Planning and Hosting a Conference

In many big companies, hosting conventions and being part of conferences is something expected for many of its top-level and upper-echelon employees. Through a conference or a convention, employees can come together and express their opinions, post suggestions or showcase developments and upcoming improvements, changes and advancements that a department or the company will be working on in the coming year. Many companies hold these conventions on a regular basis—quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly, depending on the needs, bandwidth, importance and impact of such. In many occasions, participants from departments, branches and sections in far and maybe offshore locations are given shuttles for their transportation to the venue.

Preparation for these conferences can be difficult. One should first and foremost consider the theme of the event because the theme will set the mood for the activities, speeches, discussions and even lectures. After the theme has been discussed, choosing the appropriate venue for the event is probably the next important thing to work on. The venue of the convention dictates whether convention transportation will be made available to attendees who will be coming from far away—and sometimes off shore—sites and branches. Choosing the venue also means choosing the date, the menu and the décor to match the theme of the conference. In the meantime, chosen speakers are contacted for speeches and activities they will be facilitating and providing on the day of the convention. But logistics and other seemingly trivial items such as conference badges, presentation decks, electrical power, computers, music, lights and the sound system shouldn’t be left out since many of these contribute to how things can go wrong to a well-planned event. Thus, it is important that the overall coordinator ensures that all preparations for the event are done in such a way as to foresee all possible unprecedented circumstances that may happen on the day itself. It is also his task to properly supervise his team and divide the tasks appropriately so that a big whole is subsequently split into smaller parts that are more manageable and easier to troubleshoot.

Nevertheless, proper planning and quick response usually save the day. And the event will always be something that participants will cherish, especially, if the goals of the convention have been accomplished to their satisfaction.