11 Tips to Organising a Successful Conference or Meeting

Jul 4
12:40

2017

Vipul Patel

Vipul Patel

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The task of planning and organising a company or department conference can be a demanding and complicated task that is usually coordinated incorrectly. With this useful tips to organising a successful conference or meeting, your job will not only be easier, but a rewarding experience.

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  1. Always remember the purpose

The number one thing to remember when coordinating a conference is to keep in mind the purpose of having the meeting– or what is the conference to achieve. The purpose of a conference may be for a variety of reasons. Some of the more common purposes are to: co-ordinate activities,11 Tips to Organising a Successful Conference or Meeting Articles build morale, secure agreement, brief staff/clients, and solve a problem, exchange information, initiate policy and product launches.

Keeping the purpose of your conference in mind will assist in how effective the meeting is and how well it is executed on the day.

2. Select a date and time for the conference or meeting well in advance.

When selecting a date, be sure to leave yourself, guests and presenters enough time to plan ahead for the conference. This will allow time to find and book a suitable conference venues Sydney ormeeting rooms Sydney. Conference and function rooms get booked well in advance, so you may not have many choices if you leave it too late.

3. Set a theme for your conference.

A successful theme for a conference will provide a motivating motif that your colleagues will take away with them. To do this, invite a guest speaker to come and talk to your colleagues about your selected theme. Having an outstanding keynote speaker is essential in setting the mood, encouraging a group to take action, and leaving an important message etched in the minds and hearts of the audience. Inspiring the guests is a wonderful way to keep those high spirits, rouse and maintain a positive mindset, and rally people on to victory.

4. Promote the conference.

Generate excitement in the workplace when promoting the conference by sending out invitations to colleagues, presenters and guest speakers.

Posters on noticeboards around the workplace are also a useful and easy promotional activity to remind employees what is coming up and what to expect. If your company has a staff intranet, utilising this would be a perfect reminder to all colleagues of an upcoming conference. Electronic invitations is also a great tool in not only promoting the event, but also gives a personal touch, while being a greener alternative to print invitations.

 5. Catering for your conference.

Catering options for the day may seem like a little thing, but when people are hungry, they usually get uncomfortable, shortened concentration and their general outlook on the day becomes negative. Supplying grazing stations on lunch and meal breaks can be a great addition to any conference! Stations such as oyster, curry, pasta, BBQ, wok, paella and waffle.

  1. AV and Lighting

The AV aspect to any conference is imperative to get right. There are many AV features of a conference that need to be organised and planned well in advance including: microphones, distributed audio system, plasma screens, projectors and lighting. Choose supplier who are experts in all things audio-visual for any conference or event, small and large.

  1. Floor Plans

Floor plans and room layouts are also an important aspect of every conference. The most popular layout styles involve: a theatre setting (for large groups facing the keynote speaker), a class room (used for briefing groups who need to take notes – similar to theatre styles but include desks), board room (small groups sitting around one long table – all participants can see each other), cabaret style (for large groups seated around round tables) and banquet style (for large groups segmented into smaller table groups where workshop activities can be performed – also used for meals).

  1. Be sure your colleagues have fun!

Although a conference needs the fundamental speeches and presentations to communicate your conference’s purpose, you also need to remember that guests can actually have a fun time!

Corporate Challenge is an Australia wide program that involves workmates working together to complete challenges set by the Corporate Challenge team to promote team building and enthusiasm.

Popular motivating team building challenges and activities of the Corporate Challenge team include:

  • Bikes for Tykes – Build a bike for a tyke from camp quality
  • City Scramble – Discover the hidden treasures of the city
  • Mini Olympics – Represent your country with pride.
  • Survivor – Outwit, outplay, outlast
  • Corporate Chef – Who will be your company’s Masterchef?
  • Minute to Win It – Can you win mini challenges in just one minute?
  1. Celebrate: Cocktails/Dinner

What better way to celebrate the end of a successful conference or meeting than with a group dinner with cocktails included! This is a great way to relax after a long day full of information and activities. Make sure venue should like cocktail function venues sydney.

  1. There’s still more work to do…

Be sure not to forget the important details after the conference has finished. Taking time out after the conference and just covering some of the following will nicely complete the hard work of planning and conducting a conference:

  • Pay all outstanding accounts of the conference
  • Organise presenter notes/conference outcomes
  • Distribute conference notes/outcomes to staff
  • Collect and analyse any evaluations completed
  • Reflect on whether the conference reached its objectives/purpose
  • Take time to rest until the next conference!

We hope these small tips great big successes for your next conference event. Always remember, you’re there to have fun too!