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Jul 19, 2023 · Defining your audience. Crafting a realistic budget. Setting the dates and managing your timelines. Forming a skilled team. Following this path can ensure your event runs smoothly and makes an impact. Let’s take a closer look at each step. 1.
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- How to Plan a Conference Budget. According to Knowland’s 2023 State of the Meetings Industry, increasing event expenses is one of the biggest concerns for event organizers!
- How to Develop a Marketing Plan for Your Conference. With a strong marketing strategy, you can get your audience to not only take notice of your conference, but to actually register, attend, and participate!
- How to Find & Secure a Memorable Venue. Conference event planning always involves a choice of venue, ideally a memorable one! Before you start shopping around, make a list of your must-haves and nice-to-haves—that way, you know what you are willing to compromise on, and what needs to be available.
- How to Secure Event Sponsors. Securing the right sponsors can make or break your event — and the right sponsorship levels can exponentially raise your chances of success!
- What’s A Good Conference Plan?
- Before You Start Planning
- How to Keep Your Team Motivated When Planning A Conference
- 9-12 Months Before The Conference
- 6-9 Months Before The Conference
- 3-6 Months Before The Conference
- 1 Month Before The Conference
- 1 Week Before The Conference
- 1 Day Before The Conference
- During The Conference
A good conference plan is detailed, yet highly organized and easy to follow. It includes clear goals, milestones, and timelines for achieving them. It covers everything you need to do before, during, and after the conference. Most importantly, creating a conference plan is not a one-and-done activity — it’s a collaborative effort that needs to be r...
Before you actually start planning your conference, there are a few essential decisions you need to make and tasks you need to complete:
Planning a conference is a big undertaking and can often last an entire year. Your planning committee might feel overwhelmed, stressed, or even burned out by the process. Here are a few tips to help make sure that doesn’t happen: 1. Give everyone clear jobs and set expectations 2. Set lots of manageable mini-goals and assign mini-tasks 3. Regularly...
1. Book a Venue
If you’re organizing an in-person or hybrid conference, finding a venue should be your number one priority. Start with the venue and select your conference dates based on its availability, as opposed to the other way around. This will guarantee you’ll find something that fits your goals and vision for the conference. When looking for a venue, consider the following: 1. The size of your conference (How many attendees do you expect?) 2. The format of your event (How many sessions will be happen...
2. Confirm Date
Once you’ve selected a venue, work with them to finalize the date(s) of your conference. Do this as soon as possible, as you’ll need to share this date to everyone involved in the next steps.
3. Create a Master Plan
Starting with Day 1 of the conference, work backwards and list every single task that needs to be done, its deadline, and who’s responsible for completing it. Use this checklist as a starting point and fill it with more details — no task is too small to be included in the master plan. Share this plan with everyone involved, refer to it regularly, and update it as necessary.
5. Find Speakers
Inspiring and knowledgeable speakers are in high demand, so reach out to them as early as you can. Great speakers will help you promote your conference and attract more attendees. And it’s not just because people are eager to learn from them, but because everyone wants an opportunity to network with them. Look for experts in your industry, your organization’s own network, or your local connections. If you need help, the National Speaker’s Bureauis a good place to start. Read More: The 6 Best...
6. Find Sponsors and Exhibitors
Hosting a conference is an expensive undertaking, and finding a sponsor (or a few) can really help keep costs down. Plus, people are more likely to attend a conference if it’s backed by a well-known and trusted company. For the sponsor, it’s a great opportunity to act on their values, get their brand in front of new audiences, and attract new customers. This mutually beneficial partnership can be the start of a long term relationship, with many more future opportunities for collaboration. Whe...
7. Develop Branding
Branding affects how potential ticket buyers will feel when they come across information about your conference. It includes things like your conference name, slogan, logo, color palette, messaging and imagery. In order to attract attendees, these things need to be unique, cohesive, and inspiring. Take time to brainstorm ideas based on your conference’s theme and your goals. You may need to hire a photographer and graphic designer to help you create graphics and other brand elements. You’ll us...
8. Order Branded Merchandise
Conference attendees love free stuff and most will expect to receive a swag bag of some sort. When choosing which swag items to order, opt for things related to your industry and that your guests will actually use. Order them as soon as your brand elements have been finalized — that’s the best way to save money and reduce pre-conference stress. Don’t forget to also ask your sponsor(s) if they’d like to include any promotional items in the swag bags. At this point, you can also order t-shirts...
9. Find Suppliers
Some event venues will provide internal employees to take care of things like catering, security, furniture, A/V, and Wi-Fi. If not, you’ll need to hire external suppliers and get permission from the venue to bring them in. Find and book them early to make sure they’re available on the dates of your conference.
10. Recruit Volunteers
Figure out how much support you’ll need during the conference with things like: 1. Parking 2. Coat check 3. Attendee check-in 4. Wayfinding 5. Managing speakers 6. Managing exhibitors 7. Set-up and tear-down Recruiting volunteers for these and other small tasks will ensure that your conference runs smoothly and that your guests have a positive experience. To find volunteers, look within your organization’s existing community, advertise at your local post-secondary programs related to your ind...
12. Finalize Conference Schedule
At this point, all your speakers and events should be finalized, so it’s time to create your conference schedule. For the attendees, create a program that will be handed out at the start of the event. Make this program available digitally, as well. For everyone else — speakers, your staff, venue staff, suppliers, and volunteers — create a master schedule that’s easy to follow and has all the necessary details. Be sure to include contact information of key persons who would need to be notified...
13. Finalize Tasks With the Team, Volunteers, Speakers and Venue
In addition to receiving a master schedule, everyone involved behind-the-scenes needs to receive a customized document that outlines their key tasks and responsibilities. This will help ensure that everyone knows what’s expected of them, where they need to be and when, and what they need to do to make sure the conference runs smoothly.
14. Send Out Reminders and Check-In
Send out email reminders to all attendees. Publish an FAQ on your website and offer your contact information should they have any questions or concerns. Check in with your team, speakers, and volunteers — make sure everyone feels ready and has everything they need before the big day.
15. Last Team Check-In and Kick Off
The day before the event, check in with the team once again to see how everyone is doing, address any final concerns, or communicate any last minute changes.
16. Conference Management
As the conference organizer, you shouldn’t have any actual tasks during the entire duration of the conference, other than being available for your team should they run into any issues. If you’re hosting a hybrid conference, a dedicated team should be live-streaming the events and engaging with virtual attendees. Someone who’s responsible for communications at your organization should be monitoring engagement at the event and on social media. If your conference is a multi-day event, they can a...
May 29, 2024 · Discover how to plan a memorable and successful conference with our comprehensive 10-step guide. From initial planning to execution, learn the secrets to creating an impactful event that attendees will remember.
- Formulate your event strategy. Whether you’re organising a one-off academic congress or the 75th annual meeting of an esteemed association, your first step in organising your event is to outline what you’re hoping to achieve.
- Embrace conference technology. Conference software isn’t an add-on. It should be as much a part of organising a conference as choosing a venue or dates.
- Delegate, dammit. There’s a vast amount of work involved in organising a conference, so don’t carry it all on your shoulders, get your organising committee on board early on.
- Think through your budget and pricing model. Unlike with most corporate or consumer events, the goal in organising a conference isn’t usually to turn a profit — but it’s not to make a loss either.
Feb 26, 2024 · What are the steps in organizing a conference? Identifying the event’s purpose, building a planning team, budgeting, selecting a venue, planning the program, marketing, managing registrations and logistics, executing the event, and conducting a post-event evaluation.
Apr 13, 2023 · Plan your activities. Choose your vendors. Promote your conference and manage attendee registration. Manage onsite experiences. Evaluate your performance. Let's dive into each step in detail so you can be confident when planning a conference. 1. Establish Your Goals and Objectives.
