The Finance Firm Event Planner
Job: She coordinates approximately 50 events per year, including private dinners, fund-raisers, multiday conferences, employee incentive events, sporting events (company softball games, golf outings), and board meetings.
Background: She got her bachelor's degree in business management from a New York liberal arts college. She started her current position, her second job out of college, as the assistant to the C.E.O. She planned the occasional client dinner or meeting, and when the number of events she planned kept increasing, she was tapped to run a new event department. She's been with the company for 10 years now, and has a staff of two.
Age: Early 30's
Salary: $95,000
Bonus: Last year she received a $65,000 bonus.
Benefits: Standard medical, dental, and vision insurance; the company matches dollar for dollar to her 401(k) plan up to 10 percent of her annual salary.
Do you think you are paid appropriately? Yes. "I think my colleagues in the event industry are vastly underpaid. I'm lucky that my superiors value the work my staff and I do."
The Nonprofit New Hire
Job: Fresh from college in the Midwest, she started last summer as an event associate at a national nonprofit organization related to a disease, where she's working on about 20 events this year. "I went from making phone calls and doing small projects around the office, to working at my first event my second week."
Background: B.A. in public communication with a minor in international business.
Age: 23
Salary: $30,000
Benefits: "Medical, dental, 401(b) (nonprofit version of a 401(k)) and time and a half-paid overtime (comes out to about $25 an hour when I work overtime)."
Perks: "More than four weeks of vacation time as well as your standard personal time. I also receive 10 paid federal holidays."
Next expected raise: "I should receive a standard periodic increase after my one-year anniversary. It should be two to six percent."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "When you work for a nonprofit, you should not be in it for the money. I find that most people at my job really care about what they are doing. For me, at the end of the day that is worth more than an extra $10,000. I know people that are right out of college like me, and they are event planners but they work for for-profits and they are making $36,000."
The Production Company Creative Director
Job: At an entertainment production company with six full-time employees, he works on about 15 parties, premieres, and promotional tours.
Background: "Some college, then started on the bottom floor of a corporate theme party company in Florida and worked my way up, changing companies only when I felt it would help my career." He joined his current firm five years ago. He doesn't have any industry certifications.
Age: 35
Salary: $65,000
Bonus: $1,000 last year, which he expects to go up next time.
Benefits: Full medical and dental insurance, matched 401(k), profit sharing.
Perks: Company credit card, "I can work out of my home office, free swag."
Last raise: $5,000 in March. "I did not ask, it was not periodic; they just offered it after a couple good shows."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "Absolutely."
The Fund-Raising Firm Vice President
Job: She works on about 30 events per year, most of them benefit dinners, at a fund-raising and event firm with 20 fulltime employees.
Background: "I have a B.A. in English with a minor in art history. Before working in events, I worked in development at a museum and a foundation." After almost seven years with her current firm, she says, "I have increased responsibilities with all of our clients, I work specifically with new clients on their accounts, and I'm now responsible for all personnel issues." She has no industry certifications.
Age: 32
Annual salary: $63,500
Bonus: None.
Benefits: Medical, dental, and life insurance; 401(k).
Perks: "We don't get lots of vacation time, but our comp/flextime policy is pretty liberal. Our events aren't super glamorous, but we do okay on the free meals and swag."
Most recent raise: "Last week! I had to ask for it, as it had been two years since my last increase. The raise was for $6,000, with the promise of an additional $4,000 in six months. I didn't have to fight at all—I asked straight out, pointed out that it had been almost two years, and the whole thing was done in about a minute."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I think that I am somewhat underpaid, given my title, responsibilities, and tenure with my company."
The Association Program Director
Job: She has worked for six years at a nonprofit professional services trade association. "I plan approximately 15 events, both in the U.S. and abroad. All events are 100 people or under, but very V.I.P. All our meetings are strictly business—I plan no golf outings or recreation events."
Background: "I majored in liberal arts, went into travel, and from there joined a large business organization, where I started an annual event that grew and acquired a reputation as a must-attend, and soon included sponsors and exhibits." She has also taken continuing education courses over 12 summers, including legal, negotiating, finance, and communications courses.
Age: 63
Salary: $75,000
Bonus: "Bonus is based on the aggregate meeting net, and has varied from $2,000 to $10,000 per year. My most recent bonus was $10,000, and I expect that the next one will be down to $5,000 due to an important meeting that didn't meet expected, budgeted [revenue] numbers."
Benefits: "I'm unusual in that I don't get any benefits, other than $100 a month in my 401(k). I have health benefits through my husband and have a personal life insurance policy."
Perks: "I work in the U.S. and foreign countries and if I pay for an accompanying person's airfare, they are allowed to accompany me as long as they stay out of sight and don't take any of my time. We can extend a trip, on our own, and use the organization return airfare."
Last raise: "Our annual review is the raise discussion as well, and we get one every year. The high was four percent and the low has been two percent."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I think that the salary is probably in the mid-range, perhaps on the high end of the mid-range."
The Corporate Conference and Event Director
Job: She has worked in various positions for a real estate company, eventually becoming an event planner. "I coordinate and direct over 200 events a year—intimate client dinners, trade conferences, educational/client seminars, incentive programs, board meetings, fund-raisers, etc."
Background: She joined the company right after college. She has also been working on her Certified Meeting Professional certification.
Age: 53
Salary: $95,000
Bonus: Ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 per year, based on company profits.
Benefits: Medical, dental, and eyeglass insurance; 401(k).
Perks: "I get five weeks vacation, but never have the chance to take it all. If necessary I can work from home and have flex hours from time to time. I don't accept free trips, meals, or gifts."
Last raise: "My last increase was in April, a $5,000 promotional increase, with an annual increase every July of approximately three to five percent. I had to fight for the promotion and increase, and got it. I showed them all my accomplishments and a list of my past, future, and current projects."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "No, not for all the hours I work and all the traveling, especially on weekends. I feel I am underpaid for my position since I not only coordinate the events, but I'm also a producer—handling all the audiovisual production, theming, etc. Where most companies have departments to oversee [these areas], I do it all with only one assistant."
The Event Firm Partner
Job: He has worked for an entertainment industry event production company for four years. The firm plans about 50 to 60 events per year.
Background: He has a master's degree but no industry certifications, and has worked on and off in events for 10 years.
Salary: $80,000
Bonus: $10,000 last year, which he expects to be the same this year.
Benefits: Medical and dental insurance.
Perks: "Flextime—I work late nights, come in late mornings, so the time all evens out."
Most recent raise: When he became a partner, he got a 25 percent pay increase.
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I'm paid adequately. I don't know what others make."
The Technology Company Event Manager
Job: She expects to plan approximately 50 events per year—she's been at this company for less than a month—overseeing trade show presences, seminars, employee training sessions, and some client entertaining.
Background: She graduated from travel agent school and took classes in business management and computer programming for three years. She worked at a travel agency for 11 years, and subsequently worked in meeting and event planning for eight years. She is a Certified Meeting Professional.
Age: 36
Salary: $80,000
Bonus: She expects a 14 percent bonus at the end of this year.
Benefits: Medical and dental insurance, 401(k), 23 days paid time off.
Perks: Blackberry and laptop. One aspect of the job she's especially pleased with is compensation for job-related education and her industry association memberships—a perk that was taken away at her old job. "It works out to about $1,000 per year plus time at work for [association] participation," she says.
Last raise: "Since I just started a new job, this represented about a $12,000 raise. My last raise at my last job was five percent, and, while it was the top for the company, it was at a standard, preset time."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I'd say I'm paid appropriately, but I still think this industry is underpaid based on the fiduciary responsibilities and base of knowledge a meeting professional
must stay on top of."
The Foundation Event Manager
Job: She has worked for a small foundation with less than 50 employees, where she works on two large events and a series of smaller cultivation events as well as grants, for less than a year.
Background: "I have a master's degree in arts administration and have worked in events for 10 years."
Age: 37
Salary: $70,000
Bonus: None.
Benefits: Medical, dental, eye care insurance;403 c(b).
Perks: "Three weeks of vacation, flextime, invitations to other organizations galas."
Last raise: "In my last job, I got a cost of living raise and a small bonus for exceptional work in my last event."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I am probably paid a little higher than most at this level of management, but it is a foundation with a [significant] history and healthy endowment."
The Magazine Events Director
Job: More than 35 events per year, including conferences, traveling programs, panel discussions, movie screenings, galas, book signings, trade shows presences, and small meeting and client dinners.
Background: A bachelor's degree in psychology—which she says comes in handy when dealing with people in the event industry. She has been in the event/marketing business 10 years and was a freelance event producer before she joining the magazine two years ago.
Age: 32
Salary: $85,000
Bonus: Five percent annually, with an expected increase this year.
Benefits: Medical, dental, 401(k), four weeks vacation.
Perks: "The occasional free magazine. [I] wouldn't say I get a lot of gifts, maybe the extra bottle of champagne or premium or celebrity sighting."
Last raise: A $5,000 raise in December, a standard periodic increase.
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "No, I think other people with less experience than me get more at companies with bigger budgets."
Posted 07.05.06
Job: She coordinates approximately 50 events per year, including private dinners, fund-raisers, multiday conferences, employee incentive events, sporting events (company softball games, golf outings), and board meetings.
Background: She got her bachelor's degree in business management from a New York liberal arts college. She started her current position, her second job out of college, as the assistant to the C.E.O. She planned the occasional client dinner or meeting, and when the number of events she planned kept increasing, she was tapped to run a new event department. She's been with the company for 10 years now, and has a staff of two.
Age: Early 30's
Salary: $95,000
Bonus: Last year she received a $65,000 bonus.
Benefits: Standard medical, dental, and vision insurance; the company matches dollar for dollar to her 401(k) plan up to 10 percent of her annual salary.
Do you think you are paid appropriately? Yes. "I think my colleagues in the event industry are vastly underpaid. I'm lucky that my superiors value the work my staff and I do."
The Nonprofit New Hire
Job: Fresh from college in the Midwest, she started last summer as an event associate at a national nonprofit organization related to a disease, where she's working on about 20 events this year. "I went from making phone calls and doing small projects around the office, to working at my first event my second week."
Background: B.A. in public communication with a minor in international business.
Age: 23
Salary: $30,000
Benefits: "Medical, dental, 401(b) (nonprofit version of a 401(k)) and time and a half-paid overtime (comes out to about $25 an hour when I work overtime)."
Perks: "More than four weeks of vacation time as well as your standard personal time. I also receive 10 paid federal holidays."
Next expected raise: "I should receive a standard periodic increase after my one-year anniversary. It should be two to six percent."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "When you work for a nonprofit, you should not be in it for the money. I find that most people at my job really care about what they are doing. For me, at the end of the day that is worth more than an extra $10,000. I know people that are right out of college like me, and they are event planners but they work for for-profits and they are making $36,000."
The Production Company Creative Director
Job: At an entertainment production company with six full-time employees, he works on about 15 parties, premieres, and promotional tours.
Background: "Some college, then started on the bottom floor of a corporate theme party company in Florida and worked my way up, changing companies only when I felt it would help my career." He joined his current firm five years ago. He doesn't have any industry certifications.
Age: 35
Salary: $65,000
Bonus: $1,000 last year, which he expects to go up next time.
Benefits: Full medical and dental insurance, matched 401(k), profit sharing.
Perks: Company credit card, "I can work out of my home office, free swag."
Last raise: $5,000 in March. "I did not ask, it was not periodic; they just offered it after a couple good shows."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "Absolutely."
The Fund-Raising Firm Vice President
Job: She works on about 30 events per year, most of them benefit dinners, at a fund-raising and event firm with 20 fulltime employees.
Background: "I have a B.A. in English with a minor in art history. Before working in events, I worked in development at a museum and a foundation." After almost seven years with her current firm, she says, "I have increased responsibilities with all of our clients, I work specifically with new clients on their accounts, and I'm now responsible for all personnel issues." She has no industry certifications.
Age: 32
Annual salary: $63,500
Bonus: None.
Benefits: Medical, dental, and life insurance; 401(k).
Perks: "We don't get lots of vacation time, but our comp/flextime policy is pretty liberal. Our events aren't super glamorous, but we do okay on the free meals and swag."
Most recent raise: "Last week! I had to ask for it, as it had been two years since my last increase. The raise was for $6,000, with the promise of an additional $4,000 in six months. I didn't have to fight at all—I asked straight out, pointed out that it had been almost two years, and the whole thing was done in about a minute."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I think that I am somewhat underpaid, given my title, responsibilities, and tenure with my company."
The Association Program Director
Job: She has worked for six years at a nonprofit professional services trade association. "I plan approximately 15 events, both in the U.S. and abroad. All events are 100 people or under, but very V.I.P. All our meetings are strictly business—I plan no golf outings or recreation events."
Background: "I majored in liberal arts, went into travel, and from there joined a large business organization, where I started an annual event that grew and acquired a reputation as a must-attend, and soon included sponsors and exhibits." She has also taken continuing education courses over 12 summers, including legal, negotiating, finance, and communications courses.
Age: 63
Salary: $75,000
Bonus: "Bonus is based on the aggregate meeting net, and has varied from $2,000 to $10,000 per year. My most recent bonus was $10,000, and I expect that the next one will be down to $5,000 due to an important meeting that didn't meet expected, budgeted [revenue] numbers."
Benefits: "I'm unusual in that I don't get any benefits, other than $100 a month in my 401(k). I have health benefits through my husband and have a personal life insurance policy."
Perks: "I work in the U.S. and foreign countries and if I pay for an accompanying person's airfare, they are allowed to accompany me as long as they stay out of sight and don't take any of my time. We can extend a trip, on our own, and use the organization return airfare."
Last raise: "Our annual review is the raise discussion as well, and we get one every year. The high was four percent and the low has been two percent."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I think that the salary is probably in the mid-range, perhaps on the high end of the mid-range."
The Corporate Conference and Event Director
Job: She has worked in various positions for a real estate company, eventually becoming an event planner. "I coordinate and direct over 200 events a year—intimate client dinners, trade conferences, educational/client seminars, incentive programs, board meetings, fund-raisers, etc."
Background: She joined the company right after college. She has also been working on her Certified Meeting Professional certification.
Age: 53
Salary: $95,000
Bonus: Ranges from $10,000 to $15,000 per year, based on company profits.
Benefits: Medical, dental, and eyeglass insurance; 401(k).
Perks: "I get five weeks vacation, but never have the chance to take it all. If necessary I can work from home and have flex hours from time to time. I don't accept free trips, meals, or gifts."
Last raise: "My last increase was in April, a $5,000 promotional increase, with an annual increase every July of approximately three to five percent. I had to fight for the promotion and increase, and got it. I showed them all my accomplishments and a list of my past, future, and current projects."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "No, not for all the hours I work and all the traveling, especially on weekends. I feel I am underpaid for my position since I not only coordinate the events, but I'm also a producer—handling all the audiovisual production, theming, etc. Where most companies have departments to oversee [these areas], I do it all with only one assistant."
The Event Firm Partner
Job: He has worked for an entertainment industry event production company for four years. The firm plans about 50 to 60 events per year.
Background: He has a master's degree but no industry certifications, and has worked on and off in events for 10 years.
Salary: $80,000
Bonus: $10,000 last year, which he expects to be the same this year.
Benefits: Medical and dental insurance.
Perks: "Flextime—I work late nights, come in late mornings, so the time all evens out."
Most recent raise: When he became a partner, he got a 25 percent pay increase.
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I'm paid adequately. I don't know what others make."
The Technology Company Event Manager
Job: She expects to plan approximately 50 events per year—she's been at this company for less than a month—overseeing trade show presences, seminars, employee training sessions, and some client entertaining.
Background: She graduated from travel agent school and took classes in business management and computer programming for three years. She worked at a travel agency for 11 years, and subsequently worked in meeting and event planning for eight years. She is a Certified Meeting Professional.
Age: 36
Salary: $80,000
Bonus: She expects a 14 percent bonus at the end of this year.
Benefits: Medical and dental insurance, 401(k), 23 days paid time off.
Perks: Blackberry and laptop. One aspect of the job she's especially pleased with is compensation for job-related education and her industry association memberships—a perk that was taken away at her old job. "It works out to about $1,000 per year plus time at work for [association] participation," she says.
Last raise: "Since I just started a new job, this represented about a $12,000 raise. My last raise at my last job was five percent, and, while it was the top for the company, it was at a standard, preset time."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I'd say I'm paid appropriately, but I still think this industry is underpaid based on the fiduciary responsibilities and base of knowledge a meeting professional
must stay on top of."
The Foundation Event Manager
Job: She has worked for a small foundation with less than 50 employees, where she works on two large events and a series of smaller cultivation events as well as grants, for less than a year.
Background: "I have a master's degree in arts administration and have worked in events for 10 years."
Age: 37
Salary: $70,000
Bonus: None.
Benefits: Medical, dental, eye care insurance;403 c(b).
Perks: "Three weeks of vacation, flextime, invitations to other organizations galas."
Last raise: "In my last job, I got a cost of living raise and a small bonus for exceptional work in my last event."
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "I am probably paid a little higher than most at this level of management, but it is a foundation with a [significant] history and healthy endowment."
The Magazine Events Director
Job: More than 35 events per year, including conferences, traveling programs, panel discussions, movie screenings, galas, book signings, trade shows presences, and small meeting and client dinners.
Background: A bachelor's degree in psychology—which she says comes in handy when dealing with people in the event industry. She has been in the event/marketing business 10 years and was a freelance event producer before she joining the magazine two years ago.
Age: 32
Salary: $85,000
Bonus: Five percent annually, with an expected increase this year.
Benefits: Medical, dental, 401(k), four weeks vacation.
Perks: "The occasional free magazine. [I] wouldn't say I get a lot of gifts, maybe the extra bottle of champagne or premium or celebrity sighting."
Last raise: A $5,000 raise in December, a standard periodic increase.
Do you think that you are paid appropriately? "No, I think other people with less experience than me get more at companies with bigger budgets."
Posted 07.05.06
