GOVERNMENT MEETINGS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: WHERE DO THEY GIVE PROFESSIONAL SPEECHES?

As government speakers, we often work with meeting planners in many spaces. At the same time, it’s not always obvious to folks in the private sector what type of work event planning professionals in the public service arena do. What types of tasks do government meeting planners assist with, you might be asking yourself? Working in the space as government speakers, we thought we’d break it down for you.

To this extent, it helps to know that meeting planners in public service perform a wide range of duties coordinating events and gatherings for public sector entities. Typical responsibilities include:

• Identifying meeting objectives, budgets, dates, venues, expected attendance and other logistics.
• Sending invitations, managing RSVPs, arranging participant travel/accommodations if needed.
• Working with venues to book space, arrange room layouts, equipment, catering, parking, security, etc.
• Developing the meeting agenda and program, sometimes with input from elected officials or senior managers.
• Recruiting and liaising with government speakers, guest presenters, vendors if needed.
• Preparing name badges, programs, signs, and materials to be distributed.
• Overseeing setup, registration, AV/tech arrangements the day of the event.
• Troubleshooting any issues that arise during the session regarding space, food, equipment, etc.
• Post-meeting tasks like distributing minutes, collecting feedback, reconciling invoices, processing payments.
• Ensuring all accessibility, legal, ethical and transparency requirements are met for public sector events.
• Using government booking systems and following relevant protocols for procurement and contracting.
• Keeping updated on policies, regulations and codes that apply to government meetings and events.

Sounds kind of challenging, doesn’t it? After all, the role requires strong organizational skills, attention to detail, creative problem-solving and familiarity with government practices. Many government meeting planners work for legislative bodies, departments, agencies, boards and commissions at all levels of the public sector. And the work that they do? It’s pretty darn invaluable if you were to ask us.