Director of Events and Strategic Partnerships
Rochester Downtown Alliance
311 South Broadway, Suite A2
Rochester, MN 55904
Company Overview:
The Rochester Downtown Alliance (RDA) is a Minnesota nonprofit corporation comprised of a broad range of people, including property owners, business leaders, the City of Rochester, and others with a direct stake in enhanced business and economic development in the Downtown district. The RDA also interacts closely with the public, including residents and visitors.
The RDA works collaboratively to build a vibrant downtown community and believes that a strong core positively impacts the greater city of Rochester. The RDA brings downtown to life through events, activation, and advocacy. The RDA’s values are:
• We’re the Downtown Experts - Downtown Rochester is our focus. Everything we do, we have Downtown in mind, constantly providing events, programs, and services that meet our vision.
• Build it Together - Create and maintain an environment where we are better off collectively than we are individually.
• Strive for Excellence - We are dedicated to excellence. Our quest embraces creativity, innovation, and hard work. We pride ourselves on being accessible and approachable to everyone. Our #1 priority is the quality of our events, programs, and services.
• Be Passionate - We bring passion and a positive attitude to all we do. • Have Fun - We have fun with everything we do.
Position Responsibilities:
The RDA is seeking a creative, energetic, and detail-oriented Director of Events and Strategic Partnerships to help us establish downtown Rochester as a welcoming, fun, and compelling place to be.
Over its 16-year history, RDA has established itself as a leader in event creation and production. Annually, we bring more than 200,000 eventgoers downtown through Thursdays Downtown, SocialICE, Movies in the Park, and Dogs Downtown, among other events. Many of these have become beloved traditions for Rochester, but COVID-19 has given us a great opportunity to freshen our perspective and think creatively about the years to come. The person stepping into this role should be capable of supporting and updating existing events, and equally capable of generating new event ideas and bringing them to execution. We’re looking for someone with both vision and practicality.
Primary job responsibilities include:
• Event management: RDA executes up to 22 large events and several smaller programs/series per year. Direct planning, production, and evaluation for our full event portfolio, including budgets, permitting, contract negotiations, vendor management, safety protocols, crisis plans, volunteer recruitment, on-site management, and post-event assessment.
• Partnership development: RDA self-generates 25 to 33 percent of its revenue through events and strives to make each event revenue neutral. Proactively develop sponsorship strategies that present value to potential partners and ensure that all partnership deliverables are met.
• Community relations: RDA has 300 direct stakeholders downtown and works with hundreds more people in the course of executing events. Develop ongoing relationships with downtown businesses, City team members, media, vendors, exhibitors, performers, and peer organizations. Serve on various boards and committees as a representative of RDA.
• Non-RDA event cultivation: Lead strategy development to encourage non-RDA produced events to choose downtown as their location. Manage Peace Plaza rentals, understand venue options downtown, advise first-time event producers, etc.
Key skills/qualities:
• People person: RDA’s Director of Events and Strategic Partnership might speak to 200 people in the course of a single Thursday and must truly enjoy this aspect of the work. You’re the kind person who gets every cell phone number and understands that everyone likes to hear “thank you”.
• Creative AND Analytical: You have a strong vision for downtown Rochester, and you’re excited by the prospect of changing up existing events or developing new ones. When visiting other cities, you’re always thinking, “Let’s make this happen in Rochester!”. You also know how to use data to justify your decisions and will use qualitative and quantitative analysis to assess and improve events.
• Detail oriented and budget savvy: You collect every W9 and COI, and stay on top of invoices and checks. You know each event budget inside and out and stick to it. • Professional communicator: To get things done in this role, you’ll call, email, text, and physically track people down. It will get hectic, but you will always be a timely, polite, and polished communicator and representative for the RDA.
• Safety aware: Whether we’re talking about pedestrian protection, grease fryers under tents, or COVID-19 protocols, you are constantly prioritizing the safety of our event participants and attendees.
• Team player: Things get stressful in this job, but you’ll have an amazing team to help. We work together with respect and a sense of humor. You know how to communicate early and often with your colleagues in marketing and communications to ensure your event is well-promoted and your promises to sponsors/partners are fulfilled.
• Cool under pressure: Things will go wrong. People will be difficult. You will handle it with grace. You can manage most things yourself and also know when it’s time to ask for help.
Job Qualifications:
• High school diploma. Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• 5+ years experience in event production, fundraising/development, or other related field. • Proven ability to bring a large event from idea to execution.
• Comfort with technology and learning new platforms: MS Office, various software to track market vendors, basic graphic design/diagram programs to create event layouts. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Outstanding attention to detail.
• Ability to work positively with others and thrive in a demanding, fast-paced, and rapidly changing environment.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks that vary in complexity and urgency. • Self-motivated, empathetic, creative, forward-thinker open to creating new strategies to enhance the Rochester Downtown Alliance and Downtown Rochester.
• Must be able to anticipate communication needs, discern work priorities, and meet deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Be willing to work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds.
Job Type: Full-time
To apply, contact: Holly Masek, Executive Director, hmasek@rdowntownalliance.com
