10 Key Things on Conference/Event Management

Recently, a friend and I were talking about events as they had been putting their 2016 event calendar together.  It read like a non-discerning socialite's calendar: not only are they attending everything, but most of the time they don't even know why.  Consequently, much of their marketing budget (and time) is allocated to event spend but in 12 months, I expect that they'll have a tough time justifying that decision unless they are very lucky with how the market develops.    

Events and conferences can be brilliant, but they can also be a resource drain.  If you're going to do them, you really need to do it properly.  Consequently, here's a handy list of 10 things to bear in mind when organising events for your company.  It's not an exhaustive list, but it's a start.

"Isn't this is coordinated dance class?"
How were they to know they were
supposed to stop the rebels?

1. Know why you are there!  As with any marketing action, you need to know why you are doing it.  Are you there to generate leads?  Make sales? Connect with key opinion leaders? Create brand awareness?  Knowing what you want to achieve right at the start will allow you to judge the event is a good idea and fits in with your overall marketing strategy.  There's no point if it will not help your business.  Knowing your overall goals will also help you to judge the approach and style you need.
     
2. Have measurable key performance indicators.  Once you have defined your goals and know why you are doing your event, you need to have a more tactical way to measure your successes (or not) which tie into your strategy.  
• For example if you are going to an exhibition and your overall goal is lead generation, then have a set number of leads you would like to acquire and agree the figure in advance.  Be ambitious but reasonable, bearing in mind how many hours are available and the number of your staff.  If you are going to a two day conference (around 14 hours in total), you have three staff at any point, and a lead will take 10 minutes to gain, optimistically you are looking at an absolute maximum of  around 100 leads.  If the exhibition has 250 relevant visitors, a stretch goal might be 50 leads - that's a 50% success rate and 20% of the visitors.  Will that work with your goals?  Is the number too high/low?
   
3. Be brand consistent.  This runs throughout the process, but events are a form of communication in and of themselves.  Everything you do should have your brand in mind; from what you do at the event to the size of stand you need.  It's easy sometimes to just think of branding when actually putting up graphics, but you need to think about what you're doing as early as possible, even if it's just in broad terms.  You need this vision to be able to plan what happens in and around your event.
   
4. Have a budget plan.  How much do you have to spend on events overall?  Have an idea of what you are willing to spend on this specific event within that budget (looking back at your KPIs!) and stick to it.  Events are easy to overspend on, so having a budget allocated early can make all the difference.  You might have to scale back some of your grand ideas, and even not attend some events completely, but you'll prioritise and the total outcomes are likely to be more positive than if you spend without thinking.
   
5. Book and cover your paperwork/organisation in plenty of time.  As well as eating money, events can be resource heavy and need to be organised in advance.  Exhibitions often open

   

   How not to approach event planning

   their booking system a year in advance, so the earlier you can book, the better.  Plus, once it's booked in the diary, it will give more of a level of realism to its existence and lead to point 6...
   
6. Have a checklist of tasks.  Boring, but essential.  Once it's in the diary and you have you aims and rough outline, you need to get into the nitty gritty.   Events have so many facets that it's easy for something to slide, and when something goes wrong at an event it's instantly noticable.  This is everything from booking electrical sockets to wifi, to ordering stands and organising rotas and hotels and tick them off as they are completed.  Remember sales staff often get booked up months in advance so ensuring the event is in the diaries will stop additional problems.  
   
   
7. Lay out your stand in advance. If you have a physical presence somewhere such as a stand at an exhibition, lay it out in advance.  Put masking tape on the floor in the right dimensions, and set up you stand/promotional stall to check it all.  Does the foot flow work or does the layout deter leads from coming and talking to you?  Do all the lights and electrics work?  Are the graphics clean and in good condition?  Do the cables reach and how many extension leads will you need?  Does your plinth cover up your logo?  It will take a day, but it's definitely worth the time.  Plus, you can take photos for the conference guide if necessary.
   
8. Write a conference guide.  It's easy to get wrapped up in your own plans when living them day in and day out.  Various staff members will be attending who have not been involved in your meticulous planning, and will have no idea what it is going on.  Write a conference guide to send out to them a couple of weeks beforehand with details that will be useful, such as:

• The aims of the event and what it is planned to achieve with how it will be measured
• Images of the stand with descriptions of the sections and what they are for.
• A timetable of events both generally and related to your area
• How social media will be used
• A copy of the staff rota and who is in charge of the stand/emergency contacts on any day
• The addresses of the event and the hotels 
• Depending on the event, you could consider including etiquette guidelines
  
  There's a lot more that can be added, but it will depend on time and the event.

9.  Brief your staff beforehand.  Even with a conference guide, you need to go over some of the key points in person to make sure everyone is on the same page, either the night before or early on the day.  It will make all the difference.

10.  Have someone responsible for the event there.  Even with the best planning, things can and will go wrong on the day.  You (or a known representative) need to be there from set up to pack down to make sure everything goes according to plan and help with any crises that arise from sudden illness of staff to broken items or non-arriving stands.  Make sure everyone attending knows who that person is and how to contact them, and be prepared for a busy few days with comfortable shoes.

Good luck!