Leslie Dreiske, CMP, CEM

• Partner with the association Conferences Director to research and select conference sites, negotiate convention center contracts, city incentives and prepare supporting analytical data to supply to the association’s volunteer site selection committee. • Negotiate all hotel contracts for the association conferences and meetings. Aggressively managing hotel sleeping room contracts resulting in a proven track record of eliminating attrition charges, eliminating housing bureau costs and obtaining rebates. This has increased the bottom line results of all of our meetings. • Consistently improving cost effectiveness for all committee meetings by going out to bid on a regular basis. The results are that we have eliminated food and beverage overages, obtained complimentary internet service, and have experienced rate reductions year over year on all meeting services. • Implementing an operating philosophy of nailing down all controllable details in advance of the conference, and combining that with tight on-site event management. This allows on-site operations to run like a well oiled machine, and frees up time and resources to deal with the unexpected. • Collaborating with other departments in brainstorming meeting themes, preparing marketing copy, incorporating new technology and offering creative solutions to sponsors. This keeps the meeting fresh each year and contributes to flawless execution onsite because everyone owns a piece of it. • In the six plus years of employment with ENA I have earned my Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) designation, graduated from the MRA Institute of Management Principles of Management certification program and am currently working toward the Certified Exhibit Manager (CEM) certification.

• Improved audiovisual quality and reduced costs by eliminating the use of hotel audiovisual companies and hiring an outside audiovisual provider to travel with the association. • Using past experience in hotel sales, pursuing all leads and effectively increasing exhibitor booths and sponsorships 5 -10% each year. • Lead a team in redesigning the meeting registration site allowed us to capture much more information to support the House of Delegates. This vastly improved customer service for this important segment of our membership as well as the reporting for CEU certificates. • Trained staff and developed the team to perform at a highly competent level receiving many member comments and producing error-free registrations. • Developed service standards and implemented in-house meeting procedures for committee meetings of 10-60 participants at the headquarter building, enabling the organization to save $10,000 in hotel catering costs.

Sales Positions Specializing in Convention and Association Markets: -Association, Convention, and Sports Sales Manager, Ramada Hotels O’Hare, Des Plaines, IL -Association and Convention Sales Manager, Embassy Suites O’Hare, Rosemont, IL -Association and Convention Sales Manager, DoubleTree Hotel O’Hare, Rosemont Rosemont, IL -Stay at home mom, held various part time positions/Captained club level competitive tennis team. -Director of Sales (oversight of all markets) Holiday Inn Evanston, Evanston, IL -Sales and Marketing Representative, America West Airlines, San Diego, CA and Chicago, IL (1983-1986: America West Airlines, Tempe, AZ, Flight Attendant and Cross Utilized Customer Service Representative working on flight ground operations, ramp and reservations)