Pros
I worked in the defence production team for just under a year and I believe that this role is ideal for a young grad who enjoys taking the initiative and wants to learn how to take a project from start to finish. Whilst senior management approve what conferences are produced (although topic generation is strongly encouraged), the agenda and direction of each event is entirely down to you. You are trusted to do the research and find the niche for each year, thereby making the conference marketable and sellable. Therefore, in addition to the obvious research side of things, you are given a great deal of responsibility as the conference will succeed or fail depending on the course that you have set it on. Once you have "signed off" the project (when you have acquired enough quality speakers to make the event worth publicising), you move onto to your next event. However, this is just the end of the beginning of your work on the first project as you are then responsible for managing it, which involves briefing the other teams (marketing, sales, delegates sales), holding regular meetings to keep up to speed on their progress, and controlling the budget (many conference companies will not allow a fresh grad to do this). The project management was the part of the job I enjoyed most as I was able to work with people from different parts of the business who have different priorities and pressures - being able to achieve their "buy in" to you personally and to your project is of the utmost importance, as without their help, the event will flounder. I was straight out of university when I started this job and was suddenly thrown into a room with a mix of people, some of whom were my own age but most were much older and I was expected to lead the meeting. When you achieve their backing, which can be very difficult as you have to be able to deal with an eclectic mix of personalities, it is tremendously satisfying and when there is a united team working on an event, the whole process goes a lot smoother. In terms of your external contact I was given the opportunity to speak with senior business and military leaders from the first day. I have plenty of friends doing to dry consultancy jobs in the city, sitting in front of an excel spreadsheet and that's great for them (personally, I would rather blow my brains out) but this job offers you exposure to some very senior people in your given field from the first day. I would recommend looking at a few of the conferences online and you can see the level of seniority that the company engages with (look at International Armoured Vehicles, or International Fighter). Obviously, you won't be speaking with generals at every event (although it can be done!) as the topics will have an effect on what seniority of officer the military are prepared to send. Some of these senior guys can be difficult to work with but, when you get it right, it's tremendously rewarding. In terms of the positive things outside of the immediate job description, the company offers decent training and a clearly set out career path. Also, I realise it's an annoying cliche but there is a good 'work hard, play hard' culture so there is fair amount of socialising after work. There are plenty of negative comments on this site and I can't speak for other parts of the business but I enjoyed working in production. There is certainly pressure and it's not for the faint-hearted but there is pressure in every job. For a fresh grad, this will give you a great introduction to project management, time management, and it will enhance your research and interpersonal skills.
Kontras
Defence conferences are particularly challenging as speaker dropout rates are especially high because of the nature of the beast - if an officer is moved to a different assignment, there is no guarantee that you will get his or her replacement and if he or she is ordered to do something else that week by senior command at the last minute, your conference understandably comes second. Additionally, with reduced budgets, the military are increasingly struggling to attend conferences which poses challenges. The issue for the producer is that you are very much judged on the event you ultimately produce rather than what is on paper. Naturally, some producers are better than others and source replacements when a dropout occurs but sometimes you can still be very unlucky. An event rarely takes place where there isn't at least one dropout which wasn't salvaged. You are then judged both internally (by the sales team) and externally (by the industry sponsors) who are wondering why the person they were there to meet hasn't shown up. In terms of the company itself, there can be a tendency to push ideas for conferences for the sake of getting an event into the market at a given time of the financial year. I am all for trying new concepts and I do realise that, as a business, there are certain budgetary targets that have to be met. However, sometimes you can be given a topic which you know is going to tank and the blame for it going wrong will probably rest with you. To the company's credit, they do emphasise topic generation to enable new ideas to come through. However, if you are managing let's say 5 or 6 events, the last thing you want to do when you are under pressure is have to do research for another meeting. This is certainly all part of time management but sometimes there isn't enough time in the day, particularly if you prioritise doing the unsaid things that make a good producer (i.e. putting time in with each of your project teams). Ultimately, your enjoyment at IQPC will depend on your relationship with your immediate manager as he or she reviews your performance to senior management. I was lucky and had an excellent boss who trusted me to do the job, backed me when I was taking a risk, and still supported me if an idea of mine didn't pay off.
