation meetings and assessing needs. The Homewood Campus is transitioning to a new one-university scheduling system, and this position will work closely with the reassessment of best practices and business processes during the transition.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Event Coordination (80%)

• Coordinate, verify, and finalize various services as applicable for internal and external clients (i.e., catering, parking, telecommunications, security, and labor).
• Develop setup diagrams using event software for all events and communicate them to service providers.
• Develop format and coordinate weekly broad large planning meetings with campus service providers and various clients hosting large events or meetings in event spaces
• Develop Banquet Event Orders (BEOs) for student organizations and department events.
• Collect catering licenses and food waiver forms as applicable.
• Develop the signage needed for the event (indoor room signage, parking signage, etc).
• Communicate information with accuracy to clients and all service providers.
• Coordinate the weekly door schedule based on building events.
• Coordinating setup diagrams used for space turnovers with custodial and facilities.
• Greet and do a final room check with the on-site person for external groups.
• Provide on-site support one hour before and through the start of the event.
• Responsible for developing, maintaining, and updating all coordinator communication templates to communicate with clients.
• Participates in hosting office presentations for services provided, as well as conducting site visits when necessary.
• Maintains communication with summer coordinators to determine services needed and communicates with university departments and vendors to secure these services, which include Recreation Center, Library, and Parking Services.
• Serves as liaison to vendors and hotels to monitor event timelines and to troubleshoot to assure good customer service. This entails traveling off-site at times and taking on-site responsibility for conference operations and off-site event management.
• Analyses coordination procedures and processes for meetings and events, and recommends new systems or revisions to established procedures as necessary.
• Assists with mentoring and training summer event planning interns with coordinating events, and during the academic year, trains student ambassadors on technology and event logistics support at the start of each semester.

Technology (20%)

• Oversee and maintain the programming and daily event room signage for the new digital signage in Scott-Bates Commons.
• Consult, order, and obtain estimates on equipment for more complex events and act as liaison with 3rd party vendors for special equipment not provided in-house, with Kit-Cats on Shriver Hall performances, and equipment in other event spaces to support event needs.
• Manage audiovisual and technical training for student ambassadors and professional staff.
• Responsible for staying current on best practices regarding new AV equipment/features and potential technology for current and future event trends.
• Provide on-call support to event ambassadors for events with technology issues.

Knowledge, Skills, or Abilities

• Computer skills, including adaptability to conference programming software and presentation technology, are beneficial.
• Knowledge of hospitality and event management principles and practices.
• Demonstrated interpersonal, organizational, and problem-solving skills, as well as excellent verbal and written communication skills, are required.
• Ability to establish effective working relationships with a diverse population of guests.
• Excellent organization and attention to detail.
• Ability to handle a large volume of events simultaneously on a weekly basis.

Additional Information

• Work schedule - Able to maintain a flexible schedule based on event support varying from 7 am 3:30 pm or 10 am 6:30 pm, weekend hours are occasionally required for event support; hybrid work modality after successful onboarding and training of systems and processes within the first 6 months.

• High School Diploma required.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

• Bachelor's Degree preferred
• Demonstrate 2-3 years of successful experience in event planning or coordination.
• Two years of related audiovisual and technology experience preferred.