Event Coordinator
RSA House
Job type: Full-time, on-site at RSA House
Reporting to: Venue Sales Manager
The Company
Company of Cooks is the RSA’s contract catering partner and in December 2022 won a five year contract extension to run the hospitality business and Coffee House at RSA House. Company of Cooks have been working with some of the UK’s most cherished venues since 1996, delighting customers and clients alike with great food and drinks, brilliant service and an absolute focus on the details that make good restaurants, cafes and bars, great ones. We operate all restaurants, bars, events and staff catering at the Royal Opera House, the restaurant and café at the National Portrait Gallery, and are being invited to return to the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington Gardens after their 250th anniversary redevelopment. We are excited to be recruiting for a Wedding Executive based at The Royal Society of Arts.
The Client (the venue, RSA House)
The RSA is the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce, a charity committed to a future that works for everyone. A future where we can all participate in its creation. The RSA has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years. Their proven change process, rigorous research, innovative ideas platforms and diverse global community of over 30,000 problem-solvers, deliver solutions for lasting change.
The RSA is dependent on revenue from external events, fellowship subscriptions, sponsorship and donations in order to carry out this important work. The profits generated from hospitality business are fed back into the charity to fund the RSA’s programmes of work such as Education and Learning, Sustainability and The Future of Work.
In 2018, RSA House went through a nine-month partial redevelopment which included closure of four of the 11 spaces, including refreshing our fabulous and historic vaults. In 2019 we rebuilt the events business with a refreshed product including a new Coffee House with an all-day dining menu. In 2020, the venue proudly picked up three awards; Best Wedding Venue at the Hire Space Awards and Best Historic Venue and Silver for Best Venue Customer Service at the London Venue Awards. In 2020 seven event spaces were refurbished during the pandemic and the RSA has heavily invested in advanced digital technology and hybrid capabilities, to enhance the event experience and to ensure the venue has market leading facilities for the return to live events.
In 2021 RSA House won Most Versatile London Venue at the London Venue & Catering Awards and made the shortlist for Best Client Support During Covid-19 and Best London Venue Covid-19 Response. In 2022 the venue picked up the silver award at the London Venue and Catering Awards for ‘Best Wedding Venue’. In 2023 the venue was shortlisted for three awards; Best Wedding Venue, Venue of the Year and Best Catering at a London Venue and took home bronze for Best Wedding Venue. In 2024 there are growth plans in place to develop the venue sales. Other recent exciting projects include the newly refurbished coffee house, the introduction of an outdoor seating area and revamped reception spaces.
What makes us different?
RSA House offers an eclectic mix of 11 unique and atmospheric events spaces including the Great Room , Benjamin Franklin, Durham Street Auditorium and Vaults, providing rooms for use for all types of events including conferences and meetings, product launches and press days, screenings, Christmas parties, fashion shows, gala dinners, corporate receptions, weddings and private celebrations and show cases. At weekends the building can be hired for exclusive use.
We are known for our outstanding customer service, versatile facilities and friendly approach which is what makes us stand out from the competition and keeps customer retention high.
Your impact
A key support role within the sales and marketing team; helping to coordinate a range of our commercial clients’ events, under the leadership of the Venue Sales Manager and Senior Event Executive. This is a multi-dimensional role and an exciting opportunity to work closely with the sales team and other departments to support them with various tasks such as taking enquiries, meeting with clients, liaising with suppliers, gathering final details and creating event sheets. This role involves upselling and administrating to meet revenue targets.
This position is full-time five days out of seven and flexibility is expected to meet with the business needs to represent the team when dealing with our internal bookers as well as representing the business in the external events community.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities
Support the sales and marketing team with wider projects
Answer the phone when the team is busy, help to take enquiries
Help the team to log their enquiry leads in our database system
Manage administration of event sheets for the wider team
Communicate accurate event operational information to all operational departments
Accurately raise invoices and take responsibility for receipt of payments
Personal development to expand knowledge of industry trends in food, food service and creative selling
Attend relevant training courses and Company of Cooks meetings when necessary
Have excellent knowledge of venue capabilities, capacities, unique selling points and pricing
Respond to enquiries within 1-4 hours of the enquiry being received
Follow up on enquiries within 24 hours and record in the system with follow up activities
Timely preparation of quotations, contracts and function sheets
Accurately create contracts and raise invoices
Conduct show rounds and assist with familiarisation trips
Meet and greet clients at events as agreed, follow up feedback and help to secure repeat business
Increase spend per head by proactively upselling in-house services including food, beverage and AV, as well as third party suppliers for floristry, entertainment and more.
Refer enquiries across our group of venues when appropriate
Record and share all client feedback and seek to resolve all client queries
Marketing
To assist in keeping up to date all online listings and assist with managing subscription renewals
To identify necessary updates to the venue hire section of the RSA website and communicate these to the marketing manager on a regular basis
To actively contribute to newsletter content
To contribute content for social media channels
To assist in the content and design of e-newsletters and mailshots to market the venue to our database of clients
To assist in the research industry trends in food, service and creative selling, by our competitors and family of venues
To assist with competitor analysis
Relationship Management
Be the key support for the sales team, helping with gathering information from event bookers and effectively capturing this in the event sheets
Build strong relationships with third party suppliers such as entertainment, florist, photographers and AV
Participate in events meetings with the operations teams and build strong relationships with all other departments in the venue
To maintain and develop relationships with existing and new clients with a focus on the members and the employees of the RSA
To internally champion the RSA and network with the members
Promote the Company of Cooks partnership within the venue
The ideal candidate:
Is a graduate or new to the industry, looking for their first role to gain experience and development in venue and catering sales and marketing
Has previous customer facing experience
Is extremely customer focused
Is personable, friendly and approachable
Has meticulous attention to detail
Is proactive and self-motivated
Is able to work well under pressure
Is a team player
Is enthusiastic and committed to the job
Has refined oral and written communication skills
Has good negotiation skills
Has excellent organisation and time management skills
Has excellent numeracy skills
Is competent in use of MS Office and Excel
Experience in a diary management system (such as Rendezvous or similar) is desirable but not essential