Forbes Coaches Council
Top 10 Tips To Throw The Perfect Conference
Many business owners go to industry and trade conferences — but every once in a while, you may end up hosting one.
After all, there are a lot of reasons to organize a conference. Maybe you want to be considered one of the big players in your industry or a thought leader. You might be hoping to generate more business. You may be hoping to strengthen and professionalize your industry. It might be a combination of all three.
If that’s the case, and you’re looking to throw the perfect conference, as a business founder whose company has just hosted its twentieth annual conference, I have some suggestions.
1. Don’t rush your planning. If this is your first conference, it takes time to put one together. For one, attendees, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors all have their own busy calendars. You can’t expect to tell the world you’re hosting a conference in a few months or weeks and expect everyone to show up. You probably want to start planning at least a year out, or maybe two years. Time flies. You have a business to run, and it’s better to have too much time than not enough.
Another idea is staging something small first — say, an industry conference of 10 or 20 participants or something that feels manageable — and then, if that goes well, organize something bigger in a year or two.
2. Think carefully about that date. You want it to work well for people in your industry — and for your business, as well. Think about other industry conferences occurring throughout the year, any major holidays and when typical vacation times may be.
3. Budget for your conference. It’s an obvious step, but it must be said. Are you renting out space? Is your business going to have its own exhibit, and if so, how much will that cost? Is your industry in a slump, or is it thriving? In other words, will you likely get a lot of people coming to the conference? Would it be better to hold a virtual conference so that people aren’t spending a fortune in travel costs, and maybe you’ll get more people to show up? Even so, how much will that cost? You have a lot of financial questions to answer.
4. Think about the venue. Are you holding this conference at your workplace? At a convention center? Will the facility you’re considering provide food, or are you going to need a caterer? How will the parking be, and is it easy to navigate to? These are just a few items to consider when looking for the perfect venue.
5. Think about your competition. How will your conference differ from the others in your industry? Are you going to spend a lot on some high-level talent to give a speech or run a workshop? Do you have some amazing information that only guests can get? You need to have some big reason for people to come to your conference.
6. Spend time developing your agenda. As you think about your competition, you can start thinking about your mission. What do you want to get out of your conference? What’s the end goal? Obviously it’s to help the attendees — but how do you want to help them? Meanwhile, are the seminars, workshops, speeches, booths and whatever you have planned going to achieve what you intend?
7. Think about your marketing. Once you’re confident that your conference is going to actually come together, you’ll want to put together a marketing plan. You’ll need to alert the media, develop brochures and a website, perhaps create a blog for the conference or mention it (numerous times) on your blog, and, of course, do a major social media push.
8. Think about sponsors. You may want advertisers to help offset your costs. That said, that might instead be the last thing you want — if you want your business to be the sole sponsor. Beyond that, keep in mind that sponsors often dominate the content/tone of the conference. If you include sponsors, be careful about the sponsorship opportunities you develop, and do everything possible to ensure the educational value of the conference isn’t disrupted.
9. Start making a list of people you will need to work at the conference. If this isn’t a virtual conference, you’re going to need people — a lot of them — to help the conference to go smoothly. If this is a big conference, you probably want a booth where people can ask questions. Consider who and what will be needed to make it the best event for your attendees.
10. Start developing your plan for after the conference. You’re going to want to consider whether this is an annual event, one that occurs once every several years or a once-and-done and never held again. In any case, if it’s successful, this could change the direction of your business, and you might experience a lot of growth. You want to be ready for that.
Oh, and as a final tip, you also want to think about scheduling a vacation right after hosting your conference, whether it’s virtual or at a venue. You could use the much-deserved R&R!
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