8 tips from business conferences organizers
Many companies in their activity face the necessity of organizing business events of different levels. It can be a closed round table, industry conference or even a large international symposium. The necessity is dictated by various reasons: from marketing tasks to promote a product in a highly specialized market to the desire to unite professionals in the industry for to achieve common goals.
Identify the audience’s need for your event
You have carefully analyzed your internal business needs and concluded that the best solution is an industry event. However, since any such event involves more than just you, no matter how pressing the topic may seem, you first need to see if the people you want to see are interested in it. You need to understand how fresh the idea is, whether people are close to the problem you want to discuss and take apart “in molecules”. And most importantly – how deeply the topic has already been considered at past industry events or individual sessions, and what you have to say new things: the latest trends, statistics, in-depth analytics, case studies and more. In other words, first make sure there is demand and relevant supply. You can start with a social media survey or email survey. This way, you will get information about topics of interest to your colleagues, you will be able to adjust the agenda and get feedback from your colleagues even before the conference itself takes place. The best event is one that people want to be at, not have to be at.
Details are everything or almost everything
Remember, no matter what kind of event you run, a certain percentage of the audience will be people who attend industry events more often than their own workplace. That’s why both the content itself and the organization at all levels are important. Professionals notice absolutely everything and have the ability to compare events of different level. That’s why it is so important to take care of every detail: from registration of participants with a clear staff brief, a full list of accreditation and high-quality printing to checking each of the involved halls for technology, compliance with timing, etc. Any ill-considered detail can spoil the impression of the event as a whole. From this point logically follows the next.
Leave the organization to professionals
If you do not have a marketing department with a dedicated team of event organizers with extensive experience in organizing events, you should entrust the logistics in the hands of professionals. Work with content and speakers, drawing up the program, negotiations with the venue, catering, technical equipment, equipment import and export, installation work, development and production of necessary printing, audio and video materials, the invitation and registration of participants, managing the flow of listeners and much more – all of this well-established processes, which should be managed by professionals.
The task of the organizers is to plan and divide zones of responsibility and give a quality result to the customer at the output.
Don’t be shy to take money
Our reality is that the market is oversaturated with information. We live in the midst of incessant information noise, every second there are several new articles on our industry that we may never read, and several events are planned that we are not destined to attend. Industry events can be either paid or free. “Pay-per-entry” is dictated by several reasons. First, any event is a cost for the venue, equipment, food, printing, speaker expenses, etc. If sponsor funds are insufficient, additional resources are needed – hence the cost of admission. Second, the speakers at your event can be “stars”, media personalities, professionals in their field. You have to pay for the value of listening to them and asking their questions. In addition, setting a certain “admission fee” can be a natural filter for those who are not an expert, but come “just for the record” or to limit the audience in number. This would also be a great opportunity to invite important partners, existing and potential clients to the event for free.
If your sponsorship opportunities are sufficient, or if the event is very small and you’re willing to absorb the cost, then feel free to set up free admission. But remember, every venue has limitations, so we advise you to open your registration in advance for a limited number of participants.
Keep an eye on sponsor appetites
Of course, sponsors are very important in our business, they give us an opportunity to make the event better and more fulfilling. But the overall impression of the participants from the conference is still more important. Develop clearly defined sponsorship packages in advance so that partners understand the gradation of their opportunities at the event and you can easily monitor them during the event. A traditional item on the list of sponsorship opportunities is the logo on the website and on the general event press box. They should be as an axiom, but they are completely useless for the partner and won’t work in the way you would like: logos on the website turn into a canvas, which is also called “a logo graveyard”, and press-waves are of absolutely nominal value. That’s why it’s important for partners to be interested in promoting their services, to come up with and offer interesting formats of interaction with the audience. The ideal is to involve guests, for example, to design their own zone, where they can offer to test the services, present
company using non-trivial solutions and technologies. Another trend is infotainment: presenting your content and information about the company in an entertaining way.
You have to remember that sponsors are not always about money. Partnership relations can be based on barter, when you offer informational support and unobtrusive promotion for guests, and your partner compensates it by necessary services for the event: printing production, catering, technical support, gifts for speakers and many other things.
Breaks can be more important than speeches
Of course, you’ll have strong content. And often during individual panel sessions or conferences discussion is born that goes beyond the timing you set. That’s why it’s important to think in advance about special networking spaces where industry experts can go to discuss pressing issues.
Lead the speakers to the podium by the hand
Take it as a given: everyone is different and speakers can be both responsible and not so responsible. On the day of the event, it is important to contact each expert in advance and remind them of the time and place of the meeting. It is desirable to meet in advance and once again discuss the agenda, and if there are several speakers (for example, in a panel session), get them together with the moderator to get acquainted, determine the order and remind them of the timing. If possible, simply designate a separate person on the team who is responsible for communicating with the guest “stars.
Take care of the feedback
An important part of any event is feedback. It will show the strengths and weaknesses of the event, which you can consider for the next time. Choose a format that is convenient for you: the old-fashioned form of communication on paper right in the hall or convenient tools of the digital age: there are special software, applications and handheld devices. If you decided to evaluate the quality of the conference and collect feedback after the event, you should do it within 1-3 days after the event.