Conference Coordinator

About the role

The Conference Coordinator oversees the Conference Housing Program, managing a comprehensive program providing summer and academic year student, conference group, and guest housing services for approximately 5,000 to 7,500 individuals annually. This role includes on-call responsibilities and significant weekday after-hours and weekend work during the summer months.

Responsibilities

• Provides leadership of and oversight of the day-to-day operations of the academic year and summer Conference Housing Program including guest housing and conference groups.
• Negotiates contracts and schedules, use of guest rooms, meeting spaces, and other housing facilities for 40 to 60 summer programs, including campus frosh orientation, and academic year groups.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for inquiries, requests, and reservations from campus and outside communities regarding academic year and summer conference housing services.
• Maintains collaborative relationships with campus departments to facilitate requested services (including Dining and Classroom space, athletic fields, Aquatic Center, and Student Union).
• Administers and sets up conference module in the database system including setting up the application, payments, reservation systems, and producing reports.
• Works directly with multiple UHS units (Facilities Operations, Administrative & Financial Operations, and Residential Life) to fulfill contract requirements.
• Provides regular and after-hours crisis intervention by utilizing training to provide crisis response to campus housing students and guests, which can range from making a referral to intervening in a life-threatening situation.
• Manages daily check-in and checkout for overnight guests and SJSU Cares residents, including issuing keys, receiving payment, and notifying guests of UHS policies.
• Maintains monthly inventory of supplies and amenities and orders replacements when necessary.
• Audits and reconciles guest accounts regularly and follows up on outstanding payments due.
• Develops policies, procedures, and regulations for the Conference Housing program in coordination with the Conference Review Team.
• Reviews methods of training annually in order to prepare staff most effectively.
• Develops and updates staff manual for all conference assistants, lead positions, interns, and administrative assistants.
• Develops and implements marketing initiatives and a full conference marketing plan.
• Pursues prospects on a community, state, regional, national, and international levels to increase conference business; develops proposals and bids for securing conferences, camps, and events.
• Identifies prospective clients, prepares marketing sales proposals to meet their needs, and aggressively pursues these prospective clients in order to secure their business; including site visits and cold calling.
• Creates and maintains partnership with Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism Management Department on campus to attract clients and staff.
• Creates and maintains social media platforms to market the conference program.
• Responds to requests for building, room, and parking access needs.
• Provides input to performance and operational issues.
• Develops and implements survey tools to assess and evaluate overall program effectiveness and customer satisfaction with assistance from the Organization and Planning staff.
• Implements changes with support of Conference Review Team and Senior Assistant Director of Residential Administrative Services based on assessment and evaluation data.
• Collaborates with Facilities area to support the Conferences and Administrative Services Coordinator in executing duties with access cards and keys.
• Maintains contact with customers and solicits feedback for improved services.

Qualifications

• Equivalent to a bachelor's degree in a related field.
• Two years of relevant experience.
• Preferred qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in Education, Hospitality Management, Business Administration, or a related field, experience with conference or event planning, and/or hospitality management, experience supervising professional or student staff, experience coordinating an administrative process, experience in an educational and/or residential setting, and customer service experience.

Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge in operations and systems analysis, statistical and research methods, and the ability to interpret and evaluate results to develop sound conclusions and recommend new or revised policies.
• Ability to understand, interpret, and apply policies and regulations in specific situations to analyze and solve organizational and operating problems related to student and residential community housing needs.
• Ability to perform complex tasks involving independent judgment and ability to plan, coordinate, and initiate actions necessary to implement administrative or group decisions or recommendations.
• Ability to analyze data and make accurate projections using business mathematics and basic statistical techniques.
• Thorough Knowledge of word processing, spreadsheet, database software, and computerized accounting systems.
• Demonstrated ability to perform complex tasks involving independent judgment, accuracy, and speed.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to train others on new skills and procedures and provide work lead direction.
• Ability to be flexible to changes, frequent interruptions, and manage multiple tasks at one time.
• Ability to clearly answer questions and explain procedures and policies to students and the public in an efficient and courteous manner; apply judgment, discretion, and initiative in performing a variety of tasks.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and be able to handle a high degree of customer contact surrounding potentially emotional/controversial issues and deal with conflict while maintaining a sense of perspective and professionalism.
• Ability to respond to emergency situations.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and appropriately handle sensitive communications for students, staff, and external agencies.
• Knowledge of how a database interacts with business practices, and financial operations of a typical business.
• Ability to work with database systems to pull fields or records for reporting or transferring data to other databases.
• Ability to handle multiple work priorities, organize and plan work and projects.
• Ability to compose and appropriately format correspondence and business reports using appropriate English grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Ability to exercise appropriate judgment and perform duties and responsibilities in the absence of close supervision.
• Thorough knowledge of office systems and ability to use broader range of technology, systems, and packages.
• Ability to display a strong sense of commitment to customer needs, and possess excellent customer service and public relations skills.
• Ability to understand roles and responsibilities of student and staff members and to provide guidance for staff members in a functional unit.

Benefits

San José State University offers employees a comprehensive benefits package typically worth 30-35% of your base salary. For more information on programs available, please see the Employee Benefits Summary. Click Apply Now to complete the SJSU Online Employment Application and attach the following documents: Resume, Letter of Interest.