melanie walker: in anaheim, CA

YAMAHA CORPORATION OF AMERICA, Buena Park CA Marketing Specialist/Trade Show & Event Planner, Band and Orchestral Division Planned and coordinated 80+ annual trade shows; on and off-site divisional sales meetings, kick-off meetings, annual company award banquets and company wide employee events; dealer training seminars; VIP artist relation receptions and product road shows. Managed and tracked divisional trade show and event calendar. Negotiated hotel meeting room, group & individual housing, catering and trade show contracts. Direct contact with all trade show and third party vendors, contractors, suppliers and on-site union representatives. Coordinated pre to post trade show planning meetings with in-house and field marketing/sales staff. Responsible for trade show logistics and pre-arrangement of all exhibitor services at venue. On-site at trade shows to oversee exhibitor set-up, tear down and completion of bills of lading at close of show. Arranged individual and group travel; catering for all show related events, meetings and banquets; managed corporate hotel room blocks directly with hotel sales staff; arranged airport transfers and ground transportation. Arranged and contracted off-site company cocktail parties and dinners locally and throughout U.S. cities. Responsible for choosing, ordering, disbursement of company promotional items (SWAG) such as hats, shirts, banners, jackets, training materials as well as staff trade show logo wear. Administrative duties to include trade show and event related invoice reconciliation and payments, cross-divisional internal billing, processing check requests, SalesForce.com data entry and forecasting annual trade show and event costs. Monthly expense reporting for division’s purchasing credit card and individual travel & entertainment credit card. Renewed annual music industry partnership and sponsorship contracts. Worked directly with upper VIP management; division General Manager, Director of Marketing, Director of Sales and Administration Director on trade show, event and administration tasks. Divisional liaison between other division Marketing/ Product /Sales Managers in regards to needs with their trade show presence.