Working at IQPC — Reviews by Employees

People have to stop being so negative and quit bashing this job so much. There is ups and downs to every job. we really have fun here and we all work our a**es off at tthe same time. everyone helps each other when help is asked for. And when you are on events that don't sell, my manager gets you on better events. everyone has a vested interest in everyones success. Im not gonna sit there and say the grass is always green there is alot of success as well as stress with this job. everyone I have worked with have been extremely friendly better than any job that I have ever have.

Their bball team is playoff bound...great place to learn sales by the way and build a skill set

Each conference presents numerous sponsorship opportunities. Our sponsorship sales team identifies and matches these opportunities with the best sponsors.
The quality of our conferences attracts industry leaders and trendsetters. This makes sponsorship an appealing option for related vendor companies. Our competitive sponsorship sales team works collaboratively and strategically with these companies to establish how best to present their brands to the conference delegates. This might be through speaking, sponsoring cocktails, an exhibition, or something altogether different.

Our most successful sponsorship salespeople are customer focussed and commercially savvy, and constantly on the lookout for new business opportunities. As always, the support, training and mentoring we provide our staff ensures that the brightest talent is quickly promoted. There are many different senior management and business development positions available within IQPC for talented salespeople.

Interesting, very interesting. A lot of negative reviews that could not be any further from the truth. I currently work here and just have to say there have been several success stories of those who have worked hard and made it to where they are today with the company. I have worked in cut-throat 8am-10pm shops and IQPC is the greatest quality of life shop I have worked with in my professional career. IQPC provides the proper platform set up for all of its employees to succeed. Therefore, it is up to the individual to make something of that platform provided to them and actually put in work. IQPC's current Director of Sales has been with the company for 5 years, started in an entry level position, and worked his way to where he is today. Also, another individual started in their Sponsorship division as a sales rep and worked his way to becoming a Manager of one of the most profitable groups in the company, all within 8 months--proof is in the pudding. Again, life is what you make it and so is your career. IQPC looks for goal-oriented individuals who want to make Manager. As a result, their current Director of Recruiting has set forth a proper 3 interview process that weeds out all of the candidates who would not be a potential good fit for this type of environment, and vice-versa. Sales is not for everyone.

This is such a funny web site..... Job Vent a.k.a. "I-couldn't-do-my-job-so-got-fired-and-need-someone-to-blame.com"

Wow! I just found this site and thought I'd check out some of the old companies I used to work for. Can't believe all the dirty laundry hanging out for IQPC. Though, I can definitely vouch for it. I joined IQPC back in January 1994 when I first graduated college. I was a conference producer. The job itself was a lot of fun -- if you like event planning and I got to travel a lot with the conferences I produced. So each month you would have time out of the office to attend your conference and make sure it ran smoothly. I believe it was at this time that the company started to go sour. Soon afterwards, conference ideas were dictated to producers by the Penton Learning Systems' (parent company of IQPC at the time) bulldog. I can't mention names, but, you just heard his voice over your speakerphone dictating to you what your conference should be, who should speak, and how it should read and be marketed. Producers' commissions started to get cut. They started hiring "sales people" to sell event sponsorships which eventually became more important to the IQPC management team than the conference content itself. Sales people would fight with producers because they would want to sell sponsored luncheons, wine/cheese networking sessions, etc. to the companies who were sending speakers. IQPC never paid speakers for their time and would resist tooth and nail to cover any airfare or hotel-stay for the speakers -- so when salespeople started calling them trying to sell sponsorships, the speakers would get upset and some would cancel out of the event. As IQPC grew, it became more evident that the conference topics and content mattered little so long as the events were "mareketed" with sponsorships and the attendee list was high. Producers were them put into "teams" and favoritism became rampant -- populer producers got the good conferences and new or younger producers got crap conferences that wouldn't perform. There would be long meetings over choosing the "correct brochure color" for the conference -- like 4 hour meetings to determine which shade of blue would better sell the conference brochure. If you didn't have a winning conference in 3 months, you'd be fired and another "body" hired to take your place. In the end, I was happy to leave IQPC. Those of us who worked there and saw it becoming a sweatshop started to refer to the company as "Ikky-Pikky" (the phonetic pronounciation of the letters I-Q-P-C) because it was disgusting to work there and deal with the inane aspects of unimportant relevance that team leaders and upper management would obsess about. Overall, if you're right out of college and looking for a job that gets you exposure to a lot of different business aspects and lets you network with seasoned business people you meet through your contacts, then its a good first step into the corporate jungle. Otherwise, you're better off looking elsewhere for a job that won't bleed you dry, drain you of your emotion and enthusiasm, and still try to squeeze more out of you than you can give.

I have wanted to write on here for a while now but was fearful of being attacked like most people who have written positive reviews. Anyway, you can attack me, I am giving my opinion and people have a right to hear my about my experience.

I love going to work and I don't know too many of my friends who can say that about their jobs. The people are great - very hard working and despite some of the pressures at times they are able to have fun too. Management encourages feedback, opinions, ideas, initiative and creativity. If you think an event will work and put a good business case behind it they will run with it. Ever since I have worked there I have expressed to my managers a career path I would like to take and they have guided me in that direction. I could give you many examples of international people who have been sponsored by IQPC or people who have moved globally around the different offices from London to New York to Brazil to Dubai etc. I could also give you many examples of people who have moved from production roles to become team leaders or leaders of a global division. Also, in all of my encounters with the MD he has been a genuine and encouraging person. Yes, he asks questions which can be challenging and he aspires for results but isn't that what every organization requires to be successful? Yes, the stationary supply is basic but I'm not sure I need flowery post-it notes or colorful folders to be successful. Yes, it is demanding, it can be stressful, it can be a pressured environment and it is deadline driven but I don't think anybody is set up for success if they don't have these elements in their career at times. And all of my managers have encouraged me to take vacation, and encouraged me to leave on time to make sure I have a good work/life balance. And yes, there may be a few personality types I don't necessarily gel with but like you have to in everyday life you learn to work with them.

From the day I started IQPC I have been encouraged to grow and develop in the career path I voiced to them. Maybe you had a very different experience, maybe you didn't suit the role requirements or maybe you didn't make the cut but I have to say my time at IQPC has been nothing but positive.

It's funny reading these reviews. Sounds like you have some people have had truly terrible experiences either self inflicted, bad luck, or conflicting personalities. Happens no matter where you go. On the other side of the coin, you have what sounds to be some pretty good experiences. Either way, the negative crowd makes it sound like there are hundreds of negative posters and 1 positive. Let's be real here. It reads like 5 negative posters and 5 positive posters.

As the negative person tries to point out ,that any positive posts are mandated by the company. I'll set the record straight. I work here and am not told to post here. I like my job, and I work for a great team. Everyone goes above and beyond, especially in this tough economy. There are always things a company can work on, but all in all, I'm pleased to work here. Definitely not the place to work if you want an easy job to coast through a tough economy.

An old colleague of mine forwarded this site to me, and i felt i should respond.

The conference industry is a tough place, lot's of people have come and go, but there are a lot of really great, smart people who have stayed in the industry.

I have worked for them all, IIR, Terrapinn, Informa, IBC, WBR and even Naseba, and honestly they all have their share of good and bad points. Some I have left with a more sour taste in my mouth, But I have had a great career, enjoyed them all for certain points and made some good money in sales and production.

Be smart, it's not hard to work out the conference model, but if the conferences are good, 90% of my experiences have been very very good. Go in with an open mind, work hard, try to make your conference the best in it's space and success will come.

Been watching these reviews for quite some time. Seems there are a few accurate and balance reviews, but most of them are from 1 unhappy sales person that was let go because of performance (I know who you are). I've been here for nearly 2 years now, and as the last reviewer mentioned, it has it's typical corporate pitfalls as any corporation would, but this place has provided me with nothing but opportunity and growth. As any organization goes, the better you perform, the more you get paid and the better the promotional opportunities. As with any job, proceed with caution before you accept, but don't make your decision based on these reviews alone. If you do, you will regret a lost opportunity. The company has changed so much in the last 2 years that even if the person below was correct with his experience, I no longer find it to be the case.