Step By Step Guide For Organizing a Conference
Have you decided to organize a conference and find it difficult to arrange everything properly? Well! It is indeed quite a task, we must say. We will help you make a checklist so that you can arrange things properly and be successful in organizing the conference. It is good if you start to plan things at least six months before the date of commencement, that will give you ample time to decide what is needed and how things are to be fixed. Also, make sure that you have contacted good rental services like audio, stage, and projector screen rental Los Angeles or any other service providers in the United States. These service providers are the best thing to opt for if you wish to organize everything smoothly and at pocket-friendly prices.
There must be a million questions running through your mind. Where should you start? How do you find the right speakers and invite them? Which venue to choose and which rental services to choose? Not to worry. Organizing a conference can be a demanding endeavor, but you are not the only one to face this difficulty and you need not reinvent the wheel for this. All you need to do is follow some steps and your work will be done smoothly.
We have put together steps that will help you to organize a conference and our article will link you over to some useful tools that will make the job easier.
Step1: Decide a proper theme
A conference needs to be on a particular theme so that your speakers can deliver a speech on the topic. The theme should be relatable, catchy and should be able to trigger an emotional response. The theme of the conference should be in such a way that it can inspire as well as stimulate conversation among the speakers and participants.
Step 2: Decide a logo for your theme and other promotional materials
One of the most important things that you need to decide after selecting a theme, is the logo. Your logo should be in a way that can represent the theme very well. You must also print brochures as well as send a soft copy of the same via email or Whatsapp to potential candidates and speakers. Along with this, you will also need to print posters.
Step 3: Assemble your core team members
When you are arranging a conference, we are sure you won’t be doing it all alone. Plus it is always better to seek the help of people around you and delegate work accordingly to make things a lot easier.
You will require a dedicated team of members to delegate different works and look after responsibilities like negotiations, planning, and most importantly promotion. Your core team might include:
- Planning team: A group that will be responsible for arranging conference venue, accommodation of participants and speakers, various activities as well as catering.
- Administration team: A team that will be responsible for attendee registration, sale of tickets, budgeting, etc. The administration team will always be the main point of contact for queries related to the conference.
- Marketing team: This team will be responsible for creating all kinds of promotional materials, contacting the media persons, doing social media promotions, managing websites, etc.
- Sponsorship team: This team will be responsible for arranging and securing sponsors, raising funds, and applying for grants.
- Volunteers: Last but not the least, you need to have a group of volunteers that will be helping participants and other members with all the on-site activities on the day of the program. This can be door management, scanning of tickets, keeping track of the guest list, guiding participants, etc.
You will need to coordinate with all the team members and see that the work is being done properly.
Step 4: Prepare a business plan and set the budget
Be it sponsored or not, you will have to set up a budget plan for your conference. You need to make a proper business plan on how the budgeted money is being spent and how much is the earning.
Step 5: Have a conversation with the speakers
Speakers are the stars of any conference and therefore, you need to select the best ones for your conference. The name and designation of the speaker will be key in attracting the crowd/ attendees. You must select someone well-known and respected in the field that you chose for the conference.
Step 6: Various physical arrangements
Along with the venue, speakers, attendees, you will also need to take care of the physical arrangements. This includes stage, projectors, audio systems, etc. For this, you can contact rental service providers that can provide projectors on rent, Audio equipment rental Los Angeles, stage rental providers, etc. You can speak with the service providers well in advance and book all the stuff that you need at pocket-friendly prices.
Hope we were able to guide you well on how to organize a conference. Let us know your experience and do not forget to share your suggestions if any.