Considerations before taking the job.. - Conference Production IQPC Employee Review

Unfortunately IQPC is now barely a shadow of its former self. It is a highly siloed and disjointed organization so it is difficult to speak about IQPC as a whole. There are some divisions/teams that are better and more rewarding to work in than others. Some teams/divisions are terrible to work with. Looking at the Glassdoor reviews can give you some sense of which ones they are. There are a number of themes that are frequently mentioned in the reviews. One is that it is nepotistic. This is a little curious as a comment as it is a family owned and managed company. All family owned companies are nepotistic. They own the company so if they want to place their family members in senior management positions they may. So just know that coming in – that you’ll be working in a family owned company – and either accept it or don’t join. For me personally this was never a problem but for some it is. Another theme is that it is old school and stuck in another time. This is a more valid complaint…and probably a result of it being handed from one generation down to the next. IQPC has unfortunately been left behind and somehow got mentally stuck in 80’s Wall Street culture of cut throat, internal competition and managing through carrots and sticks from the top down. *Hard targets* and fear is still frequently used by many managers – ie the threat if you don’t do/make X, by Y date then you will be fired. Somehow IQPC missed the memo that now most successful companies are operating under a more Silicon Valley (vs Wall Street) approach to management these days – highly collaborative and agile, structurally flat and managing through coaching, empathy and servant leadership. You would only know the world had changed its managerial style if you had worked elsewhere within your career though…and the majority of leaders and decision makers, from sales to production to marketing and above, at IQPC haven’t. They grew up in IQPC and all they know is IQPC. Similarly, IQPC has also been left behind in the conference and events industry as well…again likely for the same reasons above. While the industry has matured and become a legitimate marketing channel, a desirable profession and field to make a life long career in, IQPC still operates like it’s the wild-west, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, and make-it-up-as you-go of the 1990’s. It was once a great innovator in the industry which you were proud to have on your resume, now it is so myopic that it isn’t even aware of the innovations that have happened in the industry outside of its walls. And the industry observers and influencers know it. I found this out when I reached out to some of them after I left and they gave me their opinion of IQPC within the industry as a whole. If what you are looking for is a long term career in events and conferences this probably isn’t the place to do it. IQPC has lasted the test of time but it has never grown up. It might be worth considering starting your career here right out of college for a year or two if you cant get into an events company that offers better and more structured training. IQPC used to offer some of the best training in the business when it wasn’t so siloed but now many other events companies offer far better training. If you do start your career with IQPC then don’t get stuck there like some do. You will never learn that there is a whole other fascinating and fulfilling world of events and conferences that do things very differently, are more up to date and have very different and more collaborative cultures. If you are already in the events and conference industry long term then I don’t recommend it, at least not in the form it currently is in. But who knows the future may bring changes. I just don’t see that happening any time soon.