How to Organise a Conference
The best conferences inspire delegates with engaging presentations and excellent networking opportunities, generating a buzz around new ideas and bring people together. Conferences need to be stimulating, interactive, and engaging, and must satisfy stakeholders.
These events are also expected to be turned around quickly and be delivered on ever-tightening budgets. Conference planning is not easy and your role as conference organiser should not be taken lightly. So what are the best practices for a conference? Our planning checklist equips you with all of the information and advice you need to push forward and organise a successful event.
Types of conferences
Conferences are prevalent in nearly every sector. They serve as pivotal gatherings that unite professionals, specialists, and enthusiasts from far and wide. Together, they uncover knowledge, foster idea exchange and discuss the most recent advancements in their field.
So how many types of conferences are there? There are many variations and combinations, based on specific objectives and themes. Here’s a quick summary of a few examples:
Trade shows
Also known as a trade exhibition, this is where businesses can showcase their products, services and capabilities to potential customers, partners or suppliers.
Expos
Short for exposition, it’s similar to a trade show, but tend to be broader in their scope, focus, audience, purpose and size. They might cover different sectors or themes, whereas trade shows can be more focused on a specific industry or niche.
Academic conferences
An opportunity for researchers, scholars, academics and experts in a particular field to get together. Whether it’s presenting and discussing the latest findings, exchanging ideas or networking, this event plays a crucial role in the world of academia.
Business conferences
The perfect event for professionals, entrepreneurs, executives and stakeholders to come together to discuss industry trends, share insights and network. They often feature keynote speakers who are experts or thought leaders in their field, alongside panels and workshops.
International conferences
Ideal for global reach, this event provides a platform to gather attendees from different countries to share knowledge, exchange ideas and collaborate on specific themes, topics or disciplines.
Virtual conferences
Virtual conferences have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. These online events replicate many aspects of other conferences, just in a remote, digital format.
Choosing the right conference experience is just as important for the organiser as the attendee. You want to reach your goals, attract and engage delegates, and ultimately, maximise the impact of the day. Whatever type of event you’re aiming for, read our conference planning guide to help you get started.
Put Attendees First!
Before we get started with the ins and outs of planning a conference event,, we think it’s worth stating – put attendees first. The delegate and their needs should guide every decision you make.
- Why do delegates attend conferences?
- Why are they going to attend your conference?
- What do they want to get out of it?
- How can you deliver this?
- What can you provide that is uniquely valuable to them?
It’s important to put the attendee at the heart of your organising. Their time is precious and you need to ensure they get the most out of every minute they are at your conference.
You should already have an in-depth understanding of your target audience and what appeals to them. If not, take the time to find out more about what they expect and what they want. Ultimately, they want to enjoy highly relevant and engaging sessions and find unique value in every aspect of the conference.
To organise a successful conference, there are a few things to consider, including the following:
We’ll break these down in our guide.
Planning a Conference
We understand that you might not be an experienced conference planner. And it’s true that we all have to start somewhere. Before even planning the big day(s), why not check out our guide on common mistakes to avoid to help you find your footing?
In the next section of our conference planning guide, we’re going to cover key areas such as budget, sponsors, and choosing a venue.
How to budget for a conference
Much of the stress you’ll experience when organising a conference will come from trying to deliver everything you’ve promised on a budget. Conference funding is a big factor, which is why you have to be thorough when it comes to every aspect of budgeting. Here’s how you can go about it.
Conference Budget
There are a few important decisions you need to make when it comes to your budget – will your conference run over one or two days? Will it be all based in one conference hall, or will it take place over two or more separate stages? Costs will increase depending on how you wish to set up your conference – but there are numerous ways to drive a return on investment.
The costs you can expect to encounter are as follows:
- Venue hire
- Catering
- Logistics and event running team
- Equipment hire
- Speakers costs e.g. hotel; transport; fees
- Entertainment costs
- Printing – these should be minimal
Luckily, there are many ways to keep costs low and maximise your conference budget. From finding sponsors to choosing an affordable venue, here are some cost-cutting solutions.
Ticket Pricing
The money that you will receive will come from sponsors, exhibitors (more on that later) and ticket sales. Now, if you are lucky enough to receive large contributions from sponsors without compromising the integrity of your conference, then you may be in a position to offer your main conference for free.
Otherwise, you will have to charge for tickets. The main question you will want to answer around conference pricing, is how much? It is, of course, hard to name a figure, but your budget should give you an indicator of how much money you need to recoup in order to break even. It is important to set your expectations based on how many people you think you can get to attend, the size of the venue and the fact that you will not sell out.
Regardless of how much you decide to charge, you should discount a limited number of tickets in an initial early bird run. This should be early on in the promotion of your conference before all speakers are announced. Want to know more? Read our guide on event ticketing.
Getting Sponsors for Your Conference
Sponsors, and the money they provide, can be vitally important when it comes to staying within your conference budget. With this in mind, you need to create a list of potential sponsors. What you are looking for are organisations that want exposure to your audience.
When pitching to sponsors, be clear on what support you need, whether this is financial or a service. You also need to be explicit about what you are willing to offer in return for their money. This is likely to include widespread use of their logos, adding to the goodie bag, as well as a stand if you are having exhibitors.
Once you’ve honed your marketing messaging to be consistent and persuasive, target those sponsors that will benefit from being involved. If you can cover the majority of costs with sponsorship then you give yourself the best chance to make a profit.
One thing to be aware of is that, more often than not, sponsors will want to present at your event. If this is the case, then make sure that their talk has value and is not purely promotional. There is nothing that undermines a conference more than promotional presentations that feel like sales pitches rather than a genuine session on a relevant topic.
Jason Zook examines how to get sponsors in this podcast:
More tips on getting sponsors for an event can be found in our guide.
Conference Themes
Conferences have the potential to be really exciting events where delegates discover, share and debate ideas around a particular theme. They have the power to shape or redefine an industry. With passionate people come passionate presentations, fresh ideas and a genuine buzz. Creating this atmosphere at your conference doesn’t just happen.
It all begins with the topic or theme. You may have spotted a gap in the market or decided to take a fresh approach to an existing topic. It’s not a question of defining your theme, as much of this will be done elsewhere, but ensuring that you use it in your event marketing and run it through your conference.
This will need to be tied very closely to your overall objectives and those of the stakeholders. But once you develop a theme, it will help tie everything together and make any marketing messages more effective.
Conference Exhibitors
Are you going to have exhibitors at your conference? This can be an added revenue stream, but it’s important to choose exhibitors that will add value for the delegates. You also need to ensure that the venue has a suitable space for exhibition stands at little, to no extra cost. This space will determine how many exhibitors you can host. Once you know the space, you will need to design an exhibit layout.
Any potential exhibitors will want details on the demographic of attendees and your USPs. They are likely to have numerous questions to help them determine if exhibiting at your conference is worthwhile, so be prepared to answer them or better still assign someone to deal exclusively with exhibitors. Read more on dealing with exhibitors at conferences.
Hiring Event Staff For Your Conference
Organising a conference can be hard work and stressful, and you shouldn’t consider doing it alone. You should assemble a team of colleagues and volunteers to help you execute your conference in the planning stages as well as on the day. It’s also a good idea to utilise in-house resources at the conference venue.
Conference staff should have a clearly defined role leading up to and on the day . This should be finalised as early as possible in the planning process. One of the most important roles on the day is the MC (Master of Ceremonies), who will welcome people to the conference, introduce speakers, manage the handovers and monitor the timings of presentations. You will also need runners, stage managers and AV technicians.
Choosing a Conference Venue
Choosing a venue for an event is extremely important. Some people choose to use conference venue finders to find venues but you are better off doing the research yourself and visiting potential locations in person.
This way you can negotiate the contract, save money and have control over the look and feel of the venue. It makes sense to have a set of questions to ask the venue to ensure it can deliver exactly what you need and meet your audiences’ needs, such as:
- Does the conference venue have hidden costs? e.g. parking fees or WIFI
- Is there disabled access? This is essential.
- Is there anything else taking place in or around the venue during the time of your conference venue access or even transport?
- How sustainable is the venue? Is it easy to get to via public transport?
Make sure the venue is big enough – not just the main auditorium but other spaces such as exhibition rooms and breakout spaces. There’s nothing worse than being stood at the back of a room trying desperately to hear the presenter, or worse still, missing out on a session altogether.
At 20 Bedford Way, we offer excellent rates for multi-stream events, with several interconnecting spaces available for use including the flagship Logan Hall theatre.
Image via Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr
What Facilities Are Included In a Conference Venue?
Your conference venue needs to provide several facilities to make every conference a success:
Wi-Fi – one of the biggest difficulties with larger conferences is finding venues with Wi-Fi that can cope with demand. There’s no doubt that the quality of Wi-Fi is improving in venues, especially in London and other big cities, but it’s well worth getting an honest idea of the Wi-Fi’s capabilities. (Free WI-Fi is a huge bonus).
Conference catering – decide if you’re going to provide catering. This can be a big expense,but also a major perk for delegates. If you don’t opt to provide lunch catering (tea and coffee during the breaks are essential) it’s a good idea to provide information on nearby eating options.
If you do opt to provide lunch at your conference, then it makes sense to meet with the caterers and discuss your options. You want the food to look and taste good, but always remember your budget. It’s important to always provide vegetarian and plant-based options
20 Bedford Way’s expert team of chefs use healthy, ethically-sourced ingredients to produce a sumptuous selection of meals for your guests. Find out more about our event catering services today.
Staging, lighting, AV – the presentations need to take place on a stage that offers a good sightline for the audience and all of the AV equipment your speakers need. This will include a large projector, a pinned-on mic that is amplified through the PA.
An added bonus if you opt for a theatre-style venue, is that it has professional lighting and AV that can add a real wow factor and enhance the presentations for the audience. It is important to have sockets available for delegates to charge their electronic devices too.
How to choose a date for your conference
Once you know where you are going to host your conference, you then need to lock in a date. The most popular time for conferencing is between March and November, with summer conferences in July and August often dismissed due to holidays.
Have a few potential dates in mind in case your preferred venue is unavailable. These dates should not clash with any other related conference or event, so remember to do your research.
So what’s the best time of the week to hold an event? Peter-Paul Koch, conference organiser and speaker, advisesthat: “A conference should be held on a Thursday and Friday or a Monday and Tuesday. This allows attendees to play the tourist, too. If you’re going for one day only, it’s Friday.”
Conference Speakers
Once you’ve confirmed your dates and the venue deposit has been paid, you can now confirm availability with your conference speakers.
Speakers can make or break your conference, so you need to invest time and effort in finding the very best. Engaging presentations have the potential to truly inspire delegates and turn all of the ideas and scribbled notes into real-life actions and genuine change. The right presentation can be the catalyst for delegates adapting their business – and they should remember where it all began.
When choosing a speaker, there are different things to think about:
- you might pick from the same rotation of speakers(especially as famous keynote speakers can help shift tickets).
- sometimes, having a great speaker that the audience has not seen before adds real value, so consider bringing a few off-topic speakers into the programme to shake things up a bit.
- head you could choose someone involved with inspirational work in your field, but who is not a seasoned speaker. What they may lack in presenting experience, they can make up for in passion and quality of ideas.
Chosen your speaker? Here’s what to do next.
Once you have your speakers confirmed, it’s important to treat them well. Be clear with them about what you are offering from the start. At a minimum, you’ll need to cover off all of their expenses, like travel and accommodation. Ensure that their lodgings are accessible, comfortable, and are close to the conference venue, if possible. Beyond accommodation, you may want to offer them a share of profits or a set fee.
Prior to the conference, you’ll want to:
- find out the details of their session content, (s well as all of their requirements)as early as possible
- check in regularly with all speakers to ensure that preparations are on track. If they have any concerns, or you can see a few issues happening later down the line, you can deal with them quickly.
- Make sure that their details are correct wherever they appear – in print, online, and social. Yes, that includes X (formerly Twitter) handles!.
When it comes to the conference itself:
- take the time to brief your speakers fully on the programming
- find out the length of their talk and the AV set-up, so there are no surprises. This will help things run smoothly and relax them
- encourage the speaker to stick around to mingle and network with the crowds. This will make them feel more relaxed, while also adding value for delegates.
- ensure that any speaker knows how to pronounce names correctly.
How do I make a conference schedule?
When it comes to scheduling your conference day, it makes sense to group the speakers and their presentations by a theme. Hopefully, this will be an easy task once you have the finalised session descriptions.
It’s important not to cram too many sessions into a single day,as attendees may tire towards the end. With this in mind, it’s important to consider the last speaker. The final session can be poorly attended. Either save a speaker for this slot that will pull a crowd or consider ending the day earlier, giving people a chance to travel or network.
There is also the difficult question of session length to consider. How long is too long? How short is too short? ‘Normal’ presentations usually last between 20 and 40 minutes, with keynote talks going up to an hour.
After each themed session, you should have a coffee break (at least one in the morning, one in the afternoon) as well as a longer lunch break. People need a chance to breathe, process information and network and have some refreshments.
Promoting a Conference
Often the hardest part of conference planning is finding ways to promote the event. You want the people that matter to find out about it and want to come.
To do this, you’ll need to make full use of your networks both online and offline to build awareness of the conference and those all-important ticket sales/registrations. Make a list of relevant industry publications where you can share details of your conference.
It’s also important to initiate your conference promotion ideas as early as possible. Send out reminders and regular marketing messages via all channels (without spamming) as you get closer to the big date.
Some event organisers experience a flurry of activity closer to the date of the conference so if you haven’t sold all your tickets with only a month to go, don’t lose hope – the final fortnight could be key. It’s also great to get your speakers to share your updates too to help boost your marketing efforts.
Communications
Regular communication with both delegates and speakers is key. The most important email is the one you send a week before the conference, which includes all of the important information. This should include the addresses and websites of the venue, nearby hotels, parking details as well as dates, times and any other vital information.
As well as sending out regular emails you should also have a website that contains up-to-date information. For more information on event websites and listings, read our guide to getting your event online.
How to promote your conference on social media
Social media is an important part of conferencing today. Start by creating a hashtag for your conference – keep it short and sweet and include it in emails and any promotional material. Then, actively encourage attendees to use X (formerly Twitter) at the conference and take the time to interact with them online.
With a little bit of effort, you can get the hashtag trending and increase awareness and engagement. See our social media guides on how to promote your conference on socials
The Conference Day
Congratulations, you made it to the day of your conference! It’s actually happening. This section of the guide takes you through what happens next.
Conference registration
Registering for a conference can be more complicated than it needs to be. Attendees can all show up at a similar time and want to pick up their lanyards and register with minimal stress. Organisation and clear communication are key to dealing with large volumes of people and making sure that everyone can get in and settle as quickly as possible.
It’s important to streamline the registration process. Firstly, you should be able to register online in advance. Secondly, you will need to give each attendee a lanyard along with a goodie bag if this is something you plan to do.
What Attendees Need to Collect:
- Lanyard with their name and business clearly displayed on it so it can be read at a glance
- Goodie bag containing any freebies from sponsors
The schedule for the day and other essential information should be available in an event app or online. Having basic information in a printed format can be useful at some conferences, but it’s important to balance this with sustainability.
Networking at a Conference
When it comes to industry conferences, networking is really important. The most successful conferences provide numerous opportunities, and relaxed ones at that, for attendees to chat, make valuable new contacts and reconnect with those they already know.
It helps to have regular breaks throughout the day and designated spaces for people to congregate. If the sessions have been good, there will be lots of talking points to help break the ice and facilitate the exchange of ideas.
Zach Inglis, organiser of HybridConf, set out with the conference goal to “bring people together in one place where they can discover and share and then leave full of positivity towards the great community we have the privilege to be a part of.” Networking plays a crucial role in developing this sense of community.
Another thing that helps encourage productive networking is post-conference drinks. Whether this takes place at the venue or a nearby bar, these ‘sessions’ allow people to continue to network while relaxing over a well-deserved drink.
By the end of the event, you should have a stack of business cards and lots of exciting opportunities. Read our guide to encouraging better networking at events.
Workshops/Training/Round Tables
Conferences don’t have to stop at presentations and networking. You can add real value by organising workshops and training sessions as well as round tables and breakout sessions. These smaller events and sessions allow people to explore and debate issues in more detail.
Conference Add Ons
Conference add ons are additional features or services. They can enrich the overall experience for both attendees and organisers, adding extra value, convenience or entertainment – making it more a memorable day for all involved. The features below might differentiate the conference from others in the industry.
Conference Technology
Event technology has developed at an incredible rate over recent years. There are now countless tools available to enhance your conference. From virtual attendees to hologramatic presenters, it really is a brave and exciting new world.
Many conferences are getting their own apps developed to help attendees get the most out of their days. All of the data collected, including feedback on the individual presentations and the event as a whole, can be invaluable in delivering bigger and better the next year.
Read our blog on conference mobile apps and how they can increase engagement, provide big data and enhance your conference. It’s important to remember that things can go wrong with tech, so make sure that someone is on-hand to fix any issues that may happen on the day.
How to Film a Conference
If your budget stretches to it, you should document the conference by taking photographs and filming the presentations. The recorded sessions can then be uploaded (with permission) and you can share the knowledge even further as well as adding value for all involved.
The Follow Up Email After a Conference
When the conference is done and dusted, and you’ve given yourself time to fully relax and unwind, it’s time to follow-up.
Begin by sending sincere thank you emails to speakers, volunteers and sponsors. It can also then add value to send an email to attendees with a compilation of slideshares, videos and other resources related to the day. You must also pay all of the outstanding invoices.
With these practical tasks fulfilled you can start to appraise the success of the conference. Review any data gathered from apps or feedback forms and look at ways to improve your conference for next year.
Central London Conference Venue
20 Bedford Way has been fortunate enough to host numerous national and international conferences at our Bloomsbury venue. Over the years, we’ve developed our service and believe that we know a thing or two about how to put on a conference. It’s one less worry when you have a dedicated and experienced catering and conference team on hand.
One of the biggest additional costs is hiring AV equipment and technicians – this is not the case at 20 Bedford Way, as we include this in our venue hire.
Our 910 seater Logan Hall theatre is an auditorium with all the facilities you require. As well as this our Central London location benefits from amazing transport links, making it an ideal conference venue. As a tourist and business destination, London conferences attract people from overseas. Find out more or arrange a visit.
Conference Planning Resources
Peter-Paul Koch’s Conference Organiser’s Handbook is the most comprehensive Conference Planning Resource out there.
Zach Inglis – Planning a Conference
Scott Belsky – Tips for Making the Most of a Conference
