How to plan a successful conference

No one has yet discovered a better way to get industry peers in a room, introduce them to new contacts and bring them up to speed on the latest news and tech than a conference. Well staged, they’re an opportunity to demonstrate expertise, hear from respected industry voices, see technologies and make fruitful new contacts.

If you’re considering organising one, here are our top 12 tips for making it go with a bang.

1. Know your goals

“An internal conference for a large company is likely to be centred around a message or learning outcome,” says independent events organiser Jules Jameson Pascoe. “An industry event is attended by a very broad spectrum of people. They will have bought tickets, they want to be impressed, energised and walk away with new contacts and new ideas. Policy, ideas and innovation events such as TED Talks need to be speaker heavy and are about the names you can get on stage and the quality wisdom they have to impart.”

Identify your audience and what you want the conference to achieve. Who are they and what do they want? What gap in the market is your conference filling? What do you want to share with or teach people? 

2. Plan ahead

How far? As long as humanly possible, a minimum of six months for conferences of over 50 delegates. If you want busy people to come you’ve got to get in their schedule and people are busy, or they have lives. Or both. The higher up the food chain you go the more compelling the topic and the further in advance you need to get in their diary. 

3. Keep it on brand

The venue you choose says a lot about your brand and a beige projector and hotel function room set up won’t cut it for every event. Glass and steel rooftop or leather-lined gentleman’s club, your venue should convey the right message. Smaller conferences could consider restaurants or private rooms in pubs: it doesn’t matter so long as it’s a good fit.

4. Guest list

Your audience should be obvious, but it might also be relevant to invite VIPs and industry influencers as free-of-charge guests. It might also be worth giving the speakers a couple of free tickets to invite influencers of their choice, and it won’t do your event promotion any harm either.

5. Keep it interesting

Make sure you hold the attention of your audience with a range of relevant presentations, speakers, seminars and demos, as appropriate for your clearly identified goal (see above). “Short snappy presentations, delegate participation, exciting workshops, and healthy brain food” are easy ways to keep delegates on their toes, says Colin Porter, director of Armada House’s conference and events.

“What is their motivation for coming,” asks Jules. “Cater to this and you will have success. If they bitch about the food they have either missed the point or you’ve failed.”

6. Make room

Make sure you’ve got plenty of room for break-outs, speakers and networking. A change of scenery can sometimes be enough to liven people up during a long day.

“You need a comfortable environment,” says Sam Nash of Pretty Clever Events; “you don’t want your delegates to be distracted but you do need them to feel comfortable. Is it in the right location? Is there natural day light, is the temperature of the room correct, room layout?”

You want the space to feel small enough so delegates don’t feel that they’re rattling around but large enough so that they’re not crammed in. Don’t forget to consider parking, public transport and accessibility. 

7. Communicate

You don’t want to be fielding calls on the day from people lost in the neighbouring countryside. Make sure your guests know how to get to the venue, the agenda, and any dress code. Keep in touch with them in the lead-up to the event with an efficient communication plan and make sure signage on the day is foolproof.

8. Make it slick

Your delegates are your clients for a day and you want to impress them, not least to court that important repeat business – you’re likely to want to invite them again in future.

So make sure that the deliver is super slick: that registration is seamless, lighting is right, mics are checked and WiFi password is readily available. Know your venue, make sure you’re got all the AV equipment you need, how to use it and where the power sockets are.

“I have Venue Produced conferences where very famous and very learned speakers have read from crib notes so the camera sending their image to the huge repeater screens showed only the top of their balding head, others where people were audibly snoring in an auditorium that seated over a thousand people,” says Jules. Not a good look.

9. Feed and water

It shouldn’t matter but it does. Make sure the food isn’t the main talking point. “Your delegates will always remember the menu,” says Sam; “and the cake.”

10. Stick with the programme

There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a stuffy room listening to a presentation as it carries on into its twentieth minute of overtime. All your delegates will be thinking is the fastest route to the bar and whether they can get away with striding purposefully out of the room clutching their phone. Stick to the timetable as rigidly as possible. 

11. Make the networking work

Number one top tip is to make the networking work. Not only is it a huge part of the event, it costs money so you don’t want people to make excuses and leave. It gives people a great, underestimated opportunity to make connections and digest what they’ve learnt. It helps them to cement ideas of how good your event was before they go home and forget all about it.

It should be enjoyable – some after parties are legendary – a good way to end what is usually quite an intense day.

12. Follow-up

Don’t forget to say thank-you for coming. In the case of an annual conference, an ideal follow-up it will also include an Early Bird discount deal and a summary of the content to whet their appetite for the next event.

BRISTOL’S SIX BEST CONFERENCE VENUES 

M Shed – on the water with a purpose-built event suite

University of Bristol – ready made lecture and learning spaces

RWA – A grand location steeped in history and phenomenal architecture

The Bristol Hotel – can accommodate large numbers and has outstanding facilities

Paint Works – a blank canvas, industrial and modern space to work with

Ashton Gate Stadium – one of the newest kids on the block so shiny, new and well kitted

Main image – The Bristol Hotel 

Read more: The women behind Bristol’s big events