Business Tourism Partnership Mission

provided that these are combined with a natural affinity for working
with people.
For those looking to find employment straight from university or
college, vacancies do arise in conference/event agencies (e.g.
administrative posts, assisting in venue finding, computer work)
and in conference/event venues (as assistant conference and
banqueting co-ordinators, or in venue sales and marketing). It can
be possible for new graduates to obtain posts in destination
marketing organisations (typically trading as a ‘Conference Office’,
‘Conference Desk’ or Convention Bureau’), although more often 1-2
years’ previous experience in sales and marketing or local
government administration is desirable.
Relatively few conference/event organisers, especially within the
corporate sector, are full-time. They are first and foremost
secretaries/PAs, marketing assistants/managers, training managers,
or public relations executives, who find themselves asked to
organise events on behalf of their department or company. Their
role in conference/event organising may, of course, develop if they
prove to have the right talents and enthusiasm and if this meets the
company’s own development needs.
Other openings arise, from time to time, in the business tourism
industry trade associations and, for those with an interest in
publishing, in the industry’s trade magazines (either in advertising
sales or, for those with some journalistic background, as part of the
editorial team).
Before beginning a career within conferencing/events, it is probably
helpful to know whether one’s interest is primarily in the buying (ie.
working as a conference/event organiser for a company,
association, public body) or supply side (ie. working for a
conference/event venue, for an audio-visual company, or other
supplier of services) of the industry. It is, of course, quite possible
at a later stage to switch from one side to the other, and an
understanding of how both buyers and suppliers operate is
obviously important and beneficial. It is a moot point whether
intermediary agencies are best described as buyers or suppliers.
Their activities certainly revolve around venue finding and event
management, but they do this by providing a service to their
clients, the actual buyers.
It should be stressed that most companies and organisations
operating within the business events industry are small, employing
limited numbers of people. They cannot offer multiple career
opportunities and endless possibilities for progression. But their
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