The Manager, Exhibits, Sponsorship & Advertising Sales is a hands-on, revenue-focused role responsible for growing and managing exhibits, sponsorships, and advertising across SCCE & HCCA's event and media portfolio. This individual serves as the primary relationship manager for exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers, with accountability for retention, new business development, revenue growth, and an exceptional customer experience from initial outreach through post-event follow-up.
This position manages the full sales and account lifecycle, including identifying and cultivating prospects, developing relationships, structuring and negotiating packages within established pricing and approval guardrails, closing business, and ensuring successful fulfillment. This is a hands-on individual-contributor manager role with no direct reports. The position retains end-to-end accountability for the customer experience and successful delivery of commitments and is expected to understand and be able to execute supporting administrative and operational processes when needed.
-
Own and grow a portfolio of exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers, with accountability for achieving established revenue targets through retention, renewal, account growth, new customer acquisition, and effective management of available inventory.
-
Identify prospective exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers based on event audience, industry relevance, past participation, market research, and other available data; proactively conduct phone, email, event, and relationship-based outreach to generate new business.
-
Manage the full sales cycle from prospect identification and initial inquiry through needs assessment, proposal, negotiation, agreement execution, fulfillment, and post-event follow-up.
-
Develop, negotiate, and close exhibit, sponsorship, and advertising packages within established pricing, inventory, discount, and approval guidelines; exercise independent judgment within delegated authority and escalate significant discounts, non-standard terms, or highly customized opportunities.
-
Build ongoing customer relationships and move appropriate partners from single-event transactions toward multi-event and year-round participation.
-
Proactively identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities across established exhibit, sponsorship, and advertising offerings.
-
Monitor customer response, market trends, competitor offerings, sales activity, and inventory performance; provide data-informed recommendations regarding pricing, packaging, and product positioning.
-
Bring forward recommendations for new or enhanced exhibit, sponsorship, and advertising opportunities based on customer feedback, market trends, and identified revenue opportunities.
-
Support group registration sales as business needs require, including targeted outreach and facilitation of established group opportunities within approved guidelines.
-
Sell and grow digital and print advertising across SCCE & HCCA's media channels, including identifying new prospects and retaining and expanding existing advertiser relationships.
-
Manage advertising opportunities from needs assessment and package development through agreement execution, asset coordination, delivery, and renewal.
-
Partner with Marketing and Publications to refine advertising inventory, pricing, rate cards, media kits, and sellable offerings based on customer and market feedback.
-
Oversee exhibit hall floor planning, including booth layout, assignment, and inventory management in coordination with general service contractors (GSC) and venue contacts
-
Manage booth assignment processes, ensuring exhibitor needs and preferences are accommodated within operational constraints
-
Serve as the day-to-day liaison with on-site vendors (decorators, AV, catering, etc.) to ensure seamless exhibitor and sponsor fulfillment
-
Maintain accurate and up-to-date floor plans and exhibitor records in show management systems
-
Collaborate with Marketing to develop and maintain sales kits, media kits, sponsorship prospectuses, exhibitor materials, and related sales collateral, ensuring accurate inventory, pricing, deadlines, and product information.
-
Keep all collateral current with accurate inventory, pricing, deadlines, and product descriptions
-
Own the fulfillment process for sold sponsorships, exhibits, and advertising commitments from agreement execution through delivery and post-event follow-up.
-
Manage exhibitor and sponsor communications throughout the event lifecycle, including required materials, deadlines, logistics, fulfillment expectations, and issue resolution; independently resolve routine concerns and escalate exceptions when appropriate.
-
Coordinate internally with Conferences, Marketing, Publications, Finance, IT, and other teams to ensure commitments, timelines, and deliverables are met.
-
Maintain the ability to independently execute the administrative processes supporting exhibits, sponsorships, and advertising—including agreements, invoicing, payments, registrations, and system updates—and step in as needed to resolve issues, expedite customer needs, and ensure commitments move forward without unnecessary delay.
-
Partner effectively with administrative and operational support staff while maintaining accountability for the overall customer experience and successful completion of assigned business.
-
Gather customer feedback and use it to strengthen relationships, improve future offerings, and identify new revenue opportunities.
-
Serve as the primary onsite representative for exhibits and sponsorships, overseeing move-in, exhibitor check-in, show-floor issue resolution, sponsor fulfillment, and move-out coordination.
-
Ensure customer commitments are delivered accurately while building and maintaining positive exhibitor and sponsor relationships throughout the conference experience.
-
Maintain accurate and timely CRM records and reporting related to prospects, pipeline, account activity, forecasts, agreements, revenue, retention, rebooking, new customer acquisition, and inventory.
-
Use sales and customer data to identify risks, opportunities, and actions needed to achieve established revenue goals.
-
Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Hospitality, Communications, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
-
5+ years of relevant B2B sales, exhibits, sponsorships, advertising, account management, or event-related experience, with demonstrated ability to independently manage customer relationships and revenue opportunities.
-
Demonstrated success retaining and growing accounts, developing new business, and working toward or achieving revenue targets.
-
Ability to identify prospects, initiate outreach, conduct needs-based sales conversations, develop packages, negotiate within established guardrails, and close business.
-
Strong relationship-building and customer-service skills, with the confidence to initiate conversations and develop long-term customer relationships.
-
Strong organizational skills and a hands-on, collaborative approach, with the willingness and ability to step into operational or administrative details when needed to keep customer commitments and business moving forward.
-
Experience managing multiple accounts, deadlines, deliverables, and fulfillment commitments simultaneously.
-
Experience with CRM/database systems and standard business tools (Microsoft Office, etc.).
-
Ability and willingness to travel to conferences and events (estimated 15-25% travel, including some weekends).
-
Association or nonprofit experience.
-
Experience with exhibit hall operations, booth assignments, general service contractors, and standard trade show practices.
-
Experience contributing to sales kits, media kits, sponsorship prospectuses, pricing, or package development.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate combines strong sales and relationship-building skills with a hands-on, collaborative approach. They are comfortable moving between developing new business, meeting with customers, creating sponsorship opportunities, and addressing the operational details necessary to move an opportunity forward. They take ownership, solve problems, and are willing to step into the details when needed not to delay the customer experience.
