1.

Importance of Guiding a Conference

CONFERENCE:
A conference is a gathering of people with a common interest or background, with the
purposes of allowing them to meet one another and to learn about and discuss issues,
ideas and work that focus on a topic of mutual concern.

Conference is also a space for creating collaborative links between academics and professional
practitioners and their workplaces, aiming at long-term sharing of knowledge and discussions of
highly current issues.

What are the main reasons people attend conferences?

1. To network
A big reason for going to conferences is to meet with likeminded people and
industry peers. Conferences bring together people from all different geographical
areas who share a common discipline or field, and they are a great way to meet
new people in your field. At a conference you will be able to get together with
people from a wide range of backgrounds, of whom you may not encounter at your
home workplace or institution. As you build your professional network, conferences
can become a good place for meeting with people in your field that you haven’t
connected in a while.
2. To expand your knowledge and find solutions to problems
You will hear a lot about things in your field that will be new to you. These could be
new techniques, new types of equipment, unpublished data, or learn from thought-
leaders that you may not have previously heard of. You will get to keep onto of the
research of some of the biggest names in your field, in addition to some of the
newest faces in it. Conferences give you the opportunity to talk to these people
one-on-one about what they are working on, and they may even give you advice on
how to enhance your own work. You have the opportunity to ask presenters
questions about their work and the rationale behind it, which you can’t do when
reading journal articles.
3. To present your ideas and work to others
This is one of the more obvious reasons for attending conferences: to present your
work. It’s good practice in talking about what you do with a variety of people from
similar, related and/or completely different areas of study. Presenting will make you
more confident about the work that you do, and gives you new perspective about
your work as people may ask questions that make you think about your project
differently. At a conference you have the opportunity to get feedback on your work
from people who have never seen it before and may provide new insight.
4. For people to meet you
It may not seem like a notable thing, but conferences are also a good way for
people to meet you. Regardless if you are the CEO of a multinational company or a
second year grad student, or even presenting for the first time, you may meet
someone at a meal, in the exhibit hall or wherever and within a few minutes, you
can make a connection with someone that could dramatically impact your
professional career. This is especially important when you are looking for
collaborators, jobs ideas, or in some fields you may even be looking for committee
members. Conferences are another way to get your name and your work out there
as you begin to establish yourself in your field of study, especially if fortunate to be
invited as a speaker.
5. Learn beyond your field or interest
This is a two-fold benefit of attending conferences, since not only may you learn
things outside your field about other areas of research in your discipline, but
conference attendance also have many sessions for professional development and
career advice. Chances are, when you go to a conference the attendees are united
by a single broad topic but they have many different sub-fields of study, and many
projects will be multidisciplinary.
And of course, there are other benefits to attending conferences such as finding a
new job, recruiting skilled people for a position, getting out of the office for a few
days and use the time to visit a new city, gain continuing education credits via
attendance etc.
So why attend conferences? We each have our own reasons for attending but my
personal opinion is that conference attendance dramatically enhances both your
professional and personal development, as well as providing you with tools and
skills which you cannot be taught in-house or online. The focused nature of
learning at a conference allows you to dig deeper with the understanding of your
topic of interest.

curtiscoulter.com/why-do-people-attend-conferences-5-key-reasons-for-attendees-and-event-
organizers/

2. Types of Conferences

Adapted from: http://velvetchainsaw.com/2010/08/05/registrant-attendee-or-

participant-importance-of-right-conference-word/

1.Conference- can be large society meetings smaller annual conferences for

Centers or targeted focus groups (Wikipedia)

 Attendees/participants are students, academic, industry or government

researchers, sometimes administrators
 Participants submit abstracts to present data (oral or poster), engage
colleagues, get feedback, learn to hone presentation skills, learn from
others in the field, network
 Attendees could be a speaker in one session and a learner/participant in
another session
 Conferences usually have one or more keynote or plenary speaker(s).
These speakers are lecturers who present a high-level overview of their
own work or career.
2.Symposium- is a meeting or small-scale conference in an academic setting where
participants are experts in their fields. The experts present or deliver their opinions
or viewpoints on a chosen topic for discussion. Symposia are particularly good for
student speakers as it allows them to practice and get feedback on their own work.

3.Seminars- are a type of conference or other meeting typically designed for

training. Departments often host regular seminars of student speakers or invited
guests.

4.Colloquia-are informal meetings or seminars on a broad topic usually led by a

different lecturer at each meeting.

5.Round table discussions-Participants discuss a specific topic. Each person around

the table interactively participates.
6.Workshops- are usually interactive training where participants actively engage in
activities rather than passively listening to a lecturer. Workshops are usually
moderated by a lecturer or facilitator.

Conference Attendee:

 Registrant – a person who is formally registers for a meeting or

conference, usually for a fee
 Attendee – one who is present or attends a function or a person
who participates in a meeting
 Participant – one that participates, shares or takes part in a
meeting
 Learner – one that gains knowledge, comprehension or mastery
through experience or study; someone who learns or takes
knowledge or beliefs; one that is learning; one that is acquiring
new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values or preferences (e.g. a
'student' or a participant)
 Speaker – a student, postdoc, faculty or researcher who gives an
oral or poster presentation of her/his project in a moderated
session at a conference or other meeting
 Lecturer - a speaker of authority who presents a topic to an
audience for learning purposes
 Moderator, Facilitator - one or more individuals who lead a
group of participants for training purposes (thus not a
participant). In some cases, this person may charge a fee for their
professional services as a consultant
 Keynote Speaker – a person of authority with credentials in a
field to give a high level overview of his/her career or work
 Plenary Speaker or Facilitator – someone with authority to
stimulate input and discussion by participants to come to
conclusion for action
 3. Planning and Organizing Conference
Planning and organizing: The process of carrying out plans in the establishment of goals,
policies, and procedure for a social unit.

◦ Planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to
achieve a desired goal. Planning is also a management process, concerned with defining
goals for a company's future direction and determining the missions and resources to
achieve those targets.
◦ Once a plan has been created, a manager can begin to organize. Organizing involves
assigning tasks, grouping tasks into departments, delegating authority, and allocating
resources across the organization. During the organizing process, managers coordinate
employees, resources, policies, and procedures to facilitate the goals identified in the
plan.

 DECIDE ON A THEME. Every great conference needs a theme. What’s the unifying
message that your speakers will deliver? The best themes should be catchy, relatable,
and trigger an emotional response. You want the conference to inspire and stimulate
conversation. The theme has to pick up on it.
 ASSEMBLE YOUR TEAM. You need a dedicated team of people to assume responsibility
for different aspects of planning, negotiations, and promotions. Your core team will
likely include:
1. Planning team: Conference venue, accommodation, activities, catering.
2. Administration team. Budgeting, attendee registration, ticket sales. This
team/person will also be the main point of contact for persons related to the
conference.
3. Marketing team. Contacting the media, creating promotional material, managing
your website, blog, and social media activities.
4. Sponsorships team. In charge of securing sponsors, applying for grants, and
fundraising.
5. Volunteers. Helping with all on-site activities on the day of the conference; door
management, ticket scanning, keeping track of the guest list, etc.
 PREPARE A BUDGET AND BUSINESS PLAN. Whether your conference is funded by
sponsor or not, you’ll have to put together a budget. You need to know where your
money is being earned and spent. Common items you want to budget for:
o Venue
o Accommodation
o Transportation
o Catering
o Speaker fees
o Activities
o Marketing
o Team members

Preparing a budget with realistic estimates will also come in handy when searching for
venues.
 CHOOSE YOUR SPEAKERS. No matter what your niche is, it is very likely that the quality
of the speakers can make the conference successful. In many fields the speakers are
the stars of the conference, and attendance can be affected by their quality. If good
speakers are hard to find, plan in advance.
 CHOOSE THE LOCATION. The location of the conference is an important factor for its
success. You need a place that can easily be reached, well served by public transport
 and with a good choice of hotels and restaurants in the area, if your conference is
going to last for days.
 TALK TO THE VENUE. If planning a successful conference is a daunting task for you, or if
you don’t have great experience and they are more than willing to share it with you
because your success is the venues success too.
 FOCUS ON VISITOR EXPERIENCE. Live events are very relevant in today’s market; while
advancing technologies have enhanced our industry, they can’t be replaced the
element of human interaction. Engaging content, clear objectives that makes your
event uniqu, different or better than your competitors are all compelling reasons for
visitor attendance. Careful consideration should be given to visitor experience and
engagement to maximize ROI and drive customer retention.

olympia.london>blog>articles
www.smashingmagazine.com (authors Zach Inglis/Laura Sanders)
lifehack.org>articles>work (author Alexandre Levit)

How to Make a Good Conference Agenda

As you join trade associations or rise in the ranks at your company, you might be asked to help
plan the agenda for a conference. It might be a simple, one-topic event or a more complicated
meeting with multiple speakers presenting at one time and a variety of activities throughout the
day. Using best practices for meetings planning, you can create a conference that draws more
attendees and has them talking about it the rest of the year.

Learn the Goals Before you start working on the agenda, meet with the event’s organizers to
determine their goals. They might be looking for maximum attendance to turn a profit. The
conference might primarily be a perk for the board and committee members of a trade
association. Education might be the key reason for the conference. Once you know the
organization’s goals, you can begin planning your theme, specific meeting topics and social
activities. Ask the organizers if they have a theme to help guide your planning. Ask for copies
of any attendee surveys taken at previous conferences.

Get the Budget It’s important to get your numbers as soon as possible. In some cases, you’ll
be given a general range, especially if the event is a business expense and not a profit center.
Your budget might be tied to attendance, so get the attendance numbers for the last three years
and ask the organizers if they have any ideas on how this year’s venue will draw attendees. In
some cases, businesses will pay the fees and expenses of speakers representing them.

List Your Topics and Activities You might have attractive speakers or activities in mind
before you begin planning your agenda, but it’s best to start creating your agenda based on
what the organizer’s and attendees want to achieve from the meeting. This requires coming up
with a list of educational topics that will draw the most attendees or best help the organization
meet its goals. Once you have a list of attractive topics, then you can begin considering what
speakers are best to present those lectures or seminars. Rank your social activities in order of
importance so you know where to start trimming if the budget gets tight.

Create the Schedule Create a daily schedule that includes start and end times for each
activity, leaving long enough breaks between each to get from one location to another.
Schedule one morning and one afternoon break to let people make phone calls, visit the
restroom or run to their hotel rooms.

Start Pricing After you have your list of topics and speakers, plug in the social activities your
organizer told you were priorities during your goal-setting meeting and start calculating your
expenses. Speaker expenses include airfares or mileage reimbursements, accommodations,
speaking fees, airport shuttle or taxi stipend, meals, welcome gift, golf or tennis and
audiovisual needs. Social activities include food, beverage, entertainment and room fees.
While you might not be responsible for the budget of the conference, you’ll probably be guided
by spending limits and will have to present a general budget for your agenda.

Make Your Proposal Once you have your agenda ready, present it to the organizers, along
with your rough budget. Using this document, the organizers will make suggestions and
changes, such as fewer or more seminars, different speakers and modified social activities.
Your work might be done once you present your agenda, or you might be asked to look into
one or more modifications.

https://work.chron.com/key-elements-good-meeting-8990.html