10 tips for hosting a successful conference

With good planning and an eye for detail, you will create a successful conference and a great experience for your attendees. Here are our top 10 tips for those in charge of your company's next conference!

This is what you need to do to organize a good conference:

Make a good plan

Start with what you want to achieve with the conference and create a concrete plan for the implementation of the event. Set up all tasks that need to be done, distribute responsibilities and set deadlines. It makes the whole process easier to keep track of!

If you want help planning the conference — see what we are doing in conferences here!

Determine the time and place

Find out when the best time for the conference is. If you are going to create a conference for your company, you should, among other things, stay away from the most common vacation periods. Also keep busy periods, holidays, etc. in mind and plan outside of this.

It is also important that you choose a good venue for the event. The venue must be easy to get to for attendees, and it must accommodate everyone who will be attending the conference. Also think about what activities you are planning. The room you use must have the space and the ability to carry them out.

Put together an exciting program

One of the most important things you need to have in place to make the conference enticing for attendees is an exciting program for the day. Plan what will happen of lectures and activities, and book people in if necessary. Also, be sure to allow time for breaks and any food breaks if you are planning a long event.

Promote the conference

If you are only holding an internal conference for your company, you can send out invitations and reminders to your company's employees. If you want to attract more visitors, there are many ways you can promote your conference. You can create email lists and send out reminders, use social media, create ads, or try to get publicity in the media. Increase your visitor rate and attract interested attendees.

Food and beverage coordination

It is advisable to offer some refreshments when holding a conference. It can range from having only coffee and perhaps some pastries available to large dinners. If you are ordering food, be sure to adapt your order to the expected number of visitors. Be sure to take into account any allergies it is informed about.

Check that all technical equipment is in place

Depending on the activities you plan, different technical equipment will be needed. It can be microphones, projectors, lights and sound for lectures, screens for information and any machines for various activities. Everything should go seamlessly at the conference, so it's important that you double-check that the equipment is working before the kick-off.

We offer rental of equipment for conferences — see what kind of equipment you can get here.

Send out practical info ahead of time

To make the entire conference as effective as possible for you and your guests, you should send out practical information to the participants in advance. Share information about access to the venue, any parking options, time of attendance and, of course, the program. It lets everyone know what to expect, and it creates better flow on the day itself.

Ensure a good user experience all the way

It is important to ensure that the participants of the conference will have a good experience. Have a natural and effective record of attended guests. Maybe you need to give responsibility to someone about keeping a guest list. It is important, of course, to make sure that there is always coffee available and that the food is ready when it should be. Maybe name tags or table cards are needed? All these little things need to flow in order for the participants to leave from there with a good experience.

Opportunities for evaluation and feedback

After following the tips, you will surely have managed to conduct the conference in a good way. But it's always helpful to get input from the visitors on how they think the conference was. If it was a smaller conference with external participants, it may be possible to follow up with the guests by phone to hear what their experience was like. But in any case, it is advisable to contact the participants to collect views on the event. There is always something that can be improved.

Plan for cleaning and clearing

If the venue is not for cleaning during and after the conference, it is important that you have a plan for how to clean up as efficiently as possible. If you hire people, it is important that they are there at the right time and that they have what they need from the organizer. Moreover, it is important to keep it tidy along the way in the event. Whether there are a lot of dirty cups left around the area or a lot of food garbage, it detracts from the overall experience of the participants.

Summing up

A successful conference requires a lot of planning. It is important to have control both during the planning period and during the event itself. Participants must have all the information they need and everything should preferably run smoothly. Our experts have extensive experience in designing large and small conferences, and we can help you with both planning and assisting with any equipment you may need.