Conference Planning Manager Jobs in Madison, WI (NOW HIRING)

Job Description: Position Summary Momentum Association Management is seeking an experienced Meeting Manager to lead the planning and execution of conferences, annual meetings, educational programs, accredited continuing education activities, and special events for our association clients. Meeting Managers serve as the primary operational lead for assigned events, partnering with Executive Directors, boards of directors, volunteer program and education committees, venues, general service contractors, vendors, faculty, exhibitors, and sponsors to ensure every event is delivered professionally, on time, in compliance with applicable accreditation standards, and within budget. Key Responsibilities Conference & Program Leadership Serve as the operational lead for assigned client conferences, annual meetings, board and committee meetings, workshops, and virtual and hybrid programs. Develop and maintain the overall event strategy, goals, and success measures in partnership with the Executive Director and client leadership. Build and manage the master project plan, critical path timeline, and production calendar, holding internal staff, volunteers, and vendors accountable to deadlines. Coordinate annual meeting policies and procedures, including cancellation, refund, code of conduct, photography and recording, and accessibility policies. Conduct post-event debriefs and maintain year-over-year event history files to support continuous improvement and future site selection. Meeting Logistics & Onsite Operations Manage venue and hotel sourcing, including RFP development, bid analysis, site visits, and recommendation memos to the client board or committee. Negotiate and administer hotel, venue, and vendor contracts, with attention to attrition, cancellation, force majeure, complimentary room ratios, rebates, and concession packages. Manage sleeping room blocks and housing, including pickup monitoring, block adjustments, sub-blocks for board members, faculty, and exhibitors, and attrition mitigation. Develop and manage meeting specifications, banquet event orders (BEOs), function space assignments, room sets, and floor plans. Plan and manage food and beverage across all functions, including receptions, banquets, breaks, and special events, while accommodating dietary and accessibility needs. Coordinate audiovisual requirements, staging, production, simultaneous session support, recording and livestream capture, and virtual platform delivery for hybrid programs. Manage signage, branding, printed and digital program materials, name badges, tote inserts, and shipping and materials handling to and from the venue. Develop the onsite staffing plan and staff briefing materials; supervise temporary staff, volunteers, and student workers onsite. Lead pre-convention meetings, direct onsite operations, resolve issues in real time, and serve as the primary point of contact for venue and vendor partners. Coordinate transportation, offsite events, VIP and speaker travel, and tours as applicable. Maintain risk management, emergency response, and duty-of-care planning for each event, including insurance certificates and incident procedures. Abstracts, Call for Proposals & Education Content Manage the call for abstracts, papers, posters, symposia, and session proposals from launch through final program publication. Configure and administer the abstract or proposal management platform, including submission forms, categories, tracks, submitter communications, and deadline extensions. Staff the program, education, or scientific committee through the peer review process, including reviewer recruitment, scoring rubrics, blinded review assignments, conflict-of-interest screening, and scoring reconciliation. Compile review results, prepare committee decision materials, and issue acceptance, revision, and decline notifications. Build the program grid and session schedule, resolving track conflicts, room capacity constraints, and presenter scheduling conflicts. Manage the full speaker and faculty lifecycle: invitations, agreements and honoraria, disclosures, biographical and headshot collection, learning objectives, AV and technology needs, presentation upload deadlines, and rehearsals. Coordinate poster sessions, including numbering, board assignments, setup and teardown schedules, and poster award judging. Produce the final program, mobile app content, and session descriptions, and manage the abstract book or supplement, including any journal publication coordination. Manage session recording, post-event content archiving, and on-demand or learning management system posting in partnership with the client education staff. Continuing Education & CME Accreditation Compliance Manage continuing education operations for accredited activities, including CME, CE, CEU, and specialty credit types applicable to the client. Support compliance with accreditor requirements and criteria, including ACCME, Joint Accreditation, ANCC, ACPE, state licensing boards, or the client’s certifying body as applicable. Collect, review, and track speaker and planner financial relationship disclosures; identify relevant financial relationships and implement and document mitigation steps prior to the activity. Ensure content validity, independence from commercial influence, and appropriate separation of promotional activity from accredited education. Draft and manage commercial support letters of agreement, educational grant documentation, and required acknowledgment language. Maintain the activity file for each accredited session, including learning objectives, gap and needs analysis documentation, agendas, faculty credentials, disclosures, and evaluation results. Build and administer session and overall activity evaluations, credit claiming workflows, attendance verification, and certificate issuance. Prepare post-activity credit reporting to accreditors and registries, including PARS or comparable submission requirements, and support accreditation reaccreditation self-study documentation. Track annual continuing education volumes, learner counts, and credit hours awarded for client reporting. Registration, Housing & Attendee Experience Build and manage event registration in the client’s platform, including registration categories, member and nonmember pricing, early-bird and onsite rates, ticketed events, session selection, and discount and comp codes. Manage the registration lifecycle: confirmations, substitutions, cancellations and refunds, invoicing, payment reconciliation, and customer service inquiries. Monitor registration pacing against goal and provide regular reporting and forecasting to the Executive Director and client leadership. Manage housing links, reservation troubleshooting, and rooming lists for board members, faculty, and staff. Oversee onsite registration operations, badge production, self-service check-in, session scanning, and lead retrieval. Coordinate accessibility accommodations, first-time attendee programming, and attendee communications before, during, and after the event. Exhibits, Sponsorship & Industry Relations Support development of the annual sponsorship and exhibit prospectus, including package design, pricing, and benefit structure. Manage exhibit hall operations, including floor plan design, booth sales tracking, space assignment, and the general service contractor relationship. Produce and distribute the exhibitor service kit and manage exhibitor communications, deadlines, and move-in and move-out logistics. Track and fulfill all sponsor and exhibitor benefits, including logo placement, signage, program and app recognition, attendee lists, meeting space, and onsite deliverables. Maintain sponsor and exhibitor records in the client CRM or AMS and support renewal and prospecting efforts. Ensure appropriate separation between industry support and accredited education content consistent with accreditation standards. Financial Management Develop and manage detailed event budgets with line-item revenue and expense projections, and maintain rolling reforecasts throughout the planning cycle. Negotiate vendor contracts and purchase agreements to control cost and manage financial risk exposure. Review and approve vendor invoices, process payments through client accounting workflows, and maintain supporting documentation. Monitor event profitability against goal and provide variance analysis and mitigation recommendations to the Executive Director. Reconcile the master account and all event revenue and expenses within the client’s close timeline and prepare the final event financial report. Track and report metrics including registration revenue, sponsorship and exhibit revenue, cost per attendee, net margin, and attrition or cancellation exposure. Client, Board & Volunteer Committee Management Serve as a trusted advisor to client leadership on meeting strategy, format, pricing, site selection, and industry trends. Staff meeting-related volunteer committees, including agenda development, meeting facilitation, minutes, and action item follow-through. Prepare board-level reports, dashboards, and recommendation memos for approval of budgets, sites, and program decisions. Lead recurring planning calls with client leadership and internal Momentum staff, maintaining clear documentation of decisions and next steps. Coordinate board and governance meetings held in conjunction with the annual meeting, including materials, room sets, and travel logistics. Support marketing and communications colleagues with event promotion timelines, content, and audience segmentation. Required Qualifications Five or more years of conference or meeting management experience, including full ownership of events from strategy through onsite execution and post-event reconciliation. Demonstrated experience with meeting logistics, including venue sourcing, hotel and vendor contract negotiation, room block management, food and beverage, audiovisual, and onsite operations. Experience managing event budgets, tracking profitability, and reconciling final event financials. Experience managing registration operations in a registration or association management platform. Strong project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent events and competing deadlines. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including comfort presenting to boards and volunteer committees. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision in a remote, multi-client environment. Willingness and ability to travel for site visits, client meetings, and onsite event execution, including extended days and occasional weekends. Preferred Qualifications Experience supporting association, nonprofit, medical specialty society, or scientific meetings. Experience managing a call for abstracts or call for proposals, including peer review workflows and program committee support. Working knowledge of continuing education and CME accreditation requirements, including disclosure collection, mitigation of relevant financial relationships, evaluations, credit claiming, and post-activity reporting. Experience managing exhibit halls, sponsorship fulfillment, and general service contractor relationships. Experience with Cvent, CadmiumCD, GrowthZone, MemberClicks, or comparable registration, abstract management, and learning platforms. Experience with virtual and hybrid meeting production and platforms. CMP, CMP-HC, DES, HMCC, or CAE credential, or active progress toward one. Familiarity with Zoom, Microsoft 365, Monday.com, Dropbox, and Canva. About Momentum Momentum Association Management is a boutique association management company (AMC) headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, serving professional associations, scientific and medical specialty societies, certification bodies, and nonprofit organizations nationwide. We provide full-service and outsourced support across executive leadership and governance, membership, meetings and continuing education, marketing and communications, finance and accounting, technology and operations, and strategic planning. Our clients range from all-volunteer organizations building their first professional infrastructure to established societies running national annual meetings and accredited education programs. Momentum’s team works remotely across a shared client portfolio, supported by a common operating platform, so each client receives the responsiveness, continuity, and professionalism of dedicated in-house staff with the depth of a full agency behind it. Every engagement is led by a named Executive Director who is accountable for the client relationship and outcomes. Growth Opportunities Momentum is a rapidly growing AMC, and our contractor bench is where much of that growth is built. Meeting professionals who demonstrate initiative, reliability, and sound judgment have the opportunity to: Take on additional client engagements and larger, more complex meetings as the portfolio expands. Lead strategic projects such as site selection cycles, registration or abstract platform implementations, sponsorship program redesigns, and accreditation readiness work. Serve as a subject-matter resource to other engagement teams on logistics, abstract management, or continuing education compliance. Expand scope over time into broader program or operational leadership, including full-time roles for those interested as the firm grows. Build a diversified association meetings portfolio and credential-eligible experience across multiple disciplines and meeting formats. Why Momentum Flexible, fully remote work with an engagement cycle you help shape. A diverse client portfolio spanning scientific, clinical, academic, and trade organizations. Mission-driven work supporting professions that advance research, practice, and public good. Direct access to leadership and volunteer boards, with real influence on how events are designed. A collaborative, entrepreneurial culture where good process gets adopted firm-wide, fast. Modern operating stack and shared templates so your time goes to strategy and execution, not administrative drag.