communication department

By Bob Young and Stephanie Webster, Northeast Ohio Chapter Regional Conference Chairpersons

Our secret for hosting a successful regional conference? PLAN!

Okay, snickers aside at the obvious, but that small four-letter word has bigger implications for success than what appears on the surface. PLAN was our acronym for P (people, place, preparation), L (leadership, labor), A (activities, attendees, advice), and N (notification, news). Thanks to our PLAN and hard-working volunteers, STC’s Northeast Ohio community held a successful regional conference titled “The Crucial Communicator” on October 11 and 12, 2007, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.

The conference, a result of more than a year of planning, drew a capacity crowd of 111 attendees and netted our community a considerable profit. We handed out thousands of dollars worth of door prizes, thanks to sponsorships from STAR Group America, MadCap Software, The Geo Group, Diebold, Cuyahoga Community College, Quadralay, Adobe Systems, and many other great companies.

If your community is considering hosting a regional conference, here are some suggestions for planning from the Northeast Ohio community:

People

The foremost task is to decide the core planning committee, consisting of key leaders needed to manage start-to-completion tasks. First, appoint a chairperson or cochairs to oversee the committees and to make final decisions. With cochairs, one person is not overburdened and more can be accomplished in the same amount of time. Then, solicit dependable committee leads to run subcommittees and to delegate tasks to volunteers. Issue a call for volunteers to serve on the committees by highlighting the activities and the skills individuals will learn from their involvement.

Place

Location, location, location! Choose a location that is convenient, not just for you but for your guests, speakers, and vendors as well. Consider contacting your local Convention and Visitors Bureau for information on hotels, restaurants, and concurrent events.

Try to schedule your conference to avoid traffic hold-ups because of city events, airline delays, considerations for hotel accommodations, etc. Our autumn conference date coincided with major league baseball’s Cleveland Indians’ playoffs week. Fortunately, the team played out of town on our event day, and traffic congestion was minimal. We verified dates against cultural, religious, and government calendars to avoid conflicts with major holidays. You may also want to check the dates of other similar venues so you are not competing for attendees and speakers.

Preparation

Tour area hotels to determine the best conference and banquet facilities for your event. Keep track of material used for e-mails, Web sites, and correspondence to allow for content reuse. For example, text from a flyer can be reworked into a subsequent e-mail to update those planning to attend the event.

Leadership

The cochairs for The Crucial Communicator shared responsibilities coordinating the conference. Having cochairs ensures that a leader is available at all times for planning meetings and delegating responsibilities. Cochairs must share communication, strategize, and coordinate information to present to the core planning committee.

Labor

A regional conference takes a lot of labor and is a lot of hard work, but consider it a “labor of love.” The key is to have each committee running smoothly and contributing to the whole—like spokes in a wheel. If a committee lead is unable to perform his or her duties, we recommend finding a replacement rather than having the chair step into the additional role. This will keep the wheel rolling.

Each subcommittee for our conference met at least once a month, with much communication between meetings. Have your committee chairpersons provide an agenda of activities with preferred target completion dates (a good place to identify a schedule is in the STC Conference Handbook). After each meeting, consider circulating the meeting notes with action items included to all committee members. Also, consider collaborating remotely via online e-mail accounts or Google Docs.

Our sponsorship subcommittee was responsible for seeking corporate contributions. Do not be afraid to knock on doors to make a profit! Although STC is a non-profit organization, you must have contributors to help defray expenses. Profits provide your members with more opportunities and activities throughout the following years.

It is also a good idea for the public relations subcommittee to contact media reporters early in your planning year, as most need lead time to cover an event.

Activities

Decide on the number of sessions and a draft schedule to use in determining the number of speakers you will need. Decide the maximum amount that you can pay your keynote speaker and session speakers. We set a “target expense amount” for out-of-town and local speakers. “Target expense” means you will need to negotiate the amount you pay the speakers to include hotel, airfare, mileage for driving, meals, etc. Note whether speakers will need extra nights in a hotel for travel arrangements.

Send a call for papers to the appropriate regional communities and renowned STC speakers. Provide plenty of time for speakers to respond, and for the papers to be reviewed by the programs subcommittee.

Plan monthly core committee meetings and provide an agenda of items to be completed. Consider including completed items on the agenda to keep everyone motivated and to show how they are contributing to the big picture. Make sure you have a task list with volunteers clearly appointed. Distribute this list to all subcommittees to keep everyone informed and avoid duplicated efforts.

Determine bonus events to take place prior to, during, or after your conference. For example, we held a welcome reception with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails and dinner in a downtown restaurant to welcome attendees the evening before the conference. Sponsors offset the reception cost, and dinner was paid per person. You may want to include an exhibition area for your vendors or a bookstore. Remember to factor costs for all areas into your total cost projections.

Attendees

Estimate the number of attendees you will need to break even. Profits are nice, but covering the bills for the event is an obvious necessity. We used the STC Conference Handbook to determine the timeframe for planning and used its formula to determine the break-even number of attendees. We then used the number of attendees to determine registration cost after factoring in meals per person, speaker, and venue costs.

Advice

Some speakers command a higher rate than others. Be discrete about your negotiations, but also honest and fair in what you offer for all speakers.

Since costs can climb from time of booking to the date of the event, make sure the meal costs are included at contract signing. Send the contract and any questions to the STC office for review and approval. The office will give you feedback on ways to protect your chapter from any pitfalls or legal issues.

Notification

It is important to have an efficient plan to keep information flowing. The STC office can assist with mass electronic mailings to all STC members. We also successfully implemented use of an electronic e-mail service to send information to regional members on a more frequent basis. This kept attendees informed as the date grew closer. Plan the e-mails ahead of time and spread them out so members do not feel overwhelmed.

Consider designating one person to contact and work with your local media. Newspapers and radio may have different formats for e-mail, and some may require a fee if your event is over a certain registration cost. Always follow up with your media contacts to ensure that the articles are published.

Send registration confirmations to all attendees and exhibition vendors. Also offer to send receipts to attendees.

News

Create a dynamic Web site to advertise the conference and to post schedules, speaker bios, the registration form, etc. The Web site should be updated regularly to ensure content is accurate and to stimulate interest. Include registration deadlines, session descriptions, vendor information, conference changes, and updates after the conference to include thank-yous, articles, and photographs of the event.

Rewards

The Crucial Communicator PLAN could have been plural because our well-orchestrated conference brought about an "S"—satisfaction, sacrifice, and success! There is a lot of work involved in creating a regional conference, but with teamwork and a good PLAN, you can achieve an excellent conference.