HOW TO ORGANIZE A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE/ROUNDTABLE/FORUM

TOOLS FOR ENSURING GOOD PUBLIC/PRIVATE DIALOGUE FOR LED HOW TO ORGANIZE A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE/ROUNDTABLE/FORUM THE CHALLENGE The City wants to be at the center of public/private dialogue about matters that affect the City’s economic strength and economic future.

WHAT IS A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE?
BENEFITS OF A SUCCESSFUL IDEA-EXCHANGE EVENT
HOW TO ORGANIZE A SUCCESSFUL IDEA-EXCHANGE EVENT?
WEB RESOURCES
APPENDIX

WHAT IS A SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE?

The organization of conferences, roundtables or forums is an expercise in promoting public/private dialogue about issues important to the city’s economic strength and future. Conferences, roundtables and forums, which can collectively best be called “idea-exchange events”, are opportunities for a community to focus on its economic problems, challenges, opportunities, advantages, strategies or planning. The subject matter of the”idea-exchange event” can vary—from dialogue about policy decisions that need to be made, to discussions relevant to specific characteristics and assets of the city, such academic conferences about subjects in which the City’s academies are particularly strong or industrial forums about industrial sectors key to a city’s strength. Most important, however, is that whatever the theme of the “idea-exchange event”, the organization of the event must be perfect and must be conducive to an enjoyable, fruitful event.   

This tool describes how to plan, organize and hold a successful “idea exchange event”. It is supplemented with a planning table for event organization with a check list, which, we hope, will help those in charge of event planning and execution.

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BENEFITS OF A SUCCESSFUL IDEA-EXCHANGE EVENT

Holding a successful idea-exchange event in your city can benefit your city in any number of ways, dependent on the theme of the event. Successful idea-exchange events, such as conferences, roundtables or forums, allow for public/private dialogue about issues important to the community. To the extent common problems and opportunities must be addressed by the community as a whole, it is vital to have idea-exchange events that are well-organized and effective.

An idea-exchange event can also be used to highlight the assets and strengths of a city. When a city hosts such an event in an area in which it stands out (such as particular areas of academic expertise or industrial sector strength), the image of the city in its particular strength is enhanced and secured. Also, to the extent that your city’s idea-exchange events involve guests from outside the city, a successful idea-exchange event gives the city’s businesses, academics, artists and other citizens  opportunities to make new contacts and acquaintances, and exchange thoughts and new ideas that can enhance their own status in their sphere of operations, and enhance their knowledge.

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HOW TO ORGANIZE A SUCCESSFUL IDEA-EXCHANGE EVENT?

Event Planning

When you begin planning an idea-exchange event,, it is first necessary to decide upon these key questions: for whom is the event intended, how many people do you desire to attend the forum, conference or roundtalble; are you going to engage sponsors for the event; and are you going to take care of organizational issues by yourself, or are you going to involve event professionals.

Preparation of a successful idea-exchange event requires the talent, cooperation, coordination and participation of a number of different people in the community. Therefore, it is expedient to establish an Event Planning Committee at the earliest stage of the planning process.

The Event Planning Committee is a group of people, who are responsible for certain aspects of conference organization and program development. The members of the Committee must widely represent the target audience of the conference. Should the conference be held under support of the city hall, then, as a rule, the Committee must include employees of the city government. It is also useful to invite to the Committee representatives of other organizations interested in the conference, in particular sponsors. Should there be more than one sponsor, then each of these organizations must be represented in the Committee. One of the functions of the Committee is to distribute the burden among many people, thus the evemt is a result of intellectual and planning efforts of more than one person.

For a smaller event, it is enough to have small planning committee—essentially a team; a larger conference might require a large committee, since more decisions will have to be taken and a larger scope of work will have to be done. But you have to be cautious: a large committee might cause certain problems, the most evident of which is the difficulty to gather the committee members for planning meetings. Also, in a larger committee, reaching consensus on various issues can be more difficult.

The committee should include the people who:

• are experienced in dealing with such issues or have good organizational, negotiating and communicative skills;
• are reliable;
• are able to assume responsibility;
• can cooperate with other people;
• are capable and authorized to make decions; and
• are able to comply with the decisions of the majority.

As a rule, the Event Planning Committee shares responsibilities with the Conference Coordinator and Sponsor for the following three functions:

• consulting function;
• decision-making on calendar planning and logistics;
• responding to recommendations and proposals with regard to the content of the conference.

As soon as the work starts on various issues, the role of the committee will be more definite. In order to avoid confusions and misunderstandings, it is very important to clearly explain to the committee members what is the goal and functions of the committee.

In order to improve the efficiency and simplify the committee’s work, it is expedient to put together a conference planning table with a check list, deadlines and identification of responsible persons. (See Appendix). The check list is not a static document: keep adding questions that are expedient and necessary for your conference. When the check list is complete and the functions of each person and group are defined, take a look through the list together with your sponsor and the committee members.

There are a number of other issues regarding the committee, which should be kept in mind by the sponsor and the coordinator. For instance:

• Will committee members be compensated the time and money they spend?
• How often does the committee meet?
• How long will the committee exist?
• Will the committee evaluate the conference?
• Will the work of the committee be documented for the purpose of usage in the future?
• Whom does the committee report to?

The answers to these questions are especially important when the committee consists of representatives of different organizations and agencies.

Event  Coordinator

One of the first functions of the Event Planning Committee is to appoint one of the committee members to serve as a Event Coordinator.. A coordinator is usually a city hall or sponsor’s employee.

In order to insure a successful event, it is extremely important to have a competent person as coordinator, since the coordinator is involved in each aspect of planning and holding the conference. You need someone who has the qualities identified above as well as some other qualities. You want a person who:

• possesses good organizational skills.
• has good communicative qualities.
• is careful about the details.
• can act even under stressful situation. Sense of humor is a big plus.

Event planning requires a lot of time dedicated to administrative and office work. Holding an idea sharing event requires significant management efforts, especially when holding large events attended by more than 200 participants. This means that the coordinator might need assistance of administrative staff and the secretariat. The secretariat functions can be fulfilled by one person or a group under the management of the coordinator.  It is critical that if the coordinator has other jobs and responsibilities, for instance if the coordinator is a member of the city administration, then the coordinator’s superior must give the coordinator sufficient time off from his regular duties to coordinate the event. This is critical—events will only succeed if the planning team has adequate time to organize a good event. All in all, the functions of the coordinator and the secretariat include:

Management Functions

• Develop the event budget.
• Develop a time-table of fulfillment of assignments for event preparation.
• Preliminarily visit the event site.
• Make arrangements with regard to hotels / meeting spaces.
• Provide recommendations and insure communication with the speakers /presenters / other primary participants.
• Prepare the event program.  
• Select and train personnel and volunteers for the event.
• Crisis management during the conferences.
• Reserve unforeseen expenses.
• Develop event evaluation forms.
• Insure payment of bills.

Administrative Functions

• Organize, develop schedules and provide support staff for Event Planning Committee meetings.
• Develop event announcements, brochures and registration forms.
• Communicate with the registered event participants.
• Order materials and equipment for the conference; cooperate with the suppliers.
• Prepare nameboards, signboards, banners.
• Insure proper furniture arrangement in the audience or hall.
• Provide logistic support.  
• Provide event participant registration services at the office where the event is being planned and at the event site.

And remember, event planning is not a part time job; for the event coordinator it can be the only assignment!

Why to hold an idea exchange event?

The event goal must be clearly defined prior to the start of the planning process.

Below see recommendations of methods to help formulate the conference goal:

• Formulate a clear and exact goal. Some events are not successful only because their goal has not been completely reached.
• Be aware of what others are doing. For example, if your event is dedicated to a specific topic, say municipal marketing, make inquiries what is being done in other Ukrainian cities and abroad with this regard. What do organizations that train in the theme of your event do, what topics do they teach?
• Identify the needs of your target audience. Do not tell your target audience what kind of information they need – let them tell you what they need. It is helpful to conduct a survey for needs assessment.

Who is your target audience?

In the process of conference planning, formulate the goal first and then identify the relevant participants.

You have to identify the audience you want to attract and understand their expectations from the conference.

A popular trend is to hold large multitopical information exchange events to meet the needs of different groups. Having different areas of discussion allows exchanging ideas on different topics throughout the event, or changing topics by choosing other areas of discussion.

Recently, OPEN SPACE events have become more and more popular, where the participants can identify the topic of discussion of their own within one event.

Number of participants

While planning an event, some believe that a large number of participants insures high quality of the event. This is not always true. The number of participants is related with other factors. Take the following into account:

• Target audience. Do not plan an event for 500 people, when realistically you can expect only 200 participants.
• Event budget. Financial resources available for holding the event will be reflected on the program and can impact the number of invited participants.
• The number and the size of the meeting rooms. Lack of seats limits the number of participants you can invite.
• Hotel accommodation. The number of rooms and the size of the hotel are of key importance if the event participants are going to stay overnight.
• Number of staff and volunteers. Although the number of support staff depends on the number of participants, this factor could be of greater importance if you are limited in the number of available staff.
• Size of the assembly hall and the banquet room. When organizing plenary sessions, meals or other general assemblies in your program, the number of participants again is limited by the size of the hall.
• Event dates. Appoint the dates which do not conflict with other events, including public or religious holidays.

Event dates

When planning an idea exchange event, you should reserve at least three to six months for its organization. Thus, you will have sufficient time for planning and administrative assignments. Usually, these assignments can be fulfilled in much shorter time, but the sooner you start the easier your job will be.

When choosing the date of the event, keep in mind that hotels have high seasons, when they are in high demand, thus “appreciate” low seasons when the demand is not so high, and avoid the seasons when the demand fluctuates. If you consider the dates during a high season, you might need some extra time in order to get the desired place in the desired time and at the desired price. These are three fundamental factors for the choice of the site – location, dates and the price.

When planning an event, some consider the date and the place being the most important factors; others are more concerned with the cost. You have to realize that setting priorities between any of these two factors impact the third factor.

When setting the priority dates, you should take the following into consideration:

• Dates of other conferences that compete for your target audience.
• National and religious holidays or events.
• Expected weather conditions.
• Beginning and ending of classes in schools.
• Peak seasons of holding events.

These factors impact availability of personnel, speakers and participants for the conference. They can also influence the hotel rates.

Event budget

The event budget should be developed together with the sponsor (which can be City Hall), planning committee and (always) the coordinator. The sponsor should  be involved since usually it is the sponsor who is responsible for the payment of all conference expenses. The coordinator has to oversee the budget, that is, all budget items should be initiated or developed involving the coordinator. The coordinator must approve all budget expenses.

In fact, the budget is the list of all expected event expenses, indicating all funding sources and expected revenues (if any) from the event. When developing the budget, all “pros” and “cons” of participant registration fees should be considered. Organization of registration fee collection will require additional attention (See Appendix “Planning Table for Conference Organization – Check List).

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WEB RESOURCES

http://www.event-management-uk.co.uk/guide_conferences_uk.asp
Event Management UK – English language website, where you can find out about the methodology of organization of the events of different kind in Great Britain.

http://tumis.com/newsletter/TUMIS_conference_planning.pdf /20592
Canadian English language website useful for organization of conferences.

http://iallt.org/conftabl.html
CONFERENCE PLANNING GUIDELINES by Read Gilgen (IALL) – English language website, which can be used to organize training conferences.

http://gov.cap.ru/hierarhy.asp?page=./19187/20555
Official portal of the government bodies – Russian language website, can be of interest for organization of press conferences, briefings, writing press-releases.

http://www.advertology.ru
What is event management? - Russian language website, interesting for those who want to learn about event management.

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APPENDIX

PLANNING TABLE FOR CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

Task	Issue	Person responsible	Deadline	Notes (expenses, contact person, telephone, etc.)
To fix the date	Availability of premises (number of people, meals, computer class-rooms)
	Consult with local council / officials
	Concurrence with other conferences other conferences
	Concurrence with other city events (for instance, city festivals, etc.)
To form a committee	Local, regional, national members
	Insuring communications (meetings, e-mails, telephone)
To reserve a conference hall	How much does it cost?
	Developing the time-table
	Available technical means?
	Large rooms for joint sessions
	Registration desks, conference headquarters
	Conference break rooms
	Areas for demonstrational materials Make sure that rooms can fit the expected number of participants
Program development	General topic
	Send out invitations to participate in the conference (speakers)		3-6 months before
	Develop a program
Speakers	Agree upon the topic of the speech, presentation materials Hotel accommodation Air tickets Airport-hotel transportation Translators / interpreters
	Special audiovisual and computer requirements
Advertising and information distribution	Person responsible for event’s advertising
	Announce the dates		ASAP
	Sending out invitations (how many, when, whom, discount rates for mailings)
	Advertising via Internet and electronic means (e-mail, computer mailing list)
	Invitations (develop design, print out, etc.)
	Separate invitation for the media
Accommodation	Identify hotels, etc. (take into consideration location, rates, quality)
	Negotiate about group rates, other benefits (additional transportation)
	Reserve hotel rooms (guarantees, sanctions for cancellation, etc.)
	Registration procedure (at the hotel itself or through conference participant registration)
Transportation	Maps and driving instructions how to get there
	Transportation services from and to the airport of railway station
	Transportation services between the place of accommodation and the place of the conference
	Transportation for special events
Meals	How many meals included in the registration fee, if there is such? (in addition?)
	Breaks (coffee, soft drinks, snacks)
	Analysis of the bids of local restaurants/prices/location
	Keep in mind special diets
	Decide how, when and if at all serve alcohol beverages
Management instruments	Database/electronic tables
Budget	Funding local budget sponsors participant fees
	Collect the fee during together with registration fee?
	The cost of meals can be included in or excluded from the registration fee
	Open a special account
	Procedures (prepare and send out together with invitations bank receipts)
	Method of payment for expenditures from the bank account (accounting requirements)
	Participant registration fee payment receipts (pre-printed at the place)
Sponsors’ trade show, local businesses in general	Will there be a trade show as a part of the conference?
	Location, schedule, material and technical support
External support	Events funded by local businesses, sponsors
Information packages for conference participants	What to include (maps, itinerary, local information, folders, pens, notebooks) possibly with the name of the conference
	Preparation (selection of materials, printing out, compiling)
	Distribution (how, when)
Name tags	Size and type
	How to develop and give out
Installation and technical support of equipment	What is available / needs to be leased? multimedia projector audio-video equipment laptop computers
	What and when to ask the speakers about their needs
	When the speakers can test the equipment
	Support staff (installation of equipment, testing, fixing malfunctions)
Software	What is available / can be available?
	Who installs?
Leisure	Information about restaurants and clubs
	Local points of interest, excursions
	Additional city tours
	Family events (for large conferences, city festivals)
	Local attractions
	Events sponsored by the conference
	Free time
Other	Materials with conference results (CDs, presentations)
	Developing
	Distribution

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