How to get real value out of a conference
Conferencing is a much maligned concept and for the most part, for good reason. Does the means justify the end or put another way, does the result justify the spend?
Wrong questions or more specifically, the result of a “run of the mill” conference where there is more attention and enthusiasm for the things that happen on the peripheries of the conference as opposed to in it!
Before venue, content, speakers, logistics or anything else is planned, you need to consider a few fundamentals:
- Who’s conference is it? Is it the CEO, the Sales Director or the Ops Director? Whoever it may be, there needs to be just one owner.
- Who is the audience?
- Given that you are investing X amount of time and money, what result would demonstrate an acceptable ROI. Be realistic and agree on one or two outcomes.
- Immerse the audience into the content – make them part of the agenda and content as opposed to just being spoken at for the duration. Fail to do this and the only place their attention will be on, will be the breaks and the peripheries!
- Every other piece of organisation around the conference needs to subordinate to the points above.
- Separate the logistical responsibility from the content responsibility – they require completely different skills sets!
