Smart Meetings Magazine Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for less than a year

Pros – Smart Meetings is very fast paced, entrepreneurial, and has the best products/services in the industry. Great views of the bay and marina. Gourmet coffee and teas available to employees at no cost to them. A rewarding environment where results and team effort are valued. Stellar customer service, quality products, growing revenue, and top notch content drives the company and its employees.

Cons – If you're not used to a fast paced environment, this could be a con for you. Smart Meetings is not a "job", it's where your dedication and hard work will be put to the test as the (at times) heavy work load can be a challenge. If you've worked at start ups before this is not unusual...in fact, it's why many people thrive and prefer this type of environment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for more than a year

Pros – There are a lot of great opportunities to travel, and working at the company events are among the most fun days of work I've ever had. There were several times where, having an idea for something new, I could present it to the CEO/CFO and would be told to run with it. Being able to work a project from inception to completion is a really great opportunity, and is just one of the examples of how the company has a start-up feel.

Cons – The location is a pretty cool benefit, but also a bit isolating. Sausalito is gorgeous, and the downtown district is only about a 4 minute drive away. Walking distance, there's 3-4 restaurants in the area for lunch, and a great waterfront park to eat at if brown-bagging, but I was sometimes jealous of the downtown SF crowd. (It is entirely possible that this has changed recently. That neighborhood is ripe for redevelopment / some funky art galleries and whatnot.)

The inevitable flip-side of the start-up setting is that there's a lot to do, and if working on a new pet project, the old ones don't just go away.

Advice to Senior Management – Noticed recently that the staff has grown pretty significantly in the last three years. This probably cut some of the workload, which may be good (I tend to like the busier pace and wouldn't know which set of tasks I'd have wanted to pass off to someone else).

Not sure that's advice, but it's what comes to mind. That and the Monday morning meetings could have been shorter. Or maybe every other Monday.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time

Pros – The meetings industry is an exciting field to cover and offers endless possibilities for stories and photos. Every issue of our magazine is packed with news, insightful profiles on industry leaders and reviews of great meetings destinations. We all feel very proud of our collective efforts both in print and online. The opportunity to travel is another great reward for working hard. I especially enjoy working in Sausalito, with sailboats literally in our backyard.

Cons – Everyone should have a view of the marina! Seriously, the only thing I would change would be adding a retirement savings plan to company benefits.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for less than a year

Pros – Many companies will say that they are results driven, but they aren’t, instead these other companies hire and promote people based on their pedigree and educational backgrounds without taking the time to review the value a person is capable of adding to a position. Smart Meetings isn’t like this.

Smart Meetings is about results and the owners don’t hold back from being upfront that they want to know how much you can improve their numbers. It doesn’t matter if you graduated from an Ivy League University, what matters is if you can make your department a success or not.

They are also very upfront about their benefits package, if I wanted pizza I wouldn’t go to a Chinese restaurant and then complain, so I’m unsure why anyone could have an issue with this as you know well beforehand what you will or won’t receive.

Cons – You can expect an extremely heavy workload in the first couple months, partly as a method for testing your abilities, but mostly as it will require a lot of your time to get up to speed on all the moving parts of the organization.

Advice to Senior Management – NA

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for less than a year

Pros – I recently moved from Nashville, TN to Sausalito, CA to join the Smart Meetings Team as the Director, Meetings & Events. Smart Meetings is a unique and successful media and events company. We are encouraged to run our daily activities as entrepreneurs making decisions based on best business practices. My last few months have been rewarding and our events team successful. Leadership is dedicated to providing professional development and resources to encourage and increase skill sets. The name of our game is results with dedication to customer service and individual success. The entire staff was recently invited to a corporate suite at the AT&T Stadium to enjoy a Giants Game on Saturday, April 20. I am looking forward to joining my colleagues for some fun down time!

Cons – I have not experienced any cons of working at Smart Meetings. I made the transition from Nashville to Sausalito and miss a great many of my friends, but that was to be expected. I love living in Northern California

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for less than a year

Pros – I felt warmly welcomed here from day one. The staff is very friendly and I've felt that my work is much appreciated. The office is located in a beautiful place and staff members routinely travel to some of the most incredible places in North America. In short, it's been a fantastic place to work.

Cons – As with other publications, deadlines and workload sometimes can be challenging, but my managers have displayed a great deal of understanding and flexibility regarding these matters.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine

Pros – Smart Meetings took me in, showed me the ropes and gave me a career. For that, I am eternally grateful. I really enjoy working with professionals who are willing to put in the extra effort required to produce a quality product and will never hesitate to give you a hand, should you need one. Management is always at the forefront of the industry and will teach you something new every day.

Cons – The absence of sick days can be frustrating, especially when flu season rolls around.

Current Employee – been working at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for more than a year

Pros – Enjoy working with professional coworkers who are willing to pitch in to help whenever possible. Management is passionate and appreciates you taking initiative. It has been fascinating learning about meetings industry, and magazine is well respected as both a stylish and informative source of information.

Cons – Beautiful location, but sometimes difficult commute, limited (but free!) parking and street out front floods. There are high expectations, which can be a great motivation but can also lead to big workloads and long nights finishing up a project. A 401k would be nice.

Former Employee – worked at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for less than a year

Pros – 1. An hour out of the office for lunch
2. An renewed sense of appreciation of all my previous work environments and managers and really appreciate the new gig

Cons – Many reviews here describe more of the "unpleasant" details. Some are embellished a bit for drama but, sad to say, true.

Management seems to be stuck in the 1950's concerning managerial style and expectations of the usefulness and loyalty of their employees.

Management team of two (when I was there) were openly hostile to employees and constant use of threatening language and most issue escalated to "the sky is falling" histrionics in most staff meetings and one on one staff interactions that I witnessed.

Ugliest professional experience in so many ways, it's almost like.."you wouldn't believe me if I told I ya..."

Advice to Senior Management – Despite the rebuttals and positive comments here, it's unfortunate that the negative reviews here read more as factual and come from real experience, so I recommend working on your rebuttals and any of the positive reviews (so lacking in substance..really, I'm shocked!) you might post.

No sure what you guys can do to improve. My guess is that you probably think you're already doing everything right.

I would suggest you treat your employees as collaborators and not order takers or worse..slaves that are made to work long hours on a whim as opposed to a legitimate business reason.

Lastly, apologize for your behavior to all your past and current employees. You guys really need to work on your interpersonal skills.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Smart Meetings Magazine full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great magazine, great clients, cutting edge technology

Cons – There is not enough rooom to describe how dysfunctional, frightening and harnessed in an employee feels while trying to perform with no training, no guidance and the dibilitating and astronomical sales quota. Huge set up for failure. I will try to phrase professionally, however be aware you are working under an evil sovereign with the worst and most intense micro-managing ever experienced in a lifetime of professional sales expertise and success. The positive reviews were clearly planted by the company, most likely an order from the owners to counter-balance the appallinging negative reviews. Every move you make, every breath you take is watched over. Your fellow employees cannot be trusted and will gladly sacrifice your job for their gain. Pray you don't get sick!! Calling in sick is viewed as sacreligious, hence the stuffy temperature challenged office is overrun with people who are spreading virulent flus, bacteria and the illnesses never recede they just keep getting passed around. People are called into the office constantly and reprimanded for ridiculous, petty issues that could easilly be overlooked. Employees are terrified of the owner, again hope you don't get caught on your cell phone another of so many regulations difficult to keep track of. They run their business through intense fear and insulting even the most successful employees. The ongoing, frequent and repititious "meetings" are designed to instill fear, guilt and intimidation the worst, by far, morale I have
ever seen. Again, be aware this is only the tip of the iceberg. The owner is proned to long winded rages if you happen to fall into her line of fire. Completely insane, prayed every day that job would end and greener pastures would prevail. Hope this is a convincing snapshot- good luck! and hope you have armor on and seasoned "durable and thick skin"

Advice to Senior Management – Anyone "smart" in this day and age knows that management of good people invloves praise, positive feedback, a great, generous, safe and kind work environment to foster loyalty, dedication, production and longevity. Dismally failing-

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company