29 Sep 2014 | By Sun International
Make Your Conference Unforgettable: Pay Attention to Detail
As every good conference organiser or host knows, the very first step towards making your conference unforgettable is choosing the perfect venue. Your selected conference venue should offer delegates every opportunity to be comfortable, stay connected to the outside world and actively participate in conference proceedings. Choose a conference venue too small or without adequate Internet connectivity facilities, and your conference could be deemed unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. By ensuring that your conference venue has all the facilities required to make your event work as you envisioned, you’re well on your way to turning your conference into a true event.
It can seem silly from the outside but it’s true – what delegates take away a conference will stick with them for a long time, well after the final keynote address has been given and the registration desk packed up. That’s why, as conference organiser, it’s important to create useful and excellently branded items for delegates, and include those in their conference packs or bags. Conference packs and bags are a great way to not only advertise your services but also the services and products of your sponsors and partners.
By creating useful items for your delegates, you’re essentially placing advertising for yourself and your sponsors into their daily lives and onto their desks! There are oodles of options for creating fantastic branded delegate gifts for conference packs including lanyards, diaries, t-shirts, mugs and more. Importantly too, useful resources like brochures and information packs are another way to keep the knowledge gained at a conference well-remembered by attendees.
For conference sessions, presentations and panel discussions, it’s important to help conference attendees take home all that they’ve learnt and engaged with at a conference. As part of your conference planning, include the creation of CDs, DVDs or USB sticks for each delegate, that will house all presentations and other resources, so that delegates can easily refer to the materials once they’re back at their desks.
And for the very best way to make a conference unforgettable, make sure your delegates have fun! Depending on the type of conference you’re hosting and the audience you’ve invited, get creative with the schedule, and throw in some post-conference fun. Whether it’s a gala dinner, speed networking session over cocktails or an entertaining sightseeing excursion, it’s important to let your delegates enjoy a little timeout after a busy day of learning. By creating a conference that’s unforgettable to attend, you won’t just ensure that your event is enjoyed by delegates - you’ll also ensure they’ll want to return, the very next time you host an event!