Event Lead

About Us:

Guidebook is a simple yet powerful mobile app platform built for higher education, helping admissions and orientation teams create branded event apps in four easy steps, no technical skills required.

Leading universities use Guidebook to power campus open houses, admitted-student events, new-student orientation, family weekends, and year-round student engagement. Our apps help prospective and incoming students stay organized, connect with their future classmates, and access the information they need to say yes and show up ready.

Our mission is to support the people who bring students to campus and welcome them when they arrive. In a moment when yield and belonging matter more than ever, admissions and orientation professionals are doing some of the most important work in higher ed. We're a driven team on a mission to elevate the student experience from inquiry through enrollment, and we believe we can do that while highly valuing balance, togetherness, and fun.

About the Job

Guidebook is the leading mobile app platform for higher education, helping universities and colleges orchestrate the most important moments in student life, from orientation to admissions to homecoming.

We're looking for our next Event Lead to own Guidebook's presence at 10+ flagship higher education trade shows and conferences each year. This is a role for someone who lives for events, thrives in the organized chaos of a three-day conference, and believes deeply that the details matter. You'll be the operational heartbeat of every Guidebook event from the moment we commit to sponsorship through post-event reporting and you'll work alongside our Director of Marketing, sales team, and customer success leaders to create event experiences that convert, impress, and build lasting relationships with university partners.

This role is executional by design, but it's also strategic. You won't just manage logistics; you'll own the full event ecosystem. You'll think about attendee journey, booth energy, follow-up velocity, and pipeline impact. You'll travel to these events, be present on-site, represent Guidebook, and come home with stories, data, and insights that inform what we do next.

If you get genuinely excited about event timelines, love the buzz of a booth launch day, believe travel is a feature not a bug, and want to build a career shaping how universities connect with students at scale, we want to meet you.

Who You Are

• Event passion runs through your veins. You love the pre-show buildup, the energy of being on-site, the problem-solving during setup, and the satisfaction of a flawlessly executed event. You don't see trade shows as obligations. You see them as opportunities to represent your company, build relationships, and create moments that matter.

• You care deeply about higher education. You understand that universities are navigating real challenges: connecting dispersed student populations, running complex programs, building belonging at scale. You're excited that Guidebook solves these problems, and you want to be the person helping university leaders discover that solution.

• You are obsessively organized. Spreadsheets, timelines, checklists, vendor contact sheets, and contingency plans are how your mind naturally works. You track moving parts without breaking a sweat, and you catch details others miss.

• You are a logistics genius. You manage shipping, AV, electrical, signage, vendor coordination, booth setup and breakdown, and 100 other details and somehow make it all feel effortless. You think in systems and processes, not one-offs.

• You thrive under pressure and solve problems with grace. When the AV doesn't work 30 minutes before the booth opens, when a speaker cancels, or when a shipment arrives late, you stay calm, find a solution, and move forward. You're proactive, not reactive.

• You communicate with clarity and warmth across every level. You brief internal teams with crystal-clear instructions, negotiate with vendors professionally, escalate blockers without drama, and represent Guidebook with poise and personality.

• You're a road warrior who genuinely loves travel. You don't just tolerate the 10+ events a year, you're energized by it. You love the hotel lobby energy, the relationships you build across conferences, the chance to represent your company in person, and coming home with stories.

• You're a self-starter with high ownership. You don't wait to be told what to do. You see what needs to happen and make it happen, flagging issues early and proposing solutions.

• You want to grow. This role has clear pathways into event strategy, community building, or broader marketing leadership over time.

Characteristics of the Ideal Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• 1–2 years of event experience, ideally in b2b, working in higher education or an EdTech.

• Genuine enthusiasm for events and a willingness to travel for 10+ events a year (typically 2–4 nights per show).

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Comfortable working with a manager based in a remote office and collaborating across multiple time zones.

• Detail-oriented, with a strong ability to track timelines, deliverables, and logistics.

• Comfortable with public-facing tasks (running a booth, hosting a webinar, producing video content).

• Proactive problem-solver who stays calm under pressure and finds creative solutions when plans change.

• Tooling experience is a plus, but not required, we will train. Useful exposure includes Salesforce, Canva, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, YouTube Studio, Wistia, and email marketing platforms (we use Conversion AI).

• Curiosity about how technology can improve event experiences and willingness to experiment with new tools and processes.

Key Responsibilities

Event Strategy & Execution

• Own the full event lifecycle for Guidebook's 10+ annual higher education trade shows and conferences, from sponsorship strategy through post-event analysis.

• Manage end-to-end logistics: shipping, receiving, AV coordination, electrical, signage, vendor management, booth design and setup, breakdown, and storage.

• Be on-site at every sponsored event, representing Guidebook, managing the booth, coordinating internal staff, troubleshooting problems, and ensuring flawless execution.

• Lead pre-event planning and promotion: coordinate email campaigns, social media announcements, targeted ads, and internal briefings to maximize attendance and engagement before each show.

• Drive demand generation at events: support the meeting booking process, follow-up sequences, and lead capture workflow to maximize pipeline impact.

• Manage event timelines and logistics calendars so that sales, customer success, and product teams know exactly where to be, when, and what to prepare.

• Coordinate vendor and partner relationships day-to-day, including AV companies, freight shippers, print vendors, exhibition partners, and creative agencies.

• Manage event budgets in partnership with the Director of Marketing, tracking spend against allocation, identifying variance, and ensuring ROI.

• Execute post-event follow-up: own the lead nurture workflow, ensure timely outreach to qualified prospects, and brief relevant teams on handoffs.

• Create comprehensive post-event recap reports within one week of every event, capturing leads, pipeline influenced, costs, attendance, booth traffic, feedback, and key learnings to inform strategy.

Vendor & Stakeholder Leadership

• Serve as the central point of contact for all event-related coordination across sales, customer success, product, creative, vendors, and the Director of Marketing.

• Create clear, actionable briefing documents for all booth staff and internal travelers ahead of each event, including schedules, talking points, logistics, and success metrics.

• Negotiate and manage vendor contracts and relationships, ensuring quality delivery, on-time performance, and cost control.

• Anticipate and surface issues early, giving stakeholders visibility into timelines, blockers, and necessary decisions.

• Build strong working relationships with key partners, vendors, and attendees at recurring conferences.

Reporting & Insights

• Own event performance analytics, pulling data on leads captured, pipeline influenced, cost per lead, ARR influenced, and other metrics that matter.

• Maintain accurate lead source attribution in Salesforce, ensuring sales and customer success teams have clean data for follow-up and forecasting.

• Create a monthly or quarterly event performance dashboard showing momentum, win rates, and ROI across the event portfolio.

• Share qualitative insights from on-site interactions: what are universities asking about? What objections do we hear? What moments resonated? How should our messaging evolve?

• Track budget performance and alert the Director of Marketing to variances so we can adjust future planning.

Your First 12 Months

Within 3 Months

• Deeply understand Guidebook's product, value proposition, competitive positioning, and the higher education ICP.

• Master the full 12-month event calendar; build detailed timelines and checklists for each upcoming show.

• Be fully oriented to all events Guidebook is sponsoring or attending, with clear execution plans for each.

• Build collaborative working relationships with sales, customer success, product, and the broader marketing team.

• Develop vendor relationships and understand the logistics chain for every aspect of event execution.

• Confirm your command of post-event reporting, lead capture workflows, and Salesforce data entry.

Within 6 Months

• Run the event machine with high-quality, reliable execution. Vendors know what to expect. Internal stakeholders get clear guidance. The booth runs smoothly at every show.

• Maximize the impact of every event through tight coordination, sharp briefings, proactive follow-up, and data-driven decision-making.

• Develop strong, trusted relationships with key vendors and external partners; they know Guidebook is professional and easy to work with.

• Establish a reliable monthly reporting cadence that gives leadership confidence in event ROI.

• Start proposing process improvements: better checklists, automated workflows, vendor performance tracking, or post-event briefing formats.

• Develop a "Guidebook at events" reputation—the team knows you've got their back, vendors trust you, and attendees remember us.

Within 12 Months

• Lead with increasing strategic ownership: not just executing events, but helping shape which events we sponsor, how we position ourselves at each show, and how we measure success.

• Be a known and trusted presence at Guidebook's flagship conferences; build genuine relationships with university partners and prospect leads.

• Have established best-practices playbooks for event planning, setup, execution, vendor management, and post-event follow-up.

• Contribute to content and positioning emerging from event insights—you're hearing directly from universities about their challenges and needs.

• Be exploring expansion opportunities: emerging conferences to sponsor, off-site partnership events, or ways to deepen engagement with repeat attendees.

• Have demonstrated a clear pathway into a more senior event strategy, community, or marketing leadership role.

Key Performance Indicators

Success will be measured against execution quality, revenue impact, and team effectiveness.

KPIs

• Event Execution
  • On-time, on-budget delivery of every sponsored event; internal stakeholder satisfaction ratings
• Pipeline & Revenue
  • Trade show leads per event (target set per show); event-sourced opportunities; event-influenced ARR; cost per lead by event
• Lead Quality & Follow-up
  • Lead follow-up time (target: outreach within 24 hours); lead qualification rate; conversion rate event-sourced leads to pipeline
• Reporting & Operations
  • Post-event recap delivered within 1 week of every event; monthly event performance dashboard shared with leadership; clean Salesforce data hygiene; event budget variance vs. plan
• Growth & Ownership
  • Increasing autonomy in vendor/stakeholder management; process improvements proposed and implemented; strategic contributions to event strategy by month 9+
• Team & Vendor Satisfaction
  • Internal feedback on clarity, responsiveness, and problem-solving; vendor NPS or satisfaction scores; repeat vendor partnerships

Compensation and Logistics

• Base salary: $50,000–$60,000, depending on experience.

• Commission: 10% of base salary, tied to performance against role KPIs.

• Fully remote role, US-based.

• Travel: 10+ event trips per year, predominantly within the US.

• Benefits package in line with Guidebook’s standard offering.

Perks:

• 100% paid benefits: medical, dental, and vision.

• Short term and long term disability.

• Unlimited vacation time.

• 401(k) program with matching benefit.

• Stock options.

• Awesome company culture and fun virtual hangouts.

• MacBook and accessories to make you comfortable working from home.

• Awesome annual company retreats.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

At Guidebook, we're committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for everyone – and we know that's best achieved, in part, with a diverse workforce. We're working on increasing diversity across the company. If you're looking to join a team that is smart, highly motivated, and also values work/life balance, we can't wait to hear how you can add to our growing culture!

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If you want to help our team do amazing things, then we want to hear from you!