Conference Case Study

Stage 1

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEETING (July 2004)

Many events of this sort need to be planned a long time before they occur. Identifying a suitable location for such a conference is important. Many conference committees of this sort will want to ensure that they visit different parts of the country and also, in some cases, host events in Europe, America and in other parts of the world. ELSIN has delegates who come from all over the world and one of the benefits to delegates who do travel long distances is the opportunity to do some sightseeing and mix business with some leisure time.

Image: There are many criteria to take into account when choosing your conference location, such as distance from major transport hubs, security, facilities and so on.
Copyright: Tom Spitznas, stock.xchng

One of the lecturers at the University, who is a member of ELSIN, suggested that the School of Management could host the conference. Once a nomination has been received, the members of the ELSIN Executive, who make decisions and run the organisation, have to consider it and express their view about the conference venue's suitability.They will be looking at things like the facilities available, the cost of the venue and accommodation, the ease with which delegates can get to the venue (the access to the venue by train, plane, car etc.), the catering that the venue offers and so on.

The initial process began, therefore, in July 2004, a full year before the conference:

• Seven members of the ELSIN Committee met to discuss the location of the next conference and the viability of running another European Learning Styles Conference. The viability of a conference is important - will there be enough interest from people to cover the costs of running it? Location is again important in considering this factor - some locations may not be appropriate. For example, after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, people may have been wary of travelling to some destinations for conferences. The Committee might try to consider these sorts of issues. It was decided to hold the next conference at University of Surrey, School of Management in June 2005.
• A letter of proposal was sent to the Head of School setting out the plan for the academic conference and how running a 'learning styles' conference would benefit the School. Once approval was given, plans could go ahead for the conference. It is important that the conference venue is a benefit to both parties - the conference organisers want to ensure that the venue is appropriate and reflects its standards, mission and aims but the venue itself will also want to make sure that it is associated with something that it feels will reflect what it wants to be associated with.

Stage 2

CONFERENCE ORGANISATION (October 2004 - June 2005)

• The ELSIN committee have a further meeting to agree some details for the conference. One of the important aspects of an academic conference is to ensure that guest speakers are invited that inspire and encourage delegates to attend. Many conferences will have a 'key note speaker' who will be a leading exponent in the field and a person that people will be interested in listening to. Committee members put forward their ideas for guest speakers. Each speaker would each give a 45-minute talk on different days. The topic for their talk, along with their fee, will have to be agreed with the guest speaker assuming they agree to attend.
• Having received confirmation that the event will take place, it is important to begin to publicise the conference as soon as possible. An email flyer of the conference was drafted, including details of the guest speakers. This would be sent out to all those who are on an e-mail list having expressed an interest in receiving further information about ELSIN events.

Conference costs

• An estimated budget was put together to identify all costs relating to the conference and to set the delegate fee to cover these costs. These costs would include:
  
  • Accommodation costs
  • Provision of meals
  • Provision of refreshments
  • Hire of the venue and rooms
  • Hire of IT facilities like laptops, data projectors, Internet access, video players and so on
  • Hire of an IT technician who would be on hand during the conference to attend to problems and sort out requirements
  • Hire of a venue for the conference dinner
  • Cost of marketing the event - leaflets, brochures, posters, e-mail circulars and so on.
  • Sarah's time would also have to be costed in managing and running the event and this would include an element of cost for postage, telephone calls etc.
  • Cost of providing conference packs - this includes a bag, CD with details of the papers to be presented, information leaflets and so on.

Image: Preparations for conferences are surprisingly complex. Copyright: Vicky S. stock.xchng

• Outline plans for the conference itinerary are discussed. The day will have to be divided into different time periods and themes to allow delegates the option of choosing different presentations and workshops. In addition, time will have to be set aside for the key note speeches. When this has been agreed upon, the correct number of rooms has to be booked. The conference venue rooms have to be booked well in advance because the School is a working institution and whilst students will be on vacation, there will still be plenty of work going on.
• The Committee will have to make an estimate of the number of delegates attending. This may be based on previous conferences and also on the expressions of interest received via the ELSIN e-mail list. Delegate accommodation will also have to be booked in advance.
• Consideration will have to be given to the ease with which delegates can access the conference facilities from their accommodation. Many universities now use their facilities to host conferences as it brings in a useful source of additional income.
• Research is carried out on details of local hotels, which will be included in any conference information to cater for those who may not want to stay on the University campus.
• Further details will have to be agreed about the provision of refreshments and meals. The ELSIN committee have a further meeting to agree some details for the conference. Consideration will also have to be given to the cost of providing meals and refreshments, different delegate requirements for dietary purposes and so on. This will be discussed with the catering manager at the School's restaurant. The menus and organisation of the Conference Dinner will also have to be agreed - will there be wine provided or will delegates have to purchase this themselves? Will there need to be some form of entertainment provided and if so what type?

Stage 3

PUBLICITY & MARKETING (from November 2004 onwards)

• The ELSIN database of 770 names was handed over to the organisers from the last conference, with the updated emails of the delegates in an excel spreadsheet. These details need regular updating as people move jobs and email addresses and their emails bounce back. Regular emails are sent out to several different databases in order to publicise the event. Consideration has to be given to the use of such information - does it meet with the guidelines given in the Data Protection Act 1998?
• The first contact with delegates is a 'Call for Papers' - either a direct mail shot or an email announcing the conference dates, times and venue, price and guest speakers. At such conferences, delegates will prepare a paper to give to the conference through a presentation. The paper may be a summary of research they are involved in, new ideas for discussion, a critique of existing ideas or a different slant on an existing theory. For academics and researchers in universities, going to conferences and getting their research heard is an important part of their work.
• The delegates are given three clear deadlines - an abstract deadline (an abstract is a short 500 word summary of your paper which is used, initially, to decide whose papers will be accepted and whose will not); a full paper deadline (those who have had papers accepted will then have to write up the full paper which may be in the region of 5,000 words) and a registration deadline.
• A registration form is sent out. To encourage potential delegates to sign up early and thus give the organisers more information to help planning, a discount may be offered for those who sign up before a certain date. This is often referred to as 'early bird registration'.
• Press: A press release is circulated to all relevant publications. Journalists are invited. These may be education correspondents, journalists in the field of psychology, higher education and so on.

Stage 4

DELEGATE PARTICIPATION (from January 2005 onwards)

• Delegates respond and express an interest in presenting a paper at the conference. They submit their paper 'abstract'.
• Abstracts are sent into the organiser who gathers them ready for the conference committee to referee. These abstracts are circulated, along with an abstract form, to committee members for them to review. To be accepted the abstracts will have to demonstrate that they are relevant to the conference themes, that they exhibit suitable evidence of scholarly rigour and that they provide interest and an insight into the subject of learning styles. The Committee members have a deadline to work to and must ensure they return their comments to the Chair by a certain date.
• Each delegate is informed whether his or her abstract has been accepted for the conference, whether it needs amending before acceptance or whether it has been rejected.
• Once the abstracts have been reviewed the Academic Organiser assigns them to different parallel sessions that form the basis of the conference programme. This means that there will be two or three presentations happening at anyone time during the day - delegates are able to choose between these parallel sessions.
• Presenters have a deadline by which they must send in their completed papers. The papers have to be written in a certain style and adhere to certain conventions, which those who had their abstracts accepted would have been sent.
• Sarah will have to send regular e-mails to presenters to remind them about the deadline and the need to submit their papers on time. Failure to do so may cause a delay to the process of final editing of the papers. Once all the full papers are submitted arrangements are made for them to be put onto a CD, a copy of which will be given to all the delegates on arrival.
• Prior to the conference delegates are asked to submit the final version of their full papers and their presentations. Arrangements are then made for these to be loaded onto laptops and checked to make sure that each presenter has their presentation ready in the right room at the right time.
• A payments system is set up to handle the whole accounts side of the conference. There will be invoices submitted by suppliers (caterers for example) and also payments made by delegates. These all have to be processed and checked against the overall budget. If there were serious variances in the level of revenue compared to that budgeted, for example, the Committee would have to be informed. The Committee might have anticipated such a problem and have some contingency funds to cover such an eventuality.

Stage 5

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

• One of the outcomes of academic conferences like ELSIN is the publication of some of the papers in a journal or proceedings. It was decided that for this conference the proceedings would be produced internally - although some conference proceedings are printed externally.

Stage 6

EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS

• Potential sponsors are contacted to find out if they would like to support the conference. The aim is to get some financial support for the conference. If such sponsorship can be secured it not only helps promote the company concerned but also to offset some of the costs of organising the event. This can help to reduce the price delegates have to pay and in so doing encourage more people to come. The conference organisers have to be aware that in education funds are often scarce and delegates may only have enough money to attend one or two conferences a year. The skill is getting all the aspects of the conference right to encourage delegates to come to your conference as opposed to any other. This is all linked to the marketing mix - the product (the quality of the conference, the guest speakers and so on), the price (including travel costs) place (the location) and promotion (how delegates get to know about the conference).
• Exhibitors are contacted to find out if they would like to attend the event. These are often publishing companies and others recommended by academics. For many publishing companies, attendance at such events is an important part of their marketing and sales tactics. They will be hoping to demonstrate their products and services and generate interest in them.
• A 'best paper' award trophy was chosen in advance with the artwork sent for engraving - this was to be given out at the conference dinner. In some cases, such a prize might be sponsored and press invited to record the presentation.

Stage 7

LAST MINUTE ARRANGEMENTS

• The last few weeks are spent gathering the contents for the delegate packs and dealing with any last minute accommodation requests; travel questions or payment problems.
• The day before the start of the conference may be a scene of feverish activity. Last minute checks will have to be made on all the rooms, that the IT facilities are working, that all the support staff know what their role is, a registration desk is set up with delegate name badges. Signs will have to be produced and set up to guide delegates about the venue - where the toilets are, which rooms are being used, where the restaurant facilities are and so on.

Stage 8

AT THE CONFERENCE

Image: Conference refreshments. Copyright: Maffu. stock.xchng

• At the registration table name badges are handed out with delegate bags on arrival and the delegates are ticked off the list to show they have arrived.
• An early start ensures that last minute checks are made - the rooms are tidy, chairs arranged and ready and that equipment works. The signs are put up in the venue to help delegates find their way around.
• The organisers will direct delegates to rooms, help with queries, check the refreshments are available on time and generally assist delegates with their equipment and any queries throughout the conference. This might also include organising taxis for delegates to get back to airports and train stations

Delegate Packs

• The delegate packs contain the conference timetable and proceedings, room information; a full list of abstracts with a CD of the papers; a delegate list with email contacts and details of the campus. Publicity material is also enclosed by sponsors or any brochures and flyers necessary. Pens, pads and conference bags are generally included.

Guest Speakers

• Guest speakers are greeted by the organisers and hosted throughout their stay. Photos are arranged and press releases sent out regarding their presentations.

Evaluation

• During the conference, a questionnaire is handed out to delegates to gain valuable feedback for future conferences.

Stage 9

AFTER THE EVENT

• At the close of the event the organisers will have to collect together all the signs, check the rooms have been left tidy, make sure the equipment is collected and so on. It may be that delegates have left items in their rooms and so a check will have to be made on this and any left luggage items stored to await collection.
• In the next few weeks, any unpaid accounts will have to be chased and the bills paid. A final statement of the accounts will have to be sent to the Committee.

By the time the conference has ended, plans will already be in motion to organise the next one!