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A specific skill set is required to conquer conference planning. As an event planner, you’re aware that organizational expertise, people skills, and creativity are all essential. If you’re unaware of these necessities, consider project management courses before moving forward. Once you have the above skills, you can move onto the next step toward conquering conference planning. That next step is developing a guide that will lead you and your event to success every time. Here, you will discover how to develop a foolproof conference planning checklist.
Select A Theme
The theme is the foundation of your conference. Successful themes range from very broad to very sharply focused. Regardless of how narrow you choose to make your theme, it must be captivating. It must also unify the ideas of the conference. This is the main reason why having a theme is necessary. If your ideas cannot be clearly connected to one another, your entire conference will seem off topic. Developing a mission statement can ensure that you remain on topic. The first thing on your conference planning checklist should be to select a theme.
Form A Team
Assigning roles and responsibilities to team members is mandatory. If you do not efficiently form a core team, your conference outcome could suffer. Without assigned roles and responsibilities, you could fall behind and be unprepared when the conference date arrives. You could also have many mistakes occur due to lack of communication and confusion. These mistakes could lose you money and precious time. You must separate team members to work on the different elements of planning a conference: planning, negotiations, and promotion. You will remain the manager, which entails delegating tasks and setting goals. Include this point at the beginning of your conference planning checklist.
Determine A Budget
Budgets for conferences vary tremendously. You must determine your budget before purchasing anything for your conference. Alott a certain amount of money toward your venue. Calculate how much you will need for any food or beverages. The amount of people you plan to host will significantly effect your budget. Take into consideration all financial factors and then determine a budget that can lead you to success. Ensure that you keep the business secure financially through budgeting as well. This must be a major checkpoint on your checklist.
Choose A Venue
After calculating your budget, you can choose a venue. There are many different factors that go into this checkpoint as well. There’s a reason this checkpoint comes after “Select A Theme”, “Form A Team”, and “Determine A Budget”. Your venue must adhere to all of those things and anything that they may encompass. The location of your conference is critical. It must reflect the theme of your conference. The team members in charge of searching for venue options must be aware of the budget you set. Whenever using your conference planning checklist, consider the parking availability and amenities offered by different venues when you arrive at this point.
Engage Potential Registrants
The idea of your conference must be appealing toward potential registrants. Similarly, you must effectively market your conference in a way that will engage them. There are many ways to improve your business marketing. Having interested potential registrants leads to good attendance at your conference. With good attendance comes more profit. More profit suggests a successful conference. Therefore, engaging potential registrants is yet another very important conference planning factor that should be included in your checklist.
Conference planning can be made much easier with a checklist. The first point on your checklist should be to select a theme. Then, you must form a driven team of professionals. Determine a budge after a theme and team are already addressed. The next point on your checklist must be the exciting part of picking a venue. After that’s in order, you will need to engage potential registrants to ensure achievement. You now have all of the tools you need to develop a foolproof conference planning checklist.
