تم النشر في: 13-10-2021 8 قراءة
Your Guide to Organizing an Exhibition Step by Step
How to Organize a Conference: A Step-by-Step Guide
You should start planning the conference at least six months before the scheduled date of the conference. However, if the conference is large, planning should begin a year in advance.
Of course, you'll have a million questions on your mind. Where do you start? How do you find the right speakers to invite? Which venue best suits your needs?
But don't worry, the truth is, although organizing a conference is a demanding endeavor, and you are not the first to face these challenges, it's all about following some specific steps.
This guide will be about how to organize a conference and will help you arrange your work steps step by step.
Step One: Assemble Your Team
You likely won't organize an entire conference by yourself, so you'll need a specialized team of people to take responsibility for the various aspects of planning, negotiations, and promotion. Your core team will likely include:
Planning Team: Specializes in selecting the conference venue, accommodation, activities, and restaurants.
Management Team: Prepares the budget, handles attendee registration, and sells tickets. This team will be the main point of contact for conference-related questions.
Marketing Team: Handles media outreach, creates promotional materials, and manages your website, blog, and social media activities.
Sponsorship Team: Responsible for securing sponsors, applying for grants, and fundraising (suitable only for conferences relying on external funding sources).
Volunteers: Assist with all on-site activities on the conference day: door management, ticket scanning, guest list tracking, coat check management, guiding people, etc.
Your primary task will be coordinating the team, setting priorities, and delegating tasks.
Step Two: Prepare the Budget and Work Plan
Whether your conference is funded by sponsors or not, you will have to set a budget. Having a budget will also help you determine the conference participation fee. Here are the most common items you'll want to allocate a budget for:
• Venue
• Accommodation
• Transportation
• Catering
• Speaker Fees
• Activities
• Marketing
• Team Members
Preparing a budget with realistic estimates will also be useful when searching for venues and negotiating contracts.
Step Three: Seek Sponsors and Grants (Optional)
If you are funding the conference yourself and not seeking external income sources, you can safely skip this step.
If not, you'll want to go out and look for sponsors or arrange fundraising. The key thing to consider is that sponsors and their values must align with your conference's theme.
Start by finding sponsors who fund similar events or are generally related to the main themes of your conference.
Step Four: Finalize the Date
Now it's time to decide when your conference will be held. As discussed, this date should be anywhere from six months to a year in the future.
You also need to determine how long the conference will last. Industry consensus suggests that a conference with about 300 participants requires two full days. Larger, more in-depth conferences may extend longer.
Here are some great rules to keep in mind:
• Choose a date that doesn't conflict with other major events like festivals, which make city-wide events and flight bookings more expensive and generally hinder transportation to and from the conference.
• Avoid summer and winter holiday periods when people tend to go on vacation. It's best to schedule between mid-March and late June or from early September to late November.
• Try to target a weekend, so traveling guests have a chance to stay behind and sightsee during their time off. The best conference days are Thursday and Friday.
Step Five: Book the Venue
Once you know the date, you can start looking for available venues that fit your requirements.
Generally, venues can be divided into three categories:
Campus: These are most suitable for small academic events and are relatively inexpensive to hire.
Hotels: These typically have dedicated conference facilities and in-house catering. They are the best multi-purpose option as they provide both accommodation and conference spaces. They also tend to be the most expensive option.
Independent Venues: This category includes all other types of venues that can host conferences.
Some factors to consider when searching for the right venue:
Size: Obviously, booking a venue that's too small where everyone has to squeeze into a tiny room is a bad idea. Similarly, securing a giant venue for a relatively modest crowd will not only hurt your budget but will make the conference feel empty and poorly attended.
Location: It's better to choose a somewhat secluded location so participants can better focus on the conference itself.
Accommodation: Does the venue provide accommodation, or are there nearby hotels?
Catering: Does the venue include catering? If not, are there suitable restaurants and cafes in the area?
Transportation: How easy is it for participants to reach the venue by public transport? Is there sufficient parking for those driving?
Technical Aspects: Does the venue have appropriate IT, audio, and video equipment? You will need display screens, microphones, plenty of charging points for participants, and—of course—stable Wi-Fi access.
When negotiating with potential venues, try to arrange early access to the venue so you can do a "walk-through" or tour with your team before the conference. You should be able to ensure all details are in place before the event day.
Quick Tip: If you find a great venue outside your budget, see if you can negotiate a lower fee in exchange for a multi-year contract.
