Organizing an event is both rewarding and a lot of fun. There are a great number of things that you need to keep in mind though, when managing your event, whether it is a large conference, a user group or a once off launch of the latest product.
The below rules offer guidelines to help you create a professional, efficient and successful event that can be replicated and become a stable of your professional community. The rules are based on experience from community events, such as user groups, hackdays and conferences like DDD Melbourne, however, the rules can also be applied to commercial and large scale events.
The rules are split into three distinct sections:
The rules assume that your event idea has been properly researched and you have an audience for the particular field and topic you are addressing.
This cannot be stressed enough. The venue for your event is the absolute most important item to get right and to get locked in.
When planning an event, everything revolves around the date so it’s vital to be sure there are no potential clashes or conflicts. We recommend using a SharePoint calendar, to let employees and the public keep up to date with what your organisation is holding or attending. It is best to have more than 1 date in mind for your event when you start planning, as this affords you flexibility if your first choice of date won’t work out.
Securing the right speakers for the topic of your event ensures that you attract the right people who want to hear what your speakers have to say.
Having a minimum number for live events is important so everyone is on the same page. We find that a good minimum for live events is 6 people.
A successful event requires attendees to show up, or it won't reach its full potential. You will have to promote your event in a way that makes sense to your topic and approach.
The most cost-effective way is to use a large variety of online services that are available and to talk about the event.
Putting on events aren’t free.
When you first start planning your event, a lot of ideas are put on the table and many are great and would improve your event.
Managing the process of selling tickets can be very time consuming if you try and do it on your own.
Once you know which speakers you want and have established sponsorship and budget, you can start thinking about putting together an agenda.
It is relatively easy to get volunteers for your event, but it is often something that is left until the last minute.
If you are providing food and drinks for the attendees, this needs to be organized and confirmed.
Arriving at a venue for the first time can be both confusing and daunting if you don't know the area. Your event should have a registration area clearly signposted and easily identifiable so that your guests can find you more easily.
A successful event happens when all the actors know what their role is.
Make sure your event is well signposted, so your attendees can find not only the venue, but also important areas within it.
If you have offered sponsors booth space, make sure you have a designated area they can be set up in.
It is really important that your speakers feel empowered, so make sure you give them the tools they need to run their event well.
Audience shots are great except when you don’t have a full house. In this case you should move people to be next to each other.
In order to make your next event even better, you need to be able to collect feedback on the day from the people that were there.
Your attendees have all gone home with a mental boat load of information and great insights. Now is the time to follow them up and remind them of other events, how to keep in touch with you and where to find more information.
After the event it is also critical that you analyse the feedback. Why else would you be gathering it?