What Makes a Good Conference? Part II: Planning and Announcements.
Know where you're going before announcing the show.
GSM:TABRITMIA
[Note: I will be citing the state, the theme of the conferences, and the month/year, but not the name of the conferences or the names of the host(s) or organization(s).]
Scrolling through one video after another on YouTube, I run across someone announcing that he is going to have an economic conference in Texas six weeks from the time he posted the video in the summer of 2021. I go to LinkedIn and comment, “Where is the venue?” thinking this event could give me a chance to network, promote my side gig, EQBNR, and possibly work out-of-state.
The next day, I find the next video from this person, and he said, “I haven’t gotten one, yet.” I go to LinkedIn, again, to call him out on that error!
Always have the specific venue and schedule locked down before announcing your event. From my observation, it takes at least six months to reserve a venue, establish a schedule, and secure speakers for a conference or training session.
In the past, I’ve been to two conferences by a naturopathic organization, one in Colorado (2013) and another in Utah (2016), and they usually announce their next venue one year in advance. Granted, this is an established organization with committees that organize them, but it takes good planning to make conferences work and to confidently announce their next one without all the details finalized. Payment processing, venue availability, sponsorships, speakers, entertainment, and scheduling take time to secure.
The fellow who announced his first attempt at a conference in Texas fell flat on his face because of issues with the payment processor and conflicts with his partner as I found out watching his YouTube videos. I do grant him credit for quickly traveling to Texas and honoring the small handful of people who were willing to show up for him on the first attempt. Personally, I wasn’t able to go due to my car needing repair and the uncertainty of the event taking place.
A few months later, he announces that he will be going back to Texas in March, this time with a team of people helping him. After watching that YouTube video, I debated going there then, but on the return from a training session in Tennessee, I visited someone (a smoker, unfortunately) for what I thought was going to be for one day in late January: I fall ill once I meet this person with their “illness,” and the family at my hometown didn’t want me to continue traveling until I recovered at that person’s place, which took from late January to early February. Upon returning, I still was recovering from that (and the second-hand smoke exposure) through mid-February, but the decision about going to the Texas conference was made the day after I arrived home.
Read the rest (nine parts total):
Part I: Backstory.
Part III: Venues.
Part IV: The Schedule.
Part V: Presentations.
Part VI: Got Food?
Part VII: Entertainment.
Part VIII: Aftermath.
Part IX: Summary.