The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

To achieve our mission of a more free, just, and equitable society, we commit to working proactively to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our myriad endeavors such as the recruitment, compensation, training, and advancement of staff.

The best people-serving institutions make this commitment, and we seek to be a leader in the ways that we do so and learn from others.

Program Description

The Public Programs team at the Aspen Institute produces a number of events each year that are open to members of the general public.

This position will support the Aspen Ideas Festival, to be held June 23-29, 2024 on the Aspen Institute's campus in Aspen, CO.

The Aspen Ideas Festival is the nation's premier public gathering for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussions about ideas and issues that shape our lives and challenge our times.

The 20th year of the annual Aspen Ideas Festival will return to the Aspen Institute's Campus and will foster attendees and speakers from a wide range of international sectors and industries to engage in meaningful dialogue.

Each year, the festival covers a wide range of timely and critical topic areas through panels, workshops, book clubs, debates, deep dives, and interviews.

Basic Function

The Aspen Institute seeks a Speaker Coordinator within the Public Programs team to help support Aspen Ideas Festival speakers with logistics, travel, and lodging.

The Speaker Coordinator will work closely with the speaker management team and other staff members supporting the Aspen Ideas Festival to ensure a seamless process and experience for our event speakers and their teams.

Please note that this is a temporary, part-time position that will be from January through July 2024.The pay range is $25-$30 per hour, with expectation of no more than 20 hours per week (Monday to Friday) from January to March, and 40 hours per week starting in April.

Long hours and working on weekends are expected closer to the event.

This position reports to the Program Manager who oversees the speaker team. In accordance with our Reimagining Work policy, the coordinator should be willing to be in-person with colleagues a minimum of 40% of the time while having the flexibility to work remotely for the balance.

In-person consists of meaningful connections with colleagues in an office, traveling to a different office or location to meet fellow staff members, at an Aspen event, at a meeting outside the office or other opportunities to meet in person with teammates and colleagues.

There is a strong preference for the selected candidate to be based in Aspen, CO or nearby. Travel to Aspen in June 2024 is required.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Programmatic Responsibilities

Work with speakers to confirm travel and other logistics as assigned and in coordination with key Institute staff; and

Support speaker reimbursements and vendor invoices as needed;

Event and Speaker Management Responsibilities

• Administration of invitations to presenters on behalf of Aspen Ideas, management of responses, support speakers' travel and accommodations;
• Solicit biographies and headshots of program presenters;
• Work with Communications staff on marketing, web content, social, and program materials related to speakers;

Database management, including researching presenter's work and background, contact information

Drafting email correspondence, speaker invitations, session descriptions; and

Willingness to step into other event-related projects as they arise

Administrative Responsibilities

Management of team's schedule as needed, including scheduling virtual calls and reserving conference spaces as needed;

Program billing as appropriate.

Knowledge, Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent of 2 years of work experience in event planning;
• Exceptional organizational skills, self-motivated, detail-oriented and has an eye for the big picture;
• Thrives in optimizing processes, workflows, tracking information, and general improvement of event planning and management;
• Excellent written and oral communications skills;
• Superb customer service skills;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite especially Word, Excel and other programs such as Google Docs, Email Marketing software, Outlook, Cvent, Adobe Premiere Pro, ArtsVision;

Event organization, administrative experience, and intellectual curiosity a plus.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation regarding the accessibility of our website, a modification or adjustment of the job application or interview process due to a disability, contact HRSupport@aspeninstitute.

org or call (202) 736-5800.

Last updated : 2024-02-25