How Altria Trains Executive Assistants to Organize Events

Companies that rely on untrained executive assistants and admins to plan meetings are putting themselves at risk. 

A poorly worded contract could mean thousands in cancellation fees. Uncomfortable chairs, headache-inducing lighting, and bad food are more than just annoying — they can turn attendees off to the point where they’re no longer listening. 

For those reasons and more, Carrie Davenport, lead event manager, at Altria, decided to start an annual Meeting Planner Bootcamp three years ago for her company’s executive assistants. 

“Anyone that acts in a meeting planner role should have access to training,” Davenport said. “Occasional planners are still planners. They still face the same risks and processes as skilled planners. We’d be foolish not to offer them tools from our toolbox.”

Each year, Davenport chooses the group, which ranges in size from eight to 12 EAs. She runs the program with her colleague Willette Ellis, event planner, who started as an EA and is now a full-time meeting planner.

Hundreds of Meetings a Year

The meetings team at Altria is a small group of five people that works with external clients and uses contractors to plan internal conferences, meetings, and board meetings. EAs also often end up as planners.

“Sometimes they will involve the meeting planning department if the logistics are quite expansive, if it’s a VIP client or audience, or if the scope of the program is outside of their comfort zone,” said Davenport. “However, there is no clear delineated line.

“With hundreds of meetings taking place each year, we all try to help each other. EAs know they can reach out to us whenever they need a contract reviewed, an RFP vetted, or for any other resources.”

Contract clauses such as force majeure are the first lesson for the EAs who attend bootcamp. “Executives using EAs over meeting planners usually don’t realize that most aren’t trained in contract negotiation or the legal language of events,” she said. “EAs need to understand the risk they are undertaking by signing event, venue, and vendor contracts.”

Palm Beach-Bound

The Meeting Planner Bootcamp is usually combined with a site visit to a hotel or venue, so for this year’s bootcamp in late July, Abernathy chose Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. “We did a site visit at Tomorrow’s Golf League (owned by Tiger Woods), which is close by, so that the EAs could see a different style of special event venue that we can use for our top clients,” she said.

“Along with the site visit, we also had conversations around contracting, challenges the group faced over the prior year, and upcoming ideas that needed to be workshopped as a group.” There was also a keynote speaker, Event Executive Jeanne Dubosse, who shared her career journey with the group.

So far, the response to Meeting Planner Bootcamp from attendees and company executives has been positive. “I’ve watched these very competent women go from hesitant to confident,” she said. “Some are even running larger and more complex meetings. I’m very proud of them and the internal network we created, where we all help one another and can reach out to each other to workshop ideas and issues that arise.”