Director of Special Events

Employment Type: Seasonal (August – November)

Job Functions: Event Production

Employer: Bigsley Event House

We are Bigsley, a worldwide event production and experience design company. Our mission is to bring people together through shareable moments and exceptional experiences, and to make the world a happier, healthier place. After the great success of our first product, The Color Run, we decided to expand our happiness portfolio by creating Pumpkin Nights.

About Pumpkin Nights:

Pumpkin Nights was founded in 2016 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds with a mission to showcase local artists, and celebrate the most magical time of year without the spooks and scares. Pumpkin Nights is an outdoor, family-friendly pumpkin festival for the whole family. Spread over a half-mile walking path is 7 fantastical lands built using over 3,000 hand-carved pumpkins and funkins.

This season we’re producing Pumpkin Nights in Dallas and Austin Texas.

We’re looking for local Event Directors to work with our in-house team to create the on-site magic. The contract work will begin in August and run through mid-November. We have positions for Dallas, TX and Austin, TX.

Work Hours:

• Minimum number of hours committed to fulfilling the Services:
• Before set up: 8 hours/week
• During set up: 64 hours/week
• During festival: 42 hours/week
• During tear down: 64 hours/week, unless able to tear down installations quicker than one week.

Required Qualifications:

• Self starter
• Entrepreneurial (problem solving and opportunity capturing)
• Directed events from start to finish
• Good connections within market
• Ability to sell and close
• Great communication skills
• Ability to recruit, train, and lead teams
• Honesty and Integrity
• Logistics and Operations
• Hospitality experience and customer service skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Own or have owned your own business
• Directed large scale events (Min. 1k+ participants)

Job Description:

Training & Pre-event Prep

• Visit Bigsley Event House in Salt Lake City for an in-depth training on Bigsley Event House and Pumpkin Nights – who we are and what we do.
• Includes training on experience design/participant experience, on-site logistics, electrical, foam structure repair, and all standard operating procedures
• Work closely with Bigsley Event Directors to learn everything you can from them about onsite logistics, strategy, and best practices.
• Book all subs, entertainment, and suppliers for the festival – contact information for past vendors used will be given to you at the training.

Venue & Personnel Management

• Develop a strong relationship with the venue team
• Recruit and hire local staff to work the festival
• Set up team (10-14 ppl – mix of Bigsley Road Warriors and local help)
• Festival team (26-32 ppl – all local help)
• Take down team (10-14 ppl – mix of Bigsley Road Warriors and local help)
• Direct the Bigsley and local help during the 3 week set up
• Direct the local help during the festival
• Direct the Bigsley and local help during the 2 week take down
• Identify, Solve and Implement (ISI) problems and solutions where/when necessary to improve the participant’s on-site experience
• Stay in close communication with the Bigsley Team to implement on-site activations, strategies, and changes
• Scout out a local warehouse to store PN installations (if necessary) – if in existing market, create a strong relationship with warehouse owner

Vendor & Sponsorship Management

• Work closely with the Bigsley Partnership Team to ensure all vendor, sponsorship, and corporate group agreements are being fulfilled on-site
• Help generate leads for local sales and partnerships

Merchandise & Cash Handling

• Responsible for leading a team to setup and manage a pop up Pumpkin Nights Shoppe with branded merchandise
• Report daily sales and submit cash deposits from the store, box office, parking, etc.

Manage & Optimize Event Budget

• Gain an understanding of the budget and financial goals for the event – ensure we’re hitting targets, within budgets, etc.
• Manage the budget during the event – are we on target? Are there actions to take to increase our ROI?

Marketing & PR

• Be the go-to (or train a specific person) for all news interviews before and during the festival (Bigsley will let you know when and where these are located. Must be flexible as these might be during very early mornings)
• Participate at the local State Fair or other events (if applicable) to promote Pumpkin Nights
• Implement grassroots campaigns to promote Pumpkin Nights

Local Event Team

• Create a schedule for each member of your team during the festival (limit to 40 hours per week)
• Train and manage team (25-32 staff members per night) for duration of festival

Weekly Call with Bigsley

• Event Director and Bigsley will chat daily about the festival – ISI (Identify, Solve, Implement), talk about what’s working well, what can be improved, and best practices
• Event Director implements action items from meeting before event & on-site (as needed)

Daily & Post Event Analysis

• Event Director to email PN Product Manager a daily recap
• Event Director meets with Bigsley Team to debrief experience (the good, the bad, the ugly) mid-November, shortly after teardown

Bigsley