A person, who becomes a meeting planner, cautioned Raimondi, must be someone "who enjoys doing a job for which you get no thanks. You can't expect your ego to be fed all the time. You are the unseen and unsung hero. After all, you don't make money for the company, you save it."
Good communications skills and excellent organizational skills are critical. Meeting planners also have to be extremely adept at handling people, at being diplomatic. A sense of humor also helps.
A meeting planner may travel one out of every four weeks of the year, choosing sites, making preconvention inspections, and, finally, attending the major meetings or conferences he or she has arranged.
The frequent travel and the fact that meeting planners are wooed by hotels, airlines, and destinations all the time create an aura of glamour that is hard to dispel. "People perceive the job as fun and games-being wined and dined," one planner remarked. "But it is hard work. All the hours of work that go into putting on a meeting, the worry about every little detail that becomes second nature, and the miles and miles of travel wear thin."
Apart from the energy, excitement, creativity, and responsibility that are a part-and-parcel of the job, the growth of the field means that advancement opportunities are excellent.
"It is a fascinating industry," said Raimondi. 'I knew I wanted to stay in it. It is hard to get in, but then you can make your own opportunities."
Getting In
The profession is relatively new, and many of those in the field came in "through the back door," basically from jobs with limited planning responsibilities that expanded into full-time jobs. Even now, many planners do meeting planning in conjunction with jobs in communications, public relations, marketing, human resources and administration.
The new breed of meeting planners who have targeted this career generally have a four-year college degree with an emphasis on business, good written and verbal communication skills, and good people skills. They are detail-oriented and organized, are able to work well under pressure and make quick decisions, have a working knowledge of the travel industry and are able to take frequent business trips.
People typically come into meeting planning through the hotel side, where they gain experience in dealing with meetings and meeting planners, negotiations and the fundamentals of handling the logistics. Apprenticeships come in the form of positions such as "assistant meetings manager" or "meetings coordinator."
Large corporations or an association that holds many meetings probably offer the best opportunities for entry, but getting in is tough. Legions of people are drawn to the field by the opportunity to travel, deal with people, and have the kind of responsibility that a meeting planner has. Large corporations and associations offer more routes into meeting planning, such as through secretarial work or some other clerical capacity. Entry-level positions are low paying in major cities, starting salaries are in the high-tens to the mid-twenties. The field can pay fairly well at the highest levels, however.
"Meeting planning has finally come into its own as a profession," stated Raimondi, who was the corporate meeting planner for the Touche Ross accounting firm until she set up her own consulting company. "Hoteliers are now used to dealing with professional people expert in negotiating." Deregulation of airfares, making that segment also subject to negotiation, is also a factor in the greater acceptance of the profession.
Pointing to how tough getting into the field has become, Raimondi advised that it is frequently easier to get into an organization or company department as a secretary or in some other clerical position. An organization like the American Institute of CPAs, for example, has 12 planners at various levels and is willing to hire entry-level people who are able to move up through the hierarchy.
Job listings, Raimondi said, are "hidden in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times under such headings as 'meeting planning,' 'special-event coordinator,' 'public relations,' and 'hotel- convention services'" (which means the employer wants someone with no experience because they want to train you their way at low pay).
Salaries
"It scares me that so many people want to get into the business," Raimondi added. "It will bring down starting salaries. People want to come in because they want to travel and they like people. But after one or two years, you become disillusioned with travel. It loses its appeal. You do it so much (50 to 80 percent of the time), it becomes a chore and kills your social life."
Starting salaries (which still means having some basic experience) are in the $20,000 range; planners with one to two years of experience earn in the $30,000 range. With three to five years of experience, they can earn $40,000 to $75,000. A director, with a staff, can make $60,000 to $75,000. Salaries can go well into six figures but usually only for someone like a Vice President of Marketing who oversees meeting management.
The average salary in the United States for meeting planners in 1990 was $37,478 (for females, the average was $34,824, and for males, $52,101) according to a survey of MPI members by The Meeting Manager magazine. Planners with fewer than three years of experience average $27,290, with three to five years of experience, $32,146, six to nine years, $39,232, ten to fourteen years, $41,964, and more than fourteen years, $52,653. Those who work in the corporate market earn $1,192 more annually than the average; planners in the health care industry also are paid on the high side. Those working for associations, in government, education, and religious organizations and as independent planners earn lower-than-average salaries.
