Summary
Contents
Your professional association just asked you to plan next year's conference. But where do you begin? Cynthia Winter, a professional meeting planner with 25 years' experience planning academic conferences, guides you through the many details necessary for planning a successful, smoothly run conference. Winter addresses the planning process for the novice conference chair, from the initial design to the final wrap-up, with useful advice on some of the major tasks involved: program planning, budgeting, pricing, finding a suitable location, advertising, scheduling rooms, finding speakers and entertainment, and organizing banquets. This volume also describes the benefits to and activities of savvy conference attendees. A series of appendixes and resource listings provide you with the tools you'll need to run an enjoyable, informative conference.
Getting the Most from a Professional Conference
Getting the Most from a Professional Conference
Checklist 1.1
- Learn about the benefits of conference attendance.
- Submit a proposal for presentation at the convention.
- Prepare your presentation if you are on the program.
- Plan ahead before you leave for the conference.
- Promote yourself at the meeting job service.
- Be an active participant in conference activities.
- Share your meeting experiences with your colleagues back home.
A conference is successful only if there are attendees. The most carefully planned, beautifully orchestrated meeting will be a dismal failure if no one shows up to hear the speakers. This chapter discusses the convention from the perspective of the attendees. Conference planners must constantly put themselves in the attendees' shoes and develop a program to ...