Susan Liimatta, Cmp Email & Phone Number

Marquette, Michigan

Madison, Wisconsin Area

Madison, Wisconsin Area

I specialize in creating websites for artists in the Squarespace platform. Squarespace is a great platform for those without great skills in technology. After building a site, the owner is able to easily update content including adding events, photos, and new pages.

Stoughton, Wisconsin

Events and Tourism ManagerIn this position, I was responsible for events that bring up to 35,000 visitors to the city annually. The theme of the largest annual festival is Norwegian heritage, held in the spring, and other smaller festivals are held throughout the year. Like many towns in Wisconsin, Stoughton is also a place that attracts bus tours for the city’s shopping, arts, music, history, and dining. Working on promoting tourism to the city was a very exciting project. Stoughton has become a destination due to the success of the Stoughton Opera House having reopened in 2001 after being closed for nearly 50 years. Nearly 40 percent of their 100 annual shows are sold out making Stoughton a place that comes alive at night. Entrepreneurs have been drawn to the city in recent years. New art-based businesses and restaurants are opening every year. The downtown is picturesque with businesses operating in historic buildings dating to the 1880s. Stoughton is ready to be discovered and enjoyed by tourists and visitors of all ages, from millennials to baby-boomers to senior citizens. To capitalize on these dynamic trends I launched a number of initiatives to bring awareness to Stoughton.ACHIEVEMENTS• Launched a rebranding project for the tourism department by retaining Graydient Creative, a Milwaukee-based design firm, to create new, modern designs for print and digital ads, a logo, and to build a tourism website. Built stoughtofestivals.com, the festival's first stand-alone website.• Introduced social media marketing and MailChimp for festivals and events.• Transferred Art Walk Stoughton 2018, an event that I founded, to the Chamber.• Designed a marketing strategy for tourism department to reach target audiences identified by the state's tourism department. • Redesigned a money-losing event by rebranding as a craft beer venue with the aim of reaching $5,000 in profit.• Applied for and won a $5,000 Joint Event Marketing grant from the WI Tourism Dept.

Madison, Wisconsin

As the event manager the NCSL student leadership conference I produced two national conferences each year for over 1,000 collegiate students and their advisors including site-selection, contract negotiations, building registration and other on-site processes, managing staff, marketing, writing, curation of content, and event design to meet organizational needs and objectives.ACHIEVEMENTS• Introduced social media marketing for the NCSL Spring 2012 conference which exceeded attendance goals by 40 percent and revenue projections by $75,000.• Introduced a conference app to eliminate print design expenses leading to per-event savings of $3,900.• Negotiated hotel contracts including meals, technology, and function space in order to meet budget targets for 12 national conferences.• Managed 2 annual conference budgets from $100,00 to $300,000.• Expanded roster of speakers to include experts from academia, tech, government, and business which helped conferences to exceed attendance goals. • Redesigned the RFP process to improve communication with venues resulting in faster contract negotiation.

Madison, Wisconsin

As the conference coordinator for Magna's bi-annual National Conference on Student Leadership I was responsible for pre- and post-conference logistics.ACHIEVEMENTS• Managed budget line items including banquet events and audio-visual totaling $180,000.• Managed room blocks to meet hotel contract obligations for 12 national conferences.• On-site manager for national conferences with 350 to 800 attendees.• Coordinated site selection to secure appropriate 4-star venues for 6 national conferences.

Madison, Wisconsin

ACHIEVEMENTS• Managed registration for an annual conference with 1,000 attendees.• Wrote website copy, emails to attendees, and conference press release.• Created a conference procedures manual outlining processes for procurement, logistics, and accounts payable.

Roslyn, Ny

Managed purchasing, invoicing and reports for a Long Island interior design company.

Ba, English Literature

Certificate, Small Business Development Center, Entrepreneurial Training Program

Certificate, Project Management

Continuing Education: Certificate in Project Management, 2007