Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal

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Ami Cervin

Events Planner

Greater Twin Cities
United Way

Minneapolis

■ The first event Ami Cervin planned was a masquerade ball for a 10th birthday party—her 10th birthday party—and she’s been hooked on events ever since. In college, she worked as a restaurant manager in charge of private parties. She interned at Interlachen Country Club where the catering director gave her events to plan all on her own. Then Cervin moved to Boston and worked at different hotels as a restaurant manager and a catering manager, doing everything from selling the space, detailing the space, reconciling bills and staffing the events. While in Boston, Cervin joined the International Special Events Society (ISES) and continued her membership when she moved back to Minneapolis in 2006. She currently holds the position of events planner at the Greater Twin Cities United Way, planning 50 to 75 public or donor events each year.

“Working for a nonprofit, your budgets are smaller and there’s definitely more emphasis put on finding partners and sponsors. You have to prove to sponsors the benefit and ROI on every event. They want you to show them that you lived up to every benefit that you said you were going to give them.

I also like to give them a little something extra. We had an event on Peavey Plaza in September and we had the bands autograph T-shirts and CDs that we gave to our sponsors and partners saying, ‘Here’s a little something extra if you have a silent auction.’ A lot of our partners do campaigns and they can use those things to raise money. I like to throw in those extra benefits they weren’t expecting so then they feel like we went above and beyond. It’s getting harder [to find sponsors due to the recession], and on the flip side we’re looking for more sponsor-ships now because our budgets are getting smaller.

Currently I’m on the ISES board, seeing how the association is run on both a local and a national level. I do freelance event planning on the side and I sit on a couple nonprofit event committees. I know my job will never be nine to five. I will never have a scheduled lunch break and I’m not going to have a 40-hour workweek. But it’s where my passion is. The part that I love the most is the planning. I love the production of it.” m