How to organise a great conference

Begin with the end in mind
Sound like a cliché? Maybe it is, but if you don't set out to achieve what you want, then success is down to blind chance. Take plenty of time to agree your objectives. Ask yourself this: "When people are leaving the conference, and it has been a great success, what will they be saying? What will have changed for them? How will they feel?"

Plan rigorously
Again, this may sound obvious, so let's stress the word rigorously. By the event itself, you will need a running order that tells you, minute-by-minute, everything that will be happen - that way, everything gets remembered. The same applies to the weeks of planning and development itself. Set firm milestones and manage your contributors accordingly.

Use the critical chain principle on your event plan
You know that speakers over-run. You know that things don't always go as planned. So build in contingency, so you can recover the schedule when you need to - or create space when you want to. And this is particularly so for that most important moment to hit: making sure you get them away on time.

Establish clear objectives and stick to them
Decide right up front what your conference is for and then ensure that every component contributes to your objectives. Be ruthless. Journalists have an expression:
"slaughter your darlings"
No matter how proud you or your colleague is of a particular contribution, if it does not support your objectives, then it is a distraction.

Take your audience on a journey
Like all journeys, conferences have a beginning, a middle and an end. At the start, people need to know where you are taking them and, by the end, they need to feel that they have arrived at some place important. How you design the overall structure of the day and balance your presentations will determine how easily people move from on place to the next and the sense of achievement that they have at the close.

Prioritise ruthlessly
You will have huge demands on the time available and want to make the most impact. The good news is that you have your objectives - clear and agreed. Use these to test every potential contribution: every minute. To what extent does it contribute to one or more of your objectives? If the answer is "not enough", then cut it.

Keep it short and tight
Many of your contributors will want a grand slot in the proceedings. Extend your ruthless prioritisation to each slot and remember the old adage: "it's best to leave 'em wanting more". Short slots give you the chance to put more in and give your participants more variety to keep them interested and alert.

Variety is the spice of your conference
The most popular entertainments create a wide variety of content, moving from idea to idea, image to image, presenter to presenter. So too should your conference. We best assimilate information when we are entertained and fully engaged. Therefore you should aim to create real variety in your content, the style of your sessions, and the processes you use throughout your programme. Your longer sessions should also be varied, with changes in mood, tempo or style every 20 minutes or so.

Use everything you have
What else can you add? Think about demonstrations, games, themes, videos, story-telling, quizzes, discussions, Q&A sessions, exercises %u2026 The list is endless and many different things will not only help you achieve your objectives, but help you achieve them magnificently.

Manage their mood
The one thing that, more than anything else, makes a difference to delegates' perception is their state of mind. Your event will have its own cycle of emotions and delegates will go through their own energy cycles. You will not want to pitch it a single level throughout. Plan and manage these with care - especially where your objectives include change of any kind.

Energise your programme with an external speaker
An external speaker will transform your conference with an outside perspective. Try inviting a customer at a sales conference, a supplier at a supply chain conference, or a representative from a professional body at an HR or accounting conference. Whoever you choose, remember the first point in this article - be sure that they help you to meet your objectives. And, of course, professional speakers are always an option.

Brief your contributors well
With definite objectives and a tight time slot, you will want to ensure each contributor follows their brief. Prepare a briefing that sets out what you want them to achieve and puts it into the context of your overall objectives for the event and how their contribution fits in. Stay in close contact with each contributor, so you can monitor their progress and they can get your help with their preparation.

Make them look good
Your event will succeed if all parts succeed in concert. Part of your role is to make each and every contributor look good. Bring them on and off with style, ensure they are properly amplified and their presentation aids not only work, but also work perfectly. Help them to create fantastic visuals and put support in place to help them interact with the audience with grace. Think about links - a link to the next speaker can destroy 15 minutes of presentation.

Check that each presentation is structured to deliver results
Encourage each of your presenters to think about these four magic questions: "What is the story I want to tell?" "What can I do to make my story persuasive?" "How can I tell it in a compelling way?" and "What can I do to give my story power?" Respectively, these questions focus on the message, the evidence, the way you tell it and how you make the story relevant to the audience members. Each presentation must have an engaging introduction, a logical structure and a killer close.

Leave them wanting more
Short, sharp contributions are nearly always best. You want your delegates to go away saying "that was great; if only there were more". If you give them more then you risk riding the slope of diminishing returns at best, and pricking the balloon at worst. Eighty per cent of your impact will come from twenty per cent of your material. Leave the rest of the material to other means of communication.

The impact of your presentations comes from emotion, not ideas
Of course the ideas and content of your presentations are critical to their relevance and credibility. But if you want your audience to really "get it", the impact they will have on them will depend on the emotional responses you evoke. Design the programme, the fillers, the visuals, the sound and the presentations to engage people by their hearts and in the gut. This is especially so if your conference deals with any form of change.

People love stories: we are story-telling creatures
Encourage your speakers to make their presentations real and relevant by telling stories. Abstract theory and ideas do little to engage most listeners (especially in the hours after lunch!). Using stories and choosing sensory language that refers to what people actually feel, hear, see and do will hook your audience at the emotional level and make your ideas seem solid.

There are six winning formulas for talks that get attention
If your speakers each use one of these formats (they can also combine them), they will increase your chance (and their own) of scoring a hit. The first, of course, is lists, top tips etc. People love to collect lists. Second, people also love to hear a provocative assertion either justified or taken apart. When you state something radical, it immediately engages your listeners' brains. Third, we all enjoy predictions about the future - whether it is about technology, society, finances, or anything else. A related format is to present the findings from a survey of other form of research: especially when the audience can compare themselves to the results. Most of us enjoy a juicy statistic. Then, we have the case study format. Remember how we love to listen to stories. Finally, we all want to know "How to ...". How to cook a great meal, plan a stunning garden, double our sales, remember names or even fill our conference with excellent presentations.

Make sure that each presentation is memorable
... or what is the point? Here are two quick tips. Firstly, use the magic number 7, plus or minus 2. This is the largest number of items or ideas our minds can focus on at any one time and therefore constrains our short term memories. So, go beyond five key points at your peril. Secondly, we have four ways to get an audience to remember the key points of our presentation: they will often remember the first thing we say and often the last too. They will also remember anything we repeat sufficiently often and finally, they will remember anything that stands out enough. Make your key point at the start, at the end, often and in an innovative way. This also applies to your conference as a whole, so make sure several speakers refer to your major conference messages. Now, let me repeat all that ...

High quality and accuracy are rarely remembered or appreciated
However, low quality and errors will be remembered and remarked upon widely - forever.
"The evil that men do lives on; the truth is oft' interred with their bones"
Pay particular attention to your visuals - their content and presentation. There is little as bad as unreadable text, typographical errors, tired clipart and clashing colours.

One of my favourite quotes comes from the Japanese text, Hagakure. It says:
Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall, there was this one: "Matters of great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously."

Pay close attention to the logistics
There is so much to think of and do here, so be organised and stay ahead of this. Where will you be, how will you get there, what will you need, who will provide it? Think about getting people there - and then getting them away again. You'll need to feed and water them, manage communications and secure resources. Any one component can let you down.

Front of house is important too
On the day, you will doubtless be highly focused on managing the contributors and seeing to the back-stage logistics. Your delegates, however, are out front - and it will be they who decide how successful you are. So, at the same time, you need to cater for their needs too. So much to do!

Review, Rehearse, Review, Rehearse
It isn't done until it's done. Take every opportunity (and ensure you create the opportunities in your plan) to review your running order, each component of it and all your admin and equipment. Rehearse your contributors and review the running order again. And again. Every time you go over it, walk yourself through the action - each link and space. Ask yourself endlessly: "What have I forgotten? What can happen that I haven't planned for - yet?"

Practice makes perfect
Maybe: maybe not - but it certainly will iron out the major problems, help you to make improvements, and give you the confidence to relax and enjoy the event. When you relax and enjoy yourself, so will your delegates. And that is what it is all about.

Making your conference look and feel professional is one of the hardest things to do without experience, but with a small investment, you can transform the experience that your attendees have.

1. Registration Desk
How will your guests feel as the enter the venue? A staffed registration desk with a welcoming smile on a smartly presented host/hostess will create just the right impact. Make sure your host/ess has all the information to hand to answer any likely question, and a sign in sheet that shows your guests are expected and welcome. Consider the merits of name badges and giving guests papers for the congference at this stage.

Music
What feelings do you want to evoke in your guests as they enter the conference hall? Music has a powerful impact on emotions and by choosing the right music, you can induce a sense of curiosity, excitement, relaxation... even dread!

Sound system
Many conference organisers are content to use the built in sound system that the venue provides. This will rarely offer you the flexibility to do what you really need to do and, more important, who do you have on your team who can use the system properly? Why not invest a litle extra and hire a professional sound engineer? These people can provide additional equipment and can ensure that you can be heard clearly in all parts of the conference hall, without annoying echoes or feedback. They can recomment the music to help create the mood you want, and can often turn their hand to other technical challenges like sorting out the projection equipment.

Set yourself incredibly high standards
What can you lose? If you don't set high standards, that's what you'll get. Aim for the best event you can possibly achieve and hold out wherever you can for your contributors to give their very best. Your budget will be limited, so be creative: low cost does not mean low quality - especially when you take care to get every one of the little things right.

Stay flexible
Things change: opportunities turn up and people let you down. So, throughout the planning and preparation and during the event too, stay flexible. Take the opportunities that arise and don't ride with the disappointments. You have your objectives - hitting these is what really matters, so stay alert for new ideas and have the flexibility to change plan right up to the last minute if you find a better way to meet them.