Organising a Tech Conference – 6. Scheduling & Programming
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The scheduling process, in a nutshell The process can be summarised as follows:
Choosing a theme Call for presentations Estimate the number and types of presentations needed Select and reject presentations ‘Stranding’ presentations and workshops Communicate session titles with potential delegates Prepare a first draft, and communicate with presenters Prepare reviewed draft, and communicate with presenters Prepare final draft Perform final check with presenters Select software to present programme Communicate programme with delegates Constantly review programme based on cancellations and number of delegates Organise networking opportunities, including social events Choosing a theme for the conference The theme for the ECIS Technology Conference 2015 was ‘Building engagement’....
Organising a Tech Conference – 5. Creating a Website
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The website for ECIS Technology Conference 2015 is by no means perfect, but it served its purpose well and can be found at www.bis-school.com/ecis-tech While planning for the website, we identified four main stages it needed to cater for:
Before registrations open While registrations are open During the conference After the conference Each of those stages require a different approach and focus. The information presented for each stage is also likely to be different....
Organising a Tech Conference – 4. Preparing the budget
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Here is a spreadsheet with all of the basic formulae and income/expenses if you don’t like to read.
Income There are quite a few ways to generate income when organising a conference. Here are the three main sources of income:
Ticket sales Sponsors Exhibitors Other sources of income could be
Advertising space (programme, website, mobile app, etc.) Streaming of presentations/workshops Access to video archive or presentations/workshops Expenses This post is a little bit trickier, as it really depends on your needs....
Organising a Tech Conference – 3. Feasibility study
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Once the boss has agreed to the idea of organising a conference at your workplace, it is time to perform a feasibility study. While I felt that we could organise a conference at BIS, we needed to ensure that we indeed could. Here are the fifteen criteria we looked at to determine for sure whether BIS would be a good venue to organise a technology conference....
Organising a Tech Conference – 2. Getting the boss to say ‘Yes’
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The spark I joined Bavarian International School (BIS) in August 2013 and very quickly realised the huge potential that the school has. The IT facilities are amazing, the campus is beautiful and well-appointed and the technical team is second to none.
The idea of organising a tech conference at BIS was born in a car, on the way back after a great weekend of learning and getting to know one another in Prague, at the European Google Apps for Education summit in October 2013....
