Ting Ting Liu is the Event Manager for IET China, a role which fits under the professional engineering institute’s (PEI) international strategic marketing and engagement (ISME) directive.
One of the highlights of her job is seeing how her work results in not only connecting members, but also getting them more involved in both the organisation and the wider engineering community.
Her focus is on delivering high quality IET conferences where delegates and speakers can network, share knowledge and potentially begin to develop new partnerships.
“My role is to make sure that IET China’s events platform is once that can be trusted, easy to access and service the needs and enhance the knowledge of the Chinese engineering community.”
“My role is to make sure that IET China’s events platform is once that can be trusted, easy to access and service the needs of the Chinese engineering community.
“In addition, we design these events to also nurture new partnerships within China and beyond. I’m here to help Chinese engineering businesses and research institutions expand their reach to a wider audience as well as improve the reach of overseas organisations within China.”
An ‘average’ day
Ting Ting’s day often begins with checking if there are any issues to resolve around the current event she’s working on. Working closely with colleagues in the UK, she uses her mornings to check and respond to any emails they may have sent, before catching up with the event assistant or marketing manager to discuss the progress of event production and/or marketing.
The afternoons are then hers to focus on everything else, from meeting with partners to discuss potential opportunities through to working closely with colleagues on the publication of research papers or reports post event.
“As an event manager you’re involved in so many different aspects, from the promotion of an event through to sourcing high value content for the IET to publish,” she says.
Connecting the problem solvers
Ting Ting’s work has a big impact on both the Chinese and international engineering community, as she helps to connect the people who solve the problems that matter.
“People often come to our conferences to look for solutions to the problems they have. So, when we look for event speakers, we always focus on getting the industry’s or research’s field’s very best people. They’re the problem solvers in their given field and we connect them with the delegates to help advance engineering and technology in China and beyond.
“By bringing experts from around the world to our delegates, the large and fast-developing Chinese engineering community is able to take learnings from the rest of the world. On the flipside, the rest of the world can also benefit from building closer connections with China, as it’s the world’s fastest developing country.”
A world of opportunities to be explored
Another thing Ting Ting loves about at the IET is the variety of career options that can be explored.
“I originally started working for the IET in the UK as an event assistant. After a couple of years there I heard that there was an opportunity for an event producer over in China. I felt I could add value to that role, applied and ended up being offered a transfer,” she says.
“If there’s something you’re really interested in then the IET often supports people transferring to different departments and/or regions. The organisation encourages you to learn new things from different departments and areas of the industry, which is great.
“There’s also room for progression. Since I came back to China, I’ve able to gradually progress from event producer to event manager. It’s a great organisation for staff to develop their career and learn from their colleagues,” she concludes.
