This was a very unpleasant experience. I found the e-mail of a senior staff member and sent them a resume and cover letter. She forwarded it to the hiring manager who was obviously annoyed that I had circumvented the normal channels. It was obvious that she resented being circumvented and it was obvious to me that there was no chance of actually getting a face-to-face interview much less being hired. The hiring manager told me that I did not have the basic skill set despite over twenty years of experience in production, meetings, conventions, and events. A quick scan of the current meetings and events managers shows that almost all of them have less than 3 years of experience and are extremely young. Many, just a few years out of college. As many of the reviews on Glassdoor state, the staff is very young. Overall, I would suggest that if you have the experience and skills, look somewhere else.