Event Sales & Bookings Assistant

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join People’s History Museum’s (PHM) growing commercial team.  Driving commercial income is a vital source of funds for PHM and our approach to generating profit for purpose.  The museum’s Business Plan sets out our ambition to grow commercial income streams, with Venue Hire being one of our strongest opportunities to achieve this.  We want our building to be a hotspot for all kinds of events including corporate workshops, weddings, cultural events and much more, building on our reputation as a leading ethical events space in Manchester.

We are looking for an organised, customer focussed professional to join our team, concentrating on delivering high quality events for paying clients.  This role involves co-ordinating and delivering event specifications for a wide range of conference and social events, managing a varied portfolio at any one time.  Strong co-ordination and customer service skills are vital.

The successful applicant will work closely with the museum’s Operations Team and wider network of suppliers to ensure all events exceed client expectations.

The role would be ideal for someone with experience in delivering events or managing bookings in a comparable industry.  Ability to follow processes and use a CRM system is essential.

About People’s History Museum

People’s History Museum is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future.  The museum provides opportunities for all people to learn about, be inspired by and get involved in ideas worth fighting for; ideas such as equality, social justice, co-operation, and a fair world for all.

PHM currently welcomes a local, national and international audience, attracting 125,000 visitors annually (pre-covid), as well as reaching people online through digital activities.  The museum involves audiences and communities in all aspects of its work, using models of co-curation, collaboration and crowd-sourcing when developing and delivering programmes of activity.  Engaging people directly in the work of the museum helps to build a passionate and committed audience who become supporters and advocates for PHM, while ensuring we are shaping authentic content representative of diverse audiences, providing an inclusive space for their voices, stories and ideas.  PHM’s innovative programme-led approach explores important subjects and issues relevant to us all today.

PHM has an annual turnover of around £1.5 million, employs 36 members of staff and has a team of freelance staff and volunteers.  PHM is funded by Arts Council England (ACE) as a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) and by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Culture and Social Impact Fund.  PHM is an independent museum, charitable trust and company limited by guarantee, with a Board of Trustees, a Trading Company Board, and an Audit and Risk Committee.

Job Description

Event Sales & Bookings Assistant

Salary: £21,189 (pro rata) (& pension contribution to the Greater Manchester Pension Fund)

Hours: 21 hours a week (3 days) with flexible working in line with the museum’s policy.  Flexible hours will be required including early morning, evening, and weekend work to support events

Annual leave: 24 days plus bank holidays (pro rata)

Contract: Fixed Term for 18 months (with opportunity for extension)

Responsible to: Event Sales Officer

Location: Based at People’s History Museum with the opportunity for agile working in line with PHM’s flexible working policy

Role purpose

The successful candidate will be an efficient and friendly events and bookings professional who supports the booking and delivery of top quality events in People’s History Museum’s hireable spaces.

The Event Sales & Bookings Assistant will support all aspects of delivering events, including responding to enquiries from prospective clients, liaising with clients to confirm arrangements, preparing event specifications, and collating client feedback.

This role is responsible for liaising with potential and confirmed clients to finalise bookings, prepare event specifications, liaising with other PHM departments, and external suppliers to ensure all elements are in place.

The Event Sales & Bookings Assistant will work with the museum’s CRM system to manage bookings, event specifications and produce monthly performance reports.

The Event Sales & Bookings Assistant will also support the co-ordination of large scale PHM events, including the design and delivery of ticketed events such as the museum’s ‘Lates’ programme and fundraisers.

Main responsibilities

1. To provide excellent customer service to prospective clients including responding to booking enquiries, showing clients the venue and preparing booking agreements.
2. To act as the main point of contact for confirmed bookings, to liaise and co-ordinate with clients to confirm arrangements for events by providing excellent customer service. All clients to be welcomed by the team with expectation that high profile events will be managed directly.
3. To co-ordinate event requirements within PHM and Open Kitchen (the museum’s onsite cafe bar and event caterers) teams to ensure events run smoothly with correct catering, level of staffing, set up of spaces, and equipment. This includes preparation of the detailed events schedule, co-ordinating communications and meetings for involved staff, and checking the event set up on the day.
4. To liaise with PHM’s wider event supplier network to book add-ons as required, including equipment, and related technical support.
5. To maintain efficient and accurate administration around all events, utilising our CRM system.
6. Deliver client aftercare including collating and acting on client feedback, and include in monthly report with any improvements to be taken.
7. To prepare monthly report of events data, including number of enquiries, income, and visitor figures using the CRM reporting functions and financial spreadsheets.
8. To monitor standards in PHM spaces, including cleanliness, state of repair, inventory, and decoration and arrange any action as required.

Person specification

1. Excellent customer services skills, confident in speaking to clients in person, via phone and email
2. Experience of bookings and events
3. Strong administration skills, able to take pieces of information from a range of inputs (phone calls, emails, etc) and turn into an efficient bookings specification, across multiple upcoming events
4. Excellent communication skills, ability to negotiate and communicate with a wide range of different stakeholders
5. Strong IT Skills, confident in using Microsoft packages
6. Good problem solving skills
7. Ability to follow established processes
8. Experience of using a CRM or events management database
9. Experience of organising events on behalf of external clients/stakeholders

How to apply

Please outline how your experience, skills and knowledge meet the job description and provide details.  Your application will be assessed and scored against the job description using the information provided.

Deadline for applications: 5.00pm on Monday 8 May 2023

Interviews: Tuesday 16 May 2023, in person at PHM

If you have any questions or would like to arrange to discuss the role please contact Jackie Royle at jackie.royle@phm.org.uk.

Equity

PHM prides itself on being a welcoming and inclusive organisation, profoundly committed to advancing equality and diversity in the broadest sense.  We highly value the benefits that diverse perspectives bring to PHM’s mission.

We recognise the museum currently underrepresents people of colour, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people and those with intersecting identities in our workforce; PHM is actively working to address this and encourages applications from these backgrounds.  While the successful candidate will be selected purely on merit, in the event of a tie between two candidates with equal experience, we may select a candidate who helps us better represent the communities the museum serves.