full charge bookkeeper

senior designer

fabricator

event manager

installer

Ampa Events

45 hour week minimum for warehouse/event staff. Seems alright, till you realize that no one else is required to do these hours, or that a good portion of your time is wasted not getting paid due to not getting paid for travel time if you yourself are not the one driving, or being given a per diem for over night stays, or the time between set up and strike.

The work life blance is awful. Mainly due to the hour but also due to the fact that the management tema is awful at both managing and scheduling. You may know about a job for weeks or months and not know you are dong it till the day before... sometimes day of. Ampa functions on a "us first" mentality when it comes to both other employers in a employee's life and their own life plans. 

The turn over is telling. In my time working for Ampa we had an average of 1.75 people leave each month. When a company is less than twenty people, at times less than ten... that wrecks havock on the work flow. 

Why is the turn over so awful? See the work life balance, or the condescending attitude of management. The "we have families to go home to while you don't" argument about management attending events or working similar hours. 

If you think you will just keep your head down and do the work till you get promoted. Think again. People have been working for years with that hope with no pay out. Upper management pulls outsiders into mid managing roles, and with each of those new people comes good ideas and unfamilarity with how the company runs. Which leads to stalls in work flow and arguements and disrespect between upper and mid management which ends in the new guys finding a better gig.

I worked for this company for about a year and a half. While I was there, in a small company of about 10 people, more than 30 people came and went. I experienced constant insults and micromanaging. When I left I had to get the Department of Labor involved to recover overtime pay and my last paycheck - which had been cancelled. The DOL ruled in my favor and ordered this company to compensate many other people for unpaid overtime.

This job did nothing to progress my career. I hated every day that I was there and considered this to be the most miserable I had ever been in my life. The pay was horrible and wasn't reflective of the current rate at that time. My opinions weren't respected or acknowledged. I witnessed many instances of sexism and racism. Although my job was as a graphic designer, it was mandatory that I go to events and set up and then stay the whole time and break down the events - things that were not part of my profession. I was once asked to go have the oil changed in the owner's personal vehicle. Upper management was confused about my salary pay and wrongly assessed that I owed money and then tried to force me to work for them for free for 2 weeks even though I kept all of my pay stubs and a copy of my hours worked.

I truly feel sympathy for anyone who works at Ampa and will always discourage anyone from working for this company. One positive thing that I learned by working for this company was how helpful the DOL is. It is a useful tool if you decide to work for this company. Remember to always stand up for yourself and do not allow unethical business practices to persist.

I am the Bookkeeper at Ampa Events. I first started working  full-time with Ampa in 2012.  I retired in 2015, but came back and have been working with Ampa since October  2016.

I have seen the business from the inside out.  Our clients in the event world are often very demanding and many times expect us to “spin-on-a-dime” to meet those last minute demands. But our staff works hard to stay on top of it all, and our truly dedicated team members and the owner do a great job of it.

I work remotely part-time But we have a nice group of regular employees who have been with Ampa for many years.  The owner has worked hard to establish policies and procedures, a good employee manual and is committed to a yearly review of operations to constantly improve the company.  I have been at some of these meetings and our boss, the owner, always asks for employee participation and many of the Standard Operation Procedures were a result of employee input.

Covid was tough but the Owner got us through it and was able to keep many of us on the payroll.  He did the same during the Great Recession.

My advice to young people is find something you like doing, have fun doing it and stick to it.  My long years of experience have proved  to me that No job is perfect. If you like events, even though it is hard work,  the reward of a great event or gala and a satisfied customer is worth the effort.  I may be retiring again in the future , but I really like my job and the people I work with.  That’s what keeps me here. 


Working for Ampa Events in a typical workday I have marketing, business development, social media, administrative tasks, website, and e-commerce on my to-do list. On occasion, I'll go and work on the event site. From working at the events interacting with clients and working behind the scenes, I learned it in and outs of the company. As I play a bigger role in the company I  started getting more bonuses for working overtime on jobs, which was much appreciated.

Management has always encouraged employees to be the solution for problems. That's why I think working here has the potential for advancing individually and with the company as a whole. The office environment is relaxed with flexible hours with room for improvement. Management takes input into consideration most of the time. The standards of operations are mainly generated by the employees and polished through meetings with managers. 

The hardest part of working here for me is being the go-to for things everything technology-related. I don't know everything but have to figure it out as I go. Also, there are benefits for full-timers and vacation, but I feel obligated to work every week of the year. 

Working Summers at Ampa, I was very involved in verifying and improving the warehouse inventory process. This included moving, recording, and ensuring the quality and efficiency of the products and digital inventory. The position gave me a great base to warehouse operations and proper inventory management. When it came to in the office, I collaborated with coworkers on a project to improve the search results over the entire website. It was a very insightful project into search engine optimization and digital systems. A typical day at work started in the office with our daily plan, where we figured out warehouse operations or website sections of our project. The job offered a great variety for me, because there were event days, office days, and warehouse days. Each with their own challenge and rigor, which set me up going forward by giving me a variety of skills.

This job was great for me to express my creativity through my work. I enjoyed how there were multiple meetings throughout the week to discuss what the course of action was to tackle certain projects. Being able to work events in dc was a fun opportunity to shake up the normal day to day graphics tasks. I met many talented creatives and people from all backgrounds at the event sites and had a great time interacting with clients and the team. You learn some key interpersonal skills at events like that.  Everyone who works at Ampa is super nice and generally cool people. Conversations about travel and other conversations in the break room were always fun. There are times when the job is challenging with setups being stressful at times, but that stress adds to the fun of it if you work well in an environment like that. It's not a destructive type of stress at installs, more of an exciting stress to get it all done in a certain time frame. After events, there's a great feeling of accomplishment seeing all the work that was put in come to life and the smiles of the clients and their guests. 

I worked for Ampa for several years as a senior level rep.  I only know this company to be one of the most respected event companies in the industry.  This is evident by the many corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and individuals that are repeat clients over the last 21 years. This is all made possible because of well educated and highly trained sales and technical staff reporting to a President that gives you every opportunity to broaden your horizons towards higher level positions in a fast paced office.  If you are looking to enter into the event industry or want to continue your career at a more advanced level, I would recommend working for Ampa to have an incredible opportunity to be associated with one of the best in the industry

The staff is nice, but the management is terrible. Within my first three days of working there, three employees told me to quit while I could and that they were all actively looking for other work due to the poor working conditions there. The owner has the mindset of "you need to get this done" rather than "let's get this done as a team" which created unnecessary pressure on the staff as most requests would not be communicated until the very last minute. They will overwork you. Almost everyone within the staff was working overtime and the company bites off more than they can chew, creating a stressful environment. I wish no ill will towards the people there, but I would never recommend anyone to work there. At least, not until the management gets better. 

Before applying, I noticed negative reviews but chose to give the company a chance. Unfortunately, my experience confirmed those concerns. Management is disorganized and not open to suggestions, offering little recognition or motivation. Promised health benefits were not provided, and turnover is high. There are limited opportunities for growth, and leadership often addresses issues in an unprofessional manner. Overall, it was not a supportive or positive work environment.

I was going through a period of job transition and worked part-time with Ampa Events. The owner was a friend of mine and he offered me a flexible schedule, which really helped out during a tough time. I was very impressed at the way the small team at Ampa put on some beautiful events with such creativity and flair. Though I only worked at the company for a short period of time, I enjoyed being part of the team and learning some new skills. The owner and the leadership team were happy to train me and seemed to appreciate my efforts to take the initiative wherever I could. I believe that someone who works hard, has integrity, and goes into it with an open mind could have a number of advancement opportunities with this company. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Full charge bookkeeper 4 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour
Senior designer 3 salaries reported	$80,000 per year
Fabricator 7 salaries reported	$55,071 per year
Event manager 2 salaries reported	$50,000 per year
Installer 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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