Group Exhibition Director
Informa Markets
Reports to:
Vice President
The Role
The Group Exhibition Director will lead, maintain and grow a portfolio of market leading exhibitions within the portfolio. The candidate will be a talented commercial and people leader who can manage both established products and teams, as well as new events and product launches. They will have a proven track record in leading multidisciplinary teams and growing and scaling a business with full P&L responsibility.
Ensuring the events deliver to agreed revenue and cost targets and driving high performance teams to source new organic growth opportunities is crucial. They will be required to nurture essential industry relationships including key accounts, government bodies, industry associations and media.
Job Summary/Responsibilities
Key Performance Indicators
Financial Performance
- Achievement of revenue and gross profit targets
- P&L management, business planning and accurate reporting
- Maximising operating profit margin and cost management
- Increase in non-sqm revenue
Organisational Capacity and Employee Satisfaction
- Staff retention and succession planning
- Mentorship, training and development
- Objective setting, feedback and appraisals
- Change management ambassador
Customer Focus
- Customer survey satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores
- Customer retention
- Conversion rates
- Experiential show features
- Stakeholder management across portfolio
Internal Processes
- Capacity utilisation rate
- Maximisation of technology/CRM functionality
- Inter-departmental and inter-company collaboration
Main Duties & Responsibilities:
Leadership
- Protect and grow event revenue streams, profitability, ROI and optimise attendee engagement across the portfolio
- Regular and open communication within all levels of the organisation to promote a positive organisational culture, in line with Company Guiding Principles
- Skilled in anticipating future challenges and able to adapt to changing or unexpected circumstances positively
- Continual development of own management and leadership skills
People Management
- Ensure divisional capacity utilisation rates are optimised
- Create an environment which encourages teamwork and collaboration, and effective people management utilising Informa’s Talent Management framework, which includes: -
- Setting clear expectations and objectives
- Providing regular and structured feedback & coaching sessions to drive a high-performance culture
- Ensuring the effective on-boarding of new team members
- Managing the performance management process in line with company standards
- Initiating recognition programs to reward and recognise individual and team achievement
- Identifying team members for promotion/advancement and creating development plans with the HR team
- Managing disciplinary processes when necessary in partnership with the HR team
Stakeholder Management
- Focused and diligent leadership of one of IM’s leading brands will require careful stakeholder management, both internally, externally and at government and corporate levels.
- Strategic internal communication within the business unit which will communicate the highest priority strategic initiatives in a way that maintains high engagement levels.
- Ensure relevant stakeholders are engaged across the division
- Industry networking and presence
Business Planning
- Provide transparent management reporting documents on a regular basis.
- Work with research partners and internal stakeholders to develop business plans to support 3-year planning and meet growth objectives.
- Be willing to take on new challenges and risks, be adaptable to change, able to quickly recover from setbacks or changing parameters and be ready to adopt alternative approaches to achieve goals.
Financial Management
- Create portfolio budgets aligned to 3 year plans and agree annual event budgets in order to sustainably grow the operating profit of the business by driving revenue whilst managing costs and maximising overhead efficiency.
- Develop and deliver transparent business & commercial plans
- Work effectively with finance functions to ensure accurate and timely reporting as well as effectively resolving financial issues that impact customer relationships.
Business Development
- Lead sales efforts through engagement with clients at executive level, driving commercial discussions and focusing on top-line revenue growth for the division.
- Identify ways to further exploit non-sqm revenue streams across the division
- Secure support from key regional government bodies, associations and media.
Customer Experience
- Ensure marketing & sales capabilities are aligned to global best practice, working with Vice President and Divisional marketing & sales leads to support improvement initiatives.
- Seek out customer and industry contact and be energised by it; understand what it means to ‘live in the customer’s world’.
- Implement exciting and experiential features within shows to place events at the forefront of the industry
- Demonstrate and encourage creative and intuitive approaches, using market intelligence and applying it to show content to create unique and engaging visitor experiences.
Technology
- Lead strategy around the implementation of new solutions, tools and technologies for the division to leverage, enrich, expand and seek value for the business beyond the core exhibition.
- Set targets and KPIs to measure sustainable success
Corporate Governance
- Uphold the principles and values of the Company Code of Conduct at all times when working with colleagues, customers, suppliers, third parties, shareholders, the environment, our communities, governments and the law.
- Work with Teams to ensure Company policies and procedures are followed and exercised practically to meet Group requirements and standards.
- Any other duties commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility
Qualities needed for the role
Minimum Education Level
- Educated to degree level or equivalent
Background Knowledge, Skills & Experience
Essential
- Strong commercial & business acumen
- Extensive track record of proven P&L responsibility
- Extensive knowledge & experience of leading exhibitions
- Highly collaborative
- Awareness of roles within a functional matrix where other leadership decisions may impact own role
- Strong customer-focused leadership ability
- Positive and constructive attitude towards change
- Desire to build long-term relationships with customers
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Commercial drive to seek value in relationships
- Coaching and mentoring experience
Desirable
- MBA
- Middle East experience
- Relevant sector experience
We know that sometimes the 'perfect candidate' doesn't exist, and that people can be put off applying for a job if they don't fit all the requirements. If you're excited about working for us and have most of the skills or experience we're looking for, please go ahead and apply. You could be just what we need!
We believe strongly in the value of diversity and creating supportive, inclusive environments where our colleagues can succeed. As such, Informa is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, ancestry, national origin, religion, or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other protected characteristics under federal, state or local law.
