How Can I Successfully Organize a Business Conference?

You have been tasked with organizing a business conference.But what do you need to do to be able to organize it successfully? Here are a number of things.

Get a Theme

What is the conference about? Could you build a theme around it? You should try to make it attention-grabbing while not being to cliche. The theme should be unifying, and your speakers can talk about the message of the theme. You can then set up the decor and brochures, and other things around this particular theme.

Put Together a Budget

You need to know how much this conference is going to cost. That means figuring out the cost of things like getting the venue, paying the people who will be giving speeches, printing out brochures, getting catering, and any other things. Some speakers may want their travel and lodging paid for, too. Whatever you think it will cost, add some extra. There will always be things that pop up, and it is better to be over-budgeted than under-budgeted.

Put Together a Team

One person can’t coordinate a business conference by themselves. They need to have the help of a team of people. That means you need to get the best people around you to help ensure that this conference goes off without a hitch. Delegate tasks according to each person’s top strengths. Be sure to stay on top of things yourself, though. You play a big part since you are the one who organized the event yourself. Make sure that the channels of communication are open so that no one is left out during the whole process.

Get Sponsors and Grants

See if there are companies that would benefit from getting their names out during the conference. Also, check to see if any relevant grants would help offset the cost of running this conference. This is an optional part if you are part of a company that can comfortably afford it or if you are financing it yourself.

Set a Date

This could take a bit of research. You don’t want to have it be too soon after you have started the process. That won’t give people time to prepare … and they may already have other plans. Set it as far out as you can. You also need to make sure that there are no similar events going on in the area at the same time. They could sap the audience that you intend to attend.

Get the Venue

You set a date for the conference. Now you want to get the perfect venue for your conference. You should have your feelers out about this early on so that you will have an idea of what is available. The worst thing is to have a great place in mind and find that it is not available. That can lead to scrambling and winding up in a less-than-ideal place.

Get Catering if Necessary

You want your attendees to be happy the whole time that they are at this business conference. One way to make them happy is to ensure that they have good food in their bellies. Hungry attendees tend not to pay attention to who is talking – just the sounds of their empty stomachs. Aim to have alternatives for people who may have specific dietary restrictions. That way, people will focus on the speakers.

Get Your Speakers

This is the crucial part of the conference. You want to get dynamic speakers who will captivate their audience and drive home the main points of your conference. Try to book them as far in advance as you possibly can – popular speakers will have their calendars full months ahead. You don’t want to miss out on a speaker because you waited too long to get in touch with them or their representatives. Then you will be able to relax as the conference gets closer.

Register Your Attendees

You need people to come to the conference. Start getting the word out and registering people. Make sure that you have a strong server. The last thing you want is to have people unable to sign up due to the server crashing. Then they will not likely come back to try to register again.

Begin Promoting Your Conference

This part has become much easier to do with social media being as prevalent as they are. You have many different platforms to use … and use them you should. Get the word out about your conference as soon as possible – in video and text form. Be as creative as you want.

These are just a few of the ways to organize a business conference. If you do this, you should have a successful one that you can watch unfold in front of you.

---

Interesting Related Article: “The advantages of a conference room scheduler“