SYMPOSIUM 101: PART 2 - WHAT DOES IT TAKE
TO PUT ON THE GREATEST SHOW AROUND
a conference planner has with a host city and transportation
purveyor is extremely helpful in negotiating the best discounts and
service available to attendees.
It also should be noted that the days of numerous direct flights into
large or small airports is disappearing. Since 9/11 with a limitation
put on direct flight distances, along with an increase of airlines
purchasing their competitors flight routes and infrastructures,
there is a closing gap of finding any direct flights to a number of
cities around the country, along with a limited number of direct
daily flights into certain cities, causing the luxury of easy travel
soon to disappear altogether. Conference planners work their
hardest prior to selecting a city for an association to find the best
airline accommodations that still fly (if possible, directly) into a
conference city’s airport along with other transportation discounts
to attendees.
Marketing the Conference
One thing to remember, it takes more than contracts, scheduling
and detailed plans to make a conference successful. The most
important and hardest part of the planning and execution process
is making sure members and potential attendees are aware that
your conference is happening, and getting the information out
there to invite everyone to attend. This is where marketing comes
in.
Marketing for a conference happens on many levels. From
developing an image or “branding look” that references your
organization and the city where the conference is; writing and
developing printed materials, ads, articles, newsletters/blogs, social
media updates, etc. – even returning a phone calls to people asking
registration questions, these are just some of the marketing avenues
available in promoting a conference. Marketing involves selling
and promoting the service your conference is focusing on, and
the more professionals who are interested in your conference, the
greater your attendance rate will be.
When you are working on the nuts and bolts of disseminating
information to your members and potential conference attendees,
marketing doesn’t stop when the conference begins. Marketing
also involves talking directly to attendees and exhibitors to see
if there are ways to improve their conference experience for the
next time, as well as making sure those who may not know that
much detail about your organization are given the information
and encouragement to become a speaker for the next conference
or even a member. Even if your following year’s conference is
at a different location or one possibly off the beaten path, with
marketing you can listen to this focused group of professionals and
use this knowledge to up the excitement of future conferences.
Conference Registration
One of the bigger challenges in the many tasks in executing and
planning a conference is how the actual registration process will
run. The conference planner and their team understands this
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process must be as easy and quick as possible. There are instances
that the process may not go as smoothly as planned, but in those
rare cases it is usually do to a technology issue, or information is
not submitted correctly.
To assist in getting attendees signed up as early as possible, the
host of a conference will offer an “early bird” discounted rate if
you register before a certain date. This incentive can help the
conference planner monitor the need for additional or less rooms
and catering counts based on the attrition clauses in the contract.
Plus it doesn’t hurt if you are on a tight personal budget to take
advantage of these lower rates to make sure you have a seat in the
audience before the conference sells out.
When getting ready to register for a conference, make sure you
have the following information available to make the booking
process run smoothly.
1. If you are a member of the organization hosting the conference,
make sure your membership is current and up-to-date.
Members who attend a conference are able to take advantage of
an even further discounted rate beyond and early bird type offers
if their membership is current. It behooves you to make sure
this information is current, since you will be asked for it on the
registration application.
2. If you have an option to register on line, or send in a registration
form/application, opt to register online. This process will
be instantaneous and you will not have to worry about the
conference selling out. If you do decide to mail in your
registration form, make sure you allow at least one week from
the time you drop it in the mailbox for it to reach its destination
and processing time on the back end.
3. Consider making your hotel reservations first. This will allow
you to take advantage of the discounted rate and the comfort of
being on the conference site before all the rooms are booked.
Remember as well, if you are going to be sharing a room with
a colleague, make sure that this information is passed on to the
reservation specialist when you booking your room.
As we mentioned before, this overview is only a small chunk
of the proverbial iceberg’s tip we are repelling down. Planning
the logistics and details of any conference, must meet both an
attendee’s expectations, and a reasonable cost effective budget that
is acceptable to all those involved. As an attendee it is important
you realize the numerous hours of planning, negotiating and
thought that has gone into a conference is always done with your
best interest, suggestions and personal financial considerations.
With PFA’s 54th Annual Symposium and Exhibition only a few
months away, we hope you have a much clearer understanding of
what it takes on the first leg of conference planning when it comes
to finding a city and venue to host. Keeping that in mind, have
you ever wondered how PFA plans the educational programming
at the symposium, as well as booking and planning the exhibition?
Stay tuned; we are just beginning to scale that iceberg to show you
how that part of the symposium and exhibition is put together.