A professional conference organiser doesn’t come cheap. Here’s why they’re worth the fee.
A professional conference organiser (also called a professional congress organiser, a PCO, and a conference manager) specialises in planning and executing conferences on behalf of academics, researchers and associations. Conference planning is hard work and you need a broad set of shoulders. Ensuring your conference goes smoothly means you need to have a firm grasp on all the little details, but also a stable understanding of the underlying principles that come into play when you’re making an event work.
From plenary speakers and delegates to sponsors and exhibitors, a lot of people count on you to successfully plan, promote and host your conference. But what happens when your plenary speaker pulls out the week of your conference? Or your AV supplier goes AWOL the day before? A professional conference organiser has seen it all before and, crucially, knows just what to do to keep things on track.
Here are some of the services a typical professional conference organiser might offer. Many of them will manage more or fewer aspects of the conference depending on your needs and their particular services.
Negotiating contracts with suppliers
Can you go through venue contracts with a fine-tooth comb, spotting problematic words like “exclusive” (which means you can only use potentially expensive in-house suppliers)? Do you have strong negotiating skills and solid relationships with event suppliers built on previous experience and mutual trust?
A professional conference organiser can research solid conference suppliers, compile quotes and then supply this information to your organising committee for a final decision. This will save you from endless online searches trying to spot the reputable-yet-cost-effective supplier who can meet your needs. The PCO acts as the main point of contact for your committee and can manage all communication and ensure each supplier provides their service to the agreed standard. This is especially useful around areas live AV, and the mobile app for your conference.
Financial management
Once your committee has agreed on a conference budget, you can hand this over to your PCO and they’ll take care of budgeting each element of the conference. That means negotiating the best prices, managing expenses and taking care of bookkeeping and tax adherence.
PCOs work every day to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of the conference they organise. They also have the knowledge to manage your budget effectively to meet committee objectives all while ensuring the quality of your conference isn’t compromised. This streamlines your conference financials and keeps them all in a centralised place (which will come in handy during the post-conference evaluation).
Marketing and promoting
Ask any newbie conference organiser and they’ll tell you that one of the biggest struggles they encounter is promoting their conference to interested researchers. A professional conference organiser will take care of marketing and promoting your conference to attract authors and delegates. The service may include website design and content maintenance, social media management, PR and media releases to relevant publications. Whether you want advice or marketing and promotion management, PCOs have the knowledge, skills, tools and contacts to create a successful conference. Tapping their skills can greatly assist in spreading the word about your conference.
Managing your conference management software
If you want them to, your PCO can also handle setting up and running aspects of your conference management software. Your committee will still be in charge of which topics authors can submit under, and how the review process works, but your event pro can do the more admin-focused tasks, like sending reviewer invitations, configuring your registration form and building your book of proceedings. So that’s more time for your committee to spend on ensuring your conference has a high-quality technical programme.
Managing your conference contacts
Almost every one of your conference contacts – from your plenary speakers to your reviewers – will have a long list of priorities that come ahead of your conference. People often don’t have time to fully read things. Or they park an important email and then it disappears down their inbox.
If you’re organising the conference by yourself, expect that you’re going to have to walk people through a lot of stuff. (And sometimes you might just end up doing it for them – like selecting a reviewer’s speciality topics, or registering on behalf of a plenary speaker.) Here’s where a PCO can be invaluable in keeping on top of who’s been asked to do what, sending timely reminders, and stepping in and completing tasks when it’s appropriate.
Reporting and evaluation
When your conference is over, it’s absolutely essential to complete an end-of-conference report and evaluate its success. This allows your committee to identify areas that are working well and areas that need improvement for next year. This hugely assists next year’s chair and can help ensure your conference continues to improve in the long term.
A PCO can provide you with data and an evaluation of each aspect of the conference. They’ll also likely give you their own feedback on how to improve next year’s event.
Problem-solving
Professional event planners are natural problem solvers. They also have the crucial understanding that what works for one event could be disastrous for another, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for organisations seeking conference support. PCOs have fantastic contacts, strong relationships with suppliers, and when things go wrong, they roll up their sleeves and get stuff done. Almost all events hit roadblocks along the way, when yours does, you’ll want a pro fighting in your corner.
Hiring a professional conference organiser
Good professional conference planners take pride in delivering the type of creative and unique experiences that exceed delegate expectations. So if you’re expecting more than 50 delegates, give yourself a break and hire a PCO to do the heavy lifting. And if your conference has a tight budget and you don’t have the luxury of hiring the full services of a professional conference organiser, consider hiring someone (usually a university conference office or PCO) to manage logistics in the run-up to and during your conference.
Here’s a handy conference planning ebook, the outlines the workload involved in a typical research conference in a 12-month step-by-step task checklist.
The Questions You Need to Ask
Jelena our Head of Customer Success was an experienced PCO across Europe before we got lucky and she started flying the Ex Ordo flag. She has broken down the must ask questions for a PCO for you to keep an eye on:
How should the submissions process work?
- When do you want to open submissions?
- When do you want to close submissions?
- What type of submissions do you want from researchers? And in what format?
- How many submissions are you expecting to get? (This will be a deciding factor in how you handle them. If they’re expecting more than 50, I recommend you use an abstract management system.)
- Do you need camera-ready copies of submissions?
How do you want peer review to work?
- When do you want to open peer review?
- When is your close peer review?
- Do you want single-blind or double-blind reviews?
- How many reviews should each submission get?
- How many submissions should each reviewer be allocated? (Keep in mind that reviewers will be giving up their time for free, so steer your client away from overloading them.)
- Do you want a single or two-stage review process?
How should presentations be structured?
- Will you be featuring oral presentations? (Where the researcher delivers a spoken presentation.)
- Will you be showcasing poster presentations? (Where the researcher displays a physical or projected poster and engages in discussions with attendees.)
- Are you gathering presentation materials from speakers prior to the conference? (If so, consider this in your scheduling.)
- What audio-visual equipment will be required for the various presentations?
- What is the allocated duration for each presentation?
How will the conference schedule be arranged?
- How many sessions do you anticipate having?
- How many delegates are projected to participate in these sessions?
- What will be the duration of each session?
- What equipment is required for each session?
How do you want the conference announcement to work?
- When do you want to announce the conference? (Research conferences are announced by a Call for Abstracts – also called a Call for Papers or conference announcement email or letter.)
- Do you have an email list of researchers to send your Call for Abstracts to?
- What information should go in the Call for Abstracts?
- Are there any research publications who might publish the announcement?
How do you want to handle acceptance and registration?
- When do you want to open registration?
- When do you want to send acceptance notices to successful researchers?
- When should you send rejection notices to unsuccessful researchers?
- How do you want delegates to register?
- Will your conference have workshops that delegates register for? (If yes, make sure you have a registration system that allows this.)
- Will your conference have social events that delegates register for?
Do you want to publish a book of proceedings?
- Will your conference have a book of proceedings? (This is also called a book of abstracts or book of papers.)
- Will your conference opt to go for a mobile app instead?
- What will be included in the book? Abstracts? Full papers?
- Will the book be hard copy or digital? (This will have a big impact on your budget.)
- When do you need the book? To include in delegate packs at the conference or after the conference?
- Do you also want a programme book? (This is much shorter than the book of proceedings, and contains the timetable, keynotes speakers, sponsors and pages for taking notes.)
Finally – Just Remember
A professional conference organiser plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of academic and research conferences, handling intricate details and maintaining a firm grasp on the underlying principles of event management. With responsibilities ranging from negotiating contracts with suppliers to managing financial aspects and marketing the conference, PCOs offer comprehensive services tailored to the specific needs of organisers. By streamlining tasks such as financial management and marketing, PCOs relieve organisers of administrative burdens and ensure efficient budget allocation while promoting the event effectively to attract participants.
Moreover, PCOs excel in managing conference management software, handling communication with various stakeholders, and providing post-conference reporting and evaluation. Their problem-solving skills and ability to adapt to diverse challenges make them indispensable partners in event planning. Ultimately, hiring a professional conference organiser not only ensures the smooth execution of the conference but also enhances the overall delegate experience, making it a worthwhile investment for organisers seeking to deliver a successful and impactful event.