City : Ottawa

Category : Regular Full Time

Industry : Education

Employer : University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas

The University of Ottawa is home to a dynamic community of over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroad of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We believe in the power of representation, and that increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff supports this objective. Our goal is to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in an environment that reflects the diversity of its people, their ideas, and their identities. 

We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. Our employees come together around the shared purpose of constant improvement, personal development, service excellence, teamwork and a passion for learning with a desire to make uOttawa and the world a better place. Everyone's contributions are valued, we all play a part in making uOttawa a world-class institution. Most importantly, we make it possible for you to achieve your full potential. Because at uOttawa, you belong!
 

Position purpose:
The Event Officer organizes, manages and flawlessly executes corporate events hosted by the President, Chancellor, Vice-Presidents and/or other senior University officials, for both the internal community and external audiences. S/he ensures that high-profile events support and enhance the University’s image and reputation with key stakeholder and partners such as academic, business and community leaders, elected officials, dignitaries, donors, alumni and volunteers.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• In collaboration with the Manager, provides strategic advice on event management to ensure that institutional events support the objectives of the University’s strategic plan.
• Supports and assists the Manager in the implementation of the Ceremonies and Events’ strategic objectives and in the development of new policy and procedures pertaining to protocol and events management. 
• Assists the Manager in the development of key performance indicators for the Ceremonies and Events Office designed to measure the different component of an event.
• Responsible for strategic leadership, planning, management, execution and evaluation of in-person, virtual and hybrid corporate events to support profile, fundraising and recognition targets. Major events include convocation, donor recognition events, alumni events, building and facilities openings, gala evenings, award ceremonies and other special events.
• Analyzes event industry trends and makes recommendations for improving the delivery of innovative, high-quality corporate events. 

What you will bring:

• A bachelor’s degree in the field of communications, marketing, event management or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience. 
• A minimum of 5 years full time progressive experience in the management and execution of high-profile public events.
• A minimum of 2 years of experience in the management and execution of digital, virtual and hybrid events using various event management platforms. 
• Previous event management training, academic experience and industry designation (CMP/CSEP) or other professionally recognized and accredited designation relevant to the duties of the position, are considered assets.
• Advanced creative thinking skills and event concept and design experience.
• Advanced customer service skills and experience in both French and English.
• Project management skills for managing financial resources assigned to projects, and human resources that may include temporary teams of volunteers and external suppliers.
• Consulting skills, including the ability to link individual business needs with strategic direction.
• Advanced knowledge of international standards of accepted business and social procedures of etiquette and protocol.
• A high degree of judgement and knowledge to deal with non-standard and stressful situations, planning recurring and special events.
• Ability to address complex issues in a clear, thoughtful manner and come to resolution quickly and calmly without jeopardizing events or relationships. 
• A comprehensive, conceptual and practical understanding of the organization and the delivery of events in a broad range of situations, from problem identification to measuring the effectiveness of implemented solutions.
• Ability to respond quickly to unforeseen circumstances and work irregular hours during busy periods, as well as travel when required.
• Excellent spoken and written language skills in both French and English.

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realise an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.