Senior Director, Conference Program Management

This critical position is responsible for developing the content, programs, and experiences of several major Gartner conferences that serve C-level business executives and their teams, making them must-attend events for those leaders, and achieving the annual financial targets for the referenced conferences.

The Senior Director, Program Management, owns several conferences and is tasked with two main missions:

• Develop the conference strategy and orchestrate cross-functional team collaboration to drive growth, profitability, and customer retention.
• Create the most compelling attendee-driven conference agendas based on market needs and requirements, in close partnership with Gartner Research chair.

To achieve desired results, the Senior Director, Program Management, collaborates with various stakeholders including:

• Gartner Business & Technology Insights (BTI)
• Audience Acquisition / Marketing
• Exhibitor/Sponsorship Sales
• Conference Operations / Logistics
• Gartner Sales and Services Delivery

Specifically, the Senior Director, Program Management:

• Creates client-focused programs that will deliver the highest results
• Identifies and secures guest speakers (keynotes, panelists, case studies)
• Drives primary and secondary market research to understand client needs and behaviors, as well as market trends
• Identifies target audience and defines positioning for assigned conferences
• Works with Exhibitor Products team to define and deliver sponsorship opportunities and content
• Identifies and evaluates competitive events, including attending competitive events
• Creates the conference or portfolio strategy, in collaboration with other global colleagues & stakeholders
• Evangelizes and promotes assigned conferences to internal and external constituents
• Innovates conference experiences, content, and formats
• Works closely with Conferences Marketing to create compelling messaging and campaigns to drive growth and increase retention
• Collaborates with Exhibits Sales to identify prospective exhibitors, articulate the conference value proposition, and accelerate sales growth and retention
• Collaborates with Conference Operations to ensure we deliver a great attendee and sponsor experience in an efficient and cost-effective way
• Partners with financial-planning teams on annual budget and investment processes

• Bachelors Degree; MBA preferred
• 8-12+ years' experience in conference management, content-rich program planning, or content strategy, development, and creation
• Experience with large, complex multi-day/multi-track conference programs preferred
• Proven ability to drive overall direction and development of conference programs: specifically content strategy and creation, agenda development, speaker management, etc.
• Experience in driving or supporting audience and sponsorship acquisition
• Proven track record creating and executing strategy, and identifying market and growth opportunities
• Demonstrated ability to work in a highly collaborative matrix environment, with strong stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication, and ability to influence
• Global/multinational event experience strongly preferred
• Strong multi-project management, prioritization, time management
• Good AI, data, and analytics familiarity
• Ability to accommodate moderate travel, including international
• Ability to engage effectively with C-level executives