60 Seconds with Donna Convery, Commercial and Events Manager of Belfast Met

I am Commercial and Events Manager with Belfast Met. The team are responsible for attracting and managing College commercial events, training, conferencing and hire of specialist facilities.

Monday 19 July 2021

60 Seconds with Donna Convery, Commercial and Events Manager of Belfast Met

Tell us about Belfast Met your role within!

I am Commercial and Events Manager with Belfast Met. The team are responsible for attracting and managing College commercial events, training, conferencing and hire of specialist facilities. Our four college campuses are utilised by a wide range of organisations, including public, private and third sector businesses, SMEs, and even film crews. At Belfast Met we guarantee memorable and successful events. Our friendly professional team guide our valued commercial-hire clients through the event planning process, from first site-visit to when the last delegates leave.

What has been your career journey so far?

After leaving University of Ulster with a First Class Honours degree in Communications, Advertising and Marketing, I worked for BBC Northern Ireland in Corporate and Public Affairs, managing audience based events, such as Children In Need, as well as audience management for entertainment and current affairs programmes. I moved on to Tourism NI as their newly appointed Corporate Events Officer, where I engaged with tourism representatives to plan and execute events to support the industry. I then moved to Queen’s University Belfast to take up the position of Conferencing and Events Manager, where I was responsible for the short-term hire of facilities, as well as the event management of international academic conferences. During my time at QUB I also completed the Executive MBA, before taking up my current role as Commercial and Events Manager at Belfast Met, with responsibility for commercial hire of the college estate and commercial and corporate catering.

Describe yourself in 3 words!

Creative. Driven. Enthusiastic

What is the 1 skill that helps you the most in your role?

Effective communication

Do you have any advice for your fellow Women in Events?

Never underestimate the impact you can have on those around you. Take every opportunity to be the best version of you that you can be.

Are there any exciting plans on the way for Belfast Met?

We are very much looking forward to the safe (and not-too-distant) return to face-to-face events, and welcoming back our much valued commercial hire clients to Belfast Met. The Commercial and Events team have been working behind the scenes to ensure we continue to meet the needs of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events industry as we transition out of the past challenging year for all of us.

Who is an inspiration in your career?

I am extremely lucky to have been (and continue to be) inspired by the managers and directors under which I have worked throughout my career as a whole. In a lot of ways they have all been different in their leadership approach, however, I have taken great inspiration from each and every one of them; developing my own leadership capabilities by learning from their own individual qualities.

What’s your favourite break time snack?

I would love to say all things healthy, but…. with the sweet tooth I have it has to be any types of jelly sweets (oh OK and all chocolate as well!!)

If you had to pick your soundtrack song to get you through the working day, what would it be?

Anything upbeat that you can hit the dance floor with will always be my go to tune…

How can your fellow WIB members keep up to date with you and the team at Belfast Met?

Visit the Hire of Facilities section of the Belfast Met website, where you can watch our video, highlighting the amazing facilities available at Belfast Met or email us: meet@belfastmet.ac.uk

Monday 19 July 2021