Who we are
The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, D.C.

Position Summary
The Director of Meetings is responsible for the development and delivery of multiple high-quality Society meetings and events that successfully expand the global reach of APS and advance its organizational mission in support of the physics community.

A Typical Week May Look Like This…

• Devise and implement effective strategies to deliver outstanding Society meetings and events in furtherance of APS’s mission.
  • Inform organization-wide strategies and fulfill associated objectives. 
  • Create a departmental strategic plan, define its underlying tactics and associated budget, and engage staff and other stakeholders to deploy it.
• Oversee the conception, development, and execution of successful and highly regarded Society meetings and events.
  • Oversee all aspects of Society meetings and events, primarily the 10,000-attendee March Meeting, 1,500-attendee April Meeting, and two key divisional meetings, including, but not limited to: site selection; vendor and contractor sourcing, selection, and management; contract negotiation and execution; union relations; budgeting; program planning, scheduling, and implementation; abstract processing and sorting; space planning; branding; signage; corporate sponsorship; marketing and publicity; press and (social) media; exhibits; registration; technical production needs; housing; transportation; catering; security and emergency response planning; risk management; and, overall onsite facilitation.
  • Collaborate with elected leaders, executive and program committees, colleagues, and other stakeholders to organize and deliver relevant, contemporary, and compelling meetings and events. 
  • Capture, analyze, and understand attendance and behavioral data, and create, conduct, and assess post-event evaluations to inform future meetings and events planning. 
  • Benchmark and implement industry best practices in meetings and events planning, management, and logistics. 
  • Employ and leverage current and emerging meetings- and event-related technologies.
• Identify and seize opportunities to increase and develop the portfolio of meetings and events overseen by the department.
  • Liaise with divisional and other unit leaders, other departmental directors and heads, and external colleagues and organizations.
• Serve as staff liaison to the Committee on Scientific Meetings, the March Meeting Program Committee, and the April Meeting Program Committee.
  • Manage and oversee support of all committee activities.
• Lead the department and manage departmental staff.
  • Recruit, motivate, develop, and retain a high-performing staff. 
  • Create and maintain an inclusive, positive, and productive work culture. 
  • Ensure departmental webpages are accurate, compelling, and effective.
  • Develop and manage department budgets. 
  • Establish policies and procedures for the effective assignment and management of staff duties and workload. 
  • Set departmental priorities and define associated goals and metrics. 
• Work on other meetings and events-planning projects and perform other duties as assigned.
• Lead a department of 7+ staff to deliver high-quality work on time and on budget. 
• Coordinate with other departmental directors and heads to institute best practices relating to meetings and events, and to provide support for programmatic meetings and events. 
• Aid the Senior Management Team by informing organization-wide strategies and fulfilling associated objectives.
• Work with external professional constituents, e.g., vendors, unions, government agencies/institutes, academic institutions, and other professional society executives to secure competitive agreements, mitigate risk, forge strategic alliances, etc. 
• Advise and support external volunteer constituents, e.g., elected leaders and (executive and program) committees to ensure the conception, development, and execution of successful Society meetings and events. 
• The position requires frequent travel to conduct site and vendor assessments, and to attend meetings and events as part of its core responsibilities, as well as additional travel as assigned.

Is This You?
Education, Certification, and Affiliations:

• Bachelor’s degree required.  Master’s degree preferred. 
• Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation required.  Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation preferred. 
• Active engagement with relevant professional association(s) preferred.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in the meetings and/or events-planning industry, preferably within an international, nonprofit science-related society. 
  • Accomplished meetings and/or events professional, with an excellent track record of overseeing all aspects of successful (100 to 10,000+ attendee) events, ranging from regional/topical meetings to international conferences. 
  • Broad awareness of current and emerging industry trends and demonstrated application of best practices in meetings and events planning, management, and logistics. 
  • Seasoned practitioner of strategic planning, from conception through successful execution. 
  • Strong negotiator, with proven experience in successfully contracting advantageous agreements with strategic partners. 
  • Diplomatically astute, able to understand the perspectives of others and resolve conflicts to mutual satisfaction. 
  • Adept at budget development and management, including trend analysis and pragmatic forecasting.
• 5+ years of progressive management/supervisory experience.
  • Thoughtful role model, leader, and mentor, with a thorough understanding of and ability to apply sound supervisory principles. 
  • Insightful manager, able to structure a department and task its staff to best advantage. 
  • Capable motivator of people, able to influence without authority and to manage up, down, and across an organization.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills. 
• Superior attention to detail, with first-class organizational skills. 
• Proficiency with standard office, event management, and project management software.

This is Us!
The American Physical Society strives to: 

• Be the leading voice for physics and an authoritative source of physics information for the advancement of physics and the benefit of humanity.
• Provide effective programs in support of the physics community and the conduct of physics.
• Collaborate with national scientific societies for the advancement of science, science education and the science community.
• Cooperate with international physics societies to promote physics, to support physicists worldwide and to foster international collaboration.
• Promote an active, engaged and diverse membership, and support the activities of its units and members.