Tips for making your conference as stress-free as possible

Organising a conference can be an ordeal – especially if you don’t have the support you need. Whether you’re heading up a company conference or organising an industry event, you need to make sure that everything is in place to make it a memorable experience (and for good reasons!)

Before you even consider the first step, make sure that you’re planning your conference at least 12 months out. This allows for your ideal conference venue and speakers to be secured, and makes sure that the attendees can block out their calendars to attend.

Get your conference planning committee together

A conference is too big for one person to plan alone. While you might be heading it up, you need the support to ensure that you have back-up for when things get stressful. Within your organisation, you need to bring together a team that will help you tackle the conference planning.

Depending on the size and scale of the event, you might need a planning team, marketing team, admin team, and a team to be there on the day to manage guests. Delegate, delegate, delegate! And make sure that you set clear deadlines, so your team knows when things need to be done.

Depending on the function venue, you may also be able to lean on their team to help you get the big day ready.

At Tradewinds Hotel, we have an Events team that’s ready to support you with whatever you need with venue setup, event planning and organisation, catering, and even accommodation.

Decide on your conference goals, format, and theme

Your conference should have a theme, a program (format), and a name. It’s important to decide on these ahead of time, so that you can kick off marketing early and get word out.

You should also decide on who will be MCing the event, whether that’s somebody internally or a guest speaker. They should be somebody who is confident, can work the room and get people engaged.

Choose an appropriate conference venue

Your conference venue is very important. Make sure that your conference venue is suitable for the event, will fit the required number of people, and has accessibility options for people with different mobility requirements.

You should also try to make sure that your venue is close to public transport and / or has plenty of parking.

Finally, a conference venue that will provide catering for you is an excellent choice.

Tradewinds has its own restaurant serving up delicious food, and we offer functions packages to suit your needs, as well as a specific conference package meaning that all of your food and beverage bases will be covered.

Our conference packages start from $65 per person for a half day package, and we can also cater for a variety of dietary needs.

Put together your program

Pull together a program that summarises the order of the keynote speakers, discussions, workshops, and any social programs such as networking or afternoon tea for mingling. It often makes sense to group speakers and presentations by theme, if relevant.

You should also finalise session descriptions, which will provide a brief overview of the speaker’s topic and background.

Make sure you communicate clearly to your speakers how long the sessions will be, so they know how much time to allocate to their speeches. Most presentations should last between 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the topic, structure, and theme of your conference.

Promote your conference

Marketing is always important! Make sure you’re marketing your conference through both traditional means and digital ones. That means anything from flyers and posters to email marketing and social media posting or advertising.

Get the word out there, so you’re not left at the last minute wondering how you’re going to fill seats.

Consider getting event sponsors

Event sponsors can help you to reduce costs, making running the conference much more affordable. Reach out to organisations in your space, or who you think might be interested in sponsoring your conference. Create a list of potential sponsors and pitch your conference idea to them well before the event itself.

You’ll also want to make sure that you’ve really narrowed down your marketing approach at this point and that your pitch is persuasive and engaging.
If you’re successful, you could even create some “goody” bags for attendees, including a few gifts from your sponsors!

Trust that your Perth conference will run smoothly when you choose Tradewinds Hotel

Tradewinds has you covered when it comes to planning your next conference. From having a full team to support you to knowing that catering and equipment can all be managed in-house, you’ll feel confident and relaxed on the day knowing that everything is taken care of.

See our functions packages here or send us an enquiry through our website or at functions@tradewindshotel.com.au.