Marketing conferences are a great way to connect with founders of other companies and build relationships. However, planning a marketing conference is a hard job to do. With so many variables coming into play, you need to prepare for every instance and make sure everything falls into place. Plus, more often than not, a simple misstep can lead to a bad reputation for your company.
You are planning a proper conference needs for you to take into account a lot of things. Whether the venue is up to mark or not, whether you should be chartering private shuttle bus services or booking Ubers, right down to which speakers you should invite.
Considering all the factors and planning it might be quite hard, so, we’re taking it one step at a time.
1. Arrange a venue
The venue should be easily accessible to anyone. You can choose a massive hall in a known municipality, or go for something more out of the box, with an open area where you can interact freely. Remember to choose the venue in a space that allows everyone to come and communicate without any problems. One way to ensure this is to book ahead, check out the websites offering conference halls for rent. A proper venue can make a sea change in how your company is perceived.
2. Plan transportation
Transportation is key to the accessibility of your place. You’ve to plan for bringing people in from airports and other spaces. Ubers are great, but, the systems might be swamped at any given the time of day due to other people asking for their services, and it’s hard to pay for a fleet of cars since it causes accountability problems.
You can go ahead with chartering private shuttle bus services and bring in people in masses. Private buses are a great way of creating chatter amidst the people visiting the conference, making conversations later easier.
3. Book speakers
Of course, the keynote of the entire meeting would be your company’s success. However, to pull in the crowds and bring in an eclectic bunch of people, it’s necessary to book an enigmatic speaker. Check the recent TEDx talks in Silicon Valley to find out about up and coming entrepreneurs and innovators.
These crowd pullers can enhance the experience of the conference and bring together a more united crowd which you can pitch to easily. Remember to choose carefully, since, a divisive speaker can cause problems in terms of professionalism.
4. Cater to everyone
One of the basic rules in business is to make sure that every single attendee has something to do. Keep them engaged with a variety of speakers and halls, each with theirs. Plan according to the people who have RSVP’d to your event, and make sure that the various people would have something to do. Keep a special room separate for business transactions at all times so, that private meetings can easily be arranged.
Also, remember to keep talks to businesses planned explicitly so that everyone can get interested in your products and investments.
5. Networking Time
The time for personal meetings and business talks in where the real purpose of the conference is being served. Plan a special luncheon with the major contributors. Make plans from ahead about normal negotiations so, that you can quote prices without any problems. Networking is seen in making meetings and everything else possible so, arrange for the best workers to cater to these people.
Remember to make sure that your conference makes space for business talks during any breaks. Allow for a wine room, or somewhere where people can brainstorm and work through the problems together.