Helen Opie

Chief Executive at Surrey Law Society
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Contact Information
us****@****om
(386) 825-5501
Location
Banstead, England, United Kingdom, UK

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5.0

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David Gilmore

Helen is a warm, highly capable and professional leader of Surrey Law Society. She is particularly talented at arranging events and co-ordinating between her members and suppliers to ensure that members of Surrey Law Society receive the best possible service.

Alys Peart

Helen is one the best event managers I have had the pleasure of working with. She is dedicated event manager whose attention to detail is envied by her colleagues. Helen is very knowledge when it comes to managing events, I could always and still do count on Helen to give a professional opinion and often ask her for her advice. Anyone lucky enough to have Helen manage their events will not be disappointed and can guarantee that they their events will be first class.

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Experience

    • United Kingdom
    • Legal Services
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Chief Executive
      • Dec 2017 - Present

      The Surrey Law Society is a membership organisation that brings together 1,000 solicitors across the county. Strategic Management: development of business strategies and plans ensuring their alignment with the Society’s short-term and long-term objectives. Development of the Society’s member offering to ensure that it remains relevant and profitable. -Event Programme Coordination: creation and implementation of an annual events programme that encourages engagement from a broad range of members and attracts sponsorship revenue, including a variety of social activities such as an annual quiz, go-karting championship, wine tasting evening and President’s dinner. -SLS Legal Awards Management: conception of the Society’s annual awards programme and end-to-end delivery of this logistically complex programme, including full event management of the awards ceremony and gala dinner, marketing, sponsor procurement, budget management and programme development. -Training Programme Coordination: development of the Society’s annual training programme, ensuring it remains highly relevant to members and responsive to their continuing competence requirements. Agreeing topics and sourcing speakers to attract the highest possible attendance in this highly competitive market. Coordination and delivery of all training sessions, whether virtual or in person. -Sponsor Management: generation and maintenance of relationships with key SLS sponsors, managing the delivery of benefits and recommending further areas for partnership. -Magazine Editing: full editorial responsibility for the Surrey Lawyer, the Society’s quarterly members’ publication. -Financial Management: oversight of the Society’s finances, working alongside the Treasurer to review revenue-generating activities and identifying areas to maximise profitability. Show less

    • United Kingdom
    • Consumer Services
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Franchise Owner
      • Dec 2015 - Jun 2021

      Bright & Beautiful is an award-winning concept in domestic homecare, providing eco-friendly cleaning, tidying, laundry and ironing; with the highest standards of security and service. Bright & Beautiful is an award-winning concept in domestic homecare, providing eco-friendly cleaning, tidying, laundry and ironing; with the highest standards of security and service.

    • United Kingdom
    • Think Tanks
    • 100 - 200 Employee
    • Dialogues and Conference Manager
      • Apr 2011 - Oct 2015

      -International Conference Management: Management and full oversight of the international events programme including the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, Global Strategic Review in Stockholm and all other major international summits and conferences. Managing, planning and implementing all aspects of these high profile events, details of which include coordinating all logistical requirements, managing the team and workload distribution, design work and coordination of print materials, budget management and oversight of participation, main point of contact to event contractors and conference venues, and managing all other event logistics including stage design, registration and coordination of the technical and AV element alongside the Conference Technical Director. -Event Management: oversight of the members’ event programme, including keynote speeches by Heads of States, senior Ministers, leading academics and business leaders, publications launches and discussion meetings. Management of over 50 events per year held in the Institute’s facilities at Arundel House and Bloomsbury House, London. -Management: Leadership of the Conference team in London, including recruitment, development and workload distribution. Oversight of Dialogues Coordinators globally and the wider team of event contributors including the Media and Publications departments at Dialogues. • Financial Management: Oversight of the departmental budget and full responsibility for individual budgets in excess of £1m per event, negotiating with contractors and venues, adhering to grant requirements and proposing business cases for increased investment in innovation. -Supplier Liaison: Managing and developing a global network of suppliers including interpreters, freight companies, transcribers, event contractors, venue sourcing agencies, travel management companies and printers. Carrying out due diligence, management of tender processes and negotiation on costs. Show less

    • Professional Training and Coaching
    • 100 - 200 Employee
    • Senior Conference Coordinator
      • Aug 2006 - Mar 2011

      - Managing key areas of the events programme, including the flagship Specialism Conferences and National Conference. Management of logistical elements for one-day and residential events, including speaker/exhibitor/sponsor/delegate management, venue liaison, contract negotiation, and budget management - Providing a client management service to two of the SSAT's directorates. Building effective relationships with senior colleagues, promoting continuity and facilitating best practice by the implementation of procedures to improve all aspects of the event programme, including the development of strategies to advance event marketing, exhibition sales and budgeting - Developing a team of conference coordinators through training, appraisals and regular 1:1 meetings - Consulting on best practice event management including individual appointments, inductions and presentations. Mentoring staff in the UAE office in Abu Dhabi on the management of their inaugural event, including guidance on the initial brief, staff training and onsite support for the three-day 300 delegate event - Responsibility for all budgetary matters, including the management of commercial budgets with limited funds. Working with the development team to secure sponsorship funding to maximise income, proposing strategies to increase delegate sales, negotiating with suppliers to ensure the most competitively priced services - Developing the strategy, with the Conference Manager, to agree the positioning of the team, liaising with senior management to deliver the SSAT's aims and objectives, budget planning and ensuing activities are financially viable - Building a network of external suppliers including venues, venue-finding agencies, audiovisual and event technology companies. Key contact for the preferred venue-finding agency with responsibility for negotiating rates for the SSAT, keeping colleagues abreast of movements in the venue industry and reviewing cost savings generated Show less

    • Manager of Events
      • Jun 2002 - Aug 2006

      - Management of a wide variety events for 50 to 400 delegates including one-day and residential conferences, corporate hospitality, press and product launches, seminars, networking forums and gala dinners.- Successfully delivered a client's first annual international conference, held at a prestigious hotel in Annecy, France. This logistically complex 5-day event for over 200 members of the Association and their families included attractions such as a gala dinner, golf competition, lunch on the lake, business meetings and watersports.- Management of a number of important clients from membership associations to commercial businesses and government institutions, consulting on event strategies and delivering a variety of Programmes. Building and maintaining effective relationships, as well as negotiating a substantial increase in the annual fees received through the identification of new services to offer.- Developing new business opportunities through the production of tenders and presentations, successfully winning a number of accounts including the launch of a new company at the Savoy Hotel. This gained the company significant press coverage including a piece in the Daily Telegraph. - Recruiting senior speakers for a large number of events, including Directors from Tesco's, Reebok and Halfords, as well as sponsorship for client events including an exclusive package to the value of £20,000 with Mercedes Benz.- Supporting events with marketing collateral, including copywriting and creating advertising campaigns.- Creation and management of event budgets and negotiation of client fees.- Management of the recruitment, training and development of a team of event coordinators. Show less

    • Account Executive
      • Oct 2000 - Jun 2002

      - Coordinating all events from venue sourcing, delegate management, sales and publicity and onsite support.- Management of a number of public relations accounts, including writing effective copy for press releases and promotional features, as well as creating features lists and preparing award entries.- Building and maintaining effective working relationships with clients and journalists in order to facilitate open lines of communication.

Education

  • Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd
    2:1, BA (Hons) Broadcasting, Film and Journalism
    1997 - 2000
  • St John's School, Leatherhead
    A-Levels (History -A; English -B; German -C)
    1995 - 1997
  • Parsons Mead School, Ashtead
    9 GCSEs (all at grade A or A*)
    1986 - 1995

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