Thursday, June 12, 2008

Nitty-Gritty of Organizing a Conference


Organizing a conference may seem easy as it sounds until everything goes amiss – invitations marked “return to sender”, last minute change of conference venues, things forgot to purchased and prepared, etc. Planning and implementation is simple, the hard part is the preparation. Let’s take a look at these 3 stages and study what each entails.

Planning
This is the initial stage where all the brainstorming happens – seeing to it that every minute detail of the conference is being covered. First step for this is the need assessment or the objective-setting where organizers analyze and identify the main reason for holding the event. Integral part of this stage is the development of theme and program. After which, are the following: budgeting, delegating tasks to respective persons, and setting time table.

This stage entails lots of discourse, arguments and even disputes but then this is the most important stage such that it will serve as the framework of the conference.
Preparation
This is the tedious part – it’s where all the legwork and coordination takes place. From preparing invitations; prepare list of guests and attendees; venue, accommodation and transportation; handouts and kits; tokens; presentation materials; audio visual, production and staging; sourcing out sponsors and exhibitors, advertising and promotions; and arranging all other necessary documents. By this list itself, it can be easily concluded how critical the stage is.

While the first stage works out the brain, the preparation stage uses up physical energy. This deems number of sleepless nights, over time, and lots and lots of patience.

Implementation
This is when all people are tensed, thinking if everything is already taken cared of and that nothing is forgotten. Final briefing, arrangements and setting up are done in this stage. Also, making sure that the plan or program is followed accordingly. It also includes handling delegates’ concerns and needs; providing secretarial and administrative assistance; and administering evaluation forms.

Assessment is very important in organizing conferences because this is where you identify the things that needs improvement, things that are lacking, and of course all the good points. This is for so organizers may have confidence the next time they hold a conference and be able to avoid making mistakes.

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