Many conferences are happening around the world. In almost every industry, be it tech, real estate, retail, or academia, you can find two to three grand conferences lined up in the year. Although these events require a considerable investment of money, workforce, and other resources, organizations benefit from them in numerous ways. Companies get a chance to build valuable and influential connections in the industry. They enhance brand image and information-sharing. And overall, conferences and seminars help provide marketing and sales opportunities for the business.
However, organizing a conference is not a one-off task to perform. It is a grand affair to manage. From gathering attendees to providing hospitality, setting the right theme, to having good speakers. A lot of hard work and adequate project management goes into organizing a successful conference. Let’s jump straight in!
- The purpose
Obviously, if you’re organizing a conference, you need to know why you’re doing it and your end goal. If you don’t know this, why even organize one?
- Start with the right venue in mind
There are two primary reasons why the venue is of utmost importance. Firstly, your venue determines the aesthetics, design, logistical matters, event management details, and a whole list of additional details. Secondly, and more importantly, the venue determines the dates of your conference. The venue has to be available for you to be able to host an event.
It would be best to shortlist a few viable options and approach them one after the other. Many factors must be considered when booking a venue, like its size, location, facilities, transportation arrangements, and other technical aspects. Selecting a premium venue with updated amenities such as The Executive Centre can assure the attendees’ quality and convenience. And once you know you’ve got the right venue, this will be a big responsibility off your shoulders.
- Picking a theme
Your theme defines the purpose of your conference and the expected takeaways after the event. It is crucial to have a meaningful, purpose-driven yet simple, catchy, and relatable theme. It needs to trigger attention and emotional response enough to convince, inspire, and promote conversation. For example, “One Team, One Dream” is a better theme than “Bringing all cross-functional together to achieve an organization-wide common goal through collaboration and synergy.”
Additionally, your conference theme is not just a mantra to chant. It also provides guidelines for branding and promotion, i.e., from color schemes to logo design to social media narratives. The theme also helps decide the aesthetics and decorations for the event. Choose wisely. You wouldn’t want a corporate event on IT looking like a bachelorette party, would you?
- Gather your A-Team
Organizing a conference is not a solo effort. You need a team of good players in their respective domains, individuals who can take responsibilities for planning, organizing, negotiating, and executing crucial tasks. There are many ways to assemble multiple teams for multiple jobs but typically, every conference needs:
- Planning and Execution Team.
- Administration Team.
- Marketing and Promotions Team.
- Volunteers and Ambassadors.
Build your team carefully. You would want to hire efficient resources that can get tasks done on time. Focus on macro-management and let designated team leads micro-manage people working under them.
- Set up a budget and sustainability plan
Nothing can be right if the finances are a hot mess! Whether your conference is self-funded or sponsored, there needs to be a proper budget to allocate money for each task. Managing your finances can also help you determine the ticket price if it is not a free event. A well-planned conference budget would have numerous items on the checklist, but the most common ones include:
- Venue
- Accommodation
- Travel
- Catering
- Transportation
- Speaker Fees
- Team member stipends
- Marketing
- Additional recreational activities, if any
- Finalizing the date
Finalizing the dates of your conference is a crucial decision. Like we pointed out earlier, the availability of your venue depends on it. Additionally, your conference’s duration depends on it. Some events last longer, but usually, there are two full days. Avoid picking dates that conflict with other local festivals or popular events. They make flights expensive and will affect your logistics plans. Don’t choose vacation times such as Thanksgiving or New Year’s Eve either. Most people prefer to be with family and friends rather than at a corporate event. Last but not least, don’t ruin everyone’s weekend! In fact, dates near the end of the week are a better choice as it gives travelers a chance to stay behind and spend some more time for recreational reasons before they head back to their home city.
- Book the speakers
Apart from the networking opportunity, a star-packed lineup of guest speakers is a major crowd puller. Once you finalize the dates, you need to start work on finalizing your speakers. There are many ways to attract and convince speakers to come to your conference. One of them is to book a top tier industry influencer as a magnet. It will bring more traction from the other speakers and attendees too. You can start by compiling a list of leaders and industry experts and look out for their availability during your dates.
It is important to note that some guest speakers may have specific requirements. These can vary from speaking fees, equipment, or special arrangements in the case of physically-disabled speakers. Ensure your team has all the preparations made beforehand to avoid any inconvenience.
- Promote your conference and register attendees
If you don’t have any attendees, all arrangements are worthless. Develop a promotional strategy based on your niche and target audience. Email marketing, newsletters, and social media work best in the corporate sector. Offline methods such as personalized invitation cards and brochures are also viable options. However, given the rapid digitalization in recent ties, online channels make it easier for interested people to register. Once people start registering, start planning things like seating arrangements, logistics, and accommodation.
- Hosting the conference
After the hustle and bustle of numerous months, it’s finally is showtime! Following the steps above and having a highly skilled and efficient team makes hosting the event less worrisome. However, some situations require firefighting, such as last-minute speaker cancellations, technical glitches, or even the food running out. In such a case, don’t panic. But always have a contingency plan ready.
Conclusion
Successfully managing a conference is no ordinary feat. But proper planning and allocation of resources can help you smoothly sail through the process. Therefore, it is essential to research, plan, and combine skills and talent to get the job done right.
