4+ Conference Project Plan Templates – PDF, Word
Conferences are never easy, especially if you’re the person that’s in charge of handling one. You need to look into everything from who the guest speakers are, what programs will need to happen, what kind of booths are going to be present, where the venue is going to be located and much more. You may also see plan samples.
Conference Project Plan Sample
Guide for Conference Project Planning
You’ll want to make things easier for yourself so that you are able to keep track of what has to be done. One of the best ways to do that is if you’re able to come up with a conference project plan and this article is going to teach you all that you need to know in order to create one that’s effective. You can also read free plan templates.
Conference Project Plan Checklist
How to Come Up With a Project Plan for Your Conference
When it comes to managing a conference, you’ll need to put in a lot of time and effort to makes sure that things meet expectations and that they all go the way that they should. With the help of the project plan, you should be able to cover everything that needs to be done to ensure that the conference you’re in charge of handling is a success. You can also like quality project plans.
With that being said, here are the steps that will help you come up with an effective conference project plan:
1. Know the Theme of Your Conference
The first step in planning out your conference project is to know what kind of theme it’s going to have. You want to figure out the unifying message that your speakers will deliver and what the attendees are going to gain if they decide to attend. You can also read detailed project plans.
The theme that you’ll be setting for your conference needs to be one that’s able to gather the interest of possible attendees and it needs to be able to inspire and stimulate conversation. It should also be able to guide your branding and promotion. Make use of channels such a social media to promote your conference and come up with a logo that will help people recognize your conference right away. You may also see Project Plan Templates.
2. Assemble Your Team
When it comes to running a conference, you won’t be able to do everything on your own. This means that you’ll need to come up with a team that will help you in taking charge of the duties and responsibilities that come with running a conference. You may also see project plans in excel.
Your core team will most likely include the following:
1. Planning Team – These are the people who will be in charge of the catering, activities, and even the venue itself.
2. Marketing Team – These would be the people who will be in charge of contacting the media that will promote the event, managing your event’s social media site, and creating the promotional material. You may also see project execution plan templates.
3. Sponsorship Team – These are basically the people who will be in charge of acquiring the money that will fund your event. They’ll be the ones who will be in charge of securing sponsors, applying for grants, and fundraising. You may also see best project proposal plan templates.
4. Administration Team – These are the people who will be handling the ticket sales, attendee registration, and they will also handle any questions regarding the conference. You may also like project plan templates in word.
3. Prepare the Budget
It’s no surprise that holding a conference will require money. This just means that you will need to come up with an appropriate simple budget that will fund everything that needs to take place. So what you will have to do is make a list of everything that will happen and what it is that you will need in order to run a successful conference. Here are the most common items you’ll want to budget for:
- Venue
- Catering
- Transportation fees
- Accommodations
- Speaker fees
- Various activities
- Payment to your team
- Marketing actions
Your sample budget will mostly depend on the type of conference that you decide to run. The more things that you’re going to need in order to run the conference, then the expect the amount of budget you’ll need to be just as high. Preparing a budget with realistic estimates will also come in handy when searching for venues and negotiating contracts. If you think that you’ve gone over the budget, then you’ll need to adjust everything accordingly.
4. Settle on the Date as to When the Conference Will Take Place
Now comes the part where you’ll need to plan out the best date in which the conference is going to happen. You’ll want to plan out the conference at least 6 months or even a year ahead of time. You may also like business project plan templates.
You’ll also need to plan out exactly how long the conference is going to last. There are a ton of different factors that can effect just how long the duration of the conference is supposed to be. A few good examples would be the topic that has to be discussed and the amount of people that will be participating. You can also read nonprofit project plans.
When it comes to figuring out the best date as to when the conference should start and its duration, then here are a few things you should take note of:
- You should go with a date that doesn’t conflict with any other major events. Because let’s say that there’s another event that’s going to take place on the same day as your conference. There’s a huge chance that the you’ll be competing with this other event for attendees and that’s never a good thing. You can also read IT project plans.
- Try not to schedule your conference on a weekend. The reason as to why it’s best that you do it on a weekday is because for most participants, attending a conference is a part of their job, so schedule it during the workweek. You may also see sample project action plans.
- Try to have your conference end within the end of the work week. That way, the people who have taken the time to see what your conference is all about will have the weekend free to do things such as sightseeing. So the best time to hold a conference would either be a Thursday or a Friday. You may also like project management plan templates.
5. Book the Venue
Next is that you will need to find the best place in which you will be holding your conference. There are a lot of different factors that will affect what kind of venue that you will need to go with. They would be the following:
- The number of people that will be attending
- The type of activities that will need to take place
- The kind of atmosphere that you want your conference to go for
- The accommodations nearby
Once you’ve found the perfect place to hold your conference, you will need to negotiate with the property owner. You want to do this to ensure that the location is reserved for your conference and that you won’t have to worry about finding a place. If the location is a bit over your budget, then you can always try to negotiate for the fee to be lowered. You can also read construction project plans.
Conference Committee Project Planning
Conference Host Project Plan
6. Find Your Speakers
This may just be the most critical step of all. Your speakers are the stars of your conference. You’ll need to pick people who have extensive knowledge on what they should be talking about and ones that are well known within the community. You may also like event project plan templates.
One sure way to gain traction here is to first secure one big-name speaker. Try to get someone who is well respected in his or her field as that’s the best way to attract attendees. You can also like project execution plans.
Once you’ve found these people, you’ll have to take care of other things like how much you will need to pay them, their accommodations, what equipment they’re going to need and other things. You can also like high level project plans.
7. Keep Track of Everything Else Taking Place
Once you know exactly what needs to happen, you’ll need to make sure that you are able to keep track of everything to ensure that needs to be taken care of in order for the conference to happen. Also, you’ll need to devise a way that will help you keep track of the conference’s progress while it happens so that you can make sure that it runs smoothly. You may also see restaurant project plans.
So come up with a list of things like who’s in charge of catering, who needs to take care of the equipment that needs to be rented or purchased, what kind of activities will be need to be done at a specific time, etc. You may also read training project plan templates.
Put together an agenda that will provide a timeline of everything that has to take place so that you, the people helping you, your speakers, and your attendees will all know what has to happen and when it has to happen. You may also see simple project plans.
8. Take Note of the Different Risks
There’s always the chance that something unexpected could happen which could either delay certain programs or halt the conference altogether. To prevent that from happening, you’ll need to figure out all of the possible risks involved when holding your conference. You may also like community project plan templates.
By making a list of all of them, you should be able to come up with the appropriate prevention methods that will help ensure that they don’t become a problem. You may also see excel project plans.
If you would like to learn about the other types of project plans that you can come up with, then all you have to do is go through our site. It has all of the different articles that you would need to help you out. The only thing that you would have to do is read them thoroughly so that you can make effective use out of whatever information they are able to provide. You may also read plan templates in excel.