Welcome back for part TWO of our Laura’s guest blog on planning a successful conference.
If you missed part one, you can catch up HERE. Laura, our Senior Administrator, has tried to sum up her wealth of experience in event planning into five simple stages to share with you.
Planning an event can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! Follow Laura’s blog to pick up some great tips and tricks and be sure to put them into practice next time you’re event planning.
STEP 3: Begin the Communication and Publicization
The third step is to start contacting any of the possible speakers, sponsors, volunteers or external support required. It is best to have these in place or at least partly before you start to publicize your conference as the speakers can be a selling point for your conference. You also need to check their availability for the proposed conference date. Any sponsors or funders can then be advertised on your marketing materials.
You can now start to promote your conference through communication or various marketing methods. This may be: word of mouth, email, social media, blogs, flyers, companies website, partners news boards or their websites, promotion websites such as PaperCrowd, videos, press releases or even local magazines and publications. The Women’s Organisation regularly use Mailchimp to release email campaigns and Eventbrite to assist with the ticket sales. If you already have your agenda in place, this could also be used as a promotion technique.
Step 4: Prepare for the Day of the Conference
On the run up to the conference, it could be handy to start creating a checklist of what is left to do for the more finer details, such as: keeping track on number of attendees, purchasing any stationary or equipment, creating delegate packs and presentations, prepare the floor plan, printing, send out venue maps to delegates, ensure delegates have made payments if required and make any outgoing payments if they are due before the conference. Final delegate numbers will also need confirming with your venue and catering contractor, in plenty of time. A big one that is often unforeseen is I.T compatibility. Visiting the venue or contacting them before hand to check your laptop is compatible with their presentation equipment and checking if any technical support will be needed on the day; can be crucial. However, I.T can always let us down when we least expect, so prepare for hiccups, have your presentations on a backup USB stick and be prepared to present without I.T if all fails.
Step 5: Complete a Successful Conference
The day of your conference is finally here, and all the planning and setup is finally complete. There may be assistance needed on the day but most of all try to network, relax and enjoy yourself! Last of all, ask delegates for feedback, finalise any post conference tasks, thank the team of helpers, speakers and give yourself a pat on the back. All going well, and you will have achieved your vision in planning a successful conference.
So, there you have it. Five simple stages to making sure your event runs smoothly!
If Liverpool is the next city of choice, why not check out our facilities at 54 St James Street? Our versatile Roddick Rooms can host between 10-120 people and provides a contemporary space for conferences, training, networking and more.
If you would like to arrange a visit or speak to our team for more information, please contact us on venue@thewo.org.uk or 0151 706 8100.
