Meeting Industry Conferences

Meet right

Making the most of an industry or association conference takes a significant investment in time and skill.

An association's annual conference is often a good measure how the organisation is tracking in terms of strategic management. For many associations, the conference is the peak annual event that provides momentum (and often funding) for the ensuing year. A positive approach towards the planning and management of the conference is therefore crucial to the ongoing success of the organisation.

Delegates quickly get wind of a ìmore of the sameî program and it doesn't take long before the best and brightest vote with their feet, diluting the intellectual inventory of the organisation.

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At the planning stages, the conference committee needs to articulate clearly what the objectives of the event should be and how they are to be realised. If professional development is a key aim, the program needs to reflect in a clearly co-ordinated way its budget, philosophy and structure. The provision of speaker notes on-line or access to a webcast of the presentation can be also considered.

SOCIAL INTERACTION

An example of this was the Spinal Conference attended by the late Christopher Reeve two years ago in Sydney. Within hours of his lengthy presen-tation and question-and-answer session, the entire morning's events were available for download on the Internet, giving interested viewers around the world unprecedented access to his thoughts and inspiration.

For many associations, member networking is a key element, and sufficient time needs to be given to promote informal interaction. The way the morning and afternoon breaks are catered and timed needs to be taken into account and all speakers advised they cannot go over their allotted time.

For this kind of conference, the social events need to be geared to meet the objective of maximum networking, with minimal formalities and style of seating and food service geared to meet the objective.

PROMOTING WIDELY

Conferences also often provide an opportunity for professions and industries to highlight their particular issues to the wider public. With the incessant clamour for attention of the media, any public affairs effort needs to be carefully mapped and budgeted well ahead of the event. Key speakers need to be identified and made available to the media at a convenient time ñ something of a challenge during a busy conference. A congress spokesperson also needs to be appointed if contentious issues are likely to arise.

The Meetings Industry Association of Australia (MIAA) is an excellent resource when planning a conference. The association has a well-established accreditation program for meetings managers and organisations contracting accredited members do so in the knowledge they have undergone rigorous competency and peer reviews and are well experienced.