PCMA Convene magazine published the results of its 2015 Annual Salary Survey. Nearly 80 percent of meeting professionals have earned a significant pay raise — an average increase of 7 percent — within the last year.
Completed by 340 association, corporate and independent meeting professionals in March, the survey revealed that the average salary is nearly $81,000, compared to under $76,000 in last year’s survey.
“Meeting professionals told us that they earned higher increases in this year’s survey than in last year’s survey,” said Michelle Russell, editor in chief, Convene. “Only 3 percent said that their salaries decreased within the last year.”
This year’s results proved once again that it pays to earn a CMP designation. Certified meeting professionals earned on average $85,793 — more than $10,500 a year over their counterparts without a CMP.
“In addition to our standard survey questions, this year we asked planners what factors go into determining their compensation, such as number of meetings they plan, size or scale of their largest meeting, the number of staff who report to them, and post-meeting metrics,” Russell added. “Not surprisingly, nearly 40 percent of them said their salary was based in part on the number of meetings they plan each year.”
While meeting professionals may be bringing home a bigger paycheck, the majority mentioned additional responsibilities added to their job description this year. They also work long hours with the average workweek for all respondents at 46 hours and nearly a quarter logging in more than 50 hours per week.
Professional Convention Management Association is a multi-channel professional resource and educator for leaders in the meetings, conventions, events and tradeshow industries.
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