Training and Events Manager

School Library Association

Hours
37 hours per week

About the Organisation

School Library Association (SLA) is an independent charity and membership organisation that believes every pupil is entitled to effective school library provision. The SLA supports all those working in school libraries. We have been representing the school library sector for more than eighty-five years, with membership in the Association thought of as essential to all those who work in and around school libraries. Membership in the SLA provides training, support in advocating with senior leadership teams, incredible discounts, and collegiate networking opportunities for everybody working in and with school libraries.

About the role

You will lead the organisation of our annual conference; develop and maintain a calendar of events and training for members and non-member audiences; and support the team with all event-related administration and logistics. Events at the SLA include member meet-ups (in person and online), events in our branch network across 23 regions, professional development and training, and our SLA Awards ceremonies. Your work will be at the forefront of our member offer, helping to build links with membership, support members, build relationships with key stakeholders and sponsors, and deliver high-quality training and impactful events across the year.

An agile and flexible thinker, you will be creative, with a flair for spotting opportunities for professional development, and have a keen eye for detail with an ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines. Using your project management experience, you will work with the CEO, SLA team colleagues, and subject matter experts and facilitators to develop and deliver a high-quality and competitive events and training programme to all.

Responsibilities

Annual Conference: Our flagship event runs over two days and is the only conference of its kind for school libraries. Duties include:

• Planning all conference logistics, developing and managing the timeline, and liaising with the venue
• Working with colleagues to develop a high-quality, inspirational conference programme, including sourcing speakers and workshop contributors
• Securing exhibitors and managing the conference exhibition
• Supporting conference sponsors and all conference stakeholders
• Supporting marketing and promotion, including monitoring ticket sales
• Ensuring all communications with stakeholders are timely and well thought out
• Leading on the day with appropriate planning, call sheets, and communications
• Evaluating the event and analysing feedback to inform future development

Member meet-ups

• Coordinating a range of engaging and supportive member events that will provide SLA members with the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to work effectively in their schools. This includes:
  • regular half-termly online member meet-ups
  • one in-person member event per term
  • branch network events
• You will support the development of and manage the calendar for these events and work with team colleagues to ensure they are timely, promoted, well attended, and evaluated.

Training: We currently run six training webinars across the academic year. We have a library of on-demand training and resources. As we look to develop our training offer, this is an exciting opportunity to influence how we support school librarians to develop their skills, knowledge, and confidence across a range of areas. This will include:

• Identifying opportunities and areas of need that can be met through training
• Exploring and evaluating business and funded models for training and events
• Working with external facilitators and subject matter experts to devise training programmes, ensuring delivery is aligned with SLA requirements and outcomes
• Developing relationships with partners to produce high-quality training, including
• SLA members, funders, external stakeholders
• Awards ceremonies: We run awards ceremonies for our Information Book Award and our school library awards (Primary and Secondary). These events take place in Summer and Autumn, and you will work with your team colleagues to plan and deliver these high-profile events

General:

• You will oversee the organisational event calendar to ensure all events are timely and members are well-informed. This will include contributing to relevant SLA communications, including TSL, newsletters, and promotional material, and active involvement in developing marketing plans.
• You will use your expertise to lead on effective coordination of all training and events administration, planning, and logistics, with the opportunity to develop new ways of working as needed. You will be familiar with monitoring and evaluation of training and events to ensure reach and applying learnings as needed, including creating reports for the CEO, the Board, and funders.

Skills, Competencies & Experience

Essential:

• Experience in event and project management
• Experience in running conferences with exhibition and sponsorship development
• Experience in building engaging and interesting programmes of speakers for events and training
• Experience in developing online and in-person training and events
• Strong understanding of communicating effectively with stakeholders and information gathering for event programmes
• Confidence in building relationships with potential partners, participants and sponsors
• Experience of working with subject matter experts and external facilitators to develop and deliver training
• Experience in planning and hosting webinars with guest speakers
• Experience in event marketing and promotion, understanding what is needed to successfully engage an audience
• Ability to work with and use technology to support and enhance event processes
• Experience in evaluating events/training and gathering feedback to support future development and reporting requirements

Desirable:

• Experience of working with schools and the education or arts sector will be an advantage
• Experience in developing and delivering educational training programmes
• An event project management qualification will be an advantage
• Experience in developing e-learning and digital training offers
• Understanding of evaluation processes and data analysis, and reporting
• Experience of working with CRM systems such as iMIS
• Experience in shaping exhibition and sponsorship packages

Compensation & Benefits

• Employer pension 6% contribution.

Working locations

• Home-based
• Travel across the UK is essential to this role, as is the ability to stay overnight on occasion, in particular for the annual conference which takes place on 5th/6th June in 2026 in Winchester. Travel and accommodation costs are covered by the SLA for all events

How to apply

• To apply, please send a one-page covering letter and CV to [email protected] with the subject line "Training and Events Manager" by 19th December. Applications without a covering letter will not be considered. No agencies, please.

Interviews

• First round interview (online): 13th and 14th January  
• Second round interview in person, TBC: 20th and 22nd January 

Policies

Due to the volume of applications, we cannot provide individual feedback. We really appreciate your interest. If you haven’t heard from us within four weeks of the deadline, it means we’ve moved forward with other candidates on this occasion. We encourage you to apply again in the future. Please note we may close recruitment early should the right candidate be identified.

Return to listing