A business conference is an official program of professionals in a company or an industry held to think through issues, trends and opportunities within the sector.
Since it is an event, it requires careful planning and execution to achieve its objectives. Within the workplace, the administrative officer can be tasked to organize the business conference but he or she will need to lead a team through a set of before conference, during the conference and after conference planning and execution if the business conference is to be organized.
Pre Business Conference Activities
Before business conference activities, all planning and execution tasks necessary to be done before the day of the conference.
1. Coming out with the program of activities. This means outlining the set of sub-events to be held during the business conference, such as talks and topics, number of sessions by topic. The decision is based on the theme approved for the event, the purpose for the conference, and the targeted audience who are likely to attend. The set of programs will often include the starting date, closing date as well as other programs such as breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks, etc.
2. The next thing to do is to start looking for potential speakers and book them for the conference based on the topic, their specialization and availability. It is important to keep in touch with them throughout the preparation for giving and receiving updates from them. When booking speakers it is good to have well-renowned speakers.
3. The next set of activities involves estimating the number of participants expected to help book the needed accommodation and facilities for the conference. Without the number expected to attend, the administrative officer and the event organization team will not be able to plan a well-thought-of conference and may run into serious problems such as shortage of conference materials, tables and chairs, and others. This phase can also be used to take quotations for accommodation, feeding, transportation, rentals, conference materials among others.
4. At this stage, the administrative officer must prepare a budget based on steps 1 to 3 and capture all cost-related factors. This will give a fair idea of how much it will cost to organize the business conference. This will help you know the cost per participant, how much to charge, and to seek the needed funding from the sponsoring company or organization.
5. Once funding is secured, the administrative officer needs to produce and deliver tickets, invitations, timetables, program outlines and start producing the main conference materials with the help of the team and outscore organizations. Transportation, bedding and lodging, entertainment (Feeding etc.) must be ordered and assigned to sub-teams to make follow-ups and report to the administrative officer. If all the above are done and in place, the pre-event planning may be complete but needs to be monitored to ensure challenges are dealt with.
READ: Four (4) Essential Ways In Overcoming Procrastination
Organize a Business Conference – During the Business Conference Activities
The next set of steps are conference activities to be carried out whiles the event is ongoing or on the day of the business conference.
6. At the event, the administrative officer and the team must make sure that speakers, delegates, and support staff report to the function and are at the designated posts or places at the right time. For example, the staff tasked with registration at the event must be available to assist participants, issue out tags, brochures, and usher them to their seats based on arrangements done.
7. All electronic equipment (speakers, microphones), internet and other materials are functioning properly.
Final Stage of the Conference planning and organization
Once the event is held, the administrative officer moves to the final stage of organizing the business conference, which is the post-conference activities/steps also known as the follow-up activities.
8. Letters may be written to thank speakers for honoring the invitation, or a personal planned visit to speakers must be done. Fees due must be settled for all supplies whiles items borrowed are also returned to the owners.
9. Post business conference meetings are held to examine the entire programme, identify successes and failures and make recommendations for improvement.
10. All records on the conference must be kept or recorded. Notes taken on essential issues must be captured for future conferences.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay