Hosting a Successful Conference, eh

1
Hosting a Successful Conference, eh?

• Spencer McEwan
• Vice President, Communications

2
Outline

• Conference Mania!
• Why you and your school should get involved
• Getting Started
• Bidding for a Conference
• Forming a Conference Committee
• The Basics
• The Conference Approaches!
• Odds and Ends
• Discussion

3
Conference Mania!
4
A Short List of Conferences

• Every year, more and more conferences are being
  hosted by schools
• ESSCO
• AGM, PM, PEO-SC, FYIC
• CFES
• Congress, NCWIE, CELF, Fall/Winter/Spring
  Meetings
• Professional Development Conferences
• Discipline-specific Conferences
• The list is actually endless.

5
The Benefits of Conferences

• Extremely beneficial to all parties involved
• Motivates students to get involved
• Allows for networking between delegations
• Positively reflects on your host school

6
The Benefit of Conferences

• Organizers get a lot of experiences and develop
  skills in this process
• Interpersonal skills
• Time-management, resource management
• Setting a budget
• Experience under pressure

7
The Benefit of Conferences
My experiences organizing the Great Northern
Concrete Toboggan Race and ESSCO taught me
management skills that were invaluable to my
professional development. Although my grades
were not as high as my colleagues, within three
years after graduating, I had surpassed them in
the job market.
Jeff Westeinde, P.Eng. 1st ESSCO Chair and
Founding Member, 1987 Chief Executive Officer,
Quantum Murray LP
8
The Good Standing Clause
ESSCO Constitution, Article III, Section B
1) The full membership in good standing of ESSCO
shall consist of
a) The member societies in good standing who
shall
iv) Actively pursue a bid for hosting one of the
following conferences at least every three years
FYIC, ESSCO PM, ESSCO AGM, PEO-SC
2) Member societies in good standing have the
following rights and privileges

• To vote in ESSCO elections and ESSCO Council, as
  outlined in Article VI D)
• b) To nominate a candidate for election to the
  position of Executive Officer of ESSCO
• c) To have members of their society stand as
  candidates for election to, or hold the position
  of, Executive Officer of ESSCO
• d) To have members of their society put forward
  or second any nomination, motion or amendment, or
  raise any points of parliamentary procedure at
  ESSCO Council and,

9
Getting Started
10
Getting Started

• Bidding for a conference isnt the first step!
• School support
• Funding
• Planning

11
Getting Started

• A successful bid presentation will demonstrate
  that all aspects of the conference have been
  considered and should remove any thoughts of
  ambiguity.

• Vision for the conference
• Theme
• Schedule
• Budget
• Evening Activities

12
Sample Budget
13
The Conference Committee

• An team that is well-organized and well defined
  makes the organizing a conference much easier
• Communication is essential to ensure that every
  element is looked after

14
Sample Positions

• Chair
• Oversees the organization progress
• Keeps association informed of progress
• Accommodations
• Ensuring the hotel is booked on time
• Enough sessions rooms are booked
• Food and Entertainment
• Meal planning
• Snacks for break

15
Sample Positions

• Sponsorship
• Solicit funding from schools and industry
• Marketing
• Responsible for soliciting delegates, gathering
  registration forms, and setting deadlines for
  member schools

16
Create a Conference Plan

• Planning early less headaches
• Clearly define all aspects of the conference
• Assign your committee to appropriate tasks

• Define milestones with achievable metrics
• Numbers, dates, and other quantitative data is
  key!
• Focus on high-priority items first, and worry
  about the smaller tasks later

17
Create a Conference Plan

• Meet regularly and review the plan
• Adjust milestone deadlines accordingly
• Assign committee members based on progress and
  need

• Stay in regular contact with the association
• New items may come up as the conference
  approaches
• Gives a second perspective on how the conference
  organization is coming

18
Speakers and Sessions

• Your theme should guide the development of
  sessions
• Presentations
• Workshops
• Round Tables

• With ESSCO, the responsibility of planning
  sessions and soliciting speakers depends on the
  conference
• Clearly establish who is responsible for this
  role

19
Speakers and Sessions

• Good speakers are hard to come by
• Clear message
• Entertaining personality
• Previous conferences/word of mouth

20
Sponsorship

• One of the most difficult parts of the conference
• Soliciting companies for money can be relatively
  scary
• Ways of soliciting for money
• Marketing companies
• C U Advertising
• MarketAd
• Previous conference contacts

21
Sponsorship

• Explore all options
• Create good relationships with companies

22
The Conference Approaches!
23
Odds and Ends

• Arrival Instructions
• Times, Dates, Locations
• Signs and Room Number!
• Visible registration booth

• Internet and Printing Services
• Executive workspaces
• Access from conference and lodging areas

24
Odds and Ends

• Wake up and Break Spacing
• Buffer time
• Extra Content

• Volunteers

• Post Conference Report

25
Discussion