Organizing a conference from start to finish, without a doubt, takes a tremendous amount of work. But if you take the proper steps and plan enough in advance, your conference will come together smoothly.
At One Stop Rental in West Chester, Ohio, we want you to have a successful conference experience. Follow these tips to help get you on the right track.
Know Your Audience
First off, you need to know who will be attending your conference. Is it company-wide? For an organization or club? Is it for students only? Once you know your audience, research the topics that they would be interested in hearing. This can also help you decide on a theme, which can be incorporated into everything from the tagline and logo for the conference to the handouts and workshops that will be given.
Choose a Venue
Once you know your audience’s preferences and its potential size, you can look into a venue for your conference. Keep in mind that some venues will require you use their in-house services, such as catering or audio-visual, if you use their facility. Others will require you to provide you own. In this case, One Stop Rental has both audio-visual and catering supplies that will help you cut down on costs. Seeing as most conferences are destination events and/or can run over the course of multiple days, it’s a good idea to make sure hotels are near the venue you choose.
Market Your Event
No matter the size of your conference, it’s important that you market the event to your target audience. This can be done through email blasts, direct mail and social media. Attendance is the most important factor for a conference, so do your best to reach out to your audience as much as possible. Have an organized registration system in place for when you do begin to sign up attendees.
Figure Out Day-Of Details
Once you’ve taken care of the conference schedule of activities and have taken care of signing up attendees, you can begin to think about day-of details. You’ll need to provide ample seating for your guests and potentially tables as well if they’ll need to write during your conference. Does the venue have a tricky entrance? Use plenty of signage to make sure attendees know where to go. What about the set-up for speakers? Is there a podium or drapes for them to prepare behind?
Take a walk-through before the day your conference begins and try to picture any issues that could arise, then make a plan of how to take care of them.
For any conference or convention equipment you may need, visit us at One Stop Rental at our West Chester/Mason location. We’ll help you find exactly what you’re looking for and give you the details on how to use any of our equipment. Give us a call or reach us on our social media channels with any questions you have; we’re ready to help!