How to Plan a Business Conference
- 1). ***Get Started Early***
It is never too early to start the planning. If this conference is going to be an annual event, start the planning just as soon as the current one is over - a year away is not too soon. If this is the first time for the event, give yourself a minimum of six months. Work a year out if possible. Everything will take longer than you expected, and if your attendees are going to have to travel, they will want time to plan for cheap flights, etc. - 2). ***Date and Location***
Think about the weather, the season, and prices at the local hotels. If your meeting is going to incorporate some outdoor activities, you probably don't want to hold it in the dead of winter if you live in the northern part of the country. Your attendees will appreciate it if you schedule the event during off- or shoulder-season so they can take advantage of cheaper hotel rates. Consider other events happening at the same time, will they give added value to your meeting or will they conflict? Remember, your attendees probably already have other plans for holidays, so stay away from them. - 3). ***Put together a team***
Look to your colleagues to find a good team. Pulling off a good business convention takes hard work, and lots of it. Don't try to do it alone. Find those team members who can add to the skill set for planning. Spread the work out evenly and appropriately. Find out who is good at planning menus, who knows how to create a budget and keep everyone on track? Use the graphic artist in the group to create the flyers, logos, etc. - 4
Hotel Meeting Room
***Logistics***
Decide where you will hold the meeting. There are hotels with large meeting rooms, kitchens, and other conference facilities on site. Big conventions are usually held in hotels for this reason. You can often make arrangements with the hotel to reserve a block of rooms at a reduced rate for your attendees. If everyone is staying at the same site as the meetings, it makes it much nicer for all. However, hotels can also be expensive and may require a guaranteed number of participants for the meals, rooms, etc. Check around and find the best balance for your attendees as well as the needs for the meeting - 5
Breakout sessions
***The Agenda***
Now that you know when and where you will have the meeting, you need to determine what is going to happen at the meeting. You can schedule keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and other events that will entertain as well as educate your attendees. Plan a topic or theme to center your meeting around. You will need to decide on your keynote speaker and breakout session presenters early so they are not already booked on your selected date. - 6). ***What to charge***
You will need to develop a budget. Once you know how much everything is going to cost, you can determine what to charge. The best way to do this is to OVER-estimate the cost of things and UNDER-estimate the number of attendees. If you think you will have 50 participants, budget for 40 and plan food for 60. Be careful doing this, however, as you do not want to underestimate too much and have way more participants than you planned on or overestimate too much and have way too much food! Find a balance by looking at similar events in the past or talking to your team realistically. - 7). ***Advertise, Advertise, Advertise***
You can do all the planning you want, and have the best conference agenda around, but people will not come if they do not know about it! Get the word out, use blogs, email, snail mail, company newsletters, posters, develop a Web Site, whatever it takes to communicate to the world that you are having this super event. Target your marketing to the people who will benefit most from the kind of conference you are planning. Don't waste your time and money advertising to the wrong market. - 8
Goody Bags
***Fill those Goody Bags***
This is a very important part of a conference. The attendees will expect to get a bag of some kind when they arrive at the event. But where do you get the stuff to put in the goody bag? Simple. Just ask for it. Advertisers or sponsors will want to add things to the goody bags, many times a company has pens, tablets, etc. as give-aways for just this kind of event. This is also a good place to put the conference agenda and evaluation forms. Ask local businesses if they have any branded products they want to give you like coupons or some promotional items. It is surprising how much free stuff you can get if you just ask for it! - 9
Enjoy the Conference
***Relax and have fun***
Once the planning is done, and the conference is in full swing, relax and enjoy yourself, network, and start thinking about the next successful event.
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