Academic Ventures - Personal, Cost-Effective Conference Planning

Tips: Do in Advance

Fight the urge to think “I’ll do that when we get there.” Print whatever you can, copy whatever you can, make signs wherever you can.

“Sure” things will become “unsure” things – speakers change, room plans are altered, handouts are revised and attendees will always need some kind of fix to their nametags‑but do not let that knowledge stop you from doing everything you can in advance.

Keep in mind everything takes longer when you are working at a remote location. And those of you with retail experience will know the strange phenomenon that occurs when five, 10, 50 or more people are waiting in a line to register – computers slow down, printers jam, supplies disappear and time speeds up.

Assign responsibilities—don’t expect the meeting coordinator/planner to be able to execute all the tasks. Just posting a locator sign in the lobby or delivering the name cards to the room could be a 10-minute trip depending on the venue size.

Tips: Be Prepared

Recently, we were interviewed by COSE Update, a business publication, for its cover story on successful meeting planning.

(Visit www.academicventures.com for a link to the complete article.)

Overall all the tips we provided came down to the Boy Scout motto “Be prepared.”

It is important to realize that meetings and events tend to happen at an increasing pace that catches a lot of people by surprise so being ready is extremely important and advance preparation is often the key to success.

So to be prepared we recommend planners:

•           Do as much as you can in advance.

•           Appreciate checklists as important tools.

•           Be ready for change.

•           Have a post-event plan.

F&B: By Time

If attempting to estimate how many bites per person or the number of crudités trays you will need to keep your guests happy causes you a great deal of stress consider a “per-hour” option for your reception.

In the “per-hour” scenario the caterer will keep you and your guests in hors d’oeuvres for a predetermined period (typically two hours) for a fixed rate per person.

Although the rate is fixed, you will need to estimate for budget purposes how many people will attend.

And while there is no need to count canapés or skewers you should be prepared to count number of attendees as your caterer certainly will be counting heads (to see if more, not less, showed up.) And once the event is over you bill will be based on their actual number.

You can expect higher pricing per unit as the caterer must account for the worst-case scenario in planning for food (i.e. the party goer who consumes 20 bites instead of the average 4-8 bites), many event organizers find the ease of not having to concentrate on how many trays of coconut shrimp has been consumed is more than a fair trade-off.