Plan And Manage Conferences: Case Study

Factors to Keep in Mind Before Planning a Conference

Describe about the Case Study for Plan and Manage Conferences.

Before starting it is necessary for all to understand the concept of conference, purpose of conference and its objective. It is very important to know how long does a conference lasts. It is also a point to keep in mind that before starting any conference. It is must to determine which tasks are more time taking and which are not. Hence, it is mandatory to align the tasks on the basis of priority. Focus into the tasks which are more urgent and prepare a list of those tasks. Prepare a list of the tasks which can be done later and start doing the urgent tasks.

How many of the people are going to attend the conference and in which place the conference will be conducted these are some of the critical questions. So, I would firstly focus on the menu of the conference and then the number of guests attending the conference. One of the most earlier thing to be kept in mind before arranging all the tings is the money budget. I would like to focus on that before deciding any other things (Arndt & Lanza, 2016). One of the most time taking and effective work is to find out the sponsors who will pay the expenses to conduct the conference. So, this work requires much effort then only I will be able to select the sponsors who will help me in covering the costs.

Once the budget, place and other things are well sorted, then we can move into other things and tasks in organized manner. As for example we can say we should not print the names of the guests on the invitation letter who will attend the interview as we are not sure whether they will be coming or not. Printing of names should be done at the last after sorting out the names of the guests.

Planning the things from top to bottom like what will be discussed at first in the conference and how the overall things will be executed is the main point to consider. This is the most vital thing to be observed in any conference.

Video conferencing: it has both advantages and disadvantages.

Advantage of video conferencing	Disadvantage of video conferencing
The first benefit of using video conferencing includes that it does not involves journey from one place to another for any kind of meetings. It helps in saving time and money both for travelling.	One of the major disadvantage of video conferencing is that it requires  strong connection of internet for its operation. Poor network connections can disrupt the whole meetings or any kind of conversations.
Video conferencing is like face to face communications, we can see people, their way of talking and also their facial expressions. So, all and all it helps in direct communications which seems very personal.	Second loss is that it is very costly. Internet connections are not easily afforded by everyone in their workplace or home, so the people who have good internet connections can only make use of this applications.
It helps us in seeing the people with whom we are talking may be in meetings or general talk with family.	Time zones are the main boundaries while connecting in video conferences
All the people who are in the conference can look at the documents at the same time. So all can perform work at the same time	All of the people might not remain very familiar with this technology, so the people who are not very familiar will not be able to use that because its little bit critical
One of the major advantage is that video conferencing keeps all the workers at a time in focus

Telephonic conversations offer some huge benefits to the users. It is very much cost efficient as compared to the video conferencing.	But the major disadvantage is the persons who are talking in the phone are not able to see each other face, so they are not able to fully recognize each other.
It is easily available and can be fund everywhere. The users can make call from any place to anybody sitting in nearby to far distant ones also.	Talking in telephones does not helps in understanding the expressions and body language of the person with whom we are talking
Telephones are very much familiar to all the people as compared to the video conferences	We cannot see the person with whom we are talking as we can only hear their voice.

Requirements of the conference	Proper access to the internet connection should be there Media outlets should be there Technical Equipments should be ready and without any defect and should be easily accessible Handicap facilities should be provided	Internet facility and proper access  to it Media outlets should be present Handicap facilities should be available easily Catering service should be good and hygienic Valet Parking  should be there	Proper access to the internet and its facilities Media outlets should be present there Handicap facilities available anytime Catering service excellent and easily available Valet Parking should be there
Menu of conference places	Hotel	Hotel	Hotel
Venues at will match With the conference	good and positive thoughts well maintained area of presentation Easy access to internet	The menu should be close to public transport Fair thoughts Easy access  to internet	Near to public transport Near to CBD Good area Easy access
Check listing of the site visit	Available F&B Amenities	Available F&B All facilities	Available F&B All features
Costs of the conference place	10.000	15.000	20.000
	1	2	3

4

u            Mail     ValleyView Publications 12 Mountain Drive Jade Valley  VIC  3999 (03) 9123 4567	u            Fax        ValleyView Publications (03) 9123 7654
Registration Fees	Method of Payment
Full Conference requirements (Includes cocktail party, speakers’ papers, meals & workshops.) Each person     q         330.00 dollars Corporate        q         275.00 dollars             $          Please specify any additional requirements: Special Assistance requirement($500 – 3500) Please mention if any: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Assistance regarding transportation: Please specify: 1. Pick and drop facility from airport will cost around (350 dollars) 2. Arranging  a taxi  will cost around (400 dollars) *will be contacted for full information. 3. Assistance regarding baggage facilities (100 dollars) 4. Personal guidance charge (3000 dollars) Allergic substance present, if any mention: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Special dietary requirements ($450-$650) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Tickets – Cocktail Party No. of Tickets required @ $80.00 per person             $          Total Payment Enclosed	Cheque (to follow/enclosed) Credit Card             q           Bankcard            q         Mastercard             q            VISA            q            AMEX Name of the cardholder Card Number Expiry Date of card Amount Authorised Signature of the Cardholder Date Special prices apply for full conference registration: 5 delegates present from an organization then 50% discount for only 1 delegate. 10 delegates present from an organisation  then 100% discount for 1 member.

25 May 2015

Angus

8 Murray Street

Perth City WA

0412 345 678

Attention: To all the members of the committee

Respected committee members and co- workers,

Advantages and Disadvantages of Video Conferencing

One of the best way for conducting our conference this year according to our ideas and concepts, selection of the keynote speakers is the most important step. We have got many speakers in front of us trough our rigorous searching in the past two weeks. We have selected them on eligibility criteria. They are selected on the basis of their professional background, their job and their job experience. So, we have shortlisted three candidates those who have fulfilled the selection criteria.

Your thoughts and approval are equally and most important for us as this will help us in choosing the best speaker. Please give us your positive feedback which can help us in choosing the right person.

Sam Harrop, is a well known author, trainer who owns his own business and is always  involved in helping people do their work. He started his career as an entrepreneur in south Africa and he made a great success there. He built a huge business there and was very much successful and he lead a fruitful business.

Sam move to Australia in 2008 along with is family members. He went there to fulfill his dreams of doing big business, for is overall personality development and is thoughts of helping others in doing their work. He had a different thought from others. He used to believe that we can change the world by improving Australia. He said that it can be done by earning more benefits, attaining the sustainable business thoughts and helping others. He always thinks of producing more jobs for the people so that no one will be unemployed and economic growth can increase.

Sam is a renowned businessman now. He handles other business tycoons and assists them in handling their business. He now shares his thoughts and knowledge with his colleagues by giving them presentations and workshops. He had worked in almost every business area. He had a great knowledge of industries like- manufacturing, construction, wholesale business, retail, hospitality and leisure, transportation, real estate and financial and insurance services also.

Sam is the only man people remind of when they are in trouble or they need help in some work. Sam has written a book named “Getting Stuff Done” which is his first book. He has written this book to motivate people to do their own work. As a good friend and master e wrote this book for every business man so that they can get motivation after reading this book and they can achieve success and they can also learn how to  use accountability.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Telephone Conferencing

Sam remains always busy in counseling people about the right and wrong things. Everyone who has been working with Sam has got a clear idea about accountability and also how to use that. The knowledge and ideas he gives to the people encourages them a lot and produces a feeling of motivation and enthusiasm in them. They makes themselves more busy and indulged in work, hence they earn more profit and they feel to have more time to do the right and important things.

Peter Hillary is the second speaker. He is an inspirational speaker and an articulate who is involved in motivating people to d good things. He gives motivational keynotes and organizes conference presentations. He always explores people with daily life challenges, changes associated with daily life activities, their importance and survival.

Peter Hillary’s life is like pillar of setting goals and successively achieving tem by full passion and hard work. His hard works, knowledge and enthusiasm towards works along with good decisions making skills have helped them in reaching the mountain peaks. He has been able to survive in many thunderstorms due to all these skills. He seems to be a powerful narrator, communicator and a skilled assessor. He knows about how to handle critical situations, what one should do and what ne should not do in any critical situations.

He has made a history of achieving the mountain climbing. He is found to be an inspirational figure for all the mountaineers and he is among one of the great families of mountaineering. His father was Sir. Edmund Hillary. He reached the Mt. Everest in 1953 and made the first ascent of climbing the mountain. Peter Hillary has always followed his father and he also climbed the Mt. Everest and reached the South Pole on skis, emerging a new route across Antarctica. His and his father names remain link forever. Peter continued his journey of climbing the Great Himalayas after his father. He earned a lot of money and donated the full for supporting schools and building hospitals for the people who lives in Everest region in Nepal.

He had given presentations everywhere revealing about his experiences. He shares about his feelings that how he felt on reaching the highest peaks of Mount Everest twice in is life. He also explained his thoughts about living in the ends of the earth that is at the north and south poles and how it feels to survive in that strong thunders on the savage mountain K2. E explained all these things with the help of beautiful video footage.

Peter is a brilliant and smart speaker who speaks with much ease and makes the public comfortable while listening. He is a mastermind of storytelling with a dry wit. He has spoken to a huge number of audiences starting from 12 to 12000. He knows about to hold the public and he does it every time. He tells the public about is real life adventures in a very authentic and hilarious way that everybody believes them and loves to hear them again and again. The audiences after listening to his speech find themselves in a different world. Peter’s own challenges are a metaphor for the entire process of achievement of is objectives for any individual. He always gives people enthusiastic message regarding teamwork, values of preparation, perseverance, caution and good decisions. He always asked people to enjoy their journey how much difficult may it be. At the end of his speech he makes the audience fully charged, enthusiastic and full of life.

Sir Edmund and the Peter’s family has helped the people living in the villages of Nepal a lot. They built 42 schools, hospitals and clinical cares in village named as Khumbu valley which is located at the foot of the Everest and they run it by themselves. They provide free facility and checkups to the people living there. They made the hospitals and schools to show their gratitude and respect to the people living in the Everest and the way they helped them. Nepal is thought to be as one among the poorest country and by building these they helped the people a lot.

Peter’s father was motivated by a thought and peter was also motivated by the same thought. It says that achieving your goals is great but helping others for achieving their goals is even greater than that.

The third speaker is Catherine DeVrye. He is involved in generating creative ideas, entertaining audiences and showing them results.

Catherine seems as the street cred in delivering his results in front of audiences in next conference. She is a combination of both Gen Y energy with baby boomer experience and wisdom.

She has been voted twice in the Australian Keynote Speaker in the year 1999 and 2010. Catherine serves to be an enthusiastic power for female voice. She entertains people and acquires knowledge in both the private and public sectors. She is known as both a small business owner and a successful female business corporate executive. She has now become an excellent speaker and speaks globally on opportunities and obstacles and also how to bring change in one’s life.

She has written eight books and is considered as one of the best sellers. She has won the award of Australian Executive Woman of the Year Award. Her movie “who says I can’t” was released by Random House. The book was chosen to be nominated as National Bibliography Award. After seeing the cover photo Bryce Courtenay said that the story appears to be of hope and perseverance. He was very curious about the releasing date of the movie. Her most recent book encouraged by Dr Edward DeBono, is Paperclips Don’t Grow on Trees – Add value not cost to your bottom line.

Catherine was earlier executive of IBM. She played roles in sectors like sales, marketing, communication and leadership development. She had spend two years in Tokyo as Asia Pacific Headquarters Human Resource Manager. She was once elected as IBM incentive events and leadership programs, she was told to deliver message in a conference. She gave tremendous powerful message and entertaining also.

She remained always in search of new adventures and thoughts and that’s why she visited many places like the Andes, trekked to Timbuktu, beyond Everest Base Camp. She was a cancer survivor; she started her journey from an orphanage in Canada to a successful woman. She was former member of board Who’s Who of Australian Women, which was of the third largest police service in the world. She was also known as Australia day ambassador. She was earlier CEO of Young/ Junior Achievement Australia. She had done master in science and attended short courses in Harvard University and Melbourne Mt. Eliza Business School. She believed that common sense is the best education in anyone’s life. Her speech touches everyone’s heart and encourages every people.

Her clients are American Express, AT & T, Australian Tourism, Austrade, Bankwest, Coca-Cola, Domino’s Pizza, KPMG, Hewlett Packard, IBM 3M, Local Government, Mercedes, Neways, Qantas, Red Cross, Remax, Royal Australian Airforce, School Principals.

6. The promotional tasks found in the publicity part of the conference timeline document includes: preparation of the flyer draft, selection of an appropriate name of the conference, completion of the final draft of the flyer.

The promotional cost of the task was found to be as 5000 dollars, including 8% of all the total expenses spent.

The promotional strategy was not done in proper way and that’s why a misbalance was seen in the budget.

7.

The conference will have two objectives- supporting tour operators and wholesalers for promotion and marketing of their products and promoting tour operators who provides leisure options for all the people including the disables.

People included for attending the conference are- disabled people who wishes to travel who are of all age, the travelling agencies looking for new market like small business owners as hotel owners and students.

Media people

Travel groups and communities are always welcomed.

8    .              

Promotional strategy

Sponsorship – Goods or services

Offers proposal for conference sponsorship to marketing department.

30% of budget will be allowed.

Web

Webpage will be prepared for the conference

Create submission on website for payment

Advertising on social media, sponsors websites and travel websites.

15% of budget will be allowed.

Public Relations – Public relations team

Newspapers
public relation teams are allowed for developing the advert and getting approval for it. 30% of the budget will be allowed.

Media releases
after creating advert and approved, it is sent to newspaper department for publishing. 0% is allowed and once in a week.

Brochure, speakers need to be created as materials, and get it approved and 20% budget will be allowed.

Speakers should be used for attracting people. 0% budget is to be taken.

Newspaper advertising

Required for creating ads, approval and printing. 40% budget is allowed.

9.

Possible sponsors	Why?
World Health Organisation	They have the duty to act as leaders on global health related matters, are engaged in making rules and regulations and evaluation of health records.
Australian Government Health department	It has duty for the service delivery policy and gives access to social, health services.
Lonely Planet	Great chance for the organization to promote their name and travel guides to the travel associations and travellers in general.
Samsung	Possible new market for the company, travellers often use smart phones to arrange, plan their trips and this is the good cahnce for the company to present their products.
Qantas Airways	Great opportunity to put themselves in front of other “air” companies promoting their flight fares at the conference and having the opportunity to maybe get exclusive deals with one of the traveling agencies at the conference.

10.

Enquiries in telephone- making sure that people who are in charge of handling telephonic conversations provides correct information and good service to all members. Training will be given to person who will be given this responsibility. Every people should have basic knowledge about the event and its duration and venue and time of the event. The person should know exactly about the foods, parking space, special needs and much more.

To: Angus

From: Me

Date: 15 May 2015

Subject: Procedures for Welcoming Delegates and Welcoming Speakers
Angus,

Venue should be checked twice before starting the conference for making sure that we can have all possible things for disabled speakers and participants.

Access to the venue, washrooms, width of elevator, voice cover.

See the attached redeveloped procedures.

With regards,

Marko

Welcoming all the participants

Welcoming them by name of conference

Asking their name and any help they need (Brotchie et al, 2013)

Providing disabled people with knowledge about toilet, ramps. Etc.

Asking participants for foods or any requirements

Welcoming speakers

Welcoming speakers and asking them for assistance

Informing speakers of the time and place for their presentation

A pre- conference tour should be designed which will help in assuring the participants that they are important part of the conference.

List of the basic equipments

Desk, chairs, laptop, internet

Forms, fax, pencils, pens, name badges and telephone.

I am choosing the second scenario

Busses will accommodate only 120 people but 122 people are present.

2 people need to go in another way, so people are asked to take their seats.

I am also going to the airport by taxi and I will go on a bus only for the conference.

The 2 participants will be going to the conference in my taxi with me.

Annual General Meeting   Friday 4 July 2014

10.30am

Agenda

Welcome and introductions

Preparing reports

Preparing annual Report

Auditor’s observation

Chairperson’s analysis

Appointment of auditors

That KPMG be re-appointed as auditors and the Directors be authorised to set their payments.

Electioning of the Directors

Amendment of Valley View Publications Employee Share Scheme

As per the rules of the Valley View Publications Employee Share Scheme followed at the Annual Meeting of the Organization held on 24 March 1993 be changed to increase the lacks of the number of shares that can be issued under the Scheme from 3% to 5% of the total number of issued ordinary shares.

General Meeting

Notice is to be given to the ninth Annual General Meeting of Valley View Publications will be organized at the Auditorium of the Industry Development Centre at 10.30am on Friday 4 July 2014.

Reports

To receive the Reports of the Directors and Financial Report for the year ended 31 December 1999.

Auditors

To re-appoint KPMG as auditors of the Company and to authorize the Directors to set their remuneration.

Directors

To choose Directors.

Some Directors got retire as per the Company’s Constitution:

Dr Lesley Nicholls

Mr Gunter Freiberg

Being eligible, Dr Nicholls and Mr Freiberg offer themselves for re-election.

Action Plan

Task

Hold committee/staff meeting to solidify goals/meeting Review budget Goal/objective of the conference Locate and book the venue Determine meeting’s format Review/obtain signed contract Develop program flyer; submit for approval Print meeting invitation

Distribute program invitations Send program materials to designer Submit slide materials for approval Hire temp staff for on-site Order gifts and amenities Organise audiovisual recording or closed circuit Make travel arrangements for speakers/VIPs Order all food and beverages Send guarantees to hotel for meeting and food/beverage Establish on-site presence

Presentation/Workshop	Suggested Speaker	Contact Details
Australian Standard Disability Symbols	Mr Peter Morgan Better Business Tourism Accreditation Program Board of Victoria	Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 00100200
Accreditation of Access – STAR RATING	AAA
Access for independent and assisted people with disabilities; the need for personal assessment specific to different needs of access	—-
Workshops	Sustainable Economy
Accommodation	Hotel XXX
Attractions	City Tour
Travel	Emirates
Carers	—
Carer’s payments/costs	$1500
Discovering Creativity through Recreation	Margaret Yan	Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 00103456
Workshops	Economics
Individual as opposed to group tourism	See Webspirs Anne & Richard Lockwood Pam Abbots
Recreation programs in Canada	ZZZ Program
Adventure Sports	Nature Sports
Extreme Sports	Limit Sports
The Disabled Environment	Woody Marriott Ambleside Tours	Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 00100340
Workshops	Sustainability
Poor customer service	Not decided
The Environment for everyone moving walkways	Not decided
Path surfaces	Not decided
Universal Planning	Max Murray Paraquadic	Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 00100345
Workshops	Not decided
Building design issues – implementation	Not decided
Measures in issuing building permits	Not decided
Access Sensitive	Ross Clark Vision Australia	Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 00134567
Workshops	Not decided
Parks and Gardens Access	Not decided

Choosing the message

The excellent formula to follow is AIDA model

Points to be focus are- colourful text and dramatic graphics

Interest areas- linked to readers need

Desire- activating positive thoughts

Action- it should be clear

Message content

How do you appeal to the prospective delegate? Which type of appeal would be relative to this conference?

Rational Appeals – relates to the audience self-interest

Emotional Appeals – provoke emotions that motivate the purchase

Moral Appeals – directed to the audience’s sense of what is right and proper

1. Message Structure

How can we gain participants’ attention?  The most efficient way is to create messages in a way that catches the reader, for example: what does the conference offer the reader?

Write text for the conference promotional material taking this all in mind:

Lead (first paragraph) with a powerful message to catch attention

Comprised of details of aim, topics and speakers

Include information on the company, if relevant

Identify adjustments on text, eg the size, addition of other items (response card) and price

1. Designing of message: instructions for the designer

What will encourage the reader to open the invitation card?

Does the front page holds the attention of the target market?

Deciding the headline, text

Providing information on company profile and culture

Select paper type and size

It may be good to obtain three written pieces from printers  and designers. Also check samples of previous work, references and their work timings on comparing with the conference lead timings

Convention centres and bureaus also airlines will supply ‘shells’ to print your program. The service is either free or at a nominal amount.
4. Message format: instructions for the public relations consultant

Advertisers – can use novelty and contrast, eye-catching, pictures and headlines, colour and shape

Radio – choose words, sounds

TV – as for radio, also body language, dress and hairstyle

The message source

The use of celebrities or personalities as a spokesperson for the conference attracts higher attention, recall and also gives credibility to the event (Carbajal 2016).

A spokesperson that is highly credible is very persuasive, the three factors most often found are:

Expertise – the degree of authority to back the claim

Trustworthiness – how objective and honest the source appears to be

Likeability – those who are open, humorous and natural

The promotional material will range from an article in a professional magazine to a bulk mail-out run but there are three elements to consider when forming a successful promotional strategy.

How will the package be distributed – mail, fax, email?

What should be covered – front letter and planning with speakers’ names.

Encourage more contact by telephone, or by taking follow-up to make a relationship, which will strengthen their presence.

18

PROMOTIONAL TIMELINE

TASK

PURPOSE OF CONFERENCE

DATE OF CONFERENCE

VENUE

Finding Best place

Booking

SPEAKERS

OrganisingSpeakers

Gifts

SPONSORSHIP

BUDGET

Deciding on fee for delegates

Collectingmoney

PUBLICITY

DraftFlyer

Final Flyer

CATERING

Choosingcaterers

Menu

Order

SIGNS

Design sign

Place sign in appropriate areas

PROGRAMME

Draftprogramme

Final programme

NAME TAGS

OrganisingSponsor

Producingtags

PROMOTION

Visiting classes

EVALUATION

Draftevaluationsheet

Final evaluationsheet

Completingevalutionsheets

Collected information Name of the conference Program chairman Aim of the conference Type of conference Number of participants Process of telling them of the conference

Case studies Small group talks Meeting room needs Food functions Breakfast Menu Speakers

Name	Designation	Time of start	End time
Mr ZZ	Chef	8.30 am	2 pm
Mrs XXX	Functions	9.30 am	4 pm
Mr WW	Supervisor	9.00 am	5 pm

You can use information from all stages of the conference to develop a comprehensive and useful post-conference report. Conference evaluation is mandatory.

Evaluation is the process of critically observing, measuring and evaluating the performance of a conference in order to observe its results perfectly (Ray et al., 2016).

Evaluation of data requires certain questions like:

What data will be needed

Who will be collecting the data, when and how

What analysis process should be required

What will be the final format of the report and to whom it should be presented.

There is some process to collect the results of the evaluation.

Collection of Data

Observation

Surveys

There are three main areas to focus upon

Pre-conference

Asking the public before the conference

Resources needed for the conference to proceed?

Market research is a tool to build:

The probable audience feedback

Estimation of costs

Determination of benefits

Comparing results

Monitoring the conference

Tracking the progress of a conference throughout the whole process for example:

If registrations are slow additional promotion of the conference may be required by creating a higher profile for the conference within the media(Persichitte., 2016)

Media coverage

Continuous evaluation of the budget

Evaluation after the conference is over

After the completion of the conference, the data are analysed

Data can be evaluated from:

Budget – anticipated and actual

Promotion schedule

Data of participants and forms of evaluation

Reference

Arndt, T., & Lanza, G. (2016). Planning support for the design of quality control strategies in global production networks. Procedia CIRP, 41, 675-680.

Brotchie, J. F., Dickey, J. W., & Sharpe, R. (2013). TOPAZ: General planning technique and its applications at the regional, urban, and facility planning levels (Vol. 180). Springer Science & Business Media.
Carbajal, S. (2016). 2015 California Climate Action Planning Conference Keynote Address. Focus, 12(1), 8.

Carew-Reid, J., Prescott-Allen, R., Bass, S., & Dalal-Clayton, B. (2013).Strategies for national sustainable development: a handbook for their planning and implementation. Routledge.

Jalongo, M. R., & Machado, C. (2016). Before the Conference: General Planning Strategies. In Making Effective Presentations at Professional Conferences (pp. 17-35). Springer International Publishing.

Persichitte, K. A. (2016). Strategic Planning and Conference Planning Update. TechTrends, 60(3), 194.

Ray, T., Sarker, R., & Li, X. (Eds.). (2016). Artificial Life and Computational Intelligence: Second Australasian Conference, ACALCI 2016, Canberra, ACT, Australia, February 2-5, 2016, Proceedings (Vol. 9592). Springer.

Rintanen, J. (2012). Planning as satisfiability: Heuristics. Artificial Intelligence, 193, 45-86.